Project Life
Orphanage Volunteer Program in Cape Town, South Africa

Your first day on the volunteer project will be spent learning about the different customs and cultures in South Africa, general life inside a township as well as some common Xhosa sayings. You will also be given the curriculum, ideas on lesson planning and some introductory information on child development and skills on how to handle young children. You do not need any particular training or prior experience as this will be provided for you once you arrive in country. The South African GVI Project Manager, interns and other volunteers will always be around to assist you or give you ideas.

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Typical day

Each morning you will be collected from your apartment at 8:30am and transported to the orphanage in time to start your morning session which is from 9am - 12pm. Morning sessions will be divided into 3 parts with a variety of tasks including outdoor exercises and games, arts and crafts, story telling, music and drama activities. You will have an hour from 12 - 1pm to enjoy your packed lunch before starting the afternoon session which could include supervised free play, assistance with homework or working with some of the disabled children at the orphanage. You will be collected from the village at 4pm in the afternoon and taken back to your apartment and will then be required to spend an hour or two each day preparing for the next days lessons.

Typical week

Volunteers will work Monday through to Friday. You will have weekly sessions with the project manager and intern to discuss any ideas or problems you may have and to plan for the following week. The work you will be doing will involve teaching basic conversational English by telling stories, singing songs and playing games. You will also need to plan and implement games and exercises for the children to help them develop their fine and gross motor skills. Resources, art materials, games etc will be provided for you once you get to Cape Town. If you would like to get involved in helping some of the disabled children in the village, you may have the opportunity to learn the skills you need to play with and handle these special children. Weekends have been left free for your own leisure so that you will have time to explore Cape Town and the local area.