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Set within an amazing backdrop of private beach lagoons and lush green game reserves, this Community development programme is a must for anyone who loves children. You will see your passion and hard work materialise and contribute towards a vital and long-term development scheme, aimed at the rural and impoverished communities of the Wild Coast area in South Africa.
During your time on the project, you will become immersed in a local Primary or Secondary School, helping to generate and support new development schemes, whilst also coaching sports to children and taking part in an essential Computer literacy scheme. This is a fantastic project with a very flexible and broad range of development activities for you to take part in, thus providing you with a very interactive, cultural and rewarding experience of Africa and the warmth of its people.
Project Age Limit
Minimum 17 years, maximum decided on potential participants health.
Your Volunteer Project
You will be working closely with local children in the rural community schools, helping them to develop important computer literacy skills, sports programmes and a variety of new development
schemes. The weekly project areas covered as a volunteer will be:
1) Computer Literacy Skills Development
One of the major areas to be overlooked within rural schools in South Africa is the technology fields. Computer Literacy, considered in today’s developed societies as a basic human right, is only in its infancy in the Wild Coast region. The project is committed to resourcing schools in the region with computer labs and important software to enable the children to gain the relevant skills to later help in their employment.
With your help, this programme will be putting into place the necessary training and continued support for these schools to allow them to produce competitive learners for the demanding technological world. Without these basic skills, equality in education (something the country is striving towards) will not be achieved.
You do not need to be a computer genius to take part in this project: The programme over the years has developed a structured IT learning syllabus for you to focus upon in your lessons, but any extra skills you can bring will be extremely valuable. You will find that the enthusiasm, smiles and willing attitude these children convey for you will make your experience tremendously enjoyable and worthwhile, leaving you with a deep sense of positive achievement.
2) Interactive Sports Development
The sports programme is a new and exciting drive to introduce and develop on-going growth and appreciation in the sporting arena in the communities of the Wild Coast. For the most part, the local schools lack the resources and the capacity to provide effective sports programmes, which is why they need your help.
You will typically work on the sports initiatives for 2 afternoons a week and the children are invited to freely attend: Most of whom jump at the chance to interact with you and play outside with their fellow classmates. Volunteers have taught the children a variety of various sports and team exercises in the past. You will be helping to develop new sport’s disciplines, teamwork and an understanding of sport etiquette in the schools. Sport offers a means to encourage not only a healthy lifestyle, but also develop necessary social skills and peer understanding that is essential to the stability and well being of society, not to mention the opportunity for children from extremely difficult backgrounds just to play with their friends!
3) Local Development Schemes
When this programme first began, the local schools were in extremely deprived conditions: Many without electricity, running water or local transport, creating many problems with sanitation, education and the safety of its children. Since the development schemes came into play, and volunteers started coming into the schools, there has been a tremendous impact on the development of the facilities at the schools. You will need to go into the schools with a flexible attitude and prepared to help in any way possible.
The work that is underway includes:
- Flushing toilets and separate water tanks for drinking clean water
- Vegetable patches planted to generate incomes for electricity and food for the children
- Libraries and murals
- New classrooms and the restoration of existing rooms
- Provision of local buses to ensure children can attend school and protect them from road traffic accidents
- Development of sports grounds and play grounds, so that the children can actually ‘play’
- Removal of harmful waste and rubbish to specifically allocated sites
Project Support
During your time at the project, you will have a lot of support from the Project Manager Mike and his team in South Africa. They will be on hand to provide you with competent assistance and help with any questions or advice you may need during your stay. In addition you will have access to a 24 hour emergency contact number so you can contact one of our UK staff at any time should you need to.
Project Orientation
Upon arrival at the Wild Coast you will spend your first few days at a fantastic backpackers lodge with your fellow volunteers, getting to know each other and settling in to the local area and programme. Here you will be given a thorough orientation to enable you to develop your understanding of the new (and at times challenging) environment that you will be working in. The orientation is great fun and allows you, the co-ordinating team and the other volunteers working alongside you the chance to bond and develop a good working relationship.
During the orientation you will be provided with an active and informative programme. This will be presented by the co-ordinators and specialists in a variety of fields through information documents and videos etc. The week will cover the topics below and include a number of inter-active excursions:
- History of South Africa and understanding Apartheid and the dawn of a new democracy
- Socio-political developments in SA
- Introduction to your volunteer programme: Expectations and understanding
- Introduction to basic Xhosa language and understanding local customs and norms
- The fragile eco-systems of estuaries, rocky shores marine life and coastal systems
- Floral diversity of the Eastern Cape
- Various excursions, which include a 4x4 adventure, which ends in a rural Xhosa village where you will spend one night, coastal hike, estuarine exploration, bush walks and ocean excursion on a motorised boat
Accommodation and Meals
During your orientation, you will spend the first few nights at a very popular and well-known backpackers lodge, within walking distance to the beach with amazing views of your private lagoon. You will be in a lovely cottage, with a kitchen and living area. This is a great place to settle in and get to know your fellow volunteers, over a few beers in the evenings and a game of pool.
During your project, you will be staying across the lagoon and facing a green, in a fantastic house in a quiet suburban area just 2 minutes from the beach and private lagoon with all of the other volunteers.
The private volunteer house has 3 twin bedrooms, a bathroom and shower, large dining and kitchen area and a lovely garden at the rear for relaxing in your spare time. You may choose to spend some of your evenings at the local backpackers lodge on weekends, meeting other travellers and enjoying yourself at the bar, practising your snooker skills and watching a bit of TV.
All of your meals on the project will be catered for you by a house cook, who is employed locally to help you keep the house clean and prepare your meals. It would be nice if you also offer to assist her when possible. The breakfasts will be a continental style help-yourself breakfast whilst dinner in the evening will be hot, wholesome and very tasty. All the ingredients for your lunches will be provided and you can make your own packed lunch and sandwiches each day.
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