"The reward of the ending of apartheid will and must be measured by the happiness and welfare of the children, at once the most vulnerable citizens in
any society and the greatest of our treasures".

(Words spoken by Mr. Nelson Mandela in his acceptance speech on receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993)

South Africa is a land of many contrasts. Although Cape Town is a very European town, there are still many areas where you will find great poverty.

Volunteering offers a unique possibility to experience the country, culture and population while doing a meaningful job. Volunteers must be independent, open minded, and a minimum of 18 years old.  

The country
Very few countries can measure up to the natural beauties, the cultural and ethnic diversity of South Africa. From elephants, leopards, buffalo and rhinoceros roaming the large nature reserves to the many huge skyscrapers in the cities, from its luscious vineyards and high mountains to its deserts and savannahs. Since Jan van Riebeeck, a Dutchman, established a trading post in 1652, South Africa has continued to attract people from all over the world. British, Dutch, French, Portuguese, Malaysian and people from the Indian Subcontinent together with Africans from various tribes and ethnic origins have, throughout history, been able to settle and prosper in their new surroundings.

Population
Most of the white population are descendants of British, Dutch, French or German immigrants who came to the country in the 17th - 19th centuries. In the 20th century South Africa has drawn many immigrants from Europe and China as well as from the neighbouring African states/countries that lie north of the Limpopo River, South Africa’s natural northern border.

The large population is made up of different ethnic groups. The majority are Zulus followed by Xhosas, North and South Sothos and Tswanas, all descendants of tribes that emigrated from the central part of Africa.

In the 1860s many Asians came to South Africa to work in the sugar cane fields and today 85% of these people still live in the Natal province.

South Africa's Indian population is the fourth largest after India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. They are part of South Africa’s character and many run very successful businesses. The Malay quarter is a little taste of Asia in the middle of Cape Town.

The Cape Town population still lives very much separately. The whites occupy the best houses; many of the colored and black people live in townships such as Khayelitsha, with approx. 1 million inhabitants. In this township you can find Vicky’s Bed and Breakfast: www.capetown-online.de/Vickys.htm#unten
If you want to read more about the origin of townships you can look at this link: www.districtsix.co.za/.

Language
Two of the official languages, English and Afrikaans, are spoken throughout the country. Some Asians still speak the language of their ancestors but English is becoming more and more dominant.

Climate
Most of South Africa lies within a warm temperate zone with a mainly dry climate. Temperatures are moderate throughout most of the country. June and July are accepted as winter whereas the warmest summer months are December and January.

In the South of the country (Cape Province) the climate resembles that of the Mediterranean. Natal and the North-ern provinces enjoy a range of temperatures from subtropical to the temperate climate of the Highlands.
The average maximum temperature for Cape Town during the months of January and February is 27 °C. and for the coldest months of June and July the temperature averages about 18 °C. For more information see: http://iafrica.com/weather/capetown/

Currency and cost of living
The Rand is the official currency of South Africa. The Rand’s rate ensures that the cost of living and prices in general in South Africa are lower than those in Europe. Approximate prices of everyday articles or services are as follows:

Car hire per day	250 Rand
Restaurant	20-40 Rand
Monthly Metro ticket	117 Rand
Cinema	10-20 Rand
Night-club	10 Rand
Lunch at a restaurant	60 Rand
Beer	5-7 Rand
Cigarettes	10 Rand
Coca cola	3 Rand
Milk	5 Rand
Good bottle of wine	12-20 Rand
Average spending money per month	2.000 Rand

Currency converter: click

Local coordinator
A local volunteer coordinator at an international language school in Cape Town arranges accommodation and prepa-ration activities for volunteers. The school is situated in the suburb of Claremont, south of Cape Town and near the university in a quiet area with many young residents.

Leisure
Cape Town has all the leisure facilities you would find in any modern, cosmopolitan city. The city has a fine choice of restaurants that offer European, Indian or African specialties. One can order everything from sauerkraut to a steaming bowl of curried rice or to a quick kebab. There are also many discotheques, cabarets and night-clubs to visit. Sportsfacilities are modern and extensive. From 1.1.2001 smoking is officially prohibited in public areas and buildings. Most host families are not happy about smoking either.
Leisure time can be used to explore the country's unique nature with its plentiful animal life. South Africa has the most varied flora and fauna in Africa.

