Awonke's Grahamstown Science Fair Blog

Awonke with volunteer Nino

Recently there was a National Science Fest. held in the creative little town of Grahamstown. The grade 4 learners from African Angels Independent School took this opportunity to get involved in a bit of science and a lot of fun! Having been taking part in some computer classes at school Awonke wanted to write about his time in Grahamstown for the vlog - here goes!

The VA32 Ambassador Project

On Friday 31st Jan the VA32 Ambassador Project was opened up to our entire network of friends and supporters. The Ambassador Project aims at securing volunteers for the Wild Coast Schools and Community Preschool Projects for 2014, through the help of our past volunteers, current supporters and interested parties who share their experiences of Chintsa and VA32 with their own networks of friends, colleagues, local schools and colleges, classmates, sports teams, students unions and more!

What's in it for them?
A free volunteer placement! Any ambassador who refers five volunteers on to VA32 (the volunteers must confirm their placement with a 35% deposit) will be hosted for free, for two weeks, on one of our volunteer projects.

So who's getting involved?

An Ambassador Case Study...

Volunteer Teaching at the African Angels School

“Good morning Charlottte!” Being asked to volunteer teach at African Angels School is always a treat. With Grade R teacher Christy away for the day, I jumped on board the teaching train.

Grade R had been learning about wild animals, I saw some fantastic giraffes and artwork dotted all around the classroom. I also had the help of enthusiastic teaching student Jamie, who has been working with African Angels since October.

Ear Doctor Visits Chintsa, South Africa

Otologist Salem, from Texas State in the US, spent several days visiting the Wild Coast Schools last week. He checked the ears of every child in each school (as well as our co-ordinators and some of the teachers!). The kids were fascinated by the technology that he brought along, if a little scared at first at the thought of it being stuck in their ears!

Salem visited Chintsa East, Bulugha and Silatsha Schools as well as Green Sleeves Home of Safety and the Chintsa East Health Outpost. Check out these awesome pictures caught during his work:

Salem at Chintsa Health Outpost

Computer Literacy Students Blog

Some of our computer literacy students have taken an interest in the Vlog and have written a short blog each to be a part of it. Although the internet connection is not currently working at the schools the girls have taken the time to type out their blogs and include a photo of themselves. Read the blogs of Sinesihle, Lusanda, Nolubabalo and Zizipho below:

My Blog

By Sinesihle Luqongo

What is my name? My name is sihle my sername is luqongo

Volunteers Uplift Chintsa Preschool

Our third group of International Student Volunteers were with us from 8th - 21st June. Following on from the amazing work that the previous groups did at the African Angels School (you can read about their work in our previous blogs "Volunteers aim to make a huge impact on Chintsa" and "Volunteers Complete Classrooms at African Angels School"), group 3 set to working with Phumla at the Chintsa East Preschool. Phumla's preschool building and facilities were in need of some serious care and attention. Check out the work that this great group of volunteers completed:

Volunteering to Maintain Phumlas Preschool

The volunteers completed the following tasks:

- Cleaning, scraping and re-painting of the school building

Volunteers Work on Pioneering Sports Development Program in Chintsa, South Africa

This winter season VA32 is pioneering a Sports Development Program for local schools in the wider Chintsa area. Four groups of ISV volunteer groups will be hosted during the next three months and will facilitate this program along with VA32 project manager Denver. 

There is a huge need for programs like this in South Africa where there is no physical education (PE) included in the core curriculum. Extra curricular activities are provided by many private schools (or by sports clubs and training outside of school) and in many cases make up for this lack of sports development, but in the rural schools of the Eastern Cape there is a distinct lack of opportunities for rural learners to take part in these kinds of activities. This could be for many reasons; the families cannot afford to pay for the classes or buy the equipment, the kids cannot get to the clubs and classes as they have no transport and there are little to no clubs hosted locally for kids.

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

See How Our Garden Grows!

