Volunteers Complete Classrooms at African Angels School

The past 4 weeks have seen two groups of ISV Impact Volunteers working with VA32 on a Community Development Initiative to help develop the facilities at the new African Angels Independent School - and this week the projects are almost complete!

(Read our previous blog Group Volunteers Aim to Make A Huge Impact on Chintsa to see the launching of the projects and what work was completed by our first group).

Community Development Project- Completion at African Angels School 

New Computer Lab - ready for computers to be installed

The new computer lab for the school has been set-up and is ready to be installed with computers (which will happen within the next month!).

The door was varnished and a new mural painted on the wall

Responsible Travel in South Africa: The Fair Trade Travel Pass

The Fair Trade Travel Pass is a travel package which was launched in 2012 aiming to make it as easy as 1,2,3 for conscientious travelers to explore the best bits of South Africa using only Fair Trade travel establishments. The concept of responsible travel is not new to the world but it can be difficult and labor intensive to try to find verified responsible tour operators, accommodation providers and attractions - just at the time when all you really want is to be able to relax and get some much needed head-space. In steps the Fair Trade Travel Pass (FTTP)!

Journeying from Cape Town along the coast to Chintsa and the Wild Coast, on to the Drakensberg and finally to Soweto in Johannesburg, the FTTP explores some of South Africa's most popular destinations; veers off the beaten track on the thoroughly wild Wild Coast, takes in some of the natural wonders of this beautiful country and explores the sights and sounds of our urban townships. A real mix of purely South African experiences. And all stops are at Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa (FTTSA) establishments. The Pass is also available in reverse order staring in Jo'burg and ending in Cape Town.

Pre-Vet Hands-On Experience in South Africa

VA32 have teamed up with local wildlife and conservation expert Dennis Taylor*, to offer international pre-vet students looking for vital hands-on experience, the opportunity to assist in managing a large conservation area with wildlife interactions, general management of the "ranch" and the opportunity to assist local vetenary surgeons.

The African Pre-Vet Wildlife Experience

Vetenary surgeons working with a rhino

This experience is located on a real-life, working reserve where participants sign up for an internship-style program and assist in all aspects of running and managing the conservation area. Tasks include anything from assisting experts with animal capture, rehabilitation and re-introduction to fence patrols and trap eradication. 

The Big Chintsa Sports Day 2013

In celebration of the handing over of the Chintsa Sports Centre from the Friends of Chintsa, to the Chintsa community.

It's been a looooooong time in preparation, with blood, sweat and tears, planning and re-planning, even the building and moving of an entire volleyball court...but the day arrived on Saturday 2nd February 2013, when the Chintsa Sports Centre was officially handed over from NPO Friends of Chintsa, to the community of Chintsa.

Diary of a Volunteer in South Africa



5/2/12

First day of school!  And it actually is as exciting as a first day of school when I was a kid.  Today we went to the Bulugha school and helped with the preschool class.  Learning the names will be quite the task, let alone pronouncing them correctly, but that’s the goal.  Xhosa is the language spoke by most.  Xhosa incorporates all types of tongue clicking that has so far been lost on me.  I can only imagine it’s a skill you are born with.  My hope is to master it enough so as not to be laughed at by the time I leave. 

The schoolroom is probably an 8x8 ft. room at best.  But there are 30 kids that couldn’t be happier to be there.  It’s amazing how quickly they latch on to you.  “Miss! Miss! Miss!” is quite endearing.  We taught them the letter “C” today.  Played outside (sharks and minnows – if anything is a universal game, it’s that), colored and sang songs.  All while overlooking a field of zebras. 

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

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!