Excursions
Excursions can be arranged to the following places. For example:

• Table Mountain - to experience and enjoy one of the world’s most famous and fascinating views.
• Cape Town Harbor - with its maze of narrow passage-ways with restaurants and shops. Street peddlers and musicians give added color to this experience.
• Kirstenbosch - the National Botanical Gardens perfectly situated on the back slopes of Devil's Peak Mountain.
• Sight-seeing trips around Cape Town - on an open-air bus with visits to the Malay Quarter, museums, newspaper offices, goldsmiths workshops, the university and many historical buildings.

Preparation activities and voluntary assistance

It is very important, before applying for a volunteer stay, that you accept working with the poorest people in society. Volunteer tasks vary from institution to institution. Before you begin, you have to take part in one week of preparation activities. This period will help you to become familiar with your new surroundings. Lodging with South African families will give a first hand experience of the South African way of life. The activities will include a meeting with the coordinator to discuss your final choice of voluntary work.

If you choose to volunteer at an educational institution, please be aware that they close during holidays:

March 30 - 11 April
June 22 - July 16
Sept. 21 - 1 Oct
Nov. 30 - 1 Dec - end of year holidays.

During these periods, other working places will be available.

Requirements
Minimum age: 18 years.
A reasonably good knowledge of English.
A letter of motivation to be sent with the enrolment form.
A compulsory insurance.

Vaccinations
Get in touch with your family doctor or insurance company about necessary vaccinations.

Duration of stay and Visa
All volunteers enter South Africa as tourists. European citi-zens get a 3-month tourist visa stamp when landing in Cape Town. If you participate in the Savannah trek after a volunteer period, you will leave South Africa and therefore get a new stamp when returning to the country. If you stay more than 3 months volunteering you will need to apply for an extension to your Visa, which can be obtained in Cape Town for about 425 Rand. To get this extension, you will have to bring along a bank statement, stating that you have sufficient funds to cover your stay in South Africa. EXIS sends you an example of this bank statement if needed.
If you apply too late for an extension of your visa the fee is 800 Rand!

Airfares
The cost of air-tickets to South Africa varies considerably. Please note that you are requested to inform EXIS of the flight number together with the date and time of your arri-val in Cape Town, so the coordinator can organize your airport pick-up. Preparation activities with always start on a Monday at 9.00 o’clock. Bookings should therefore be made with arrivals on Sundays.

Before you leave
It is a big challenge to work and live in South Africa. It requires pluck, some experience and the ability to mix with strangers. It can seem overwhelming at first. Everything is strange and you must confront the hard realities of life in South Africa that tourists never see.
Volunteering demands maturity and the ability to adjust to the environment. The voluntary work places are not far from transport or home-stay families. They are funded by private persons, business or government. The funding is very limited, the conditions very bad (compared to European standards), facilities very limited and much of the staff not motivated.

Programs

Humanitary work in Cape Town.
Humanitary work in Kruger Park region or Durban region.

Humanitary work in Cape Town

Duties
No matter where volunteers are placed, their duties will be varied and they must be prepared to assist in any task requested.
You will be asked to assist the staff at the institution you have chosen to work for, but can also be asked to do any odd jobs: cleaning, cooking, food distribution, washing and generally tidying up.

If you are placed to assist in an orphanage your job will in-clude assisting in the bathing of children, helping the chil-dren to bathe and dress, play with them, caring for them and, generally giving lots of love and hugs!
The more preliminary training you might have had before leaving your home country, the greater will be your chance of being given a more responsible job. This also applies to anyone assigned to assist at the animal casualty clinic.
Some homes for children only have children in the after-noon from 14.30 to 18.00, as they attend school in the morning. These places need volunteers who would accept work during weekends as well. Normal working hours are from 9.00 to 17.00. Participants should be patient when starting their programme as it takes about a week to feel part of a team.

Examples of work placements in Cape Town

1. Shelters for street children or adults.
2. The Red Cross Hospital or another children’s hospital.
3. Kindergartens or play schools.
4. Schools for handicapped children.
5. Shelters for mothers and babies.
6. Veterinary service (animal casualty clinic).
7. Home for mentally handicapped.
8. Kiddies college.
9. Dominica Deaf School.
10. Feedback.
11. Child Welfare Organisation.
12. Give and Gain.
13. Help2Read
14. Shine Centre

1. Street children
There are around 2000 street children in Cape Town. They generally come from deprived families. Their parents are extremely poor and often abandon them, forcing them to live on the streets. Because their numbers are increasing, centers are being established where these children can live and get professional help. The voluntary assistant’s job here is to occupy the children. Schools for former streetchildren provide schooling to children up to 15 years old and are run mainly through the help of foreign donors. Almost 50 % of the children are four years or more behind in schooling, comparedt o European children. They come from families without education and have no books at home and were never taught skills. The basic teaching of mathematics,
reading and writing - preparing them for a normal schooling can also help them. Many have been abused and are sometimes disturbed. Violence has been a part of their lives. This is one of the more difficult placements and not recommended for anyone under 20 years of age.

