Cape Town, SOUTH AFRICA – Before Youth Journalism’s global conference in Cape Town, we assumed the weather of the city would barely impact our conference.
But visiting Cape Town in June meant that it was the winter season.
To each individual, weather conditions are relative. Some hear ‘winter weather’ and think of snow and ice. Others may think of rain and thunderstorms.
Listen to an audio recording of this article:
We discussed that our conference would be during the winter season which meant that sweatshirts, hats and gloves would be essential.
All students were determined to not let the “out of our control” weather challenge our conference. We were resilient even before we stepped foot in South Africa.
When students from around the world join together, weather becomes a great topic to discuss and bond over.
Going into the conference, we had “good weather days” built into the conference schedule in order to maximize what Mother Nature gave us. The difficult part was that the weather could not be prepared for in advance when booking excursions and attractions.
While the conference was happening, we experienced it all: rain, wind, thunderstorms, fog, clouds and sunny skies. This variety of weather “experience” was all a part of the conference.
When the clouds parted, we rushed to leave our conference home to walk to the ocean to see the sun, stand on our balcony to admire Cape Town’s views, or be adamant about walking back to our house from a museum attraction.
We grew to value the days where the sun was out, but knew that the sun did not determine our own conference warmth.
When conference-goers had the opportunity to visit Table Mountain, our excursion day began with pouring rain. As we ascended to the top of the mountain, we could see nothing but fog – not a desired view from a UNESCO World Heritage site.
While rainy and very foggy, we continued to roam the top of Table Mountain to make the most of it and hope that the weather would change.
We joked that the most photos we all had at the conference were of clouds at the top of Table Mountain. You never knew when the cloud cover would depart, so a multitude of photos were essential!
Right before we had given up on a clear view, the clouds dissipated. We hastily ran to the designated lookout areas and caught views of beautiful Cape Town below.
Cape Town weather was on Youth Journalism’s side at this moment.
Regardless of the weather conditions, we made the most out of Cape Town’s winter season.
The best part was that on multiple occasions, we saw a rainbow, and even a double rainbow.
Naturally, in order to witness this beautiful sight, we had to endure the rewarding rain.
Norah Springborn is a Senior Correspondent with Youth Journalism International from the United States. She wrote this article and took the selfie at the top.
Gemma Christie is a Correspondent with Youth Journalism International from the United Kingdom. She contributed a photo to this article.
Ahmed Elkhamisy is a Reporter with Youth Journalism International from Egypt. He contributed a photo to this article.
Click on the logo below for more from YJI’s 2025 Global Conference in Cape Town:
