Computer Geek Club 2015: Texas State University Volunteers

17 participants. 13 Texas Student University (TSU) teaching volunteers. Five days. A whole host of multi-media technology to get to grips with.

Now, five days may not seem a lot, but do not underestimate the powers of  TSU volunteers and their professor Lori Assaf. Following the success of Geek Club 2014 and prior to the arrival of the group, Lori and I discussed how to not only match but also extend and ignite passion in the abilities of our talented young geek clubbers. We wanted to engage not only the young people of Chintsa, but also get them thinking about their own community and how they interact with it. Last year, saw the same participants research their dream careers, along the way they met and interviewed guest local speakers about different careers - from Dr Madeleine Muller to our very own Thobs the tour guide. We ended up with some fantastic presentations.

Top 3 Outstanding Volunteer Program - Global Youth Travel Awards 2015

Volunteer Africa 32 degrees South (VA32) are proud to announce being awarded third place in the Outstanding Volunteer Program category at the 2015 Global Youth Travel Awards, announced in Cape Town last week. We entered the category in collaboration with project partner International Student Volunteers (ISV) whom we have built a solid working relationship with since 2009, when their volunteer groups were first hosted in Chintsa.

“The past two weeks have opened up my eyes to new people and new cultures. I gained friends and knowledge about South Africa and the beautiful communities. This experience with ISV and VA32 is on that cannot be topped” – Emily Carmack

Volunteers Help to Build Chintsa East Soup Kitchen

Children lining up for a hot meal at the soup kitchen

Local hero in Chintsa, Temie, is an inspiration to many in our small town. Temie recognised that during weekends and school holidays, many children in Chintsa East village went without food - during the week this need is covered by school feeding schemes such as the Bulugha School scheme which is run and managed by the school, and the Chintsa East Feeding Scheme which is managed by Friends of Chintsa. Temie took it upon herself, with the help of a few friends, to try to alleviate this problem and provide disadvantaged children in the village with at least one hot meal per day during days when they are not at school.

Temie's Soup Kitchen was born!

Volunteers Build New Loo's in Rural Schools

A completed toilet black
in one of our partner
Wild Coast Pre-schools

It goes without saying that schools need loo's! Yet in many rural pre-schools in the under-developed Eastern Cape of South Africa there is a lack of sanitary facilities. VA32, with the assistance of volunteers from International Student Volunteers, have begun to tackle this issue in partner preschools in the wider Chintsa area.

Volunteer groups have been working with VA32 project leader Milton at Mzwini and Somila Day Care Centres at the Southern end of the Wild Coast of South Africa.

The toilets are built on the long drop design which is a particularly popular solution in rural areas where there is little access to running water.

Volunteering with VA32 in South Africa - Mandela Park Crèche

To put my first week as a volunteer in South Africa in a few paragraphs is near impossible. I’ve learnt more, been challenged more and met more interesting people than I have in my twenty one years of living.  My initial expectation of the trip was that I would feel an overwhelming sense of satisfaction from helping those who needed it.  However I was soon to realize I also was in need of help. A different kind of help.  The kind that opens your eyes and mind, and allows you to feel things you have never felt before.

Pre-School Volunteering Experience | Chintsa

My name is Tracy Rocero. I'm from Toronto, Canada and the reason why I wanted to volunteer at first was to make a difference in my life and change the life of others. That soon changed and made a huge impact on me when I first stepped into the the preschool in Chintsa.

When I first started out in the classroom I was very nervous but excited to know that I'd be doing something that I know how to do on a day to day basis (I am a teacher in Canada). Then, realizing I'm entering not just a classroom but a community - that was all new to me.

Volunteers Building in SA...African Style!

Our final group of volunteers this season, who travelled with EDventures and Pangea Trails to Chintsa to join one of our Community Development initiatives, began a new project at Mama Tofu's traditional Xhosa village.

Mama Tofu is the oldest registered tour guide in South Africa at the age of 93! Her homestead is a living and working example of a traditional tribal Xhosa homestead where volunteers and tourists can visit, sleep and eat while they learn about Xhosa culture, traditions and life.

Mama Tofu was assisted by local tour company African Heartland Journeys to become registered and trained as a guide and the company assist her today in supporting her tours and helping in the village when necessary.

This project created an incredible opportunity for our volunteers not only to assist in supporting community driven local economical development, but also in experiencing hands-on traditional building techniques using the resources available in the natural environment of a traditional village... i.e., cow dung!

Silatsha School Classroom Completed!

Last month a long term VA32 project was completed by a small group of volunteers who travelled to South Africa with EDventures International.

