I have to say GOOD BYE...

Dear blog reader,

after 6 month as an intern with Cape Windjammers Education Trust, unfortunately I have to say good bye. My internship is over now and I have to go back to Germany to finish my study in media management and write my master thesis.

I had a great time in SA - to write and create e.g. the blog for team SA and to be with them throughout the whole selection, preparation and follow up process was a rewarding and enriching experience that will stay with me.

It was so nice to meet Sarah, Belinda, Daphné, Sakhe, Valentino, Theo, Kelvin, Nonkanyiso, Thandikhaya and Marlon. You all have such great enthusiasm, power and grooves :) ... don't give up and believe in yourself.

In German there is a saying: "Man sieht sich immer zweimal im Leben!" That means, you will meet a person twice in life...and who knows what happend! :)

Take care and much love,
Anja

Amazing - what a wonderful homecoming celebration!

On Tuesday 4 September 2007 Cape Windjammers Education Trust organized in cooperation with False Bay College/Westlake Campus a homecoming celebration for team SA. Many donors, local stakeholders, friends, familiy members of the team and of course the back up team joined Belinda, Daphné and Sarah through the evening.


Certainly you will know what happend during this celebration?

Well Patrick Fraser, the Chairperson of the South African Sail Training Initiative, gave a short introduction speech to the audience explaining the background of this project. He was followed by Antje Nahnsen, the Programme Coordinator of Cape Windjammers Education Trust, sharing more details about the selection and prepartion process of the team.



And then surprise surprise - the electricity was gone. Nobody knows why that happend, but after a couple of minutes and the help of the staff from False Bay College, the electricity was back and a video about the Tall Ship's Races was presented. Very special about the video is that the footage was taken solely by the team members and we congratulate them on a brilliant job done! The editing of the video was done by Cape Windjammers Education Trust with the help of Ulf Kaschl and German actor Daniel Krauss. To both of you a big THANK YOU - we could not have done without you. The audience and especially the team members were inspired, because they saw the video for the first time.

After the video presentation the team spoke about their experience during the race and what they learned during the trip. Dennis Stevenson, the president of Cape Windjammers Education Trust, then handed over certificates to team members honouring their achievments.



And then it was time to give space for the back up team to raise their voice: while having trained hard to be on the team they did not make it into the final team - this year that is. Sakhekile Qoyi on behalf of the back up team appealed to the audience to come on board and to support them to raise funds for a new team to join the Tall Ship's Races 2008.



As a kick off for that a raffle was running, to collect start up funds.



Throughout the whole evening the web blog and a slideshow were running on all computers in the Open learning Centre to inform the audience what the project was all about.



The event was lots of fun and we hope that lots of potential donors and supporters were inspired! Big thanks go to:

Karen Hendriks - False Bay College/Westlake Campus for facilitating the use of the venue
Jeanne Bonnema - False Bay College/Westlake Campus for helping us to set up the event
Daniel Krauss and Ulf Kaschl - friends of Cape Windjammers Education Trust, who supported us to edit the footage of the team
Family members and team SA - for preparing food for the event

THANK YOU TO MAKE THIS HOMECOMING CELEBRATION HAPPEN!

Words from Team SA about the Race...

"My highlight was climbing the mast. It was so great for me, because while I was climbing, I felt I could overcome everything and I could achieve everything only if I worked hard on it!"
Belinda Mabilwana, 21, Langa

"When you are up there on the mast, you feel you are on top of the world!" Daphné Jacobs, 17, Ocean View

"This trip has been so much more than I ever imagined, the experience on the open sea has surpassed my wildest imagination. A feeling of freedom, of utopia, of real paradise!" Sarah Enticott, 22, Constantia

"It is a very liberating thing, a very exciting and emotional privilege that I can be here, it's really cool!" Bettina Kabutz, 26, Bantry Bay

Our sincerest thanks to all who made this initiative possible! In particular the team thanks:
Sailtraining International, UK; At Sea Sail Training, Netherlands; MSC Foundation for Youth; Kathy Ackerman Robins and David Robins/ The Ackerman Family Foundation; Gill Jensen; Ian Gelderblom; Sanna Räisänen and friends; Tanja Vollperg; Jeremy Bagshaw/Penny Pinchers; Sarum Engineering; Manex Marine; Design Ahead Productions

Please join the team for the "Homecoming Celebration" on Tuesday, 4 September 2007 at False Bay College, Westlake Campus! For more information contact Anja: cwet.volunteer@gmail.com

Team SA is back from the Tall Ships' Race 2007

On Tuesday at 21.27pm - the KLM plane has landed: the girls Belinda, Daphné and Sarah-Leigh arrived at the Cape Town airport. There was a huge welcome committee to greet the girls - familiy, friends and the members of Cape Windjammers Education Trust as well as Izivunguvungu MSC-Foundation for youth. All were very happy to see each other and many hugs and kisses were exchanged.


