VOLUNTEER PROJECTS Community Work HIV/AIDS Medical Work Sports Coaching Teaching & Education Wildlife Conservation Wildlife Research Expeditions Compare all projects Corporate Volunteering University Volunteering Family Volunteering Tailor-made for groups GENERAL Contact Us Book Now Read our blog Subscribe to our Newsletter Send to a Friend Sitemap   WHAT DID YOU ENJOY MOST? “The kids. They really are great! I loved meeting the other volunteers and being able to sight see as well. ” Briana Callanan (23), U.S.A. “The children! The community, the people, the staff... everything. But the children are like little rays of sunshine that burst into your life. And when you leave and they are gone, like the sunshine, you miss them and are miserable without them.” Lynsey Allan (26), Canada “Being able to play the piano and sing with the children. Seeing them develop and improve their learning and behaviour. Spending time one-to-one doing homework at Lawrence House. Mixing with some amazing people that have now become my friends. Taking Lawrence House out for dinner on my own and spending quality time with them all. The list is endless!” Helen Coxhead (31), England “Seeing the happy faces of the children when they receive attention from us. These poor kids are so starved for attention, never mind food, that a friendly face is worth so much to them” Benjamin Reitz (28), UK

Cape Town Teaching (Pre-School & Primary) & Building Project, South Africa This programme involves various aspects of community work and development. You will have the opportunity to be involved in our exciting rural pre-school curriculum, as well as participate in community building projects. From April 2008 to May 2009, African Impact volunteers contributed over 7,500 hours to community and child development in Cape Town South Africa, through school teaching and building initiatives. Our project structures, together with the support and advice of our charitable foundation team at The Happy Africa Foundation, are continuously assessing our work and project strategies to ensure that these hours are meaningful, with measurable outcomes. For the same period, we have helped pay for children’ school fees for an entire year through our Sponsor a Child programme, as well as having rebuilt homes in Redhill township. Teaching Kids - Volunteer Work with Disadvantaged Children, Cape Town - Volunteer Project in South Africa, Cape Town Location Cape Town, South Africa Project Length 2 - 8 weeks Age Limit Minimum 18 years, maximum decided on potential participants’ health Project Fee SPECIAL OFFER 20% DISCOUNT £495 / $990 (2 weeks) or £795 / $1590 (4 weeks) USUAL COST £645 / $1290 (2 weeks) or £995 / $1990 (4 weeks) Our gift to you for giving back... Join us on this project between the 1st of September and the 11th of December 2009 and receive the above amazing discount on your placement fee! Special Price Information PROJECT OF THE MONTH.. Join us on this project between now and the 11th of December 2009 and receive a 20% DISCOUNT on your placement fee! SPECIAL OFFER PRICES: £495 / $990 for 2 weeks and £795 / $1590 for 4 weeks. Also included in this project is a trip to Cape Point, the most South-Western tip of Africa, visit Boulders Beach to see the African Penguin colony and travel to the summit of the world-famous Table Mountain in the cable car! See more on this in our "Project Includes" Section below. Volunteer Project Information The following links will jump you to different sections on this page, which provide all the information you will need for this Africa volunteer project: Teaching Kids - Volunteer Work with Disadvantaged Children, Cape Town, South Africa. » photo gallery | » more about this project | » volunteer & travel highlights » project fee includes & excludes | » day in the life of a volunteer... » volunteer support & orientation | » accommodation & meals | » getting there Photos South Africa Photos of Teaching Kids - Volunteer Work with Disadvantaged Children, Cape Town in Africa.   More about the Cape Town Teaching (Pre-School & Primary) & Building Project in South Africa ASSISTANT TEACHING Children in Red Hill Pre-schools have a severe lack of facilities and are taught from containers that have been brought into the community as donations. As a volunteer you will work as a teaching assistant in the classroom. You will find that most of the schools have meager and ill-equipped facilities, but a wealth of children with a desire to learn. As a volunteer, you will assist teachers and contribute to our effort of providing children with a better education. You will spend most of your time assisting teachers, so that you can give children the individual attention they desire but hardly ever get. In addition, you will have the opportunity to organize your own classes. These are the ways in which you will assist the schools: Act as an assistant teacher. Provide individual attention and assistance to children during lessons Help with doing crafts, painting, reading and games Organize special needs classes for children who have not been able to keep up with the pace of the classes Help with giving the children their meals. Every child receives a meal at most basic schools, which is often their only meal that day. Help clean, maintain, and even refurbish the classrooms, most of which are quite run down The