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The Volunteer Project
In 1995 there were 800,000 AIDS orphans in Malawi and this became the catalyst for starting the orphan care project. The day care centre based in Blantyre is run by a Reverend and his wife and currently cares for 350 orphans with just 22 members of staff and 8 volunteers. The children actually live with members of their extended family or foster families and come to the project whilst their carers are out at work in the effort to try and provide them with a stable upbringing.
The project provides these special families with loans, in the view that they will use the money to improve their own business of farming, provide for their children and will be able to pay it back in due course.
The ages of the children vary from 2 to 16 years. The young children spend the day at the project whereas the older children are either at primary or secondary school. The project pays for the orphan’s secondary education so that their education can be the key to a brighter future for them. We are looking for volunteers to come and help educate these beautiful children, as well as learn about a new culture and gain a truly rich life experience.
Education is not free in Africa and the project works hard to raise as much money as possible each year to send the children to school. In January 2008 a fantastic project involving building a new secondary school is due to be completed. This will be cost saving for the project in the long run as the orphans will get free education and it will also ensure that every child gets the proper education that they deserve.
Teachers for the Secondary School are being provided by the Government, however the school would also greatly benefit from having volunteers who are trained teachers or those who have completed their PGCE and would like to practice what they have been taught. This project will also provide those with experience the opportunity to help teach children with so much will and interest to learn and to really put their skills to good use in a 3rd world country. The school follows an English curriculum in Malawi so the transition from teaching in an English school to a school in Malawi will be fairly straightforward.
All of the children return to the centre to be fed everyday. In 2005 the Training Skills Centre was built to equip any children not benefiting from education with valuable life skills.
Education in Malawi is crucial to the children's success and will help give them the best opportunity to live their lives independently and happily. The project aims to provide not only children who have been orphaned with a brighter future through school or life skills education, but also to work within the entire community encouraging enterprise, raising awareness, offering support and running a number of community based enterprises of its own.
Your Role as a Volunteer
Volunteers have a certain amount of freedom on this project as there isn’t really a set structure to what the children do throughout the day, so please be prepared to be creative and use your own initiative each day to plan your daily activities! In this respect you can bring whatever skills you have to your role as a volunteer on this project and use them to really benefit these children.
At any one time, you will usually have over 60 - 100 children at the orphan centre so you’ve got your work cut out for you! From 9am until 3pm the younger children are at the centre and from 2.30 until 5pm the older children who have been at school return to the centre.
The mornings spent with the younger children are a great time to exercise your creative skills to keep the children entertained and perhaps add a little to their pre-school education.
Activities that you could do with the younger children include:
- Basic, informal teaching of English and maths (ABC’s etc)
- Playing games
- Arts, crafts, drawing
- Singing
- Anything else that you think would be beneficial to the children
- Assisting them in day-to-day childcare
Working with the older children in the afternoon will be a little more challenging than the younger children, but just like the younger children, all they want is a little care and attention.
Activities that you can do with the older children include:
- More formal teaching – especially English and Maths (optional)
- Helping with homework and further study
- Games
- Singing
- Sit down and talking to individuals, to offer informal counselling and support
- Sports – twice a week a football pitch and netball court are available for the centres use.
- Organise football and netball matches/ sports days and so on.
For anyone who has any medical skills, particularly nurses, there are opportunities to help in the centres medical clinic administering drugs and helping sick people within the village. As well as this, for those with dreams of doing some farming, any help on either the arable or animal farm would be greatly appreciated.
For anyone interested in building work, you can assist in some vital construction projects for local schools and around the orphanage, which has been damaged by heavy rainfall. There will be a local foreman to oversee your work and some building materials available, though any extra funds would be much appreciated.
Please note: There is a large hall, which you will have access to throughout the day – a perfect space for you to plan games, sports and activities. Also, twice a week, there will be access to a local football and sports pitch, where you can coach sports and help the boys and girls develop their skills of football, athletics and netball etc.
Project Orientation
On your arrival into Malawi you will be given a comprehensive three-day orientation:
Day One: This is the day that you arrive into Malawi. You will be met by a representative from the project and taken to your accommodation where you will be left to settle in and meet the other volunteers who are staying there. In the afternoon, you will also be shown around the city of Blantyre so you can get an idea of where all the major facilities are. You will be shown the local shops, banks, the sports club, pharmacy, local restaurants, the hospital and so on.
Day Two: In the morning, you will be met at your accommodation and receive a basic language and cultural lesson to help equip you in Malawi. The second part of your orientation involves you being taken to the orphanage centre where you will meet the staff and the children. You’ll also get a tour through the village where the centre is based to see some of the other projects that the centre is involved with – the Maize Mill, Training Skills Centre, farming and self-sufficiency programmes and the site of the secondary school.
Day Three: You will be picked up and taken to see even more projects linked to the centre, such as the arable farm and the animal farm. That afternoon you will return to the centre to meet the older children.
Accommodation and Meals
You will be staying in accommodation in Blantyre, which is included in the price of the project. You have the choice between two lodges.
Firstly, there is a friendly hostel run by a South African couple. You will have a private room here with shared bathroom facilities. This hostel has a popular bar and swimming pool and is a really good place to meet other travellers and locals alike. The hostel restaurant serves three meals a day at low prices but does not have kitchen facilities. It does however have cheap Internet access! We recommend that you budget approximately US$5 per meal at this accommodation option.
The other lodge is in the Northwest of the city and run by a Malawian lady. This lodge has the option for you to be self-catering if you would like to be. You will have a private room here and will share bathroom facilities. There is Internet access here, although it is not always available. There is also a lovely veranda around the back of the building with great views over the city. This option is a quieter option, but great if you want to budget well for meals and prepare your own food each day.
Meals are not included in the price of the project, and depending which accommodation you go for you will either buy your own food and cook for yourself or sample the food of the local restaurants. Food is not expensive here, if you are on a really tight budget, you will be able to find a meal for about 50p in the local villages!
Project Support
Throughout your stay in Malawi you will have the support and guidance of our native Malawian project manager Reverend Timothy and his team. They will provide you with competent assistance and help you with any questions or advice you may need during your stay.
In addition, we will provide you with a 24 hour emergency contact number before you depart, so that you can contact one of our UK staff at any time should you need to.
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