Your Typical Itinerary
Your day as a volunteer will look something like the following:
07:00 Breakfast
07:45 Pick up and transfer to school
08:00 Begin morning classes
12:00 Lunch
14:00 Sports coaching sessions
17:00 Return to accommodation
18:00 Evening meal
19:00 Free time
Please note: Itineraries and activities are subject to change
Please keep in mind
When you arrive in Africa, you must arrive with an open mind and flexible attitude: In a developing country, you cannot expect life to be as structured as in the West. Africa has a famous saying of ‘Africa Time’; You will find that the pace of life is much slower than you will be used to, and you must use a lot of initiative and creativity in your role to make things happen and develop the programme structure. But, as our volunteers have experienced, a little hard work and persistence goes a very long way, and your sense of achievement and pride that you feel when you come to leave the project will last you a lifetime.
Schools in Africa are not in any way the same as western standards. The structure is poor, and time is certainly not a priority. Caning is still a common practise, and many times it is the teachers who fail to turn up instead of the children.
As a western volunteer, your influence is crucial, and your work for just a few months can dramatically change your school in many ways. Get the children involved as much as possible, not just in school hours, but also in after school activities, to really get the most out of your project. For example, you could arrange rugby practise on Wednesdays, and football on a Friday. You may be surprised at how one person can potentially make such a massive difference to so many.
