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Project Age Limit:
Minimum of 18 years, maximum decided on health of potential participant
Your Volunteer Programme
The goal of this programme is to develop sustainable projects providing education and vocational training to local communities. Volunteers such as yourself are essential to the running of the organisation. By offering your varied life experience, skills and abilities you are able to play an important role in assisting them to develop the projects and in turn, empower individuals from Tanzania to participate in development and decision making processes within their communities. The projects you volunteer for will benefit enormously from your commitment, dedication, knowledge, language skills and enthusiasm.
Since project hours vary, it is possible to combine more than one option – for example spending the mornings working at a nursery school, which will close by midday, and then coaching sports in the afternoons. In the mornings whilst you are teaching there is the opportunity to work with nursery, primary or secondary level. Most importantly you will be providing the children with some of the much needed care and support that their lives so desperately lack, and keeping them away from the dangers of the street in a safe environment.
Programme Activities - Morning Projects
During the mornings you will be working as a teacher or teacher assistant. We work with many schools in the community ranging from Nursery schools up to High schools, all which vary in size. You will assist mainly in the teaching of English and maths at the schools. The opportunity for these children to receive education is a great gift as many of them receive so little in their daily lives. There may also be opportunities for you to teach science, sports, games and any other subjects you wish. These children are a pleasure to teach and will be extremely excited to be working with you. You will teach both boys and girls who are subdivided into streams.
- Nursery schools – You will help teach children between 3–6 years.
- Primary - You will help teach children aged between 7-14 years.
- Secondary and High schools – You will help teach children aged between 14-22 years.
Nursery Schools and Day Care Centres: Many of these children attending the schools are orphans or street kids aged between three and six years old. You will be teaching basic English and Maths to the children and you will also be assisting the teacher with the planning of lessons. You can help in designing and implementing work sheets and introducing new and fun teaching techniques for writing and speaking. You can also teach nursery rhymes and games as well as providing the children with some much needed care and attention.
Primary Schools: The primary schools generally teach children aged from seven to 14. You will be mainly teaching English to the children and educating them further in other subjects too. Some primary schools are taught solely in English, therefore at these schools there is more opportunity for you to be involved in a wider range of teaching subjects. The school sizes do vary as do the class sizes, therefore please be prepared that at some schools you may teach a large number of children in one class.
Secondary Schools: With children mainly aged between 13 and 20, these children are in desperate need of education. Most children finish their schooling after primary school, therefore these children really do need your support and dedication in order to give them the further education they need. Again, you will be teaching English and supporting the local teaching staff in their English lessons and other subjects.
Afternoon Projects
A variety of afternoon projects are available for you to choose from. These usually run in the afternoons from Monday to Friday for a couple of hours each day. These are very rewarding projects to get involved with and further benefit the community.
HIV Awareness programme: The HIV awareness programme is run by a local youth group, whose goal is to educate and support the local communities regarding health and social matters. The programme involves visiting small and remote villages in the local area to provide information and advice about HIV and AIDS, about its cause, effects, prevention, medication, treatment, nutrition and social stigma to groups of youths and adults. The programme takes between three and five days to complete and a project member will always accompany, support and translate for you.
You will be providing information and advice on HIV and AIDS as well as listening to and answering questions from the participants. It is therefore important that you have an understanding of the causes, transmission, effects and treatments for HIV and AIDS and are comfortable discussing this in an open and honest environment.
Adult English Classes: The students of the Adult English classes are all members of the local community who are wanting to learn or improve their English to give themselves or their families a better chance for the future. You will be teaching English at either basic or intermediate level. The students like to concentrate on spoken English, however correct grammar is also very important to them.
The students also find it interesting to learn about a variety of subjects from geography to culture to politics in the process of learning English. Organised and interactive lessons are of great value to the students who are very grateful of the volunteers help.
Sports Coaching: You will be organising and teaching games and sports and encouraging teamwork and discipline. Football is the main activity for the boys and netball for the girls. You will offer advice during matches and help to run the afternoon training sessions at the local playing fields. The aim of the programme is to pull the community together through sport, keep the children off the streets and start a local league for the various teams to compete in.
Music Education Projects: This project aims at bringing people together and devising a mechanism of educating the society on current themes and ideas through music and entertainment. It is also a means of self-employment and thus a source of income. You will help to teach and train people on how to use different musical instruments and voice training for good quality music. This project is recommended for volunteers who have a talent in music and dance.
