The pair is part of a total of eight students who chose to complete their internship outside of Belgium. Upon returning to their home country, they will be expected to hand in an extensive assignment detailing what they have learnt in the time they spent doing the internship.
Elisa Vanderwegen, Prof. Ansie Fouché and Paulien Heylen.
“We learn so much more than just social work principles and practice,” says Elisa, “we learn about the culture and about ourselves.” The internship is part of the third year curriculum that Paulien and Elisa are doing at KU Leuven. To practice as a professional Social Worker in Belgium, they need to complete a three year practical diploma course, with a distinct vocational focus. Students who choose to follow the degree course, do so with the prospect of a career in academia in mind.
In the time that the students have spent with Child Welfare so far, they have seen the organisation work with families and foster care groups, but they are well aware of the fact that the South African context brings many more challenges: drug-use, poverty, gangsterism and abuse - to name but a few. “The gap between the poor and the rich is a lot smaller in Belgium,” Elisa comments. Paulien adds that there are a lot less homeless people in Belgium and that they are mostly found in the big cities. The challenges that Social Workers in South Africa face, are also found in Belgium, but to a far lesser extent. The typical Social Worker in Belgium is kept busy dealing with more psychological problems such as depression, and work pressure which impacts family life extensively in their milieu.
The two students are very excited about their time in South Africa. Except for learning, they also plan to travel the country. They both speak Flemish, which is a language very closely related to Afrikaans. They are in agreement over how accommodating and friendly they find South Africans.
