Cape Town Teaching and Community Programme
Assistant teaching at local schools in the underprivileged communities on the outskirts of Cape Town
Project Location: Red Hill Community - within site of The Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point, the most south-western tip of the African Continent
Project Age Limit: Minimum 18 years, maximum decided on potential participants’ health
Required Experience: Teaching in the schools requires no experience.
Project Highlights:
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:
The term dates for 2008 are as follows:
1st Term: 16th January - 20 March 2nd Term: 14th April - 27th June 3rd Term: 14th July - 26th September 4th Term: 6th October - 5th December
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
Red Hill Community Pre-School
20 pupils, 1 teacher, 8am to 3.30pm
This little pre school has been running for over 10 years in Red Hill and the 20 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 Bandezwi, the cook. The 20 beautiful children range between 1 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 the Valley Development Project (VDP) but due to the current circumstances, the VDT are unable to sponsor the teachers wages and so as of January 2008, the school would come to a close. African Impact have stepped in and decided to adopt this school and pay for the teacher and cook’s monthly wages. This will be financed through volunteer project fees.
Children of Hope Edu-care Centre
35 pupils, 2 teachers, 8am to 1230pm
Situated on the upper slopes of Red Hill, lies Children of Hope, a pre school of 35 children coming from more Afrikaans backgrounds. The school has been in its current location for the last year and the 2 ladies who run it have been with the kids for 3yrs. Sophia Dick, her sister-in-law, Rene Dick, are the amazing women who care for these precious little ones, ranging in age from 9 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.
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 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 to serve meals, playing with the kids, 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 is school for 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, 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.
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 Adult literacy classes - help teach English, writing skills and life skills to local men and women. A teaching background or passion for literacy is a requirement for this project 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, VDP 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. 'Adopt 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...
A typical day in the life of a Cape Town Teaching/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 Costs:
| 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 in Cape Town all volunteers are involved in a comprehensive orientation, 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/cleaning lady. The house has a large living/dining area, bathrooms, a large garden and a safe for your valuables. 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.