term dates for 2009 are as follows: 1st Term: 21st January – 3rd April 2nd Term: 15th April – 26th June 3rd Term: 20th July – 23rd September 4th Term: 5th October - 11th December 1. Red Hill Community Pre-School 35 pupils, 1 teacher, 8am to 4.00pm This little pre school has been running for over 10 years in Red Hill and the 35 children from the community have been lead by the teaching of a dedicated lady named Vuyiseka Lombo for the past 4 years. Vuyiseka has been assisted by Ntombi, the cook. The 35 beautiful children range between 2 and 6yrs of age, and mostly come from a Xhosa background. The school is run out of several containers with very limited resources. The children are given 2 meals a day, breakfast and lunch, which is sponsored by African Impact through the "Sponsor a Child Initiative". African Impact also have stepped by adopting this school and paying for the teacher's and cook’s monthly wages. This will be financed through volunteer project fees. 2. Children of Hope Edu-care Centre 39 pupils, 2 teachers, 8am to 4.00pm Situated on the upper slopes of Red Hill, lies Children of Hope, a pre school of 39 children coming from more Afrikaans backgrounds. The school has been in its current location since 2006 and the 2 ladies who run it have been with the kids for 2yrs prior to that. Sophia Dick and Ntombi are the amazing women who care for these precious little ones, ranging in age from 3 months to 6yrs old. The centre has a lot better facilities than the rural pre-school, due to a generous donation from a Dutch gentleman, Mr Mags, whose memory lives on as he recently passed away. That said, the children are just as in need of assistance, care and attention as any others in this disadvantaged community. 3. Primary School Situated in the township of Masi, the primary school has over 1300 students from grades 1 to 7 in classes of up to 45-49 learners per class. Children are aged from 7 -15 years, ranging from grades are 1-7. Volunteers will have the opportunity to be placed as an assistant teacher in one of many classes needing extra support. Those with specialised teaching areas or interests (ie, Math, English, Science, Technology) will have the opportunity to be placed with in subject specific teaching. Grades 1-3 remain with the same teacher and do a variety of lessons ranging from English, Math, reading, crafts and P.T.). Volunteers will assist the teacher by providing extra support for the learners that are struggling to keep up (usually basic Math and English), general classroom help and supervision, marking of work and whatever support is required by the teacher. Grade 4-7 learners rotate between classes according to their subjects/timetable. Volunteer help in the older classes will be more subject specific and the volunteer should feel comfortable with the subjects they choose to assist in. For those volunteers that have experience in teaching or a willingness to teach, they will have the opportunity to create and present their own classes at the teachers approval. The principal of the school is very keen to get their sports up and running and has dedicated Wednesday afternoons for that purpose. He is very excited about our volunteers helping with these sports and range from volleyball, netball, soccer and eventually to rugby. During the first couple months of the year, the focus is on athletics and volunteers have been able to assist with practices and sports days. Volunteers with primary school teaching experience may also have the opportunity to be placed there as an assistant teacher in one of the classes. COMMUNITY PROJECTS After having spent the morning at a school, you will help out the local community in different areas in the afternoon. You will rotate between the following community projects: Build and Paint Schools/Extra mural involvement Schools in Red Hill deal with a great shortage of classrooms and facilities, as a result of which they are limited to the amount of children they can take. As a volunteer, you will help with fixing fences and windows, rebuilding and painting. It is hard, but highly rewarding work! In addition, we refurbish and paint existing classrooms and containers. (We are also able to offer older/less physically able volunteers lighter work, so that we can accommodate for all of you!) Educare Centre in Masiphumelele 115 kids, 7 teachers. About 15 minutes drive from Red Hill Community Volunteers will assist teachers with the afternoon after care by providing outdoor activities and games for the children (ages 3-6 years), reading both one on one to a child and reading during a story time to all the children. Volunteers can also use any other skills they have i.e. art, music and dancing. Volunteers with adult skills such as computer, administration, financial or training can also add huge value to the teachers lives. The school was started as a Care Centre in 1992 by the Valley Development Project (VDP) operating out of a dilapidated bungalow and shipping containers in Masiphumelele, Cape Town. Against the backdrop of displaced communities, poverty, HIV/AIDS, unemployment and social decay, the VDP aims to foster healthy self-reliant and sustainable communities. The school provides an oasis for local children surviving in difficult circumstances. However the Centre was severely under-resourced and struggled to provide