3 June 2010 – Johannesburg – For the last two weeks of May 2010, 17 Americans, one Italian and one Swede set aside eight hours a week to teach lessons, answer questions about their home countries and play games with learners at Thathani and Tshilidzi Primary Schools in Soweto and Mayibuye Primary School in Midrand. Currently visiting South Africa as Dad Fund interns working for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the 19 young men and women were able to see and learn from a part of South African culture not offered on tourist vacations.

“These kids are very isolated from the world,” 23 year-old Karen Tshimanga, a journalism and communications dual major at the University of Nevada, learned from visiting Mayibuye. “One girl asked me if I liked black people, and I am black. She didn’t know that there are black people in the United States and France, where I am originally from.”

The international interns covered topics including English, reading, science, music and sports with the learners. Spending time at the schools helped expose both South Africans and Americans to a new culture that each grew and benefited from.

“[Having white American students at Thathani Primary School has] also been a learning experience on our part because we’ve been separated for too long for no reason,” Thathani Principal Zoli Zwane said. “I’ve learned [they] are just normal, ordinary people who are a creation of God. It has changed my attitude of white people.”

The short two weeks provided the Dad Fund interns with enough time to bond with “their kids” and make it difficult to leave. As hard as it was to say goodbye, the experience was well worth their time and effort.

“I got the opportunity to see how kids here interact and I got to learn from them what they think about America,” Zaira Perez, a 20 year-old global management major at Sierra Nevada College, said.

“My favorite part [of visiting Tshilidzi Primary School] was knowing I made an impact, knowing I changed the mentality of at least one student into believing they could become something bigger than what they thought they originally could be.”

Dad Fund is a non-profit organization that promotes the holistic development of South Africa’s future leaders through the head, hand and heart. We believe that education and support is the key to keeping young men and women focused on attending college and leading successful lives. Since 2003, Dad Fund has provided local bursaries, internship placements, entrepreneurship programs, international scholarships and community projects to youth worldwide.