South Africa Orphans and HIV AIDS Education

Age Limit
Minimum 17 years, maximum decided on potential participants’ health.

Project Highlights:

• Educate and participate in games with children who have lost their parents as a result of AIDS
• Help raise awareness on preventing the HIV/ AIDS virus in the local community
• Assist a local Home Based Care project, and provide sick people with some help in their own homes
• Help build classrooms at local primary schools
• Immerse yourself in the local Zulu culture

Volunteer Role
During your time in St Lucia, your time will be spent working in a variety of areas. These include:

1) Orphan Day Care
St. Lucia, as an area, is heavily affected by HIV/AIDS. It is thought that in some communities, up to 70% of people are infected with the virus and as a result of this many children are orphaned. Most of these children do live with relatives, but they are often left by themselves during the day, as their guardians have day jobs.

The local pastor started an orphan day care centre to keep these children off the streets and to ensure they are well looked after and educated and currently up to 80 children, ages 1 to 5, are dropped off each morning. The children are looked after by a few dedicated local women, who do a fantastic job, but unsurprisingly, are overwhelmed by the numbers. As a volunteer, you will help take care of the orphans, and give them the individual attention they desperately need.

Your main duties will include:

• Teaching the children simple English lessons
• Reading to the children
• Playing games, singing songs, and doing drawings with the children
• Helping to cook for the orphans and to bathe them
• Helping to refurbish the basic orphanage building

2) HIV/AIDS Education
In St. Lucia’s local community, many myths about HIV/AIDS still prevail. A large percentage of local South Africans believe that the virus is a result of witchcraft, so people infected with it are often rejected from their own communities and families. Because of this archaic idea, many people who are infected do not admit to having the virus and in any case, not many people know how to prevent infection, and even fewer people know how to deal with the virus once they have it.

Working together with a local organisation dedicated to fighting the existing myths surrounding HIV/AIDS (and run mostly by people with the virus), you will go out into the local communities to help educate people on the nature of the virus. During your project, you will visit both schools and community centres, and do the following:

• Explain, through a simple method approved by the UN what the HIV/AIDS virus actually is and how it affects the human body.
• Educate people about how the virus is transmitted, and how the infection can be prevented.
• Explain how, after infection, life can be prolonged through medication, healthy food, and a healthier lifestyle.

3) Additional Community Projects
Besides looking after orphaned children and raising awareness about the HIV/AIDS virus, you will be involved in the following community projects:

Home Based Care Project: Run by a small group of local women, the St. Lucia Home Based Care Project provides sick people with support and medical assistance in their own homes. The patients are generally suffering from HIV, TB or Malaria and often cannot afford to go to the clinic or hospital. The project brings them food and medical supplies and gives the patients advice on nutrition and the correct way to take their medication.

They may also cook and clean for patients who have no family. As a volunteer, you have the opportunity to join the women on their visits to patients in the community, and contribute to the support they offer.

Building and Refurbishing Classrooms: Primary schools in St. Lucia are often run down and lacking in classroom space, particularly in the more rural and remote areas. As a volunteer, you will visit these schools, and help fix roofs and windows, paint walls and help build new classrooms.

You will find that the children and teachers really appreciate your presence and support and your work will be highly rewarding.

Please Note: We do require volunteers to be as flexible as possible to ensure your time and help is given to the areas that are in the greatest of need.

Project Support
Throughout your stay on the project you will have the support and guidance of our coordinator and team. You will be provided 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 your arrival in St. Lucia you will have a comprehensive three-day orientation. This is carried out by your project coordinator and will include:

• An introduction to St. Lucia and the area
• An introduction into the programme outline for HIV/AIDS education
• An introduction to all of the projects that you could be working on. You will get to see where you will be working, as well as where your fellow volunteers will be spending their days.
• A basic language course giving you the chance to learn some basic words and sentences in Zulu, the local language in St. Lucia, so that you can communicate with people in their own language.
• A visit to a rural area, to give you a good idea of how local people live
• At the orientation, you will also receive our detailed ‘welcome pack’, which will contain further useful information for your time on the programme.