a meaningful education. With community involvement, the school has become a vibrant pre-school boasting a fully equipped school building with newly acquired furniture, classroom and office equipment, and quality educational material. We accommodate 115 happy children in five classes: three toddler classes and two pre-school classes. “It is about the community taking responsibility for their own upliftment and participating in the governing of their own lives… It is about empowering ourselves by creating good working relations between government structures, sponsors and communities for the benefit of everybody” Nelson Mandela Masiphumelele Library Masi has been blessed with a wonderful resourced library with great facilities. The library offer many services to the community and volunteers would slot into some of the existing programmes offered. These range from: Participating in a variety of activities with mostly primary school aged children from within the community at the library ie art/games/story reading. Volunteers are welcome to come with their own activities/ideas (suitable for a library environment) Help tutor high school students in English, Maths, Science and Biology Reading with one on one or small groups and computer lessons. Volunteers with specific skills ie computers, chess etc should make this known and we would be able to arrange lessons to be set up. Cape Town Teaching and Community Project notes: We have found in the past that the more you as a volunteer put in to your involvement, the more you will get out. If you are coming to assist teachers, we suggest that you have some lesson plans or ideas, bring or make charts i.e. maps, body parts etc and take initiative with the children. We are excited to offer you the opportunity to educate them, to entertain them and to love them… Due to the nature of the school holidays and communities, many of the children return to the Eastern Cape for Christmas, so the project will be closed Dec 15 to Jan 12. During the other school holidays volunteers will assist teachers in the community projects ie Masakhane etc and also be involved in building, painting, holiday clubs and much more! Though the project might be slightly less ‘structured’ than during school term, there will be NO shortage of amazing, rewarding and exciting work to do with the local kids and in the local communities. Red Hill and Masiphumelele are in essence townships, but both are safe and peaceful with wonderful people. Our parent organisation, African Encounter, has been working in these communities for many years and have built solid relationships and trust. This is dynamic, exciting project with loads of opportunities to really make an impact in the people lives and communities you come into contact with. ‘Sponsor a Child' Initiative – the children’s school fees are such a minimal figure to us, but a huge amount for a family to with one working parent, or in some cases, even no parents at all. When you arrive we will go through detailed information with you on how you can sponsor a child’s fees for the year and receive quarterly updates on them, their families and progress and leave a lasting impression in the community. You will be living with the Cape Town Medical and Community Volunteers and the community sections are the same and so you will be potentially working alongside them in the afternoons, depending on the need of the projects at the time. Red Hill pre school, which is opposite the Red Hill clinic is an area we would really like to put in a lot of resources. Please also understand that our projects are continuously evolving, being improved, and adapting to the needs of the local communities that we are involved with, so involvement areas do change from time to time. Rest assured your work will be necessary, rewarding and exciting. We invite you to be more than a tourist… » back to top Cape Town Teaching (Pre-School & Primary) & Building Project, Cape Town - Highlights This volunteer project in Africa includes: Teaching Kids - Volunteer Work with Disadvantaged Children, Cape Town "It has shown me insight into other peoples lives that I had never seen before. And showed me to what extent poverty can affect peoples lives, particularly those of children. It has also shown me that things can be done to help and change these situations, no matter how small." Georgia Neath, UK. Assistant teaching Reading and crafts with children Sports coaching Work with disadvantaged and vulnerable children Help uplift a community through education, health, building and sport Immerse yourself in local Capetonian culture Make friends for life South Africa Travel Highlights Vivacious Cape Town is one of the most stunning cities on the globe. It is the home of the spectacular Table Mountain; the heritage site of Nelson Mandela’s prison home, Robben Island; the gateway to the stunning Western Cape wine lands; and boasts magnificent beaches, amongst others. These are not included in your volunteering fee, but our coordinators are able to assist you with making the necessary booking arrangements. The "Wild Coast" along the eastern frontier of South Africa is a collection of unrivalled surf spots and beautiful beaches and cultural stops that will intrigue even the most seasoned traveller, and endear this land to you Garden Route weekend Guideline prices