The building of a new classroom at Silatsha School has been in progress since July 2013 when the school was identified by VA32 and local NPO Friends of Chintsa, as in dire need of additional space to teach the current number of learners at the school effectively. To catch up with the progress of the project from start to finish check out the blogs below:
"Volunteers Build New Classroom in Rural School"

"Volunteers Continue Building Classroom in Rural South Africa"

"Building Classrooms in Rural South Africa"

  

The final group of volunteers joined the project at an exciting stage with the classroom in need of some vital finishing before it was ready for use. These tasks included:

Pre-Vet Students help aminals in Chintsa Community

Last week we wrote a blog about some of our experiences on The African Pre-Vet Experience in Chintsa, where we explained some of the tasks we had taken part in with African wildlife, agricultural animals and zoo enrichment. You can read that blog "Pre-Vet Students get Hand-on Experience in South Africa" here. This week we're going to go into another aspect of the project - community work with domestic animals.

Stephanie showing the kids her cool pictures of the animals we've
worked with

Once a week, we go to the Cintsa village and do community work with the dogs. Ticks and fleas are very common in these areas, so we come every week to dip the dogs to kill the ticks and fleas. We also treat mange, a common disease found in many dogs in the village, along with Transmissible Venereal Tumors (TVTs). Our pre-vets will also treat any wounds, burn marks, and treat infections. Often times, our dipping site gets stampeded with the children and while waiting for dogs to come, we will often play with the children.

VA32 Projects feature on eTV Against All Odds

Local hero's Phumla Pakamile and Mike Denison were given the pleasure of showing eTV's "Against All Odds" film crew around some of Chintsa's most inspiring and long standing community education projects. They made the most of this opportunity to highlight the positive work done by the Chintsa community in collaboration with local non-profit organization Friends of Chintsa. 

You can watch the Against All Odds episode below (the Chintsa article begins at 07:21):

If you cannot view this embedded movie click here
to watch it on youtube

Friends of Chintsa are able to offer services like free computer literacy lessons to the schools and community members because of the support of international volunteers who travel to South Africa, stay for two weeks or more, and volunteer their time to take part in projects like this. VA32 host these volunteers who pay a fee to cover their food, accommodation, transport, project administration and a contribution back into the projects they take part in. 

To find out more about VA32's volunteer projects and how to get involved visit our website at www.volunteerafrica.co.za

To find out more about Friends of Chintsa visit www.friendsofchintsa.org

Building Classrooms in Rural South Africa

Progress of the new classroom at Silatsha School in the Eastern Cape of South Africa 

The building of the new classroom at Silatsha School has progressed again as our last two groups of volunteers from project partner EDventures brought their energy, willingness to get their hands dirty and enthusiasm for power tools, to the project!


To see the beginnings of this building project read the last blog about it's progress "Volunteers Continue Building Classroom in Rural South Africa".

Over to group leader Milton:

"The first group of volunteers this season were awesome - they completed the work we had laid out for them at Gwegwesha Creche and so we moved them onto helping to complete the new classroom at Silatsha School which has been a project in progress for a while.

Working with EDventures in Rural South African Communities

VA32's group volunteer programs are supported this year by our new partner EDventure International (who work in collaboration with tour operator Pangea Trails). Our group projects offer parties of school, college and university students, sports teams and special interest groups, the opportunity to take part in hands-on initiatives in community development in the Eastern Cape of South Africa.

2014 has seen the successful hosting of two EDventures groups so far, who always arrive with unlimited enthusiasm, a willingness to get their hands dirty, free and open minds and a whole ton of smiles...here's more from VA32 group leader Milton:

"We worked in the Mooiplaas area at Gwegwesha Village which is about 40 minutes drive from Chintsa. The group were given the task of helping to build a kitchen for the Gwegwesha Pre-school which is run by husband and wife team Wellington and Nolundi. The Pre-school is a tiny building which barely fits in the subscribed learners and it was near impossible to find the space to make breakfast for the children - and really not a safe place to have heated pots and pans, hot water etc. with the children so close by.

Minha experiência como voluntário na África do Sul

Me on Chintsa beach :)

Experiência única, mil sentimentos. Viagem difícil de ser descrita, mas facilmente de ser lembrada na memória. Os sorrisos não serão esquecidos, assim com os nomes muitas vezes foram. Pais novo, vilarejo pequeno, língua (bem) diferente e muita história para contar.
Cintsa me surpreendeu a cada dia e se revelou ser uma cidade bem simpática. Tive o prazer de conhecer pessoas muito legais e que realmente fazem diferença na comunidade.

Me and teacher Phumla at Chintsa East Pre-School

What's the Xhosa Word for Drama?

