Wild Coast Sports and Education

This project is based in the stunning Wild Coast area of South Africa, against a dramatic coastline and lush green scenery. As a volunteer, you will be focusing upon the development of sports in rural and impoverished communities, where playing games and incorporating fun into the daily lives of children is essential.

During your placement, you will divide your time between sports coaching amongst young school children and the essential Wild Coast IT project, providing vital assistance in the classrooms to develop the computer skills in young children. Other key objectives you will more than likely partake in involve environmental and aesthetic upliftment projects at the partner schools. This is a fantastic project providing you with a very interactive, cultural and rewarding experience of Africa and its very welcoming communities.

Project Age Limit
Minimum 17 years, maximum dependant on participants health.

The Wild Coast
The Wild Coast region is situated between Durban and East London on the east coast of South Africa. Located in what was the Transkei homeland, the Wild Coast boasts some of the most dramatic coastline in Africa. In order to ensure a consistent labour pool, most of whom were largely denied access to equal opportunities within society, this region has historically been deliberately underdeveloped. For the most part the region today is an undeveloped, underprivileged, rural enclave within the greater South Africa.

The Wild Coast is a destination recognised for its strong AmaXhosa culture, vibrant population and environmental significance, and its developmental importance in the newly established democratic South Africa.

Your Volunteer Project
South Africa is instantly recognisable in the world of sport, with some of the world’s leading athletes and teams. However, it is still a developing country despite the modern cities and strong Western influences. Many children are still lacking the necessary education and opportunities to have an equal chance in life. Sports and Computer Literacy offers a way out and is a means to a better and more enjoyable life for young children, creating education and career opportunities and healthy individuals.

Sport in particular is becoming increasingly recognised as a vital component to a healthy upbringing that needs to be encouraged in the townships and rural areas of South Africa. Two afternoons a week are devoted to the running of the community sporting initiative, which attracts between 40 – 120 children. Target sports will include football, cricket, netball and rounders. For the rest of your time each week, you will become involved in the important IT education scheme, training young children in various IT skills to enable them to further their future education and careers and the environmental projects!

1) The Interactive Sports Programme
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 2-3 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. 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!

Please note that you will need to be enthusiastic and use your assertiveness, intuition and western culture of organisation to actively encourage teachers, students and the educational system to embrace sports and the overall recreational development within Africa. There is so much work to be done in this arena: It just needs you to help this development!

Some of the key sporting activities you may be involved with include:

2) 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.

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:

Project Support
During your 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.

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.

For further information about or to secure a place on the project, please call the Africa team today on 01892 516164 or email us at Africa@realgap.co.uk