BCM students win trip to China
THREE students from Buffalo City Metro will fly to Jinhua City in China next month for three weeks as part of the two cities “homestay” programme.
Sinothando Adonisi, 23, from Mdantsane, Buyiswa Xaba, 25, from West Bank and Okuhle Tshijila, 24, from Beacon Bay were yesterday announced as the winners.
Earlier this year BCM called on tourism, marketing, communications and anthropology students to apply to be selected.
The programme, which is a result of the two cities’ decade-long relationship to strengthen each other by sharing advice and knowledge, aims to promote an understanding of the historical villages of Jinhua through direct experience of local culture.
Speaking to the Daily Dispatch at La Vida restaurant on the East London Esplanade where the winners were announced, BCM’s co-operation and international relations manager Darby Gounden said 20 students had responded to the call and had been requested to write an essay on Jinhua.
The shortlisted ones were then required to do a presentation on Jinhua to a panel of judges which consisted of heads of departments, councillors and the BCM youth council.
Adonisi, a third-year tourism student at Walter Sisulu University (WSU), said he was excited about the opportunity.
Xaba, a marketing graduate from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, said she aimed to gain as much knowledge as she could to implement in the metro when she returned.
Tshijila, a tourism student at WSU, said this was an opportunity to practise the theory she had learnt.
Gounden said the three students would live in a traditional village for three weeks, and learn about traditional Chinese culture.
“This is the first time BCM is sending students on this programme and hopefully it will continue,” said Gounden.
BCM will pay for their flights, passports and visas while their stay will be sponsored by the foreign and overseas Chinese affairs office of Jinhua People’s Government.
The three will be leaving on June 22. —