Travel with Confidence Founder Percy Morapedi Koji signed an MOU with Senegal’s Université Numérique Cheikh Hamidou Kane (UN-CHK) on May 24 to formalise an agreement supporting his South African-Senegalese tourism student exchange programme.
Under the MOU, the Senegalese University will host a South African tourism student during a summer programme next month, and a Senegalese student will visit South Africa next April.
Koji, who launched his exchange programme in 2014 to help African youth in the education system work together and understand different cultures in the light of xenophobic attacks in South Africa, says it presents students with an interesting opportunity to learn about different cultures, languages and food.
Having first signed an MOU with North-West University to promote culture among students, he started off by sending students to Europe each year to learn about different economies and cultures, touring countries together with government officials under the programme.
He says Senegal was chosen as the host country this year as the most politically stable in French-speaking West Africa and that the exchange student had to learn basic French in preparation for the visit.
The aim is to teach tourism graduates the importance of hosting foreigners. “Young people must go out and learn, so South Africa can become a better country. This is to help youth understand other cultures, work and live together and to respect one another, realising that others not like me are all from the human race, going back to Nelson Mandela’s idea of the rainbow nation,” says Koji.
