PROJECT OVERVIEW

The significance of your placement and past successes:
The village is a very traditional one which is still governed by the Traditional Leaders or Tribal system.  It is a very poor community with a population of approximately 6,000 people.  There is one Primary school in the Village, eMakhosini Primary, which is the main focus of our programme. 

In addition to eMakhosini Primary, we would also like to extend the programme to the village secondary school, Senzagakon, in order to ensure that the standard of education brought by the volunteer programme continues as pupils grow older. 

Your contribution to this project, both in terms of your time and your placement fee, is therefore of huge significance.  We have already renovated an old building which is now the school library and have also been instrumental in setting up a computer room at eMakhosini Primary.

WHAT YOU'LL GAIN FROM DOING THIS PROJECT:

• An exciting, never-to-be-forgotten adventure into Africa and the many diverse cultures in South Africa

• The enormous satisfaction of helping disadvantaged children and knowing that you made a difference to them.

• New skills, more confidence, a greater understanding of a different culture, invaluable personal and professional development.

• An entry on your CV or résumé that will put you head and shoulders above most others in the job market

• And best of all ... an unforgettable experience!

WORK CONTENT:
Both Cultural Studies and Environmental Education are part of the South African curriculum. You will be involved with local schools and children and part of your work will be to encourage them to think about and discuss all aspects of cultural and natural heritage and the importance of preserving it.

You can encourage the kids to talk and think about these issues. You will get guidance from your supervisor and access to materials he uses. This would hopefully get the children to start thinking about their family history and where they come from and get them to ask questions about legends in their family.

Your teaching will be focused on the standard conversational English or any other subject that you have knowledge in, and tour interaction will teach life skills like numeracy and English literacy.

COACHING SPORTS:
If you'd like to also coach sports during the school's Life Orientation lessons, you'll be able to do so. You can combine this with teaching the children other subjects.

The schools need help with sports and physical education activities. They currently play Soccer and Netball, but are also very interested in starting the cricket and  hockey for boys and girls alike

If you enjoy a challenge, you can help us create a sports programme starting from scratch, because the school doesn't currently have any equipment. They have a field that has been donated to the school for use as a sports field, but it currently a dirt/clay track. However, because of the weather and lack of water, they can't plant grass successfully, so Travellers (via their charitable arm of the Bridge The Gap Trust), will be assisting in providing and raising funds to lay down some astro turf and possibly some hard courts for the netball.

Life orientation forms part of the SA curriculum and encompasses sports, arts, music or drama, depending on the teacher’s preference. You will be acting as the sports teacher at the school and either working with other volunteers or by yourself. You’ll coach a variety of ages between 6 and 14 years and your working hours will usually be from around 8am – 2pm.

A typical class at the school is between 30 – 60 and as part of the Life Orientation classes you will be given around 20 of the children from a class for a number of periods during the day. Here you can coach sports and even simple things, such as how to hold a cricket bat, how to bowl, how to throw and kick a rugby ball properly… an opportunity they have not really had before.

The children at the school have natural sporting abilities, but don’t receive the opportunity to put them into practice in a structured and organised way. This is where you can really make a difference!  The school, through Travellers Sports donations, has some equipment available for you to use during coaching, but extra donations are always welcome as the school’s annual budget is nowhere near enough to afford sporting equipment.

All the kids are so keen to play sports, and there are so many amazing athletes among both the boys and girls. It's so refreshing to see every kid wanting to play, there are no kids with sick notes wanting to get out of PE! The kids just roll up there trousers kick off their shoes and they are ready to play. Vic Weinberg (Travellers Sports volunteer)

Got any questions? Please email us: info@travellersworldwide.com

TEACHING MUSIC & DRAMA:
If you have talents in Music or Drama, you can help to pass these on to the children.

The children all gathered after lessons to put on their last rehearsal so it was fortunate that I had chosen yesterday to visit. It was a joy to see just how much effort Jessica had put in to this little production and the children were delighted to perform. The finale was amazing, with both Jessica and Victor joining the children in some very energetic dancing. Jessica has spoken about coming back to the school next year and we would be delighted to have her - she's been amazing." Christine Hydes, Travellers

Your work on this placement will contribute substantially to developing structured programmes in teaching, Music & Drama, Sports and IT - you'll be helping to give the children access to knowledge they don't get now - you can help change their lives forever!

In the junior schools, English is taught in Zulu and is done by translating words and phrases. This means that many of the children don't reach the standard required for the subject. Thus, when they get to high school where everything is taught in English, they find it very difficult to learn their other subjects. 

The children are so eager to talk to people from different countries and they HAVE to speak English to be able to converse. This is the best way to learn any new language and has proven a great success in all of our school projects.

You'll have weekends free and this will also allow some time for travelling and sight seeing. If you would like more time to travel during, or after your teaching, this can be arranged.

"On the weekends we explored the various sites of historical significance – one of the most impressive being the “Spirit of eMakhosini” - a gigantic bronze beerpot surrounded by 7 large titanium horns. Previous Travellers volunteers helped erect this monument to the seven Zulu kings buried in the valley.

We also visited the world famous Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park approximately 40minutes away. We were lucky enough to see buffalo; several white rhino’s and even an elephant bull! At game capture centre we had a really good hamburger for lunch and even got to see some white rhino’s up close in the capture pens awaiting the upcoming game auction."