Students experience life at sea as cadets

IT WAS an adventure of a lifetime for UCT geology students when they participated and experienced the life of a sea cadet.

The students learnt the hard way now that the idiom “an early bird catches the worm” is not just a rhetoric for sea cadets, it applies in their daily lives as they can start their duties before the crack of dawn.

They gain the experience of life at sea, practical leadership skills, and complete the first aid, personal safety and social responsibility workshop.

The South African Sea Cadets organisation is one of the youth organisations providing young people with positive alternative lifestyles away from gangs, alcohol and drugs.

Excited and thrilled, one of the students, Sinethemba Ncetani, said the opportunity exposed them to various fields of maritime youth development, the opportunities the sea cadets enjoy, and the practical application of these skills for life and career.

Ncetani noted that they had foind out that punctuality was an important part of being a cadet and that it was unacceptable for a sailor to miss the sailing of a ship.

The students missed their train to the cadets’ station at Lakeside by 10 minutes and had to wait for 45 minutes for the next one.

Arriving at TS Woltemade, Sea Cadet Ncetani said: “It was evident by our long faces that we were embarrassed at being late.

“We had been warned not to be.”

Ncetani said the students immediately realised they had left their “student lives” behind and were now part of the cadets.

“I was left wondering ‘what had I let myself into’ as we proceeded to the cadets’ station, marching in a military fashion.”

Their first challenge was Letrobaun activities, which were designed to test their ability to work as a team while practically solving a physical challenge and testing their ability to assume a leadership position while learning how to draw the best from each member of the team.

In the afternoon boarded a boat.

Ncetani said that for most of the students it was their first time boarding.

The students remarked that they wished they had had such opportunities and experiences, and more positive role models.

I was left wondering ‘what have I let myself into’ as we proceeded to the cadets’ station, marching

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