A Lesson in Translation and a Whole New Experience on the Wild Coast Schools Project in South Africa

By Charlotte

Last term I started drama club at Chintsa East. This isn’t as easy as it sounds. For several weeks I tramped up to drama to discover, a few, (if any) children. When I asked one child whether they would prefer drama or sports, they said “sports!”

Despite a shaky start, drama club took off in time
for us to put on a short play at the end
of the school term 

My light bulb moment came in the form of our friend and local hero lovely Phumla Pakamile. Her xhosa translations proved the catalyst to explaining... what drama actually is! The children hadn't understood it properly before. This is something that I had taken for granted, being from the UK and having studied Drama and Theatre at the University of Kent...I just didn't think that the children wouldn't know what it was yet. 

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...

Pre-Vet Students Volunteer in South Africa

Pre-vet volunteers assisting in an impala relocation

December saw the arrival of two groups of Pre-Vet volunteers through International Student Volunteers (ISV) who have shown huge support to VA32 projects throughout 2013. These groups were the first to take part in the new Pre-Vet Group Program designed for groups of students, schools and special interest groups looking to volunteer on a worthwhile program.

Based in an Eastern Cape Game Reserve, the Pre-Vet volunteer teams spent 2 weeks working with the local wildlife including rhino, nyala, impala, giraffe and countless bird and small mammal species as well as taking part in lectures and hands on conservation management tasks. They also had hands on experience with agricultural livestock and vulnerable domestic animals in local farms and townships.

Cute African Kids Amazing Dance Moves!

The end of the school term and the school holidays are the perfect excuse for volunteers on the Wild Coast Schools Project, who usually spend their mornings teaching computer literacy in one of several labs, to have a bit of fun with the kids. A few weeks ago this fun was in the shape of a talent contest at Wild Coast School Bulugha...

...just in case you missed this amazing bit of footage caught by our volunteers at the school - catch this little guys moves - he stole the show :)

The Pre-Vet Team Volunteer in Rural Townships

Team Pre-Vet have been doing some amazing work in rural Eastern Cape communities as a part of the VA32 Pre-Vet Project where as well as taking part in exciting African wildlife captures, assisting with veterinary work and studies, we also focus on helping the thousands of neglected domestic animals in local townships. Find out what the team have been up to this month...

"Hi everyone!

We pre-vets have just returned from an extended outreach mission in the former-Transkei, South Africa. For those of you who don’t know, this area is a huge territory with thousands of cultural villages and was one of the "homelands" of apartheid South Africa. 

Traditional thatched rondavels at Bulungula

We were working in an area called Bulungula, where a non-profit organization called the Bulungula Incubator has done some amazing work for the surrounding communities including several educational, health and infrastructural development projects. The backpackers we stayed at is called Bulungula Lodge and is one of the Incubator’s biggest projects as the community owns 40%. You can read more about this amazing place and their mission here: www.bulungula.com.

Volunteering in Chintsa, South Africa by Lydia

Hi everyone!

I am writing a short blog about my time in Chinsta, South Africa, and the different experiences I've had in the schools I have been to and all the wonderful things that I have been doing whilst volunteering with VA32.

Community Pre-School Project: Bulugha Pre-School

I have been volunteering on the Community Pre-school Project in all of the schools that VA32 are involved with; my first two weeks were at Bulugha farm school, working with children from the age of 4-6. I had a very fulfilling time doing lots of activities with them to decorate their classroom in order to make it colourful, making it a more welcoming learning space. We made a butterfly wall where all the children coloured and decorated their own butterflies: part of the spring time butterfly project!

Children in Bulugha Pre-school with their work
books

We later decorated the rest of the classroom, allowing the children to get artistic, and very, very messy!
The children really like singing and dancing so we made some shakers out of cups and stones and encouraged the children to produce different sounds and rhythms. The children in the pre-school don’t speak a lot of English but flash cards work really well. I concentrated on teaching fruit and spring time vocabulary and the children picked it up so quickly.

The African Pre-Vet Experience

Our awesome Pre-Vet team have written their first vlog! Check out what they've been up to over the past few weeks:

"Hi everyone

We are the pre-vet team on VA32's African pre-vet program and we’re very excited to be on this blog! Here are a few of the best things we’ve done so far…

Game capture - working with African Wildlife

Kira and Morgan loved capturing impala on a huge golf course, we ran around a lot that day but it was amazing hands on experience and a lot of fun! Maggie’s favourite capture was a six month old giraffe; they’re really tricky to sedate and transport but it went off without a hitch!

The 6 month old giraffe on our game capture