Cape Town Aground: My International Internship Experience Amidst COVID-19
By: Kyra Caral
Tags: Internship, South Africa, Cape Town, Lockdown

Cape Town Aground: My International Internship Experience Amidst COVID-19

MONDAY

On the first Monday following my arrival in South Africa, I began a truncated version of VACorps’ orientation. I walked along Observatory and found my way to the designated meeting point- a coffee shop along Lower Main Road. It was there I met Tom, an Australian in the program who’d arrived in the country the day before.

Kholi- our guide- met up with us at 10 AM sharp, and we began our walking tour. We walked around the Observatory district and got introduced to the city’s public transportation system. Throughout the tour, Tom and I chatted about our plans. He’d planned to do a physiology internship for a three month stint, that would follow a similar timeline to my own. We ended the day with lunch at a mall, where we got local sim cards and phone plans, and did a bit more grocery shopping. The store was packed, and the aisles where bare. We got into a conversation with a local brother-sister pair attending Cape Town University, and joked about the lack of toilet paper on the shelves. After checking out our purchases and commuting back, Tom helped me with my groceries while we talked excitedly about our itinerary for the next day of orientation.

TUESDAY

Tuesday got off to a bad start. I arrived at VACorps office 10 minutes past call time with apologies for my tardiness on my lips, before I was struck by the shift in the office’s atmosphere. The mood in the office was somber, and the people were all bustling around. Tom had spent most of the night on the phone with his mum. Due to the coronavirus lockdown announcement made over the weekend, he was made to fly back home by the end of the week. I felt really bad for the guy- he’d arrived on Sunday hyped for a three month internship, and his plans were cut brutally short. Then I was informed that almost all interns in our intern program would be flying home.

Needless to say, our original schedule was thrown out the window. Tom and I said our goodbyes- since he only had a few days left now, he said he needed to make the most of them- and I stewed in my thoughts in the conference room before I was ushered out with Kholi for the rest of my tour.

We made our way to the historical part of town, where she guided me into a sizable food court that specialized in Eastern cuisine. I got a deliciously cheap, generous heaping of curry, big enough to feed a family of three. We sat at a table on the second floor, making small talk over lunch near a balcony overlooking a busy road.

A dismal mood had settled over our party of two. Kholi had been thrown off her cheerful rhythm, now visibly worried and distraught over what the oncoming lockdown would mean for her job and her kids. As the sole focus of Kholi’s attention, I was feeling Tom’s absence keenly.

Kholi dropped me off with another tour guide, who took me on a tour of historical Cape Town. At the end of it, we stopped at an open air market. At the time, I’d decided against buying any of the goods that caught my eye, thinking I’d have more time to get something at a later date. In hindsight, I really wish I’d just gotten the chess set and the figurines I’d wanted.

Walking through town.

Art for sale.

Open-air market.

WEDNESDAY

On Wednesday, I was accompanied to a hospital. I sat in a waiting room and filled out forms, intent on consulting a doctor and (hopefully) a coronavirus test. When I was called to her office, I was told that they were reserving tests for people showing symptoms of sickness. Since I had none, the doctor advised that I call her the second I start displaying anything. As a recent arrival in the country, I could get one right away.

She also said that as a recent arrival, I’d have to self isolate for the next two weeks. I agreed, thus cutting my orientation week short.