“The many affectionate encounters with impressive people (adults and kids) in the township are a great experience.”

Daniel has been a volunteer at “PLAY HANDBALL ZA” in Cape Town, Lavender Hill, for one month. In the so-called Cape Flats he helps in four primary schools Levana, Hillwood, Zerilda Park and Prince George as a handball coach. He supports our coach La-Toyah and the organization Learning-in-Reach to introduce handball as part of the Game Changer program.

PLAY HANDBALL: Why is handball important for you and what did it gave/ gives you?

Daniel: Handball was a very important part of my life during my teenage years. I see sports in general as a school for life, e.g. you can experience success and failure shortly after each other and can learn to handle it.

PLAY HANDBALL: How did you heard about PLAY HANDBALL ZA?

Daniel: It was on Handball-world.com, where I read some articles about the organization.

PLAY HANDBALL: Why did you decided to become a Handball Volunteer in South Africa?

Daniel: Therefor I have a lot of reasons. Do something meaningful; try to help, experience a different culture or personal growth.

PLAY HANDBALL: How long have you been now a handball volunteer in South Africa?

Daniel: So far I’m here for a month and I will stay till the end of May.

PLAY HANDBALL: Tell us something about your volunteer experience so far.

Daniel: The first month was more or less to get used to the new environment.

PLAY HANDBALL: What was the most memorable experience?

Daniel: The gratefulness, the appreciation and the respect for the work in the community is a very nice experience.

PLAY HANDBALL: What was the greatest challenge until now?

Daniel: The violence in the community is definitely something that is totally different to what I was used.

PLAY HANDBALL: How do you experience the handball coaching at school/ community?

Daniel: The kids in the schools love to play sports and being active.

PLAY HANDBALL: Do you think your work has an impact?

Daniel: I first had to get used to the concentration limits of the children, but over time the training has a positive influence on their ability to concentrate.

PLAY HANDBALL: How is the life with a local South African host family?

Daniel: They take great care of me and they’re spoiling me with all the good food. We also have less and less cultural misunderstandings My personality or habits are very different: for example I’m a calm person and I’m a vegetarian, that’s not very typical for South Africa.