Feeling fulfilled as a volunteer

Many volunteers find teaching HIV Education a really
rewarding experience because of the knowledge they pass
to a younger generation who could avoid contracting HIV.

Making a difference during a short period as a volunteer can seem like an objective that’s out of reach. However, with some alterations in what it means to make a “difference” while volunteering in sub-Saharan Africa, volunteers can feel like they’re part of a process of development that’s making a great impact on the communities in which they work.

However, volunteers must overcome the emotions surrounding the voluntourism process that can make them feel helpless and disappointed. 

Upon their arrival, volunteers never think that their emotions over the days and weeks to come can be plotted out on a chart like the one pictured here. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, volunteers are eager to jump into projects with both feet. While a great attitude to have, it’s a lack of preparedness that leads to the feeling of pessimism that follows. Often this is because volunteers arrive with a certain picture in their minds, only to have that picture altered when they land at their destination.

Others feel more fulfilled by getting their hands dirty with
manual labour projects - it's all about finding what makes
you tick as a volunteer! 

Once the rollercoaster of projects is introduced, some volunteers experience a feeling of discontent, perhaps feeling helpless or powerless against the development process. Many of the ups and downs that come with volunteering on the projects are based around the notion of making a difference, and what constitutes the measurement of a difference made.

When working with sustainable development, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa where life’s pace is very slow, making a difference can seem like it takes a lifetime. As a volunteer (and even a staff member) it is important to remember that with each day on projects comes a success. Every day means we are moving towards the achievement of our goals as volunteers, staff members and as an organisation.

If you’d like to make a difference during your short time as a volunteer, think about the following quick tips before embarking on your experience:

Do your research 

Reading up on African Impact, the project you’ll be working at and the area you’re travelling to will all help you acclimatize easier once you’ve arrived on site, particularly if you’re volunteering for only two weeks.

Fundraise and bring needed materials 

Often a project will send you a list of items that are needed to help the projects work, or can supply you with a project “wish list” upon your request. Sometimes it’s as simple as bringing lightweight art supplies (like cotton balls or pipe cleaners) or medical materials like bandages, which you can see being used while you’re out on projects.

Arrive with personal goals in mind

Think of your skills at home and build some expectations around what you would like to achieve personally. From there, learn all you can about how you can use your skills to positively influence the project as a volunteer. If you’re a photographer, offer your photographs to be used as promotional materials; if you enjoy writing, maintain a blog for the official page or if you possess a green thumb, offer your services more often during farming and gardening projects.

Talk to everyone 

Speak to the coordinators and managers of the project you’re on about what their upcoming goals are. Usually they’ll have a task for you to take on or an initiative you can start.

Expect a mixture of flexibility and rigidity 

Some things you can change and some things you can’t. Project managers and volunteer coordinators are willing to take volunteer ideas and use them to the best of their ability. However, remember that your suggestions must align with practices that work towards African Impact’s sustainable development agenda.

Throw caution to the wind! 

Experience everything and throw yourself into projects. Make suggestion after suggestion and work hard to put your mark on the project. That way, you’ll really see how you’re making a difference in the longrun. 

For blogs from some of our other African Impact projects, check out our Official Blog.  

Project update: The Container

The container getting delivered to the Induna's office.

Ensuring the smooth transition of our large container of donations has been a long and interesting process. It has taken us many months, but we have been fortunate enough to donate nearly all of the container’s contents to parts of the Khula community in need.

We are now well on our way to transforming the container from its original purpose towards a full-blown library where the people of Khula can come to learn, read and have fun.

Here is a breakdown of what has gone on with the container since its arrival at our St Lucia projects.

The Induna reading the names of community members who
have gardens so they can come pick up a spade or fork.

First things first

After an exciting delivery and first opening it was decided that, in true Zulu fashion, the container must have its own event. Hundreds came out during the month of July to see the container be opened and to hear speeches from Bob and Julie, who generously organised all the donations all the way from the U.K. 


