Teaching and Community Development Volunteering in South Africa

The township schools on the outskirts of Cape Town are known for their ill-equipped classrooms and facilities. As a volunteer, it will be your mission to help create a stable environment to educate the townships’ underprivileged children. This project aims to serve the community not only through education but through improved access to health care, building projects, and sports teams. Between 2008 and 2009, volunteers working on these projects have contributed over 7,500 hours to child development in Cape Town. In addition, the volunteer abroad program fees have helped pay for children’s school fees through a local sponsorship program and for the rebuilding of homes throughout the township.

What Difference Does This Project Make?

The volunteer project focuses on child development by supporting multiple local schools and participating in various initiatives within the community. You will spend your mornings teaching and your afternoons involved in a variety of other exciting community initiatives.

Part of your teaching responsibilities will include: helping children during lessons; help with arts and crafts to promote creativity; organize special needs classes if necessary; assist with mealtimes; and help maintain the physical appearance of the classrooms. As a volunteer, you will have the opportunity to assist local teachers and to organize your own classes if you so desire. Volunteers are spread out throughout the township in order to maximize impact and share resources. As a result, you may find yourself working at any one of the following schools:

Redhill Community Pre-school: This school has been running for over 10 years to teach 35 children from the community. The children range from 2 to 6 years old. Although the school has limited resources, it strives to provide two meals a day to the children.

Edu-care Center (Children of Hope): The same two women have supervised this pre-school center for the past 7 years. There are 39 children in attendance ranging from 3 months to 6 years old. Thanks to a generous donation, the facilities are much better than that of other schools in the area, but it is still in need of assistance, care and attention.

Noordhoek Valley Edu-care Centre: A school dedicated to 60 small children, the English language is always a needed learning and development skill that volunteers may assist with. The children range from 3 to 6 years old and only have one teacher!

Primary School: The primary school has over 1300 students and up to 49 pupils per class. The school is situated in the township of Masipumelele and educates children of 7 to 15 years of age and range from grades 1st to 7^th grade. Volunteers are placed in one of the classes and your role will be to assist the teachers in the classrooms. The classroom structure is as follows:

Grades 1-3:Students remain with the same teacher and do a variety of lessons ranging from English, Math, reading, arts & crafts and physical education. Volunteers will assist the teacher by: providing extra support for the learners that are struggling to keep up; general classroom help and supervision; and grading tests and other classwork.

Grades 4-7:Students rotate between classes according to their subjects. Volunteers helping in the older grades should feel comfortable teaching more specific subjects. Also, for those volunteers that have experience in teaching or a willingness to teach, they will have the opportunity to create and present their own classes at the teacher’s approval.

Once you have completed your work at the schools in the mornings, you will spend your afternoons helping out on a number of different initiatives within the local community. Some of these projects are outlined below:

1) Building and Painting Schools: Schools in the Cape Town townships deal with a great shortage of classrooms and facilities, which ultimately limits the number of children they can effectively educate. As a volunteer, you will assist with fixing fences and windows, and rebuilding and painting classrooms. This project will also involve collecting trash around the community to improve the overall environment.

2) After-school Care: Volunteers will assist with providing a stable environment for the students after-school. Activities include games, reading, music, art, and other forms of active engagement.

3) Masiphumelele Library: The community is blessed with quite a resourceful library and great surrounding facilities. The library offers many services to the community, which is partly thanks to the project’s volunteers. Existing programs are mainly kept running by volunteers. Some offerings include arts and crafts, puzzles, literacy programs, homework clubs and math clubs.

4) HIV and AIDS Orphanage: Volunteers spend valuable time with children affected by HIV/AIDS while supervising homework and playing educational games.

5) Mini Farming Projects: Local preschools have started to grow their own food. You may have the opportunity to help with a school's vegetable garden or even building an underground drainage system to save on water irrigation.

Location

Cape Town Southern Peninsula. Red Hill and Masiphumelele are in essence townships, but both are safe and peaceful with wonderful people.

Orientation

Upon arrival at our project base on the outskirts of Cape Town, all volunteers are involved in a comprehensive orientation programme, which is included in your fee. This is facilitated by your Project Manager and entails:

• An introduction to the city of Cape Town and surrounding Cape Peninsula, as well as the communities you will be working in.
• An introduction to all of our Cape Town projects. Not only will you see where you will be working, you will also see where your fellow volunteers will be spending their days.
• Volunteers will also receive our detailed Welcome Pack, which will contain further information for your time with us.

