ISV Impact Volunteers- Group 1 Round-up!

Group 1 of our ISV Impact Groups left Chintsa at the end of last week - exhausted but looking forward to their onward trip and having accomplished tons! Chek out our photo slideshow to see what our volunteers got up to!

If you can't see the slideshow properly in the vlog click here to view it in flickr!

April

Vlogging the Volunteer Africa Way

Well well well. A volunteer blog. Technology is an amazing thing, but it is also another time demand in an already tight delivery schedule most of us are faced with. However, I do feel this platform will provide the volunteering sector with an opportunity to voice their experiences as volunteers. Designing projects and implementing them is very different to being a volunteer on a project. VA32 through my eyes must be very different to VA32 through a volunteer's eyes, and we really want to understand how you, our volunteers, experience projects.

Volunteer Africa Preschool Program...a small introduction

            Chintsa Preschool 

Nokuphumla--our grade R teacher

When you walk into the preschool at Chintsa East  you will be greeted with a warm hug from Nokuphumla and a classroom full of smiles.  Nokuphumla is full of energy and always has time for a child that is upset. She is a dedicated teacher  and a second mother to  the thirty five children who are in Grade R (Grade Reception). Nokuphumla has really made the Grade R classroom a special place. Volunteer Africa  and individuals from the community have  also put a lot of work and time in over the years to create an amazing Grade R classroom. There is plenty of space for the kids to read, play and do all kinds of activities! Outside we have awesome playgrounds that have been built by International Student Volunteers for the kids to play on during break. 

Clipping a lion’s toe-nail? All in a day’s work for a volunteer on the Wildlife & Conservation Program

It’s been a hectic few weeks for volunteer Bernadette who is joining us from Germany on the VA32 Wildlife & Conservation volunteer program for a month. The week began with the relocation of a HUGE buffalo - “Much heavier than a cow”…is how co-ordinator Dennis described the beast…just how many cows Dennis has attempted to pick up we have not dared to ask!

Volunteer Africa Impact Projects – making an impact on South Africa

As well as running long term volunteer programs and initiatives which need volunteers to drive these projects’ aims and tasks on a daily basis, resulting in each volunteer contributing their time and energy to a small (but very important!) part of a larger project, VA32 along with other local organisations and people (namely the Friends of Chintsa) ear-mark “High Impact” projects which need a short burst of physical energy to get them off the ground, give them a boost or maintain their running. These short term projects sometimes work in conjunction with the longer term volunteer programs for example, building and decorating a new computer lab for a Wild Coast School or re-vamping a pre-school classroom and ablution facilities. Other times they support other areas of the community development of Chintsa for example, upgrading an old dilapidated shipping container into a working clinic or turning an old dumping ground into a safe and fun play area for the children of the village.

The Big Green goes GREEN!

It may be difficult to imagine that any object called “the Big Green e-Machine” could possibly get greener…but it’s true! This big green box which was transformed from a dis-used old tour land rover, into an inspirational mobile learning centre over the last 18 months has just had solar panels fitted to its roof and hooked up to central batteries which power it’s 15 laptop computers making the Big Green totally independent of any mains power supply!

Welcome to our Vlog (also known as the Volunteer Africa Blog!)

It’s about time VA32 joined the blogging world – so here we have it! There’s so much going on in Chintsa and on our projects every day that we want to be able to keep our network of supporters, past volunteers, potential future volunteers and anyone interested in volunteering in general, up-to-date.