Volunteers spoke about healthy eating, living positively with HIV and oral hygiene, which was important because everyone in attendance received a toothbrush. Adults also received toothpaste and if they had a garden at home they also received one of the hundreds of spades and forks that were donated. A great day was had by all!

Nadine delivering books to Ndabenhle.

Sorting, stacking, moving

Then came the extremely arduous and difficult task of organising and counting all the donations within the container. With the help of the volunteers, we made list after list, which was compiled into a spreadsheet of all the containers contents and ideas of where they could be used. It took a few months of regular visits to get all the boxes of books counted and organised along with all of the toys, bikes and other donations.

Door-to-door deliveries

Then came the time to make the donations happen – an exciting time for both volunteers and staff. After carefully evaluating the needs of all the crèches and some of the churches in Khula, with the help of the Induna’s counsellors, a spreadsheet was made of what the container could provide for each community organisation. 

Many of the crèches, including Ndabenhle, Snenhlanhla and Dukuduku crèche, received books, tables and children’s chairs. Churches in the communities were also evaluated and some received desks and desk chairs.

One of the creche boxes filled with
donations from the container.

The village’s counsellor as well as Ndabenhle crèche and one of the large churches also received computers, while some of our home based care patients received walkers and crutches. The principles and leaders of each of the crèches were so pleased to have the new items and extremely grateful.

Project help

Not only did all of the crèches and many of the churches in Khula receive donations from the container, but our projects and the people we help on a daily basis also saw a benefit when the container arrived. 


Many of the toys that were donated were put in our crèche boxes, as we often volunteer at three crèches each day and were in need of extra toys for the children to play with. The boys at Ezwenelisha Afterschool Club also received a solar panel, which is now used proudly in their dormitory.

Nearing the end

As the donations slowly filed out of the container, it was easier to see just how we would transform the metal box into a beautiful community library. Situated on the land of the Induna’s office, it was easy for the volunteers to spend a lot of time this year organising and filing away books. 


We bought stickers from the local stationary shop and began categorising books, with the help of a volunteer who luckily happened to be a former librarian!

It’s been a wonderful process to see the library in transformation, and we’re happy to report that some great progress is being made in sorting and stacking the books, though there is still a lot more work inside and outside of the container to be done before it can be used to its fullest. 


However, we’re up for the challenge and will continue working hard to provide Khula with a library while ensuring the container’s donations are received by those who need them most.

Check back on our blog for more updates regarding the container and other projects. 

'We speak in art' arrives in Ezwenelisha

A quick update on how our "We speak in art" project is progressing. To read about the history of this project, check out a previous blog post. 

Two kids at Ezwenelisha Afterschool Club
at Monzi Primary School working hard on
their paintings. 

It's amazing what talent the students
possess when they're given the chance to shine!

Posing proudly with a finished painting. 

The paintings laid out to dry at the school. 

Diary of a dog: Part 1

Let me first take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Vlekkie and I am the volunteer house dog at African Impact in St. Lucia. No one is really sure how old I am and I like it that way! 

It is my job to chase away the monkeys and to bark at anyone that is approaching the house. I take my 

job very seriously, but I also enjoy lying out in the sun and of course receiving love from the volunteers.
 
Monday March 5, 2012
07.00

Today is a beautiful day. After greeting Mumsy, our housekeeper, I ran around to make sure everything was okay with the house. I am relieved to say that it was.
 
07.30

The volunteers are leaving their rooms - hooray! That means it is time for breakfast.  What that means for me is - CRUMBS!!!

I love sitting under the table listening to the volunteers talk about what they are going to do today. Some of them are going to the crèche while others are going to Khula Clinic. It sounds so exciting. I wish that I could go to the crèche with the community volunteers – I think that the kids would love me. I could help the volunteers teach the kids about healthy and unhealthy foods or sing the ABCs.  

