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Volunteers working in Social service projects work with disabled people, students in need of special education and senior citizens. You will have to assist disabled people ranging in age from 5 to 44 years who suffer from various physical and mental disabilities like cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, water heads, hemiplegic, hearing, speech, sight, autism, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and tuberculosis. Likewise in special education group, volunteers assist students who struggle with various learning disabilities and challenges. And for senior citizens, volunteers will assist their day to day activities and take physical stimulation classes.
Volunteer activities in this project mainly include supporting pre-existing programs for disabled children, special education students and the elderly. Other tasks include teaching the special education students and helping them with therapy. Volunteers will also monitor progress and supervise activities for senior citizens’ physical stimulation classes.
Note: In South Africa, many of our volunteer projects are based in rural communities, sometime located a great distance from the city limits of Cape Town. In each local community, we support multiple projects such as orphanages, schools, HIV/AIDS project, hospital etc. Volunteers will help or participate in more than one project during their experience. This multi-tasking presents a varied volunteering experience and the extra help is greatly appreciated by the community.
No specific qualifications are required to join the social service project in South Africa. However, interested individuals should have a passion and eagerness to share their time with disabled people, challenged children and/or senior citizens. Patience and flexibility are a must.
This project is located in Cape Town, the legislative capital of South Africa. In addition to that, Stellenbosch, Albertinia, Knysna, Oudtshoorn and Riversdale are some other places you can choose to volunteer in. All of these places provide excellent volunteering environment.
In South Africa, all volunteers stay with well-screened host families. Our host families are socially respected and are well versed in the art of hosting international volunteers. Host families offer a safe home, private rooms and shared bathroom facilities with running water. Volunteers can do their own laundry at home or the host family may offer to do it for you for a nominal extra fee. You will receive three prepared meals per day. If you will be out of the house during lunch hour, you can request a lunch "to go" that you can take with you or eat out on your own. Host families provide typical meals that are traditional to South Africa.
Throughout the volunteer project, our local staff stays in contact with volunteers either through visits or via email/telephone. With longer placements, we visit our volunteers every two weeks (when possible). Volunteers are always welcome at the local office. If project placement is near, we request that volunteers stop by the office once a week to keep us posted on how you are doing with your home stay and project. If project placement is very far, then our local staff members maintain communication either by email and/or phone.
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The mission of RCDP-Nepal is to encourage international volunteers to contribute in sustainable community development that benefits the underprivileged and extremely poor. By developing the places and the communities, the volunteers are also developing themselves and learning new perspectives and ideas that will ultimately change their lives.
