International Academy for Leadership through Adventure (iALA)

GAP YEAR SOUTH AFRICA! The iALA VISION aims at making a DIFFERENCE in YOUNG PEOPLE'S lives We present a bridge-year program for young people who have completed their schooling or studies or who merely seek new challenges and now need head space to decide about their future.

By means of the iALA OBJECTIVES an exciting environment is created that hones in on adventurousness, endurance, courageousness and having the desire to learn to do things that most people never manage throughout their entire lives.

Simultaneously, leadership is developed, qualifications are obtained, values and skills are acquired by means of adrenalin that, in a way, helps to stimulate positive expectations about life. All this takes place in an environment where values are formed and a balanced spiritual lifestyle is established.

Many young people are uncertain about, not ready to take, or need guidance with the taking of important decisions about their future. This includes further studies, career decisions and their personal search for meaning. Others might just have a need to take a break and do something different from school or studies that have been completed, yet still wish to do something meaningful that will improve their quality of life and develop their self-confidence.

A vacuum has resulted from the abolishing of military training, limited opportunities for work, difficulty in obtaining visas for working abroad and the dramatically changed traditionally stable social scheme of things in South Africa.

What is happing today is that:
• some students commence with their studies, but choose the wrong courses, switch courses or are unsuccessful in their studies.
• others still go abroad for some time, where they busy themselves with various activities for a year or more. This is a much more difficult option than before and often one with very negative results.
• some youngsters stay unemployed or embark on the wrong career. This could have been prevented if they had received the correct advice or had the opportunity to think carefully about where they were heading.

iALA program specifically seeks to create an environment that presents challenge and adventure, that will be life-enriching and that will eventually contribute to the process of maturing, personality development, establishment of healthy values and norms and preparedness for the spiritual challenges of this world.