The afternoons for volunteers are filled with community development initiatives in Chintsa which are designed to support the schools and people who VA32 work with every day.

The last few weeks have seen a new gardening and beautification initiative begun; driven by volunteer co-ordinator Ash, Kate from Friends of Chintsa, local teacher and carer Phumla and (of course) our education project volunteers.

The Gardening Initiative

The gardening initiative has several aims and outcomes:

Group Volunteers Aim to Make a Huge Impact on Chintsa

It's Winter again and here at VA32 we're loving having our first ISV Volunteer group here. This is the first of ten groups in total. Six groups will work on our well established initiatives based in community development; completing and maintaining upliftment projects in local rural schools and public spaces. The remaining four groups will pioneer our first group Sports Development initiatives  which aim to provide sporting workshops and skills training for the young learners of the wider Chintsa area. We can't wait!  And we're aiming high...

Learning Computer Skills with the help of Volunteers!

Volunteer co-ordinator Ash is encouraging the Wild Coast Schools computer students to take part in our Vlog every week. This week is the turn of Linabo, Grade 3 who wrote the following blog:

"My Life in Chintsa

I like Chintsa because it's pretty and the people are friendly.

I like my school because I have friends there.

Last week in computer lessons we learned about making a book. I chose to make a book about a swallow. We used Microsoft Publisher.

I do sports with the volunteers. I like soccer and volleyball. My favorite player is Kuni.

by Linabo, Grade 3"

Thanks Linabo! Your English is excellent and thank you for your blog! :)

To find out more about the Wild Coast Schools Project which delivers computer literacy to rural school learners in South Africa visit our website or email info@volunteerafrica.co.za.

April

What it is to Volunteer in South Africa

by Paula, Brazil

Me and my fellow volunteers by the VA32 office in Chintsa

 As I stand here on my last day of this amazing experience I try to get it to sink in, what all this means and why it matters so much. My experience in South Africa has really touched me in a lot of ways.

For you to have the confidence to decide to invest your money, time and love to come all the way to this amazing country, Africa, is very special. For me, Africa has always amazed me and travelling is my big passion so coming to volunteer in Chintsa was a dream come true in many ways. How can you not be touched by the unfairness faced by people here everyday, by the misery that touches so many lives and by seeing the consequences of actions made in the past, that still affect the people here today...it's all there, you just have to open your eyes to see it.

My Time as a Volunteer in Chintsa, South Africa

by Patricia, Brazil

Getting into volunteer work not knowing for sure what is expected of you demands courage but also especially demands the will to share love and to help others.

When I came to Chintsa I didn't know how things would be. I didn't know how big and beautiful this project was and the huge love that I'd share in my days as a "vollie".

Love! I think that's the word that better defines work like this.

Today, in my last day at the Community Creche my heart is full of love. I now have an extra charge of love in my life!
My babies will be a part of me forever and I'm sure that a better future is waiting for them.
I leave them with a piece of my heart and take with me all this love which I received here.

Special thanks to all the people of the project and Volunteer Africa 32 Degrees South, and to my dears Nobuntu, Bantu, Ntombi and Robyn - the mama's of Chintsa Creche.



Love! Enkosi!

Patricia 
Criciuma, Brazil





To find out more about the Volunteer Africa Community Preschool Project which Patricia was a part of visit our website. 

Computer Literacy Students join our Blog!

The new volunteer co-ordinator for VA32 education volunteer projects came up with a great idea a few weeks ago - to ask our learners from the schools which we're teaching computer skills in, to write a blog; about school, about their life and them. Our first learner Asive, who is in Grade 6 at Chintsa East School, shared her thoughts on the volunteers, her hometown and computer lessons.

" My Blog

by Asive Gxakaza, Grade 6

My name is Asive, I love my teachers and the volunteers who come to my school. My town is Chintsa East. I love my town, it is beautiful.

Me with the Big Green eMachine!

My schools name is Chintsa East.

