• Having trouble deciding how to spend your gap year? Why not spend the whole of it volunteering on our community projects in Africa? You can spend time living in some of the most beautiful places in Africa whilst also making a difference to the communities you visit. By the time you leave you’ll feel like one of the locals and you’ll leave with the knowledge that you’ve brightened the futures of many African children and made a positive difference to the communities they live in.

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  Work with Pre-school Children and Teaching English to Adults in Mozambique

  Mozambique

  Volunteer in Mozambique on a rural community and development project centered in and around the coastal town of Vilanculos. Within Africa, Kaya supports a number of different community development ...

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  Teaching Underprivileged Children in Swaziland

  Swaziland

  Volunteer in Swaziland and help to teach children in schools where one of Africa's highest HIV, AIDS and unemployment rates threatens the future prospects for children. As a volunteer you will assi...

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  Care for Underprivileged Children in Botswana

  Botswana

  Help care for underprivileged children by volunteering in Maun, Botswana. Facing high unemployment and one of the world’s highest HIV infection rates, Botswana has its share of social needs. Nevert...

Project Facts

• Duration: 52 weeks (13 weeks in Botswana and Mozambique and 26 weeks in Swaziland)
• Cost: £9095
• Requirements: Age 18+
• Location: Muan, Botswana / Vilanculos, Mozambique / Ezulwini Valley, Swaziland
• Project activities: hands-on teaching, organising activities, caring for children, arranging food, assessing needs, help in local orphanages, build houses for individuals and families in critical situations, teaching English and life skills to teens and adults
• Working hours: 08:30 – 15:00, Monday - Friday, hours may vary from project to project

What is included

• Accommodation: Shared room in a volunteer house.
• Food: 3 meals per day - Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
• Airport pick up and drop off
• Training: Pre-departure information pack, on-site Orientation and project induction provided
• Support: 24 hour support from on-site coordinator
• Excursions: Staff help organise weekend activities.(Activity price may be extra) Trips include PADI dive training, snorkeling safaris, and horse riding on the beach

What is not included

• Flights
• Insurance
• Visas

Role of the volunteer

In Botswana, you will be working in an assistant day-care provider role teaching children life skills, arranging stimulating and developmental activities and providing adult supervision. At the care centers you will work with a local care giver or teacher assisting them and taking on responsibilities as your skills and experience allows. In general you may play three different roles:

1. Teaching – the children at the care centers are taught basic English and maths;
2. Care giving – encouraging the children giving them attention and arranging fun activities for them, playing games with them, teaching them basic life skills and giving them the care and attention they need at that age; and
3. Centre development – volunteers are often involved with painting educational murals, organizing fundraising events, taking children to the play ground and working on income generating projects, or arranging small infrastructure projects like building swings.

There are many other activities that you as a volunteer might like to get involved in; sports (start a small sport program for the kids), art projects, music and singing songs (bring an instrument and teach some kids to play), and various other community initiatives (e.g. recycling, craft development). Wherever you feel your strengths lie is where you should get involved – use your own creativity and work together with your project leader and the caregivers at the care point.

In Mozambique you will visit the pre-school every morning to assist the local teachers and educate the children in creative ways. Volunteers teach in small groups of about 8 children and if they are interested or comfortable, can chose to work one-on-one with children who display learning difficulties or require extra attention. For the English classes, we are currently teaching a group of about fifty students, ranging in age from young adults to middle-aged adults. Volunteers are responsible for making the lesson plans, which are always interactive and fun with the use of flash cards, games, objects and worksheets. Volunteers encourage active participation from the students by reading out loud, role-playing writing on the board, doing written work etc… If volunteers are interested, they can also choose to work one-on-one with weaker students or those with learning differences.

In Swaziland, as a volunteer on the teaching project, you will be working with children from the surrounding Ezulwini communities. The total number of the children at the school varies from 700 to 800 pupils and each classroom has a maximum of 40 pupils.

You will be expected to work as a teaching assistant helping the teacher where ever possible especially with Math’s, English and science subjects. You can bring your own ideas such as Crafts if you working with the lower grades and drama for the upper grades.