Next weekend there will be a follow-up workshop for the team SA. In this workshop the girls will report back from the race and tell us and the back up team what they have experienced. Watch this space to read what they have to say! The next important date, which you have diarize is the 4th September. This will be your opportunity to meet the team and to hear and see it all yourself - the team will give a report back to the public about the race and their experience. There will be lots of pictures to see and lots of stories to be told. The event will be on the premises of the False Bay College/Boat Building Academy. Watch this space for more details or contact Anja at cwet.volunteer@gmail.com.

Team South Africa in Helsinki and Kotka

On Thursday around 5pm Sarah, Belinda and Daphne arrived to Helsinki airport where Bettina was to meet them. I met them all at the bus station and carrying the luggage through the city we made it to the hotel!!

On Thursday we wandered around the city a bit and had a lovely dinner in a little Chinese restaurant and then it was time for bed. 11pm and still light outside, the girls could not believe it.

Friday morning we took a stroll around the Kauppatori market where we were amused by the Finnish fur hats and circus woman with cats and a poodle and also bought some little souvenirs. After that headed to the bus station to get our luggage and buy some lunch before it was time for our bus to Kotka!!

When we arrived to sunny Kotka there was someone to meet us at the bus station and we got a lift to the harbour where the magnificent sight of hundreds of mast was waiting. Europe was still open for public for another hour so we left the bags on boards and went to have a look of the world biggest tall ship, the Russian ship Sedov, impressive. 5pm we could board on Europa. After all the signing in there was little bit of time to practise the gumboot dance and chat before the dinner was ready and it was my time to leave back to Helsinki. I wish I would have a place on Europa too, it looked like there was really nice crew and the girls will have an awesome adventure ahead!!

After all the planning and preparation it was great to see the team South Africa on board of Europa in Kotka.I’ve been so glad to be part of all this. All the best for their journey on Baltic ocean!!

Sanna, CWET volunteer 2006

The Race starts - Team SA leaving Cape Town yesterday

It's done. Team SA left Cape Town to join the Tall Ships' Races in the Baltic Sea. Yesterday evening at 23.25 pm, the girls set off to Helsinki, Finland via Amsterdam, Netherlands. In Helsinki they will meet Bettina Kabutz, their fourth team member and Sanna Räisänen from Finland. Sanna has been a Cape Windjammers volunteer in 2006 and is since addicted to the idea to Tall Ship Sailing. She will show the team around Helsinki and tomorrow she will travel together with the team to Kotka, where team SA will embark on the Europa to start the Tall Ships' Race. What an excitement amongst the girls at the airport. Family and friends as well as the co-ordinating team of the Sail Training International South African Initiative made their way to the airport to wave the girls "Good bye"!



The last few days were still full of excitement …! Tuesday between 13:05 and 13:30 the team was at the SABC3 studios in Sea Point to tell their story live on air in the SAfm program "Otherwise". Rather nerve wrecking was to wait for the passports of the girls to be sent back from the Polish Embassy in Pretoria. Some system error at DHL had caused a delay upsetting all of us and the whole of DHL. Eventually it was the commitment of some individual DHL staff members who made it happen that the passports arrived in Cape Town late at night.

And then, we were all rewarded with a generous donation from the Ackerman family covering the remaining costs of one team member! Thank you so much!!

Now it is up to you girls to make this voyage a success. Enjoy it! We can’t wait to hear from you!

Follow the team on their voyage on http://www.barkeuropa.com/ and click on Follow the ship and Logbook. Find out where Belinda, Daphné, Sarah-Leigh, Bettina and the ship they are crewing on are in the race.

