Pre-school Assistant - Western Cape, South Africa

What's included?

• Pre-departure Briefing in London
• Pre-departure information and advice
• In-country assistance and support
• 24-hour emergency contacts
• In-country induction or training
• Donation to the project
• Transportation: airport pick-up, airport drop-off, transportation from the accommodation to the project and back
• Accommodation: volunteer residence
• Food: included, but self-catered

What's NOT included?

• Flights
• Insurance
• Visa costs
• Sightseeing activities
• Monthly stipend

As is the case in many developing communities, South Africa has a huge divide between rich and poor communities. Many people live in townships without adequate resources and facilities for their children to receive a decent education. These disadvantaged townships can only rely on local charities to provide better quality education and care for their babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers.

Volunteers are needed to assist teachers at a day-care centre in a deprived township in South Africa. The project provides activities and three meals a day for roughly 60 children (aged from 7 months to 6 years of age). Regrettably however, there are very few full time staff present at this day-care centre to properly care for all the children - there is therefore a huge need for extra pairs of hands.

Why you are needed:

This is an inspiring social project that effectively makes a difference to many young lives. As a volunteer here you will take an active role in assisting the teachers at the centre with their classes. What does assisting teachers involve? Well, as the children are very young, you will basically be taking part in a range of fun activities: telling them stories, singing, playing, and helping them discover crafts, art and music.

Your pre-school work placement will be located in a township - roughly 20 minutes drive away from your volunteer apartment. Your beachfront volunteer apartment  will be located on a golden sandy beach in the seaside town of the Strand (a 30-minute drive from Cape Town centre). Full transport to and from the pre-school project will be provided.
 

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The Strand is an idyllic western-style beach resort with a relaxed atmosphere and enough shops, bars and restaurants to keep you entertained.
 

Your first few days at the project:

Once you arrive in Strand, your first day will be spent getting to know more about the project - where you will be working, who you will be working with, and what activities you will be assisting the teachers with. You will also be introduced to the staff and the children at the school.

During your induction you will be provided with information about:

• The history of the project and the social problems that instigated its development.
• How to effectively assist teachers with the different types of activities/games that you will be doing.
• The main differences between the education system in the UK and that in South Africa.

Working Life as a Pre-school Volunteer:

Your main tasks as a volunteer will be to assist the teachers and staff with the pre-schoolers, help them feed the little ones at lunchtime as well as general duties in the nursery. You will be assigned to the oldest group of children - the 4 to 6 year olds, however, if you prefer to look after the younger children (babies and toddlers) this can also be arranged.

You are expected to be at the day-care centre from Monday to Friday (9am to 3pm). However, as the project is fairly flexible, you are more than welcome to spend a few extra hours at the end of the day to play games with the children.

Accommodation:

Photos taken by WAVA staff in South Africa, 2010

The project's accommodation is situated 25km away from your place of work in a beautiful volunteers apartment on the beachfront.

The volunteers apartment has two main bedrooms that can accommodate up to 6 volunteers at one time. Volunteers have access to a shared living room leading onto the terrace.

The location of your apartment gives you every opportunity to enjoy this beautiful South African region - you can take part in several water sports from swimming to surfing and kite surfing.
 

Eating:

Every morning you will be provided with a breakfast of cereals, yogurts and fruits. You will have a fully equipped modern kitchen in the apartment and you'll be given a food allowance of of ZAR 300 per week (the equivalent to £25 - included in the programme fee) so that you can prepare your own lunches and evening meals.

On occasion, the Project Co-ordinator may pop round to cook you dinner in the evening.

• Programme starts throughout the year.
• Please arrange your arrival for Cape Town International Airport over the weekend - you will start your induction on the following Monday.
• Minimum stay is 2 weeks.
• Maximum Duration: As the programme is seen as a good basic introduction into volunteering, we prefer to limit the duration to 4 weeks. However, if you would like to extend your stay please discuss this with one of our Travel Advisors.

• Flights are not included
• A tourist visa is required for Commonwealth, US and European citizens - This can be obtained upon arrival at the airport.
• An arrival transfer is included from Cape Town International Airport.

• All of WAVA'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. WAVA takes its partnerships very seriously and works extremely closely with all its partners. All WAVA partners are expected to abide by the WAVA Partnership Principles and Responsible Travel Policy. WAVA does not work with organisations with religious, ideological or political affiliations or goals
• Comprehensive insurance is available for all programmes. Here are full details of our partnership with Endsleigh. You have no obligation to take up insurance with Endsleigh, but insurance of a suitable sort is mandatory on all our programmes
• WAVA provides 24-hour emergency support from the UK and our partner provides support locally
• WAVA has an agreement with the crisis management service Tranquillico, should the very worst situations arise
• Participation on programmes with wild animals are at the volunteers' own risk; however, WAVA works only with partners who take all possible precautions to ensure volunteer safety
• 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

• Minimum age: 18 years old.
• Good spoken English.
• Since you will be working with children, you need to be an outgoing and enthusiastic person with a genuine care and concern for children.
• International volunteers are welcome.