Eric is back after a white Christmas

POLOKWANE – Most gr. 11 learners dream of a December holiday at the seaside or at least near a dam or river where they can have fun in the water under the hot South African sun.

But for one Curro Northern Academy learner, who has since been promoted to gr. 12, this was exactly the opposite of what he experienced.

Eric Seabelo (17) won the Rotary Juniors Ambassadors Competition (Rojac) last year and was rewarded a six-week visit to a rotary club family in Germany.

Rojac is a debate competition run for gr. 11 learners by rotary clubs in Limpopo. The competition takes place annually.

“Coming back was a total shock for me. It is winter in Germany now. Going over there it was not so bad. But this heat is killing me now,” he told Review during a recent interview.

“We saw a lot of museums and cathedrals. It was very nice. I met other students from other countries. We also visited Austria and the Netherlands.”

Eric says he stayed with a German rotary club family and laughingly explains how amazed some people were that he was black. “They thought the white family adopted me and kept touching my head,” he laughs.

According to Eric, the food was a culture shock in the sense that he is used to eating hot meals in the evening and there they had hot meals for lunch as well. At Christmas, they ate deer, Eric told Review.

“They celebrate Christmas differently. They go to church on Christmas Eve and have a huge dinner afterwards. On Christmas Day they don’t do anything big.”

He says he missed his mom and for the last three weeks, they spoke over Skype.

“At first she told me it was nice without me as the house and my room stayed clean. But later on, she started to miss me. I was there for six weeks. The first two weeks I went to school, which was a challenge as I had problems understanding the language. Then it was a week of touring and two weeks’ holiday.”

During his travels, he learned to ski. “To learn to ski was amazing. It was a lot of fun, not easy, but fun. I met interesting people, and my host family was wonderful. I became very close to my host brother, Johannes Grimmelt.

“It was a wonderful experience and I’d like to thank everyone who made it possible for me to go. I will definitely do it again, but for a shorter period. Although everyone tried to make me feel welcome, I still missed home. I even listened to Afrikaans music when I was homesick. I now understand the meaning of the saying, ‘there is no place like home’.”

Next year Eric plans to study either acting or environmental law.