By Matthew Sockol
Staff Writer
UPPER FREEHOLD – Two young adult residents of Upper Freehold Township experienced cultural and personal enrichment during a recent trip to South Africa.
Renee Stillwell and Jeremy Posluszny were among a group of FFA members from around the United States who participated in the 12-day excursion in January. Both young adults were members of the 2016 graduating class at Allentown High School.
The FFA is a youth organization that offers an education in agriculture. The trip to South Africa was part of the FFA’s 2017 International Leadership Seminar for State Officers, according to a press release from the organization.
According to the press release, the participants traveled throughout five of South Africa’s nine provinces while surveying the agricultural landscape. They toured crop and livestock operations and explored a private game reserve that is the home of lions, leopards, elephants, rhinoceroses and buffalo.
The young adults met with government and U.S. Embassy officials to learn about American and South African trade relations, and they also met with business and industry leaders, fruit exporters, olive oil producers and more, according to the press release.
Renee and Jeremy have been involved with the FFA for five years and are state officers in the New Jersey FFA Association. Renee serves as the state secretary and is a freshman at Mercer County Community College, West Windsor. Jeremy serves as the state treasurer and is a freshman at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.
Renee joined the FFA in the footsteps of many of her relatives, including her father, who were also members of the organization.
“My interest in this organization was sparked when I attended my first FFA meeting with my older brother as a seventh-grader,” she said. “It was then that I decided I wanted to be a member of this organization and be able to wear a corduroy jacket of my own.
“I have always had a passion for agriculture, especially with raising sheep and recently with the addition of feeder hogs, so being involved in an organization that was agriculturally based, while being able to grow myself as a leader, just seemed like the right thing to do. I am happy to have joined this organization as a freshman in high school and to be able to continue my involvement now,” Renee said.
Jeremy was introduced to the organization through his grandmother’s support of the Allentown FFA chapter.
“When I was younger, before high school, my grandmother would take me to the chapter’s end-of-year banquet,” he said. “While I had no prior connection to the organization, seeing such a wonderful group of students perform in front of their community members inspired me to look further into joining the FFA. When Renee and I started high school together, we both knew FFA was where we belonged.”
The trip to South Africa was Renee and Jeremy’s first international experience with the FFA, as well as Renee’s first visit to another country.
According to the students, half their trip was spent in northern part of the country near Pretoria and Johannesburg and half was spent in the southern portion in the Cape Town area. The tour of South Africa mainly focused on the agricultural production of the country and the FFA members visited many notable agricultural businesses.
In addition to seeing agriculture in South Africa firsthand, one of the most memorable experiences for Renee and Jeremy was their visit to the game reserve. Their favorite animal at the game reserve was a cheetah.
Two places that stood out to the FFA members were the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg and Kayamandi, a suburb of the town Stellenbosch.
According to Renee and Jeremy, one of the most important lessons they learned in Kayamandi was that even if some people have less than what middle- and upper-class citizens are used to having, they do not necessarily need help.
As the students learned from their tour guide, the suburb is a community where residents work together. The FFA members said the residents of Kayamandi were some of the kindest and most joyful people with whom they have ever interacted.
The trip to South Africa left a lasting impression on Renee and Jeremy.
“Unforgettable, life changing, eye opening, perspective flipping, and just plain amazing are a few of the many thoughts that come to mind when I reflect on my experience in South Africa,” Renee said. “I am so thankful for every piece of knowledge learned, every experience we were given while there, and all of the people we met.
“I am also very thankful to all of the farmers and agriculturalists who gave up time from their busy lives to meet with us throughout our 12 days in country,” she said. “Getting to learn more about their agriculture, the way they farm and even the way they live has opened my eyes to many different ideas and ways of completing tasks. It was amazing to see how much we have that is similar to the people of South Africa, but how different we use those things or complete those tasks.”
“(My experience in South Africa was) transformative, beautiful and microcosmic,” Jeremy said. “Being in a different country was not a new experience for me, however, seeing the culture of another country in such a close-up view was unique.
“What was so interesting about South Africa is that it is a such a new country, yet filled with so much history,” he said. “While talking with our tour guides and the gracious business owners, I was intrigued by the stories they told of what life was like before and after the change in government. That made me realize how young their democracy was compared to the rest of the world.
“Throughout the 12 days of exploring the countryside, I saw a ‘developing country’ and a ‘developed country’ within miles of each others. Parts of South Africa certainly have reaped the rewards of modernity, while others are still catching up. Understanding how much work the farmers and business owners we visited put into making their country a better place is inspiring.”
Following their experience in Kayamandi and its community-based culture, Renee and Jeremy said they believe that if people in the United States implemented more of a community-oriented way of life into their own lives, they could make a more positive difference in their towns and country.
The two students enjoyed the passion of the South African farmers and business owners in their efforts to make their country a better place.