Child Welfare Volunteer, South Africa

Overview

The "Feed A Brain" programme initially began to increase the awareness of hunger issues in South Africa.

There is a direct connection between the difficulties many African children face learning at school and their lack of good nutrition at home. Together with one of the local child welfare societies, you can help change lives of children who are in dire need of nutritious meals and other support services.

This programme has a holistic approach to the development of children. Volunteers will be involved with feeding children and also assisting the educational activities that are run at the project. This multi-step focus on the welfare of South African children ensures a varied and hugely rewarding experience for volunteers.

What's included?

• Pre-departure information and advice
• In-country assistance and support
• 24-hour emergency contacts
• In-country induction or training for 3 days
• 3-night stay at guest house during orientation
• Airport pick up and drop off
• Two site seeing tours
• Sim card for South African mobile
• Programme T shirt
• Transfer to and from project
• Accommodation: Volunteer on site residence
• Food: all meals included during work days and provided by staff

What’s not included:

• Flights
• Insurance
• Visas
• Stipend
• Food is not included on Tuesday the day you arrive

Location

The Feed A Brain Project is based in Johannesburg, one of the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the world, so in your spare time from the project you will find a wealth of things to see and do.

You will need to fly in to Johannesburg’s International Airport: O.R. Tambo (code: JNB).

 

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Project life and Photos

The project is run from a charity centre called The Elton John Masibambisane Centre. The centre is managed by one of the local child welfare societies and provides a range of desperately needed services for the community including psycho-social support, material assistance, homework supervision and life skills training, as well as bereavement and general counselling to children aged 2 and 18 years.

The centre also facilitates community outreach programmes at schools, churches and community based organisations and recently also started a programme for people living with HIV/AIDs. The Feed A Brain project will provide you with a structured daily schedule which outlines the tasks and activities that you will be involved in. The programme encourages you to take part in a diverse range of activities so you will become an integral part of the project.

An example of the activities you would complete on the project might include:

Morning:

• Assisting with baking break
• Helping with deliveries to local projects
• Cooking and preparing food
• Assist with packaging and distribution of food parcels to the most needy
• Basic cleaning and washing up after breakfast and lunch
• Maintenance of food garden

Afternoon:

• Feeding about 200 children
• Assist with social workers with home visits within the community (be prepared to walk a lot)
• Helping teach motor skill development, joyful learning through creative & teaching methods
• Nursery assistance with basic educational activities

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Flights, transportation and visas

International flights are not included.

You will need to fly into Johannesburg’s International Airport: O.R. Tambo (code: JNB) for a Tuesday pick up – please arrive by mid afternoon.

You will be picked up by one of the project coordinators and taken to the guest house where you will be staying during your orientation and project.

On departure, your project coordinator will transport you to the airport and/ or assist with any further travel arrangements.

A tourist visa is required for Commonwealth, US and European citizens. In this case, you are able to get a tourist visa upon entry (valid for 60 days).

 

CIBT Visa advice... For expert visa advice we advise our volunteer, work placement, and internship participants to get in touch with CIBT - a company that we work in partnership with. Our UK, Canadian, and US travellers can use CIBT for visa advice and to get their visa applications processed - with visas returned within a week. UK travellers can contact CIBT for visa advice. Canadian participants can contact CIBT for visa advice or call Toll Free: 888-665-9956 US participants can contact CIBT for visa advice or call Toll Free: 800-577-2428 Canadian citizens should state account number: 57497 US citizens should state account number: 57496

Dates and duration

The project starts on the first Tuesday of every month.

• You can spend 3 weeks or 5 weeks at the project (including the orientation)
• Transfer back to the airport will be on a Friday

Safety and insurance

• All of Twin Work & Volunteer's placements are in partnership with recognised and established local organisations, run by or employing local people. These organisations, depending on the nature of what they do, might be small-scale NGOs, family projects, schools or orphanages, or local initiatives with environmental or social goals.
• We often use local businesses to provide logistical and support services to volunteers such as transfers, pick-ups, accommodation and so on. In this way, we support the local economy through helping independent local businesses to thrive. We take our partnerships very seriously and work extremely closely with all our partners.
• We provide 24-hour emergency support from the UK and our partners provides support locally.
• We have an agreement with the crisis management service Tranquillico, should the very worst situations arise.
• If any wider safety concerns arise in the destination, such as civil disturbances or natural disasters, we seek advice from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) and implement their recommendations where appropriate.

 

Insurance options... Comprehensive insurance is available for all programmes. You have no obligation to take up insurance with any of these companies, but insurance of a suitable sort is mandatory on all our programmes. For UK participants: Here are the full details of our partnership with Endsleigh. For American and Canadian participants: We offer insurance options with International Volunteer Card (IVC).

Eligibility

• Minimum age of 18
• Open minded, willing and flexible
• Accepting of other cultures

Accommodation and Food

As you volunteer in South Africa, you will live in fully-equipped volunteer accommodation and will be provided with three meals a day.

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