As a volunteer you may get involved in many of the following activities depending on the timing of your placements:

· Assisting the teachers where ever possible.
· Teaching basic Maths and English subjects in the presence of the class teacher.
· Marking tests and exams
· Preparing tests and homework
· Sports-introduce new sports/develop existing sports
· Agriculture-if the school has Agriculture classes and have a vegetable garden see where you can get involved.
· Get involved with the staff at the school, know what’s happening at the school and get involved where ever and the more effort and energy you put into your placements the more you are likely to get out of it.
· General help-give any help as much as you can.
· Be creative-extra curricular activities such as school dramas, music classes and any other activities.

Skills Required

For the project in Botswana experience with children is preferred but is not necessary. Enthusiasm, initiative and a caring nature are the main attributes for this project.

In Mozambique no specific experience is required. An interest in teaching and enthusiasm with children and young people is encouraged.

In Swaziland no Specific skills are required for this project, but enthusiasm and energy are important for working with children. Those with previous teaching experience are very valued.

Your life outside the project

During weekends in Botswana you will be free to travel and explore as you choose. Various activities are available including mokoro trips, Okavango scenic flights, crocodile farm visits, island bush walks, basket weaving, horse riding, visiting arts and crafts, bird watching or just relaxing in a sunny climate. Where possible long weekends may be arranged and you may be able to join one of the tours to Moremi Game Reserve or Chobe National Park. Tsodilo trips or panhandle village tours may also be arranged. These activities are optional and extra though as a volunteer we would assist you with arranging these where possible. Again please remember that on such weekends, should you decide to take accommodation other than that provided at the project site, you will be responsible for the costs thereby incurred.

During evening times after work in Mozambique you can relax on the beautiful beach, which is on your doorstep, or go for a swim in the pool or wander off into town where there are some fantastic local seafood restaurants. At weekends there are plenty of things to do from Scuba Diving, sailing safaris to Bazaruto Island, deep sea fishing or horse back riding on the beach.

Around your accommodation in Swaziland, the valley has loads of activities on offer to do in your free time. Just hop down the road to visit a local craft market, go hiking in the nearby game park or just relax with a drink at the pool of a nearby hotel. To really experience Swazi culture, overnight in a traditional village and try local cuisine or explore the real Swaziland by quad bike. If its adventure you are looking for, go white water rafting, adventure caving, hike up a mountain, go horse riding or game viewing-all can be done nearby.

Highlights

Chobe National Park

Next to the Okavango Delta, Chobe National Park is probably Botswana’s next most well known conservation area. It is a diverse area, from the border at the Chobe River, to the now dry Savute Channel, and beyond to the borders of the Moremi Game Reserve / Okavango Delta. The Park is best known for its concentrations of elephant – some 120 000 individuals, along with good numbers of buffalo, antelope and predators. Birding is also excellent, with many migrants visiting from November to March.

Diving

Mozambique offers some of the best diving in southern Africa with warm waters, varied and abundant marine life, uncrowded and uncommercialized sites and excellent visibility. The most popular location is the Bazaruto archipelago that has outstanding diving and snorkeling opportunities, including Manta Reef, Two-Mile Reef, Vengies, Rainbow Runner Reef and the Greek Temple. The waters offshore of the Inhambane area are also a snorkeling and diving paradise with pristine reefs and an abundance of manta rays and whale sharks. During the winter months (June to September) there is a chance of close-up encounters with the migrating humpback whales. Situated almost 25 miles (40km) off the coast of Maputo, Inhaca Island is a popular destination boasting beautiful beaches, some of the Mozambique Channel's best coral reefs, a historic lighthouse, marine biology museum and large areas of protected forest.

Hlane Royal National Park

In the vast bushveld expanse of eastern Swaziland where the hot, still sun of Africa beats on the dry but life-giving soils as it has for thousands of years, and the rumbling roars of the lions are heard in the cool dusky evenings, lies Swaziland’s largest protected area, Hlane Royal National Park, home to the largest herds of game in the Kingdom.

Hlane, named by King Sobhuza II, with its adjacent dispersal areas covers 30 000 hectares of Swazi bushveld, dominated by ancient hardwood vegetation. Hlane is home to lion, elephant and white rhino, with an abundant and diverse bird life, including the highest density of nesting white backed vultures in Africa.

Itinerary