Student Volunteers Abroad

South Africa

Contact

sva_southafrica@hotmail.co.uk

The Project

The South Africa Project is one of the longest running and well established projects in the SVA.

The project operates the Venda region of South Africa. Venda is in the north-east of the country, not far from the borders with Mozambique and Zimbabwe. It is a former homeland and is now a culturally rich and exciting area of Africa, home to the vha-Venda people.

The project is split between a primary school called the ‘Jumbo School’ and the NGO, the CPC (Centre for Positive Care).

The Jumbo School is situated in rural Venda and provides a pre-school and primary education for impoverished children in the area. In 2009 we became more involved in the classroom for the f irst time; teaching subjects across the curriculum like maths, English, art, music, dance and sport and we are keen to continue this into 2010. Unfortunately the materials available for the teachers and the children are very limited. Every year the project contributes something towards making the school a better learning environment, for example the 2009 project involved painting both the inside and outside of the school. Future aims involve completing a classroom in which construction was halted due to lack of funds.

The CPC is an organisation in charge of several youth groups operating in the Venda region. These youth groups involve local volunteers who visit schools all across Venda and take ‘life orientation’ classes. These cover such topics as STI’s, HIV/AIDs awareness, abuse, body changes, children’s rights and much more. SVA volunteers would be expected to meet with the local youth facilitators and plan activities that can involve drama, music, games, ice-breakers and anything else that seems appropriate and fun. The youth groups are an exellent opportunity to see different places in Venda and meets lots of different people. In addition to the youth groups, the CPC also run a number of other projects which we hope to be more involved with in 2010.

Due to the South Africa project’s long-standing relationship with the area, there are a number of additional organisations we have worked with in the past. They include the Thohoyandou Victim Empowerment Program (TVEP) and the Vhutshilo Mountain School, both of which are exciting and rewarding to be involved with.

The fundraising target for this project will be £500 per volunteer but don't worry, this is easily achievable.

What we are looking for in a volunteer

There are eight places available for volunteers to come to Venda for eight weeks during the summer of 2010. We would encourage anyone who is enthusiastic about travelling to Africa and engaging with the local community to apply for the SVA South Africa Project 2010.

We hope to hear from you soon!

CONTACTS:

Centre for Positive Care

91 tamboti street

sibasa

Limpopo Province

South Africa

email:posicare@mwec.co.za

South Africa profiles

From Wikipedia (good for full history, culture, geography)
From BBC News (good for modern political history, problems, recent news)

Student Volunteers Abroad (SVA) is a student run society offering students of Glasgow and surrounding universities, the opportunity to get involved with sustainable environmental and community projects in developing countries.

SVA is a Scottish Registered Charity: No. SC 030081 c/o. University of Glasgow SRC, The John MacIntyre Building, University of Glasgow, GLASGOW, G12 8QQ