The team will be back on 7 August, 21:35 pm. After a few days of settling in there will be a follow up workshop in Cape Windjammers offices. Furthermore there will be a “Welcome back event” at the False Bay College on 4 September. You see, the STISAI team is still busy :-)

"Girls, keep it up, have fun and proudly represent SA!"

Last Workshop - Everyone is excited

Excitement is mounting as we organise the final things for our depature next week. We met at 10.30am at Cape Windjammers offices in Woodstock and quickly set to work on what we wanted to share about South Africa. We then talked about the traveling involved once we leave Cape Town, what to pack for our adventure and what to expect. Everyone is very excited! We were lucky enough to get warm fleece tops sponsored by Sarum Engineering,hats sponserd by Design Ahead and super practical sailing knifes by Manex Marine.
Thank you very much to them.

Sarah-Leigh Enticott, 14.07.2007

Preparation Weekend Sunday - Never take, what you see, is what you get

Sunday morning, meeting again at the Cape Windjammers offices for the 2nd last time. On the 18th the girls will be leaving for the Tall Ships' Race in Europe. Since most of the participants, who will be taking part on the race never set their foot "eMzansi" - in all the home areas of the team like Langa, Gugulethu, Khayelitsha, Ocean View, Constantia and Sea Point. So what we are decided was to make a tour around our communities just to give all of us a glance of where we are coming from as South Africans.


And the other main objective was to clear the stereotypes that we had of these communities. I can say most of us believed in things which we didn't know whether they are true or not. So Sunday was pretty different, because we went straight to the spots where the smoke was coming from and we kind of realised how huge were the flames. And we actually saw that some of our stereotypes they can be true and some they can be not. "Never take them as the way they are approaching you.

" Never take "What you see is, what you get."

Sakhekile Qoyi, 13.07.2007







Sea Point; Ocean View; Constantia-Wynberg; Khayelitsha; Gugulethu and Langa

It's final now: Team SA is an all girls Team!

All week long we had hoped to still get the passports for Sakhe and Theo, but unfortunately the passports have still not arrived and their opportunity to be part of Team SA going to Tall Ship's Race in the Baltic Sea has gone. For this year that is.

But Sakhe and Theo please don't be too sad, you have done very well in the whole process and you impressed us so much. We are sure there is another chance to send you to the Tall Ship's Races next year.

So we decided that Bettina, who signed up as a mentor for the trip, will move up to the team as fourth team mate. Bettina will now have a double role in the race as a team member in the watches on board and as a mentor who supports the Europa crew to facilitate the youth exchange activities.

The final Team:
Daphné Jacobs from Ocean View, Sarah-Leigh Enticott from Constantia, Bettina Kabutz from Sea Point and Belinda Mabilwana from Langa.

And to all of you reading this blog: we need still sponsorships so that the team can represent South Africa in an impressive way (team clothes, costumes for the harbour days etc.). So please spread the message! Don't hesitate to contact us (antje@capewindjammers.org) or click here for a quick donate.

Preparation Weekend Saturday - Izandla Ziyagezana

Hi everyone,
we as team SA are gathered together on Saturday the 7 July 2007 in Woodstock in the CWET offices. Today we focused on preparing different games so that other youth in the boat can learn from us. Firstly, we played introduction games to get to know each other. We decided for a game calling "Tomorrow" where one person will go inside of a circle and will say three special things about him or herself. The others outside the circle will clap their hands and sing. The second game, which we decided calls "Jigga". In this game everyone will get the chance to dance in a circle and show how special he or she can move. Again everyone else will sing and clap their hands to give the rhythm.


Furthermore we thought of a language game, lolympic game and as well as a country game. For the country game we had to think of 35 questions covering areas of knowledge such as Geography, History and Politics, Entertainment, Arts and Culture and Sports. We also discussed the outfits that will represent South Africa during the harbour days and the last dinner on board and what we and other youth on board can do to raise some more funds during harbour days. Sakhe suggested the Gum Boot Dance and thaught us how to do it. At the end of the day we also discussed stereotypes about our communities and South Africa as a whole, which prepared us for the next day and also for a game that we will play on board. Read more about this challenging task in the next blog entry!

"Enkosi kakhulu izandla ziyagezana!" - (Thanks very much a hand washes another!)

Belinda Mabilwana, 07.07.2007

Wanted: 100 Sponsorships @ 500 Rand for the Team SA!