08.05

Oh My Gosh! I am late for our morning staff meeting!  I hope no one notices that I am late. Oops, they did, but no one is mad!

I enjoy listening to Nokwethemba and Shwele telling the rest of the team how their days has been out on projects. It is nice to have everyone gathered around me like this, getting scratched while the plan of the day is discussed.
 
08.40

The cars are gone and the house is quiet again. Now it is time for me to focus and get some work done. Now which couch should I rest in this morning? It is tough to be me but someone has to do it.
 
Wednesday March 14, 2012

10.05

The morning was really eventful. The dogs next door started barking and woke me up from my mid morning nap. I walked over to the wall to tell them to please stop because I need my beauty sleep. That's when I saw the monkeys trying to eat the bananas that the volunteers bring to crèche! It was a 20-minute hunt but I think I chased them all away.

I decided to keep Sofie company in the office. After speaking to voices in the computer, a man visited with brand new African Impact signs for the cars. After a meeting with Sofie, the cars were all given brand new signs so people can recognise the volunteers while they're in the community! 

12.20

When the volunteers returned I noticed the yoga mats were being put back. That means that a support group met today. The support groups always do yoga after each of the members and volunteers shared their week and discussed different topics. I like to do yoga. Can you guess my favorite pose? That's right - Downward Dog!

16.30

This afternoon the volunteers came home all covered in dirt, as though they had been gardening all afternoon. Could that be right? Wait… they are pulling spades and hoes from the back of the Condor.  I was right. 

Oh look! There is the rubber chicken I was looking for the other day. Let me carry her to a safe place so that Maverick, Alanna's dog, cannot find her. I wonder when Maverick is going to visit. He and I enjoy running around the yard fighting over who is more loved in this house.  His legs are so long and he runs really funny but I am small and can twist my head so everyone adores me, so I would say its a tough call.

It is now time for my walk around the block smelling every hippo trace I can and then to have my ears scratched by the volunteers and listen to them talk about their afternoons before dinner.

It really is a lovely life I'm living, isn't it?

New Project Alert: We speak in art continues

As part of our partnership with Parsons The New School for Design, last week the kids of Khula Afterschool Club got to continue the paintings that were started last month all the way across the world in New York City.

Volunteers and staff had a wonderful afternoon painting with the kids, who displayed some amazing artistic abilities in completing the paintings with supplies that had been generously donated by the school. 

The programme really has demonstrated how art can connect people from all over the world! 

Shwele giving instructions to the Afterschool Club kids.

Getting ready to start painting! 

Some of the finished paintings drying in the sun. 

Message from Michelle

The following is a blog update that current community volunteer Michelle wrote to her friends and family back home in Canada. It's a great sneak peek into what it's like to be a volunteer, so read on! 

Sanibonani!! (Hello from Africa)

Well we have reached our two week mark and I have to say we are loving every second of it here!! I have had the opportunity to work in three different creches (a creche is a preschool/orphanage for some). 

I have worked in Malibongue (a really small creche with lots of babies), Impemelo (a creche with about 50 or so children not including the wee babies in the side room) and the at Dukuduku (there are probably 40 or so kids if I had to guess) the buildings are so small, and there are a lot of kids in each room. They are learning English- but a lot of the lession is taught in Zulu, but we are teaching them their Alphabet, numbers, farm animals, wild animals, family members, foods, lots of basic english words some catch on really well but it helps a lot when we sing it into songs. I have a lot of songs I will be bringing home with me if anyone wants me to sing them to them!

It is really great working in the creches every morning. The first days were very emotionally draining - it was very had to adapt to the way they are living mostly because it is just SO different from the way that we are living here. But the children are just so happy, and as soon as we got there they just smoothered us with hugs and love - it was amazing. 

It is impossible not to fall in love with them all they are just so great. 