Handcraft Group Projects: These projects aim at enhancing self-reliance and self-employment amongst the local community to reduce the effects of poverty. You will be involved in batik making, t-shirt printing, stone cutting and jewellery making. You will help to train the groups, to meet their goals and expectations in bringing new skills and technology into their daily working lives. As a volunteer you will typically work with the women’s groups who are keen to learn new skills in order to earn an income.
Computer Teaching Initiatives: This project provides a small group of youths with the opportunity to learn and develop basic IT skills. Volunteers are required to teach the students and staff about computer use, including the Internet. Such skills can be taken further by the students to build their own basic websites, on which they are able to market small businesses, for example generating income through selling handicrafts.
Construction: Many of the projects that we commit to are in need of renovation and construction work. As a volunteer you are needed to renovate and build new class rooms, develop play areas and fix and manufacture furniture such as school seats and desks. Specific skills are not required, however, you should be skilful with your hands and willing to do practical work.
Sanitation Project: This is a school-based project with the goal to increase the current level of sanitation in 20 government primary schools across the community. As a volunteer you will asses how many students are in each school, the number of toilets they currently have and their current accessibility to safe-water and then discuss with them how best to access this water. This has the potential to transform into a large-scale project, so please bring your initiative and enthusiasm with you in order to continue to move this worthwhile project forward.
Choosing your project
When you secure your place on our programme, we will request a first and second choice of which project you would like to do. You will need to be flexible in terms of the exact location of your placement, and we cannot guarantee that you will be placed in exactly the same school that you apply for. This is due to the fact that the project is continually evolving and expanding, current projects may change, and new projects that need our help may open up. We will make every effort to ensure that you can be as closely matched to your request as possible upon arrival in the country.
School Holidays
In Tanzania there are two school terms each year, the dates of which vary each year and are often not confirmed until the last minute. As a general guideline the school holidays are:
First term holiday: 4 weeks from early June to early July
Half-term holiday: 1 week in Mid September
Second term holiday: 5 Weeks from early Dec to Mid Jan
Half-term holiday: 1 week in Mid March
During the school vacations there is still a need for volunteers, as you may help out with organised holiday classes and activities for the children with the objective of keeping them off the streets and out of trouble. There are also many schools and other educational projects that run during the school holidays and of course many other community projects to get involved with as listed above.
Project Support
We have in-country coordinators and a support team to help you out with any support, guidance, or assistance you may need during your time away. Your house staff will also be there to help you during the day. Should you need to urgently contact one of our staff members in the UK, you will be given a 24-hour emergency contact number before you leave.
Programme Orientation
In order for you to get the most out of your experience, you will receive a two-day comprehensive orientation by one of the project co-ordinators before starting at your volunteer project. Your orientation will include the following:
- An introduction to the volunteering projects, getting the most out of your placement
- Health and safety and personal security and house rules
- Cultural awareness and basic a Kiswahili lesson
- Information about Weekend excursions and activities e.g. Safaris, Zanzibar visit, handicraft & music courses
- A tour of Dar es Salaam city centre (you will learn how to use public transport, where to change money, where to buy things and other helpful day-to-day things)
Accommodation and Meals
There are two volunteer houses located approximately 25km from Dar es Salaam city centre. Although not far in distance, the area is quite remote and it can take between 45 minutes and two hours to get to the city centre depending on transport and traffic. The houses are about a 20-minute walk from each other. Most of the volunteer projects are within walking or cycling distance or a bus ride away from the volunteer houses.
The houses are very large, safe and comfortable but they are basic, compared to what you are used to at home. You should be prepared for the possibility that you may not always have water, lights or electricity during your stay as water shortages and power cuts are not unknown occurrences in Tanzania! The houses have multiple bedrooms and you will be sharing a room with up to six other volunteers. There is also a lounge area for you to relax in the evenings.
Internet is available at the Beach house for a small fee and there are a few classroom areas where some of the project work is conducted and a large garden for you to relax in. There is also a bar open most days for you to enjoy in the evenings. There are several members of staff at this house including a cook, a housekeeper and a night watchman who are there for your safety. However, you will be expected to assist in keeping the volunteer house clean and tidy and to the standards that you require.
All meals are served at the Bahari house for all volunteers. You will be provided with three meals each day; breakfast (consisting of bread, jam, fruit, juice, tea and coffee), lunch and dinner (either rice, pasta, potatoes or chapati with meat, vegetables and salad), prepared for you by the cook. Filtered drinking water is provided in the fridge.
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