2. Hospitals

Red Cross' Childrens Ward
The children need all the support and care they can get and the voluntary worker plays an important role in this area. The hospital staff is under constant pressure, and has no time to give the children the individual attention they need. The children’s ward depends on the volunteers to create a caring and safe environment. They can organize activities and games for the children. You will soon realize that the children are educationally approximately 2 years behind their peers and that educational support will be required. Red Cross hospital is closed for volunteer work from mid December to mid January. The direction of the Red Cross hospital only organizes one job orientation meeting at the beginning of each month. Depending on the preparation course schedule and your arrival date, work at these Red Cross hospitals may not be possible all year round.

Adult wards
Your duties on these wards are practical. You will assist the staff by washing patients’ hair, manicuring, watering flowers, and writing letters for the patients, reading aloud, borrowing books and games, helping them with knitting or sewing.

Intensive-care wards
On the intensive-care ward help is needed with the administrative duties such manning the phone, running various errands and helping support the relatives of the patients.

Accident and emergencies
In this department the help required is administrative. Duties include manning the phone, reception work, and greeting patients on their arrival and ensuring they are referred to the correct clinics.

Volunteers who want to work for the Red Cross will need to bring a police clearance certificate and 2 testimonials from people other than family who have known the person for at least 2 years.

3. Private kindergartens and kindergartens for the children of hospital staff
You will function in a group and will later be allowed to arrange different games and activities for the children. Short outings and weekend trips with a staff member are sometimes arranged.

4. Schools for the handicapped
These schools are for children who are brain-damaged from birth. Sometimes the damage is so little that it is not immediately obvious, whilst other, more handicapped children have problems with their hearing, their sight, sensory disorders, physical disorders and their learning capabilities are also affected. All the children are taught English, maths, nature studies etc. plus practical subjects such as handiwork and woodwork. Pupils who cannot cope with the educational subjects are transferred to practical classes. At the end of their schooling these pupils will be employed at sheltered workshops – adult training centers.

There are also pupils with general learning disabilities at this school. There is also a team of physiotherapists, occupational therapists and speech therapists in a therapy unit. Volunteers who choose this field are expected to have a strong interest in working with mentally and physically handicapped children.

5. Shelters for women and their children
These shelters give care to destitute, abused and disadvantaged mothers and their children. The shelters help rejected mothers with babies and young children who have no place to go.

Practical help is essential for these mothers and therefore the following services have been installed: Child care facilities that give the mothers time and opportunity to look for employment. The homes provide 3 meals a day, toiletries, bedding etc.

Counseling and group work to rebuild confidence and heal the emotional traumas, job and life skills training, housing programmes and after care services. Also a drop-in night shelter for laundry and bathing facilities is open to those who need help. Volunteers can expect all kind of odd jobs. Placement is not automatic. Volunteers are interviewed during the first week in Cape Town.

6. Animal casualty clinic
One of the tasks of this clinic is to go into townships and help animals without charge. The other task is to take in abandoned animals. No need to say that you should be fond of animals to ask for this kind of voluntary assistant work.

7. Fountain house
This is a centre for mentally handicapped poor patients. The centre acts as a halfway house between an institution and society. Work for this centre requires volunteers interested in medicine and psychology.

8. Kiddies College
Kiddies College is a fancy name for pre-school. They take children from very poor backgrounds from ages 3-6. Volunteers have some freedom to run their own ideas/projects etc.

9. Dominical Deaf School
This school is located in Wittebome, a suburb area, close to volunteers home stay addresses. This is a regular school with pre-school students to grade 12. Most children are deaf, but some have other disabilities like cerebral palsy or autism. The school also has a hostel for some children from out-of-town. Although the school gets financial support from the department of education they are always needing extra funds and volunteers are welcome to help out with all odd tasks. The main tasks of the volunteers are:

• assisting the teachers in classrooms
• helping the children with homework in the afternoon
• sport activities
• computer work
• social interaction with the children in the hostel over weekends

Volunteers will work from 8am - 2 pm.