There is a lot of learning time, and then they play outside - they have a small playground but we bring a ball that they can play with which they love, and they play a lot with tires which they also love and others well... just chase the chickens around the school yard!

Michelle with some of her HIV Education course graduates.

This last week I have also been working in the school with another volunteer teaching HIV ed to 8 grade 7 students. I absolutely loved every second of teaching them, they are amazing kids. They were so eager to learn and made the class so much fun. There was so much benificial information jammed into that course that it was so good to see them all taking it in as HIV is such a big thing within their lives. It was so great though, then they got their certificate at the end once they passed the final test. They have to have our African Impact Certificate in order to pass grade 7, if they do not pass the course we teach (a 2 week course) they have to repeat it in one of the other 2 week periods. But Friday was my last day there which is honestly really sad I am going to miss those kids!! They were so great.

In the afternoons I have done a lot of gardening (we bring the vegetebles to people within the community mostly to people who are part of our "home based care" program) We also have a support group garden that I have yet to work at where people help us garden and can take home the produce. (Apparently people were stealing their crops so this is a protected area where they do not have to worry about that). We are growing beans, carrots, beat root, spinach and potatoes right now.

I have also built bricks as well - again in the 30 degree weather talk about a work out! We made about 30 in our 2 hours so apparently that was really good. One of the creches that was made of stones, mud, and sticks is starting to fall over so we are building bricks and we are going to build them a new creche where the children can go. So that was an amazing project to be part of.

Michelle at Khula Afterschool Club. 

Another project we work on in the afternoon is our "after school club" we have a couple at different schools. It is an amazing program where the children can stay after school and just have fun - for some of the children are ophans and actually live at the school in a small shack behind the school building it is something for them to do after class has ended. 

There are about 20 children who live at the school, there is no parent that lives with them only a girl about my age who is also orphaned - she stays with them and helps them there. They eat lunch there, and then we feed them supper when we arrive. That was a very emotional day knowing that those poor children had to live there - but what amazing kids they are. They taught us some new dance moves and laughed at our " white girl rythm.. or lack there of haha" it was a lot of fun working with those kids.

As for "free time" on weekends, we have been on a croc and hippo tour- which was really cool there are about 1200 crocs in the estuary and about 800 hippos. We saw our first hippo out of the estuary last night.. we were walking back from downtown celebrating St. Patricks and mom had our flash light shinning it on the road and we were kind of following the light but just talking away and then she all of a sudden shined it right on a hippos face!! Talk about a scare those things are MASSIVE!!! but we learned that you just have to keep calm keep talking (it is when you scare them that they charge at you.. and could potentially kill haha) so we walked by him and he couldnt have cared less about us.

We spent the day yesterday at the beach- Cape Vidal - and Mission Rocks - to get to the beach you had to drive through a game reserve the sites there were breath taking - it was absolutely beautiful every corner was just amazing!!!!!

We saw Zebra, buffalo, hippos, warthogs, and tons of antelope. It was amazing- all of that amazing drive and we hadn't even reached our destination of the beach yet!!! Yesterday was honestly so amazing!! Such a beautiful place!!!

But that is about it from me, we are in a cafe or else I would type and type and type!! But I know some people were wanting an update so here you are :)

It is so amazing here, I feel so blessed to be able to be a part of such an amazing orginization!!!

Miss you all back home!!

Michelle

Staff Profile: Alanna Wallace

Alanna making a speech during our
International Women's Day event in Khula.

After volunteering three times with African Impact in St Lucia while studying at university (once as a community volunteer and twice with the medical project), Alanna began working as Volunteer Coordinator in May of 2011 and is now St Lucia’s Project Manager.

Originally a student in Canada, Alanna is currently studying via correspondence online to receive a post-graduate degree in African and International Development at the University of Edinburgh.

“As a volunteer, being on projects helped me understand African and international development outside of the classroom,” says Alanna. “I was able to conduct research while volunteering, keep a blog and use the knowledge I gathered in St Lucia while writing papers at university.”