for popular activities offered in and around Cape Town: *Aquila private game reserve – a "Big 5" reserve situated 2 hours’ drive out of Cape Town – R850 per person, which includes a buffet breakfast and lunch at the reserve and a 3 hour game drive. It is also a possible opportunity to pet cheetahs. » back to top Project Fee Includes · Project Fee: this entails financing that goes directly back into the project that you are involved with. This fee facilitates funding for items such as teachers wages, building materials, equipment, supplies, etc. Project fees are also used to buy vehicles / equipment for the project, and for developing new housing for volunteers to provide for the expansion of the project · All airport transfers from Cape Town International Airport upon your arrival and departure · Orientation program · All daily transfers to and from your projects during your stay · Full board and lodging which includes 3 meals a day at our volunteer house · Weekly laundry service during your stay · Assistance in your projects by various African Impact staff and project managers · Outings to Cape Point – the most South-Western tip of Africa, Boulder beach – to see the African Penguin colony, and Table Mountain Project Fee Excludes · Personal travel insurance for the duration of your placement which must include cover for repatriation · All transport by air or bus to Cape Town International Airport · All items of a personal nature, such as curios, gifts, clothing (work and other) · E-mail / Internet and telephone calls · Soft drinks, wines and spirits · All visas for border crossings · Any excursions over-and-above your planned itinerary in Cape Town i.e. Garden Route, Shark diving etc (your project manager can help plan this for you) » back to top Day in the life... This is a typical day in the life of a volunteer working on the Cape Town Teaching (Pre-School & Primary) & Building Project project: Please note that your itineraries may differ from this, depending on your own experience and the number of other volunteers on the placement at the same time, and this is simply to give an example: 07:00 Get up, eat breakfast of cereals, toast, tea/coffee, and start getting ready for your project 07:40 Head off on the short drive to your project 08:00 Start work at your community school. To make sure you will teach a variety of classes, you will rotate between different tasks and classes. 08:00 or 10:00 Depends on the school, but some offer breakfast or a mid morning snack. 12:30 After serving the children their lunch, you will be picked up from your project, and taken to your volunteer house, where lunch is waiting for you. 14:00 Leave for one of the community projects. You will spend the afternoon playing with the children at the schools, assisting with the Masakhane or VDP Projects, or building and painting classrooms. 16.30 End of the working day. You will be picked up from your project and taken home where we evaluate the day and discuss the schedule for the next day, or you can opt to be dropped off in town to check emails. 18.30 Dinner at your volunteer house. After dinner, volunteers often go for a few drinks at one of the local night spots. » back to top Volunteer Support Throughout your stay at your placement in Cape Town you will have the support and guidance of our project staff and coordinators. They are part of our greater African Impact support team, and will provide you with competent 24-hour field support and assistance. Volunteer Orientation Upon arrival at our project base on the outskirts of Cape Town all volunteers are involved in a comprehensive orientation programme, which is included in your fee. This is facilitated by your project manager and includes: • An introduction to the city of Cape Town and the surrounding Cape Peninsula and the communities you will be working in • An introduction to all of our projects. Not only will you see where you will be working, you will also see where your fellow volunteers will be spending their days • At the orientation, volunteers will also receive our detailed “Welcome Pack”, which will contain further useful information for your time with us » back to top Accommodation Volunteers will stay in a fully furnished house in the seaside town of Fish Hoek. The house is within easy walking distance of the safe and beautiful Fish Hoek beach and a short drive from Cape Town. Fish Hoek is a delightful little town on the coastline of False Bay and the house is comfortable, and staffed with a cook and laundry / cleaning lady. The house has a large living / dining area, several bathrooms, a garden, satellite television and a lock-up safe for your valuables. All bedding is provided. Meals You will be provided with three meals a day. Breakfast is on a help-yourself basis and usually consists of cereals / porridge, toast, tea and coffee. Lunch and dinner are full meals, and will be cooked or prepared for you by one of our chefs at your volunteer house. » back to top Getting There Cape Town, South Africa. Our destination manager will assist you with the procedures and we will meet you at the airport in Cape Town. » back to top Make an Enquiry Volunteer Project in South Africa - Teaching Kids - Volunteer Work with Disadvantaged Children, Cape Town     print this page | bookmark this page (CTRL-D) | send to a friend back to top