10. Feedback
This is a food distribution organization located just outside Cape Town, at the railway station in Mowbray, so it is very convenient to get to there. The institution has a truck and collects food from certain hotels, restaurants and even parliament and distributes it to centers for homeless people in need. The food is collected at special collection points in containers and all the food is given to the needy people around the wider city area. Volunteers will work from 8.30 to 5 pm. Their tasks will be collection and distribution of food to the needy. Some places with cooking facilities receive raw food to prepare. Those without facilities receive cooked food. You can volunteer every morning or choose to work on a part time basis, combining volunteering at other institutions

11. Child Welfare Organization
This is a huge, government backed organization, working in many poor communities. They work with adoption, foster care, community care and support, education and training. Some of the areas may need some training which is provided by the organization.

12. Give and gain
This program is also called “a smile for a change” and uses "clowning" to reach children who have not had much to laugh about. Their trained care clowns and performers are working hard to bring upliftment and smiles to children in need. Volunteers get a short introduction and preparation and then accompany trained clowns on outings to children's homes, hospitals, HIV centers etc. Volunteers experience places most visitors never see. https://www.givengain.com/cgi-bin/giga.cgi?c=907

13. Help2Read
If you have energy to spend some extra hours a week helping young people (5 to 12 years old) to learn English, you are welcome at help2read. Volunteers will be trained to teach and give extra attention to pupils who need extra help. It is proven that these extra individual lessons give self-esteem and improve school grades. Second hand English books are very welcome at this project.

14. Shine Centre
All teaching at this primary school is in English but  most of the students are Xhosa speakers and have problems learning language. The volunteers assist the teachers and work in groups, helping students with reading, homework and schoolwork in class. The center is located at the Observatory Junior School, where English teaching is offered on a one-to one basis by volunteers.

Further possibilities are under investigation.

Lodging
Volunteers will stay with the same private host family throughout their entire stay in South Africa. These homes are all situated in the quieter parts of Cape Town and in nice surroundings. The cost of commuting between one’s place of residence and one’s place of work, although not great, is a further expense to be taken into consideration. This amount generally is about 10 Rand per day.

Enrolment
Complete the application form and send it together with a motivation letter to info@exis.org. The final payment for your stay must be made at least
6 weeks prior to the start of your journey.

Program price

1 week preparation activities including outings + 4 weeks voluntary assistance: 1.341 EURO
For every additional week food and accommodation during voluntary work: 100 EURO

Start dates 2008

13-01-08 * 10-02-08 * 09-03-08 * 13-04-08
11-05-08 * 08-06-08 * 13-07-08 * 19-09-08
12-10-08 * 09-11-08 * 

Included in the price

• You will be met at the airport upon arrival by your host family. You will have your own single room with half board, unless you ask to be accommodated with someone else.
• Families will also wash your clothes.
• 1 week preparation activities with meetings at institutions or schools including outings:
• Cape Town City Tour, Kirstenbosch, Gardens outing, Township tour, Table Mountain walk and Hout Bay outing.
• Job placement and any help and advice you might need is available from our coordinator during your entire stay. Ifyou wish to visit more workplaces than planned during the first week, you may not be able to start work at the beginning of your second week stay.
• Access to Internet at the coordinators school.

Not included in the price

• Any costs incurred when applying for an extended tourist visa (about 250 Rand).
• Any costs incurred should the date of a return journey be altered.
• Extra outings like a visit to Robben Island.
• Any costs of transport from lodgings to workplace. (Approx.10 Rand per day).
• Pocket money.
• Insurance and plane ticket.

Visa
All EU citizens can get entry visas at the border of the country they are entering. Tourists Visas are valid for three months.

Vaccinations
Make sure that you have your vaccinations up to date. For more information on which vaccinations could be necessary please contact your family doctor or insurance company.

Cancellation insurance
It's advised to underwrite a cancellation insurance.

Enrolment - deposit
Upon receipt of your enrolment form, EXIS will send you a confirmation and invoice. A deposit of 200 € is to be paid upon receipt of this confirmation. The remaining amount is to be paid six weeks prior to your arrival. If you enrol less that six weeks before arrival, the entire program price will be payable upon enrolment.

Cancellation
If you cancel your application before receiving information about your host family you will be able to have your deposit refunded less a deduction of 200 € for administration expenses.
If your application is cancelled after receiving the address of your host family, your deposit will not be refunded whilst the balance will be refunded in full. Once the language course has commenced, no refunds will be made.

Travel expenses
All prices are excluding travel expenses. Mail to info@exis.org for package price.

Prices
All prices are mentioned in Euros.

Price changes
EXIS reserve the right for changing the prices without further notice, in case of changed foreign currency or other circumstances, that are beyond our control.