7
International Leadership Seminar for State Officers, National FFA Organization South Africa 2014 An Experience of a Lifetime “We celebrate this day, today, because we know some did not live to see it.” January 3-14 Learning to Do, Doing to Learn, Earning to Live, Living to Serve More inside! At a crocodile farm on our last day in South Africa, there were several turtles that were just lying around the property. They had no problem being picked up and posing for a picture! Summis: Pg. 2 When I first signed up for the International Leadership Seminar for State Officers (ILSSO) to South Africa in early August, I was obviously very excited to take advantage of such a great opportunity. It never really hit me that I was going to South Africa until we were on the flight there for 16 hours. The experience itself was amazing, but again I wasn’t truly immersed into the culture of South Africa until we were in the middle of an impoverished neighborhood in Soweto. Kliptown was truly an inspirational community of thousands of citizens. The experience that our group had in Kliptown forever changed us.

Brandon's ILSSO Newsletter

  • Upload
    mnffa

  • View
    215

  • Download
    0

Embed Size (px)

DESCRIPTION

International Leadership Seminar for State Officers - South Africa 2014 was a ten day trip from January 3-14 learning about the agriculture of South Africa through tours of farms and agricultural facilities. It was also a chance to learn about the culture of South Africa and some serious challenges facing their society. Here is a look at each day of the trip through a picture and short summary of the day. More information for Brandon's online journal can also be found inside the newsletter. See what our daily adventures were like in South Africa!

Citation preview

Page 1: Brandon's ILSSO Newsletter

International Leadership Seminar for State Officers, National FFA Organization

South Africa 2014

An Experience of a Lifetime

“We celebrate this day, today, because we know some did not live to see it.”

January 3-14 Learning to Do, Doing to Learn, Earning to Live, Living to Serve

More inside!

At a crocodile farm on our last day in South Africa, there were

several turtles that were just lying around the property. They had no problem being picked up

and posing for a picture!

Summis:

Pg. 2

When I first signed up for the International Leadership

Seminar for State Officers (ILSSO) to South Africa in

early August, I was obviously very excited to take

advantage of such a great opportunity. It never really hit

me that I was going to South Africa until we were on

the flight there for 16 hours.

The experience itself was amazing, but again I wasn’t

truly immersed into the culture of South Africa until we

were in the middle of an impoverished neighborhood in

Soweto. Kliptown was truly an

inspirational community of

thousands of citizens. The

experience that our group had in

Kliptown forever changed us.

Page 2: Brandon's ILSSO Newsletter

2

We heard the quote twice in the same day.

“We celebrate this day, today, because we

know some did not live to see it.” Sabina

Khoza said it when she told to us about the free

education her students receive and how she has taken

several students under her wing that are orphaned because

of HIV/AIDS. Our group heard the quote for the second

time that day at Kliptown when Thulani Madondo, named

one of CNN’s Top 10 Heroes, spoke of their community.

When several men in the community gave a performance

for us of singing and dancing, I constantly pondered why

they were not on The X Factor or America’s Got Talent.

That’s when I realized the difference between opportunity

in the United States and South Africa. There is none in

South Africa for those who are living at the bottom. They

could be celebrities in the United States, but they don’t

have the opportunity to make it big.

So now the question is, how can I share the message of the

Kliptown community? How do I share my newfound

knowledge of agriculture? How do I celebrate what I have

and help others appreciate what they have as well? How do

I give opportunity to the people in this community even

when I am 9500 miles away? Right now, I don’t know.

But, I can share what I have learned, and possibly, inspire

others to make a change as well.

Welcome to South Africa-- South Africa is a beautiful country filled with beautiful culture. There are definitely a lot more places that we wish were possible to visit, but that just might be motivation for us to come back and visit the country again. This newsletter will provide you with a daily highlight picture and caption to briefly describe some of the things that I captured in South Africa. Keep watch for information on a presentation that will be happening in the next month or two about my experiences! You can read my online journal at http://bit.ly/1hyA9Hx for a full summary of the adventures I had in South Africa. The journal takes you through my reflection after each day, so you can see what was happening one day at a time.

So, what’s the point? The point of this newsletter is to share what I learned. I didn’t just have an eye-opening experience about the way people live in South Africa. I also learned about the different goods produced in their country and the production methods used. One of the biggest similarities, but yet still a difference, is the use of technology. For example, the process of sending grain through a grain elevator in South Africa is exactly the same as the United States. However, the testing of a sample is all done by hand, which is more commonly done by mechanism in the United States. Here’s your chance to learn about agriculture and culture in South Africa, and maybe you’ll be inspired to take a visit to see the similarities and differences for yourself.

cont.

