Cape Town Medical and Community Programme
Assistant teaching at local schools in the underprivileged communities on the outskirts of Cape Town and the Cape Peninsula
Project Location: Red Hill and Masiphumelele, clinics and communities
Project Age Limit: Minimum 18 years, maximum decided on potential participants' health
Required Experience: Should have some basic medical background
(Are studying, have studied or are about to enter into medical studies)
Project Highlights:
MEDICAL PROGRAMME
In a city of contrasts, Cape Town's private sector health care and provision is extensive, but it is the rural communities that suffer from lack of facilities. Whilst there are some structures in place for an effective health service, there is an enormous deficit in terms of staff and resources. This is why the volunteers' help is very much appreciated by the nurses and doctors we work with.
As a volunteer, you will spend each morning of the week in the clinics of the various communities assisting the supervisors with the many people desperate for help. There are many sick little children, whose only support and help is through these clinics. The clinics run from 8-12.30 daily.
This will give you the chance to make a positive impact on the health service in these areas on the outskirts of Cape Town, and to make a profound difference in the lives of the surrounding community.
Both qualified and non-qualified volunteers can join this project.
Furthermore, volunteers would be able to offer advice to the day cares and after cares that they will be working with in the afternoon. There are many kids with special needs.
COMMUNITY PROJECT
After having spent the morning at one of the clinics that we are involved with, 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 and reading programme
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!)
Masakhane 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 helping with game playing, reading both one on one and story time and with 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.
Masakhane 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.
Masakhane 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, Masakhane 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: two toddler classes and two pre-school classes.
"Masakhane 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, 14 October 1998
Ukhanyo Primary School
Situated in the township of Masi, Ukhanyo has over 1300 students from grades 1 to 7 in classes of up to 40 learners per class. 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, basketball, soccer and eventually to rugby. During the first couple of 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.
Masiphumelele Library
Masi has been blessed with a wonderful resourced library and great facilities. The library offers 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.
Assisting the chess club with new skills and strategies. A chess club was set up by an American volunteer with the local high school students, of which four have competed at a national level.
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, 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 all 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.
You will be living with the Cape Town Teaching 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...
A typical day in the life of a Cape Town Medical and Community Volunteer
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:
Project Cost:
| GBP (£) | USD ($) | |
| 1 month placement | 1195 | 2390 |
| 2 months | 1845 | 3690 |
Project Cost Includes:
Project Cost Excludes:
www.happyafricafoundation.org
Regd UK Charity Number: 1123529
Pathfinders and The Happy Africa Foundation
Pathfinders is proud to have been instrumental in the establishment of The Happy Africa Foundation and continues to be one of the Foundations major supporters. Donations made to support our community and conservation initiatives by private donors as well as by Pathfinders as a voluntoursim company are managed and distributed on our behalf by The Happy Africa Foundation.
The mission of The Happy Africa Foundation is to empower the African people through the support of community and conservation based initiatives that operate at grass roots level.
Conservation Development:
The Happy Africa Foundation works together with local African communities to conserve and protect the environment, wildlife and cultures in areas where the Foundation is involved. Thus, the Foundation supports, financially or logistically (or both), local and international organizations that operate projects supporting conservation education and research at a grass roots level.
Community Development:
The Happy Africa Foundation strives to initiate, facilitate and support community development projects that are sustainable. As such, The Happy Africa Foundation makes every effort to ensure and takes relevant measures in assessing, planning and monitoring community development projects for the benefit of local African communities.
The Happy Africa Foundation provides travellers, volunteers and other donors with a chance to give back to the communities they visit or volunteer in on their African journeys, or that they wish to support remotely through donations.
Project 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 entails:
Project Support:
Throughout your stay in Cape Town you will have the support and guidance of our experienced project managers. They are part of our greater African Impact support team, which will provide you with competent 24-hour field support and assistance.
Project Accommodation:
Volunteers will stay in a fully furnished house in the seaside town of Fish Hoek, 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 False Bay and the house is comfortable, and staffed with a cook and laundry/cleaning lady. The houses all have a large living/dining area, several bathrooms, a garden, a safe for your valuables, etc. All bedding is provided.
Please Note:
We find that volunteers living together and working closely together with their project managers is the surest way of guaranteeing their safety and being able to attend to their most pressing needs. Your assistant project manager will be staying with you. For this reason we expect all volunteers to stay only in the accommodation provided for them and do not allow volunteers to spend nights away in the town or nearby villages, unless they are away on pre-arranged sightseeing excursions.
Project 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 cooks at your volunteer house.
Note: Sometimes on weekends you will need to cook your own meals with ingredients that will be provided, as our staff will need to be given time off. Weekends are usually good times for tourist activities and exploring the surrounding area, so that is the time that a lot of volunteers are out and about anyway.
Please note that while we do our very best to provide you with varied and interesting meals and will generally be quite simple. We ask that you are not overly fussy and ungrateful with what is provided for you.
Please let us know before you depart for Africa of any food allergies or specific requirements.
Weekend Highlights:
These are not included in your volunteering fee, but our coordinators are able to assist you with making the necessary booking arrangements.
Guideline prices for the most popular activities:
Project Getting There:
Our destination manager will assist you with the procedures and we will meet you at the airport in Cape Town.