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IAESTE South AfricaIAESTE South Africa moved at theend of 2003 to its new home: TheUniversity of Pretoria. The transferprocess brought about someinteresting and challenging prospects,and at last we are starting to settle in.All of us were new to the IAESTEworld and had to learn all about thisinteresting Association in very littlePhoto taken in sunny South Africa early inMarch 2004 at the University of Pretoria.Front from left: Kathrin Kohler (student fromSwitzerland), Sytze Harkema (student fromNetherlands)Back from left: Jari Roivainen (student fromFinland), Saurabh Sinha (Electrical, Electronicand Computer Engineering Department Representative),Iakovos Kallergis (student from Greece), Jacqueline Morkel(IAESTE SA National Secretary), Nicola van der Merwe(IAESTE Faculty Student Representative)time. I’d say we are only now starting tobecome familiar with all the ways andprocedures. Personally I view this transfer asone of the best things that could happen toIAESTE SA as the University of Pretoria will beable to provide stability and continuity, twoproperties that IAESTE SA have not experiencedfor a very long time. Furthermore theinternational interest in South Africa is on therise and tertiary institutions in South Africa areaiming for international recognition. Thisrelationship can drastically open opportunitiesfor IAESTE SA. After these few months we aredoing well and are very optimistic to see whatthe future of IAESTE SA will bring in terms ofincreased exchanges, involvement of localstudents and employers.Jacqueline MorkelIAESTE SA National SecretaryA Placement in South AfricaAlistair McKendrick : WSP Consulting Engineers, Johannesburg, RSAAlistair on top of TableMountain, Cape TownOn arrival at Johannesburg airport, I was wavedstraight though Immigration without so muchof a glance at my hard fought permit, and thenpicked up my baggage and strode into thearrivals hall to search for my name on one ofthe placards that were dotted amongst thecrowd. With a sinking feeling developing in mystomach, I soon realised that my welcomingcommittee wasn’t in attendance, so after acoffee and piece of cake to celebrate the factthat the day was my 21st birthday, I began toassess my position.A quick re-read of the trainee’s guidance fromIAESTE suggested that although rare, mysituation was far from being a reason to book aflight back! I took out my carefully prepared listof emergency numbers and then searched for apayphone. The sinking feeling that had justbegun to subside began to deepen once morewhen I slowly realised thenumbers I had for IAESTE SouthAfrica and WSP were officenumbers so not likely to be ofmuch use on a Sunday. Onreflection I supposed that thiscould mean that I might not beexpected to work weekends! It wasthen that I found out that DougKennaugh, my contact at WSP,had included his mobile numberas part of his digital signature onone e-mail. I made the call andafter a brief but welcoming conversation withDoug, I knew my placement was turning acorner and I once more began to really lookforward to the next 8 weeks.The first week was with WSP was with IT(Information Technology) services and I spentthe time work shadowing one of theconsultants on site visits all over Johannesburg.One aspect I was very pleased about was thatshe (unprompted) always took the time toexplain every part of the job, and this actuallybecame a feature of all my contact with mycolleagues at WSP.The next 3 weeks were with the MechanicalServices Department, where the work wasobviously much more closely related to mydegree subjects. The specific area I spent timein was Air Conditioning and after a few moresite-visits I was offered the chance to completea significant part of a contract that thecompany had won. The project was to designthe air-conditioning system for a planneddomestic terminal at a major African airport.Although daunting, it was the perfectopportunity to complete a major piece of workfor the company.The last two weeks were spent in the Electricaland Industrial Services Departments, andalthough the work was different, it was just asinteresting. The chance to accompany a projectteam to a platinum mine a few hours north ofJohannesburg, was an incredible opportunity tosee how industry can survive and prosper inthe most remote surroundings.As I had a company car throughout theplacement, I was keen to take advantage of theopportunity to travel around and see the area.My first contact with IAESTE South Africa camein week one, and I was given the opportunityI A E S T E A N N U A L R E V I E W 2 0 0 4 19