“Studying while working for African Impact allows me to use my knowledge of the practice of development to ensure our projects are sustainable and forward-thinking,” concluded Alanna.

Along with studying and working at what she’s passionate about, Alanna maintains that the main reason she decided to come work for African Impact is to ensure future volunteers have the time of their lives.

“I love my job because every day I get to help volunteers have as positive an experience as I had.”

Celebrating International Women's Day

The volunteers receive a translation from Nonhlanhla.

To celebrate International Women’s Day, we decided to arrange an event and invite some of the most prominent, influential women of Khula Village to speak about empowering the women of their community.

Although the local Zulu culture is typically male-dominated and patriarchal, this wasn’t the case at the three-hour-long event, which took place on March 8. Instead, male and female leaders of the community spoke to the crowd about a wide rage of subjects concerning the empowerment of women in South Africa.

After a long morning of exciting preparations, including cooking and setting up the hall, the volunteers and well over 100 other guests settled in to hear a number of speakers.

Accompanied by the Induna’s brother, who provided music for the event, Mrs. Mbuyazi of our Ezwenelisha Support Group sang and said the opening prayer and the afternoon’s event was officially underway.

The Ubuhlebemvelo Girl's Club performs some traditional
Zulu dancing. 

First to speak was Sister Mthembu, from Khula Clinic, who made the crowd burst into laughter by performing her own breast examination on stage. She also spoke of the importance of getting pap smears and other women’s health issues. Mrs. Mkhwanazi from Impumelelo crèche gave a heartfelt speech about providing children with love at an early age, and praised African Impact for their work fostering the dreams of children at the crèche. Bongi Mkhwanazi also spoke about being the manager of the Community Work Programme, which employs many of the women of Khula, Alanna Wallace from African Impact spoke about the purpose of the day and Kuliliwe represented the Board of Education by speaking of the importance of learning for young women.

Mrs. Nzimande speaks to the crowd. 

The event’s keynote speaker, Mrs. Nzimande of the Induna’s committee, wowed the audience by speaking about entrepreneurship – encouraging women to start their own business.

Owning a successful Bed and Breakfast in Khula, Nzimande told the crowd to find a need in the community, however small, and begin growing their businesses. “Don’t stay at home wondering what you’ll eat – what your children will eat,” she said to the crowd, instead telling them to get out and begin earning their own money themselves.

Danielle Piccinini, an American Peace Corps volunteer and school teacher at Ubuhlebemvelo, brought her Girl’s Club to perform poetry and dancing – a definite highlight of the day. The Induna closed off the event by echoing Mrs. Nzimande’s words about women’s economic empowerment.

Even five days after, Khula is still bustling with news of the event, saying it was the first time the village has celebrated International Women’s Day, and hoping for another event of the like in the near future. 

We speak in art

On February 16 at Parsons The New School for Design in New York City, the institution's student senate began a joint venture with our St. Lucia Education Programme. Called "We Speak in Art." The project will see Parsons and the learners of our Ezwenelisha Afterschool Club share artwork in a pen pal-like initiative.

The Parsons students have started paintings, which were left half-finished and will be sent to our St. Lucia projects with the idea that they will be completed by some of the older students at our Afterschool Club in the Ezwenelisha community - a programme that is run twice a week at the community's primary school.

Once completed, the artwork will be sold at auction, with the funds going directly towards African Impact's Education Programme in St. Lucia.

Although the students, who live in very different parts of the world, do not share a common language, the artwork shared between the two schools will be a testament to how art spans cultures and societies. It will also provide some great fun to our Afterschool Club, who currently enjoy colouring and drawing during their afternoon sessions.

We're excited to be taking part in this new venture, and eagerly await the arrival of the canvasses so we can spend a couple of afternoons creating some masterpieces!

Check back on our blog for more updates about this projects as the months progress.