What our South African interns say about their time at SAHA:



" My time at SAHA as an intern with the Freedom of Information Project  was thoroughly enjoyable and allowed me to develop crucial research, legal,  and professional skills. I was involved in fascinating research projects such as  the Police Transparency Project and Public-Private Partnership project.  Working with PAIA and corresponding with government departments was  a great learning experience, enhanced by excellent guidance and support  from the friendly and professional SAHA staff."

 - Thomas Crankshaw, FOIP research intern (2015-2016)

"The internship provides a space in which to immerse yourself in both current and historicalsocial affairs, the difference between SAHA and a normal archive is that not only are you dealing with historical documents, but you are also documenting issues that South Africans are currently facing."

 - Sameena Khan, SFJP intern (2015) 



"I valued being exposed to this kind of working place, the NGO/civil society sphere. I now know about PAIA, researching, human rights, etc."

- Thabelo Ramasala, Administration intern (2015)

"I really enjoyed my time at SAHA. The internship is a great opportunity for new graduates to ease into the 'world of work. The work that SAHA does both in its archive and in the Freedom of Information Programme is integral to being able to not only examine how far we have come as a country, but also being able to safeguard our hard-won democratic freedoms.The variety of skills I learnt during my time at SAHA will definitely stand me in good stead in my future career endeavours." 

- Nancy Nkoko, FOIP intern (2014 - 2015)

 

"Working at SAHA has helped me think more critically about how we use, and work with archives in South Africa. My time at SAHA was more than I expected. I learnt many things and got to develop many skills.

As an intern I was involved in many of the projects. I enjoyed working on the Land Act Project, but most importantly I enjoyed working with the United Democratic Front (UDF) collections. Working with actual archival material, putting preservation measures in place and just being able to read through some of the material helped me gain a better understanding of the UDF as an organisation.

The most significant learning for me was the digitisation of material and how important that is for access to information. SAHA is a very unique institution and finding a similar job will be very difficult."

- Noorun-nisaa Abrahams, SFJP intern (2014)

 

"The internship at SAHA has been a great experience for me, I had the opportunity to work on the Struggle T-shirt Collection which was more like a continuation of a research paper I did at post graduate level entitled ‘How did the t-shirt struggle against apartheid'. I spent most of my time looking at the struggle t-shirt collection that SAHA have and from this collection I learnt a lot about how political organisations and the community were united in fighting the apartheid regime.

Working as an intern in the archive has opened a platform to find topics that one can do for a Masters paper. I have discovered that there are a lot of research projects that can be done through studying the archive collection."

- Jabu Chinamasa, SFJP intern (2014)

 

"I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve as archival intern at SAHA. I have gained valuable insight into the archives industry over the past two months. The experience was more than I could have expected...

I also want to thank the entire staff for taking the time to share their expertise and knowledge of the field. It was through these times that I felt I was able to learn and grow the most in developing my skills."

- Hopewell Ndlovu, Durban University of Technology work placement in SFJP (2012)