Meet our Interns: Josephine Becker
07
DECEMBER, 2016
Meet Josephine, a young student from Germany who interned at Greenpop, in the urban greening department, to stretch her roots.
How do I start without exaggerating? Well, I can simply say that I had the greatest time of my life in Cape Town.

When I applied for my internship, I never imagined it would have shaped my life so enormously, but it certainly did. Only 2 years ago, I could not have pictured myself being able to say that I would be part of a two-weekend festival planting 8000 trees. Nor by the time I turned 19 to have worked in a tree and vegetable nursery. Never imagining I could  identify some of South Africa’s indigenous trees and actually say “Yes I know how to plant a tree”.

And here I am, proving myself wrong. I came to Greenpop as a nursery intern, and while I enjoyed working there I saw my strengths more in working with people so switched to the urban greening program. Some of my tasks there included preparing plant days, monitoring older planting sites, research on gardening/planting methods and of course participating in many of our plant days. Coming straight out of High School, I did not have any experience in this area, so I was able to obtain loads of new exciting information. My supervisors made my time extra special with trusting in me and my work, ice-bucket challenges and always being a great support (even still now).

Family at the Hogsback Festival of Trees
Family at the Hogsback Festival of Trees
Sometimes I still catch myself walking around a city analyzing planting methods or seeing if I can identify any of the plants around me because work was more than “just work”. It was children’s laughter, adults dancing, face paint, getting your hands dirty, sparkling eyes, many beautiful trees and most importantly it felt like home.

 

Interested in an internship with Greenpop? Find out more below!

 

Greenpop Foundation NPC is a registered non-profit organisation. Registration Number (NPO): 151-411 NPO.

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