Project summary

Join a team to run a 2 week charity development camp in rural villages in a remote and poor, but very friendly and beautiful location, working with a small charity called Village Africa.

For the 2 weeks you can choose to get involved in one or more of the following areas:

• English camps at the primary schools
  
• Building projects
• Other roles 

Click here for more information about the charity Village Africa.

How you will spend the 2 weeks

After a night of initial acclimatisation on the beach in Dar es Salaam  you will travel to the village of Yamba, where you will be based.  During your first couple of days in Yamba you will struggle to find your feet as you'll be constantly amazed by the people and place that you will call home for the next two weeks.  We'll give you guidance training and support to help you settle in and then as quickly as possible you'll get straight into your volunteering roles:

English camps at primary schools

For those who want to get involved at the schools, you will have a day of specific teaching training and then start the process of preparing for the camps. Guidance, ideas and basic resources will be provided, and the group will run and manage the camps.

You will follow the Tanzanian curriculum but we also encourage lots of fun and interaction, including games, songs, art, dressing up, and other creative activities that get the kids using English. 

We work with two primary schools, in the villages of Yamba and Milingano.  The facilities are very basic and although there is a shortage of teachers, the schools are incredibly welcoming. A camp will be run at each school for 2-3 days each.

Education is highly valued by families and some children walk for up to 3 hours to attend school each day. Orphans and children from one parent families also attend school, rather than being kept at home for chores.

Building

For the builders, there are a number of building projects that are being undertaken with the assistance of Village Africa. These are all 'local' projects so volunteers will work closely with local builders, carpenters and labour.

The project you will do depends on what is in progress at the time but ongoing work includes the building and renovation of classrooms, health posts, accommodation and toilets.

By providing new and renovated buildings there is great benefit to the local community, schools, healthcare and the running of the charity.

Other roles

There are also other valuable roles you can get involved with such as helping with the administration of the charity's office, computer training for staff, knitting & crafts, and health education.

The location

The villages are located in the the Usambaras, in the North East of Tanzania and form part of the Eastern Arc Mountains.  Each village is quite different even though they are located nearby.  Milingano is perhaps how most people imagine an African village, fairly dry and hot with the classic African red earth.  Yamba, being located much higher up is colder, lush and green, with stunnng views of the surrounding area. 

A huge part of the adventure of Tanzania is the environment you will live and work in. The villages are in an extremely beautiful area with a mixture of forest and farmland. There is lots of wildlife including dikdiks, rabbits, chameleons and birds. The people who live here are subsistence farmers and, despite it being fertile, are incredibly poor.

Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in the world and as such the standard of living appears very low to us. The Tanzanian way of life is extremely laid back, relaxed and friendly. Society is generally not money driven and provides a very different view on how to live. This can lead to a degree of culture shock for people visiting, but more often leads to culture shock on the return home at the end of an extended period of time living in a local environment. Longer term this can help to produce a much deeper and more mature understanding of our own society and a more tolerant and caring view of other peoples and societies.

How you can make a difference

You will be helping some of the poorest people in the world and supporting the work that Village Africa is doing.  The programme benefits you, the work of Village Africa and importantly the local communities.

What's included

• A comprehensive information booklet and pre-departure support
• Being met on arrival at Dar es Salaam airport
• 1 night acclimatisation and orientation (by the beach near Dar)
• Transfers to the village
• Local introductions and training
  
• Accommodation in a house shared with other volunteers (shared rooms)
• Food (all main meals)
• Ongoing support, help and advice from our local team

What else to budget for

The following items are not included and estimates are given as a guide for your budgeting: flights (£450-£600), visa ($50), travel insurance, personal spending / living costs (£35 per week).

Other projects you might also be interested in....

* Primary school teaching in Tanzania

* Secondary school teaching in Tanzania (for qualified teachers)

* Building projects in Tanzania

* Other roles in Tanzania

* Summer English Camp in Thailand

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More details

Volunteer accommodation and food

Volunteers live together in simple but comfortable houses in the village, with a short walk to school. A housegirl is employed to fetch water, shop, cook and clean and a watchman is employed to oversee the houses at night.

Freetime and travel opportunities

You will soon adapt to the Tanzanian way of life that is dictated by the hours of daylight. With the absence of electricity, waking hours become fairly similar to daylight hours.

During the 2 weeks you will have plenty of time to get to know the local communities and also a couple of days off to explore the local area.  There are some great local hiking opportunities including viewpoints of Kilimanjaro and the Tanzania/Kenya border, waterfalls and historical caves.

If possible, we highly recommend adding an extra week on to your stay to go on safari in some of the most outstanding national parks in the world, or explore the stunning spice island of Zanzibar.

Challenges

This is a remote and challenging environment with no running water and electricity so if you are looking for a luxurious 2 weeks this may not be for you!

Although this is a summer project from the UK, the climate in Tanzania at this time can be cold and you may experience rain.

As this is a 2 week project we pack a lot in to a short period of time so be prepared to work hard and have a lot of fun! You should be willing to work within a team and be adaptable to living and working in a group. Don't forget that the work you'll do in these two weeks is part of a much bigger picture of ongoing support and development that we are providing to this community.

Where does your money go

PoD is run as a non-profit organisation and does not receive any external funding. We charge a fee for all our placements to cover the overseas costs of volunteering and the costs of running our organisation in the UK. 

For this project approximately 55% of the fee you pay is passed directly to the project, an important source of funding for their work.

Volunteer reviews

Click here to read volunteer reviews for our teaching in Tanzania volunteer project.