What a nervewrecking week!
But it is as it is: The public strike, which took about a month, has thrown a monkey wrench into our plans. Two team members, Theo Braaf and Sakhekile Qoyi, had applied for passports but while the skeleton staff did the best to approve the passports, it was then the printing machine that failed us - it broke and because of the strike there was nobody to fix it...

So our hands were tied and we had to book the flights for the team and to start the process to apply for the two different visas required for the voyage.

We now booked 3 flights to Europe - the first one is for Belinda Mabilwana, the second one is for Daphné Jacobs, and the third is for Sarah-Leigh Enticott, the back-up team member, who will take the place of one the original team members.

Though sad for Theo and Sakhe we congratulate Sarah for moving up into the first team. You have done very well throughout the process and you well deserve this spot!

There still is a slight chance to get the passports for Theo and Sakhe this week, but that means: the flights will be much more expensive!
So if you still want to give Sakhe or Theo the chance to go, we need your HELP! Support us with 100 Sponsorships @ 500 Rand each and the team can be complete!

Give Team SA a chance to present South Africa during the Tall Ship's Race and allow disadvantaged youth , who have worked so hard to be on the team to have this life-changing experience !

Click here for a quick donate, we need 100 people, who each give 500 Rand!
That button links you to the Greater Good SA website, which offers an online donation facility! Please use 'Tall Ship Race' as a reference!

Yippie, we found a mentor for the Team SA!

In the last week we were busy to to look for a mentor for the Team SA - and we were successful!

Bettina Kabutz, 26, from Sea Point, Cape Town will join the team on their trip. Bettina is THE perfect mentor. She studied psychology at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and has ample experience in youth work. She is a founding member of the Trinity International Project, where one of the team members is recruited from. Currently Bettina is on a sabbatical year in the UK. But that dosen't keep her from supporting youth work in South Africa and to be part of such an exciting project.

Thank you Bettina for your support and commitment! We are looking forward to working with you! Keep up the good work!

Join Team SA to Europe!

Just 31 days till Team SA will leave for Europe and the exitment rises.

For the rest of the month of June team members are busy doing their own fundraising and of course for those in school focusing on midyear exams. During this time team members are also asked to come to Cape Windjammers offices to get their own email address to do some individual tasks in preparation of the Tall Ships Race and to receive a personal feedback on how they have performed thus far in the process.

In the meantime, we are still looking for additional sponsorships for the team as well as for a self paid mentor, who will join the Team SA on their trip to Europe. The mentor will help the team to represent South Africa during the voyage and us to document the voyage and its impact on the youth.

Ever dreamed to be a "Pirate of the Carribean" and step into the footprints of Jonny Deep? This is your chance! Become a member of the national Team!

Contact us now for both mentoring and sponsorship opportunities:

pfraser@iafrica.com or
antje@capewindjammers.org

Or click here for a quick donate:
That button links you to the Greater Good SA website, which offers an online donation facility. Please use 'Tall Ships Race' as a reference!

3. Preparation Workshop - Besingazi Ngokusiyazi

We had an adventurous day today!
It was somewhat of a knowledge cram. Thanks to Ulf Kaschl (visitor of Germany and biology teacher, who already visited us two weeks ago) for imparting his knowledge on ocean currents and marine life, particular in South Africa.

We adventured out to Granger Bay Beach looking at Kelp and other animals that live in the sea, but also at waste and litter spoiling Cape Town's precious coastal enviroments. Did you know that a turtle dies when it confuses a plastic bag with a jelly fish?

Furthermore we made our way to the Two Oceans Aquarium (www.aquarium.co.za) where we went around looking at the different creatures and also talked about the Great White Shark - its behaviour, habitat and its supposed danger to human life (here you find more information on the Great White Shark www.whitesharktrust.org). We also witnessed the feeding of the fish predators at 3 p.m.


Cherish every opportunity you get in life.
"Besingazi Ngokusiyazi." - (We never knew, now we know.)

Sakhe and Sarah, 09.06.2007

Our sincerest thanks to the Two Oceans Aquarium for sponsoring this visit! This was a great opportunity for the Team SA to come in close touch with Cape Town's underwater world. Keep up the good work! Very special thanks also to Ulf Kaschl, Biology teacher at the State School for Gifted Children in Schwaebisch Gmuend, Germany (www.lgh-gmuend.de) for preparing this sessions! It was a great pleasure working with you - come back soon!

