Junior Achievement South Africa was approached at the end of 2009 by the Institute of Management in Bulgaria to partner on a project funded by the European Union. The project focuses on the education of young people in film making, with a focus on sustainable development.

Four of our Alumni, Phumelele Simelani, Orephela Plaatjies, Yolandi Le Roux and Keneilwe Motshoeneng, participated in an online training programme in film making, after which they travelled to Bulgaria, departing on Sunday 18th April 2010 and returning on Saturday the 1st May 2010, to attend a ten day practical training workshop on sustainable development and film making. The girls also had to do a presentation on their country.

On their return, this is what Keneilwe had to say:

The training that I got from the online training sessions was nothing compared to what I got from the face-to-face training. It was indeed an eye opener to video journalism and to film making generally. How this training becomes relevant to my country/organization and peers is that I now have the opportunity to produce short films that can be used to voice out concerns or achievements that we as a country face. In my opinion, visual media is very powerful and speaks louder than print media and it accommodates everyone.

Meeting the students from other nations was very exciting as everyone shared the same interests. We had a day to spend time with each other as we were waiting for the trainer. It was during this time that we had an excellent opportunity to get to know each other. This was great because the following day we were separated into 4 groups and we never got much time together after that as there was much work to do. It was during our country presentations that I got to really understand our different cultures and customs.

Being in Bulgaria showed me how lucky I was being a young South African. Even though the country itself is very beautiful, there are some places where racism is still a huge issue. There were only three black people participating (being myself and 2 other South Africans) and people kept looking at us as if were aliens or something. There was a time when we passed a group of boys and they called us Negros. When we went to the city Verna, people there were just rude. It is safe to say that nothing happened to us and people got used to seeing us in the place where we were staying. The group that we were amongst loved us as we were very outgoing and outspoken. When we spoke about the Soccer World Cup, everyone got excited because we were excited.

The presentation really helped in educating everyone about our country and work that we do as individuals. I personally spoke about the work that I have done and am currently involved with. I would like to integrate my studies with this film making training course as I see the training being of great assistance.

We showed some photos to demonstrate the beauty of our country and Phela wore the South African soccer jersey. All of this made people even more eager to come for a visit or for the World Cup, as we recommended places to visit in South Africa.

The perceptions that they now have of young people from South Africa is that we are very viby, active, loud and social, because there was never a dull moment when we were in the room (if I must say so myself).Truth be told we made this trip memorable for everyone, and no one will forget us. We had the effect of getting people out of their comfort zones. Phumi now even has a fan club of eight Grade 9 Bulgarian girls who absolutely love her. We corrected (so I hope) the negative perceptions that they have of our President, as we explained about how different cultures allow certain behaviours that others might perceive as wrong. They also found out how easy is it to learn some African languages in SA, like how to say “I love you” in Sotho and Zulu.