Accommodation

Volunteers will stay in a fully furnished house situated in the rustic town of Noordhoek. The house is on a private and secure property which is comfortable, spacious, and within easy walking distance of a shopping. It is also staffed with a cook and cleaner and each room has an on-suite bathroom. Other facilities include satellite television and a lock-up safe for your valuables. You will share your room with up to 3 other volunteers and while all bedding is provided, you will need to bring your own towels. You will be provided with three meals a day. Breakfast is on a help-yourself basis consisting of cereals / porridge, toast, tea and coffee. Lunch and dinner will be cooked or prepared for you by one of our chefs at your volunteer house. On weekends you will need to cook your own meals (we will provide ingredients) as our staff will need to be given time off. Weekends are usually a good time for tourist activities and exploring the surrounding area, so this is the time that a lot of volunteers are out and about

Project Support

Throughout your placement you will have the support and guidance of our experienced Volunteer Coordinators. They are part of our Smaller Earth support team, who will provide you with competent 24-hour field support and assistance

Getting There

Our representatives will meet you at the airport upon your arrival in Cape Town. You will then be escorted to your volunteer base in Fish Hoek.

Project Typical Day

Please note that your itineraries may differ from this, depending on your own experience and the number of other volunteers on the placement at the same time, and this is simply to give an example:

• 07:00 Get up, eat breakfast of cereals, toast, tea/coffee, and start getting ready for your project
• 07:45 Head off on the short drive to your project
• 08:00 Start work at your community school. To make sure you teach a variety of classes, you will rotate between different tasks and classes.
• 12:30 After serving the children their lunch, you will be picked up from your project, and taken to your volunteer house, where lunch will be waiting for you.
• 14:30 Leave for one of your afternoon community projects. You will spend the afternoon playing with the children at the schools or building and painting classrooms.
• 16.30 End of the working day. You will be picked up from your project and taken home where we evaluate the day and discuss the schedule for the next day, or you can opt to be dropped off in town to check your emails.
• 18.30 Dinner at your volunteer house. After dinner, volunteers often go for a few drinks at one of the local night spots.

Project Travel Highlights included in your placement:

•  A visit to Cape Point, situated within the Southern Section of Table Mountain National Park which is globally recognized for its extraordinarily rich, diverse and unique fauna and flora - with rugged cliffs, steep slopes and sandy flats! See the baboons and perhaps some ostrich or buck if you are lucky!
• A trip to Boulders Beach, home to a growing colony of the vulnerable African Penguin. Wooden walkways allow visitors to view the penguins in their natural habitat and visitors will love the penguins and their antics. Also a safe and enjoyable swimming or snorkeling spot.
• A visit to the summit of Table Mountain where you will find the best views of Cape Town. The Cableway takes you to the summit in under 10 minutes and the cable car's rotating floor ensures that all passengers get a 360 degree aerial view of the city.

Travel Opportunities

These are not included in your volunteer fee but can be arranged once you arrive at your destination.

• Aquila private game reserve – a "Big 5" reserve situated 2 hours drive out of Cape Town
• City hop on-hop off double-decker bus
• Shark Cage Diving
• Sky Diving
• Abseiling down Table Mountain
• Surfing lessons

What's Included?

• Project Fee: this entails financing that goes directly back into the project that you are involved with. This fee facilitates funding for items such medical supplies, building materials, equipment, etc. Project fees are also used to buy vehicles / equipment for the project, and for developing new housing for volunteers to provide for the expansion of the project
• All airport transfers from Cape Town International Airport upon arrival and departure
• Comprehensive orientation program 
• All daily transfers to and from your projects during your stay
• Full board and lodging which includes 3 meals a day at our volunteer house
• Weekly laundry service during your stay
• Assistance in your projects by staff and Project Managers
• Outings to Cape Point– the most South-Western tip of Africa, Boulders Beach – to see the African Penguin colony, and world famous Table Mountain

What's Not Included?

• Personal travel insurance for the duration of your placement, which must include cover for repatriation
• All transport by air or bus to Cape Town
• All items of a personal nature, such as curios, gifts, clothing (work and other) 
• E-mail / Internet and telephone calls
• Soft drinks, wines and spirits
• All visas for border crossings
• Any excursions over-and-above your planned itinerary in Cape Town