2. Preparation Workshop - Alles is nog duidelik!

Today we met at the Cape Windjammers offices in Woodstock. 'We' as Team SA were there (incl. the back up team) and we had another guest, Saira Dittrich (a visitor to SA from Germany and a friend of the CWET team).

We practiced interaction games - the game we found most attractive is 'Tomorrow' in Xhosa 'uNgomso'. Furthermore we collected more information on the Tall Ships' Race to practice our presentation for fundraising e.g. at radio stations. Saira acted as a radio DJ! We also had a report back of the tasks that had to be done by each team member for the fundraising. At the end of the day we got more input on blog and logbook writing - and as you can see we are also practicing it. This workshop prepared us for life aboard the Europa.
"Alles is nog duidelik!" - (Everything is still going well!)

Theo and Daphné, 02.06.2007

1. Preparation Session - Uxolo Malube Nani

Last Saturday the series of preparation workshops started for the SA Team. All canditates (including the back up team) met at Cape Windjammers offices in the morning. They got a short introduction in blog writing and as from now it will be their task to continue this blog reporting about the activities during the preparation sessions as well as when sailing aboard the Europa. Below find the first entry. Check it out and see how writing skills are improving.

Today we got to know a bit more about each others background. We discussed the differnet places where we live and what the history of these places is. We also did our planning for fundraising and we discussed how we are going to approach the people who will sponsor us and what we going to do in return for them. We got to know about the 8 different countries sailing with us, what their capitals are and what languages they speak. We got the chance to meet Mr. Ulf Kaschl (biology teacher) who is a visitor from Germany and is going to be with us for a couple of weeks and he gave us as homework to read a paper on the Cape's Marine Ecology.
"Uxolo Malube Nani" - (Peace be with you)

Belinda and Thandikhaya, 26.05.2007

Preparation Weekend for the 8 European Countries in Amsterdam

Not only the South African Team gets ready for the Cultural Exchange Program aboard the Dutch Barque Europa. Also the other teams of the 8 European countries - Belgium, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden and UK - get ready for this exciting sail-training voyage in the Baltic Sea.

Last weekend (11th - 13th May) the representatives of the European countries met in Amsterdam to start their preparation. They had a tough program during these three days: Amongst others they played introduction games to get to know each other, they had an introduction into public realations by Gert Tetteroo, a journalist and they also got a presentation of trainees, who have sailed on the Barque Europa before. Furthermore all groups made a list of the preparations to be done per person and country.

5. Selection Workshop - Final Interview and Announcement of Team SA

Yesterday was the big day. After 6 weeks of assessment the 10 candidates had a final chance to prove themselves in a final interview as a worthy member of the team SA. What a difficult choice to make as all 10 candidates impressed us with their enthusiasm and commitment for this project! And what a spark in the air when the announcemnt was made. We have now a team of 4 with one reserve, and a back up team. All ten will now go through a preparation process with the back up team supporting the Team SA in all their efforts to proudly represent South Africa during the international youth exchange. The first project is fundraising to cover some of the remaining costs - watch this space!

The South Africa Team with the team of
Sail Training International South African Initiative

From left: Patrick Fraser (Chairman of the Sail Training International South African Initiative), Dennis Stevenson (President of Cape Windjammers Education Trust), Theo Braaf (Team SA), Daphné Jacobs (Team SA), Belinda Mabilwana (Team SA), Sarah-Leigh Enticott (SA reserve team member), Sakhekile Qoyi (Team SA), Antje Nahnsen (Program co-ordinator of Cape Windjammers Education Trust), Matthew Mentz (Managing Director of Izivunguvungu-MSC Foundation for youth), Anja Steting (Volunteer communication-program of Cape Windjammers Education Trust), Alexander Allavena (Volunteer-Program co-ordinator of Cape Windjammers Education Trust)

4. Selection Workshop - Amazing Race

The 4th selection workshop took place on 1 May 2007 in Cape Town. This time we organized an Amazing Race assessing their knowledge about Cape Town, their sense of orientation, creativity and team work. The candidates were split in different teams and had to find their way through Cape Town to solve different tasks. Back at the office their solutions were discussed while having a delicious cake prepared by Anja, one of Cape Windjammers current volunteers.