Work With a Social Service Project in South Africa

Project At A Glance

Locations: Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Albertinia, Knysna, Oudtshoorn & Riversdale Start point: Cape Town End point: Cape Town Duration: 2-12 weeks Hours: 30-40 hours per week Food: Local meals (3 times a day) Room: Host family or hostel Date: Wednesdays of each month

Project Summary

Social service projects in South Africa include work with disabled people, special education students and senior citizens. Disabled patients needing support range in age from 5 to 44-years-old. They have a variety of physical and mental disabilities like cerebral palsy, down syndrome, water heads, hemiplegic, hearing, speech, sight, autism, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and tuberculosis.

In the special education group, most students have learning challenges and short attention spans. In most cases, basic age-dependent reading and writing skills have not yet been achieved. Learners are divided into class groups according to their functionality. In one class group teachers may have to work out different individual programs according to the intellectual abilities and capabilities of the learners. All learners require specialist services like speech & occupational therapy. Physiotherapy and services from social workers and nurses are essential.

Volunteers opting to provide care for senior citizens will help with the physical stimulation classes. Many participants of the older group simply need help stretching and walking. Much of the elderly support project is completed during the physical stimulation classes at Rusthof Old Age Home.

Skills/Qualifications Needed

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, learning challenged children and/or senior citizens. Patience and high-flexibility are a must.

Volunteer Responsibilities

Volunteer activities mainly consist of supporting pre-existing programs for disabled children, special education students and the elderly. Some tasks will include teaching the special education students and helping them with therapy. Volunteers may also help take care of disabled children support day-to-day life tasks. The senior citizens need help with their physical stimulation and volunteers will monitor progress and supervise activities.

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 more varied volunteering experience and the extra help is greatly appreciated by the community.

Room/Food/Supervision

IFRE arranges accommodations and food (3 local meals/day) for the duration of your volunteer project. During orientation and training program, volunteers stay in our hostel in Cape Town. Our hostel is located in the heart of the city giving volunteers easy access to all parts of the city. Volunteers stay with a host family (aka “homestay”) during the volunteer program. 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 (occasionally rooms will be shared with other same-gender volunteers) and shared bathroom facilities with running water.

Volunteers will receive three meals of South African cuisine each day. Breakfast normally consists of cereal and toast; lunch is packed to take to your project and dinner is a nutritious home cooked local meal (meat & vegetables, rice or potatoes & salad). Host families provide typical meals that are traditional to South Africa.. Throughout the volunteer project, our local staff stays in contact with volunteers with either face-to-face visits or via email/telephone. IFRE’s main office is in Cape Town and our in-country coordinator serves as a point of contact for local volunteers. If project placement is very far from our main office, then our local staff members maintain communication by email and/or phone and the local project director will serve as a volunteer’s contact. Upon program placement, personal placement documents provide specific details of accommodations and project.