Page 3: Brandon's ILSSO Newsletter

3

Special Feature: Picture of the Day

The first full day of our South African adventure

started with a trip to the Tshwane Produce Market in

Pretoria. “Tshwane” is a new name for the city of

Pretoria that is becoming more popular in South

Africa, similar to how New Amsterdam eventually

changed its name to New York City a couple

centuries ago.

We then visited a Sakata tomato seed facility and had

lunch on a nearby private safari ranch. I even had the

opportunity to take a picture with a few giraffes and a

couple of zebras! After lunch, we received a brief tour

of a seed processing facility that is owned by Sakata

and then headed to Pretoria for a short city tour.

During the tour, we had the chance to see a very

recently erected statue of Nelson Mandela and show

our respect for his life’s work.

Sunday, Jan 5th The only thing we did on our first night in South

Africa is go out for supper. Many of us were

exhausted from sitting on a plane for 16 hours! I

had a smoked salmon appetizer, seafood platter

(pictured above), and a small glass of ice cream for

supper. For each meal, I always made sure I was

not drinking tap water. South Africa is one of only

seven countries in the world that filters their water,

but I did not want to take any risks because I had

not gotten any immunizations.

I always drank liquids that were pre-bottled, and I

even managed to not drink a single can of pop

during the entire trip. I did, however, try sparkling

water. I quickly figured out that I am just a normal

water drinker! They call bottled water in South

Africa, “still water.” It took me a couple of failed

attempts to figure that out at supper on our first

night when I asked for bottled water.

The first two nights we stayed in a very nice hotel

in Pretoria. It was easy to draw comparisons

between the hotel industries in the United States

and South Africa. It was easy to see many

similarities to the United States on the first day, but

as the trip continued, many stark differences

appeared in South Africa.

Monday, Jan 6th

Page 4: Brandon's ILSSO Newsletter

4

Our next day of adventures in South Africa, we went

to Senwes in Klerksdorp. Senwes has formed a

partnership with Bunge, who happened to be one of

the major supporters of our FFA group. Senwes and

Bunge are currently developing grain and oilseed

operations for farmers that supply the country’s market

and export goods to other countries in South Africa. It

was a good chance for our group to show appreciation

for Bunge’s support and learn more about Senwes.

After our trip to Senwes’s headquarters in South

Africa, our group split into three smaller groups to visit

a Bonsmara cattle operation and a grain elevator.

Wednesday, Jan 8th

Tuesday, Jan 7th

Our small group first stopped at the Bonsmara cattle

farm, which had nearly 5,000 head of cattle – a large

portion of the 120,000 Bonsmara cattle in the entire

country. In South Africa, most bulls are not castrated

because the beef cattle are butchered young enough so

that it does not make a difference in the meat quality.

We stopped at a grain elevator after the cattle farm.

The mechanisms and processes of the grain elevator

were very similar to the U.S., but there was about a

ten-year gap in technological methods. After the visits

were over, we headed back to Senwes for a large group

picture!

We started out this very sunny day with a stop at a feedlot

of over 26,000 cattle. Over 50% of the cattle were a

crossbred of Brahma, which is a beef breed that is

commonly used in dry, arid climates. The operation was

one of the largest in South Africa, but the biggest feedlot in

South Africa has nearly 125,000 head of cattle!

After the feedlot, we visited an Ayrshire dairy farm of about

500 milking cows. A dairy nutritionist at the farm and an

Ayrshire breed expert informed us about the operation and

the dairy industry in South Africa. They even informed us

about a recently developed enzyme that turns lactose into

glucose for those cannot drink milk because of lactose

allergies.

We enjoyed lunch on a nearby safari reservation ranch and

then made our way back to Johannesburg to visit a John

Deere parts distribution warehouse. Before we arrived, we

had to stop at the hotel we stayed at the night before, and as

we were leaving, our bus hit a car! (Don’t worry; it wasn’t

our fault.) We made it to the dealership on time, which was

an exact replica of any John Deere warehouse in the world,

including the United States – a little taste of home away

from home.

Page 5: Brandon's ILSSO Newsletter

5

Thursday, Jan 9th

Friday, Jan 10th

Early in the morning, a large part of group woke up to watch the

sunrise over the mountains. The game reserve was beautiful, and I

would compare it to a cabin resort in Minnesota, except with a safari

theme. The sunrise made me think of home a little bit and how the

sunrise is the same anywhere in the world, even in South Africa.

Our group’s day started with a tour at a citrus farm with 1000 acres

of lemon, orange, and grapefruit trees. We were surprised to

discover that some of their trees were bearing fruit after two years of

age because in the United States, fruit trees don’t typically bear

edible fruit until at least six years of age. Our group then toured their

packaging facilities and walked through the entire process from the

production of limes to the final packaged product.

