I decided to volunteer because I wanted something a bit different. I thought that volunteering would be an interesting way to meet like minded people in a very different and out of the norm situation.

I was already aware of Usit as one of the biggest and most prominent student travel companies in the country so I went onto their website and looked up the information that I wanted. Despite there being a few choices, South Africa jumped out at me because I had completed a project on Cape Town for college the year before and I had been dying to visit the place I had researched.

Setting Off

I don’t think I have ever been as nervous in my life but I was excited at the same time. I had received a detailed information pack including pick up, accommodation, orientation and project details. Almost everything is covered in the programme fee apart from weekends spent in the city (if you choose to return to the city) or any additional excursions or safaris you may wish to take. I was in regular contact with the USIT volunteer co-ordinator before I left, over the phone and by e-mail, so I had a good idea of what to expect before departing.

Orientation

The orientation programme pre-arranged by SASTS ensured that we got all of the major sites of Cape Town out of the way within the first week, and introduced us to what was to become our second home – Ashanti Lodge & Hostel. The Orientation included:

A walking tour of the city by a member of SASTS staff who told us where to go, where not to go and basically gave us our bearings to navigate the city centre;
Robben Island Tour followed by an afternoon exploring the popular V&A Waterfront;
Township Tour, a really great eye opener into the life of the poorer inhabitants of Cape Town;
Cape Point Tour takes you to the most southerly point of the African Continent with some interesting stops along the way……
Wine Tasting in Stellenbosch – not for the faint hearted…….

We were also given a day off to ourselves during that week, most of the volunteers took it easy while 4 of us went Shark Cage Diving with Great White Sharks in Gansbaii. Up at 6am on a Sunday was not pleasant, neither was the 3 hour drive (4 hours stuck in traffic on the way back) but being in the water about 2 inches away from a 7 foot long Great White Shark with only a few steel bars between you and amputation is exhilarating enough to make it all worth it.

The Host Family

After the excitement of the orientation week, the thought of living with a strange family for the rest of my stay was a daunting prospect. I had already thought that living with a host family would be the most trying part of the whole experience, but Stella and Gloria were like 2 surrogate mothers to me. Having never had children of their own, the elderly sisters have been showering their love and affection (as well as their delectable cooking) on volunteers from all over the world, and I felt at home within minutes. I was also blessed with 3 lovely ‘sisters’, from Germany, Canada and the U.S. Saying goodbye to my family was probably the hardest thing I had to do – as much as I was looking forward to coming home, I knew I would miss them all so much.

The Projects I worked on: Alpha Pre School & Sunnyside Primary School

I had specified teaching and working with children as my top preferences and I got both. I worked on 2 different projects, Alpha Pre School and Sunnyside Primary School (due to school closure for 3 weeks holidays)

At Sunnyside Primary, the volunteers were welcomed as part of the Sunnyside family within hours of entering the grounds! Staff and students alike were eager to help you and answer any questions we had. They were also very grateful to have the help as the school is over crowded with 40 -50 children in some classes. The curriculum is very basic and most of the teachers were happy to let us take the children for an hour or two. Myself and another volunteer even taught one class a few phrases of Irish!

A typical day

A typical day would see us starting at 9am in the school ; classes began at 8 :15 but the volunteers were not required to start until 9. I would usually get the keys to the library and go down to open it for the day so that pupils and teachers could come down and use it. There was always some re-organising to be done, putting books back where they should be and so on. The teachers knew that I was there and would send pupils down to me for hour so of remedial reading or library time. Although English is widely spoken, many of the students’ first language was whichever ‘Black’ language they spoke at home, Zulu, Xhosa, etc. and many had problems with reading in English which I tried to help with. After the first break in the morning, I would then go to one of the classrooms and see if the teacher required any help. Some of the volunteers picked out one class and stayed there but I liked to move around and see the different teachers’ set ups. During my time there, there were preparations going on for 2 concerts ; one for the retirement of the principal and the annual concert that would be held in September. I helped out some with the various classes, sometimes just supervising them while they were practising and helping them put together skits and prepare special dances. I sometimes assisted with the music classes and the choir practices also.

Our day at Sunnyside would finish at 2.30pm in the afternoon ; sometimes I would go straight home and other days I would go with one of the other volunteers to visit some of the other projects in the area as there were 4 projects located in our area. I had made friends with volunteers at Leilibloom (a home for abandoned children) and Place of Hope (a home for abused women), so I would go to visit them and help out sometimes with various activities there. At Leilibloom, the main responsibilities of the volunteers were to act as big brothers and sisters to the children; at Place of Hope, there was some admin work to be done and generally being there for the women.
I would definitely recommend future volunteers to try to visit other projects to see the different types of work that the volunteers do; if you’re already there, you might as well help out in every way that you can!

Looking Back

I definitely feel like I got value for my money. I had 9 of the best weeks of my life, in a beautiful country, making loads of new friends and experiencing something completely unique! I learned a lot about myself as well as a lot about a culture that was completely different to my own. I feel that I grew as a person, I gained independence and I made some wonderful friends that I’m still in contact with now. Culturally, I got to experience how these people live, what their values and beliefs are, what they eat, what they do for fun and, while some things were quite different, similarities were evident too!

I would recommend everyone to take part in one of these programmes, be it in South Africa or anywhere else in the world. Make it your own and you will never be disappointed. Don’t let the opportunity pass you by!

Volunteer in South Africa - Participants Diary