I love computer lessons because they are interesting and we learn a lot. I also have nice and lovely friends at school. I love the Big Green eMachine, thanks for the Big Green eMachine.

My spoilts I like are pops (suckers/ lollies!) and dolls.

Love from Asive "

Thank you Asive for sharing your thoughts and writing your first blog!

To find out more about the Wild Coast Schools Project which is enabling rural school learners like Asive to become competent and confident in expressing themselves through computer technology on our website at www.volunteerafrica.co.za.

Look out for more student blogs over the coming weeks!

April

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.

Volunteers Join the Waldorf Nursery Project

The new term of 2013 has seen new little learners join the Waldorf Nursery School in Chintsa (including Nomakwezi's beautiful daughter Alizwa!). Catch the kids enjoying a day of creative learning and play with Tom, Veliswa and Ilana - our current Waldorf volunteer.


If you cannot view this slideshow properly click here to view the flickr gallery.

A big Thank you to Ilana for allowing us to share her photos :)

My First Week Volunteering on the Community Pre-School Project

By Patricia, Brazil.

This is me with Jess (left), Bianca (middle) and some of the
kids from Chintsa.

In my first day at the creche I was introduced to the ladies that work there, to the children and their routine.
There are two separate places to the creche: one for kids between the ages on 0-2 years and on the the 3, 5 and 6 years old.

My work is specially with the babies and everyday I support the ladies, helping with the food, helping the babies to sleep and stopping them crying.

After my first few days I was totally adapted and the kids were getting used to me. Now they know who I am and are not afraid to be with me.

It's not easy work as there are at least 14 children every day, but all the hard work is rewarded by their smiles and "bye-bye"'s that I get every day when I leave the creche.

I'm totally in love with these babies already!

To find more about the VA32 Community Preschool Project visit our website.

10 Things You Need to Pack...

When you're volunteering in South Africa

It's a difficult one - you don't want to pack too much and carry the kitchen sink around in your rucksack, but you also want to make sure you have everything you need in a new climate, a new place that you've never been to before and doing a job that you might never have had experience in! We know it can be difficult so we thought we'd give you a hand with a VERY practical packing list. Here's our list of the top 10 essentials which should feature on your packing list for a volunteer trip to Africa.

Top 10 Essentials for your Volunteer & Travel Packing List

1. Clothing that is easy to wash and dry and doesn't need ironing. Consider materials which are comfortable against your skin in hot weather.

2. Basic, inexpensive clothing that can you don't mind getting covered in mud, paint, dirty fingerprints, sweat or anything else that may ruin it! A basic clothing list includes: 

Volunteers Work to Complete Chintsa Creche

It's the start of the Summer Season here in Chintsa and our first group of International Student Volunteers arrived early in December. These groups of volunteers join us for 2 weeks and work on high impact projects in the Chintsa community. 

The first group of the year had a huge challenge with 11 volunteers and only 2 weeks to get the new Chintsa creche prepared for school to begin in the new term and ensure that it is ready to be handed over to the village by the 7th Jan 2013! 

The creche was started by last seasons ISV volunteer groups, the "shell" was in place and it was the responsibility of this group to try to complete the inside of the creche building, and the fencing around the creche. 

Volunteering in Chintsa Through Sofia & Annika's Eyes

Moloweni! Kunjani?

We've been traveling around for almost 1 and a half months right now and during 2 weeks of this time we spent some lovely time in Chintsa. We started off our trip in Africa in Namibia and the capital Windhoek and moved south into South Africa. When we found ourselves in Cape Town we decided that we wanted to use the BazBus Hop-on-Hop-off ticket and when looking through our alternatives on their website we saw that they offered a package deal, which included a certain amount of week volunteering. This had been something that we had been very interested in already before and were therefore very intrigued when we discovered this option. So we bought ourselves a BazBus volunteering package and head off along the coast to experience the lovely Garden Route before reaching Chintsa where we would volunteer in schools.