We spent the rest of the afternoon at Kruger National Park, the first

proclaimed park of South Africa in 1926. We traveled by coach bus

through the park reserve and saw several wild animals including

lions, elephants, giraffes, rhinos, bamboo monkeys, wildebeests, and

more animals. After the park tour, we traveled to a country lodge to

stay the night at. There we enjoyed another cultural meal filled with

good food, as well as lots of dancing and singing from some of the

local people.

One early breakfast in the morning and we were on our way to

the CSIR International Convention Centre to meet with a few

agricultural ambassadors from the United States embassy, who

briefed us on what the Foreign Agricultural Service is doing in

the South Africa and what the trade relationship is with the

United States. South Africa’s agriculture is constantly improving

with higher outputs, record high exports, and increasing imports.

After our visit, we traveled to a first-generation farm to see

agriculture in action. The farmer owned 42,000 acres of land for

gain and livestock on pieces of land that were nearly 60 miles

away from the center of his operation. That would be similar to

driving across the entire metropolitan area in Minnesota to reach

the edge of his farmland.

After our experiences on the farm, we enjoyed lunch on the farm

in his wife’s home restaurant before driving to small village called

Ohrigstad in the very mountainous region of South Africa. We

stayed on a private game reserve with a special sable project,

went on a safari in an open cart to see some wild animals, and

finished the night by participating in a traditional “boma” dinner

of food, dancing, singing, and other festivities.

Page 6: Brandon's ILSSO Newsletter

6

The last full day of our trip was by far the best day out of

all of them. The experiences I gained in this day were very

valuable and things that have forever changed my life. I

highly recommend reading my journal from South Africa

at: bit.ly/1hyA9Hx to read about my full experiences.

Our morning started with a visit to Sabina Khoza’s

agricultural training centre for local people near Soweto.

Sabina was named Female Farmer of the Year in 2004,

and her centre produces 200,000 broilers each year and

houses 175,000 laying hens.

Saturday, Jan 11th

Today was our day of sightseeing and soaking in the

beauty of South Africa. We started a long bus ride back

to Pretoria and along the way made stops to see some of

the sights in the mountainous regions. We visited

Elizabeth Falls, the Blyde River Canyon (pictured

above), and Bourke’s Luck Potholes. The rivers

received their name from an old South African legend.

Many years ago, a couple were traveling together when

the husband decided to join a group in search of gold

along a river. He told his wife to wait at a river for ten

days and if he did not return, something had happened

to him and she should move on. The wife waited by the

river with no sign from her husband. She eventually

gave up hope, naming the stream, the Treur River, the

“River of Suffering.” She eventually moved to a nearby

river and stayed for a few days. In the middle of the

night, her husband appeared out of the forest and told

her that he had gotten delayed. Because the wife was

overjoyed from being reunited, she named this stream,

the Blyde River, known as the “River of Joy.”

After visiting these rivers, we continued on our way and

stopped to eat lunch on a farm in Belfast with over

4,000 sheep, cattle, corn and soybeans. Two of the

people from our group in South Dakota ended up

knowing some of the people on the farm and connected

with them before returning to our hotel for the night.

Sunday, Jan 12th

“Plan your work, and work your plan.” That is just one of the many pieces of advice Sabina left us

before we had to move on. We then ate at a restaurant in a

middle-class neighborhood and rode the bus to a

“surprise” the tour guides had for us. That surprise would

forever change many of us as we entered into an

impoverished neighborhood known as Kliptown. We were

greeted by Thulani Madondo, a CNN Top 10 Hero of

2012, learned about the Kliptown Youth Program, and

had so many experiences that won’t even begin to fit in

half of a page. Today was a day I will never forget, and I

highly recommend you read more about it in my online

journal about South Africa.

Page 7: Brandon's ILSSO Newsletter

Monday, January 13th For the final time in South Africa, we started the morning with breakfast

and bused our group out for the final day of two agricultural tours. The first

stop was a crocodile farm in the town of Brits, just outside of Pretoria. The

Inyoni Estate housed over 8000 Nile crocodiles on the farm. We learned that

an older female can lay up to 90-100 eggs during a mating season with a 75%

hatching rate. We then visited a vegetable farm of squash, garden beets,

carrots, sweet potatoes, and onions for our last stop in South Africa. Once we

arrived, we had a chance to join the workers in their harvest of carrots and then

walk through a packaging house to see how carrots end up at their finished

product. After washing our hands, it was time to say goodbye to our final visit

and head to the Johannesburg airport before flying back to the United States.

Want to know more about my trip or international travels? Contact me at [email protected]. I

would be more than willing to have a conversation

about my experiences in another country.

This trip was one of the greatest experiences of

my life, but it would not have been possible

without financial contributions from my

community and many great organizations.

Thank you so much for your support of my

continued education in agriculture!

Brandon Roiger 1101 1st Avenue South Sleepy Eye, MN 56085