GVI, Ethical Impact: Volunteer with Children

This was the most amazing experience of my life. I had never left America before so this was a really big step for me, but it was more worth it than I had imagined. Although the price put me off at first, you are getting a lot for your money. All of the side trips are included and you live in a rather nice apartment where all food is provided for you. During the week, we went daily to the orphanage we were working at. We would get there and wait for the kids to finish getting ready then take them to their classrooms "one by one-hey!" from there you'd have a lesson teaching english at various levels depending on your class for an hour or so. Then we would give them a snack altogether, and take a quick break then start another lesson. After this the kids would have lunch then a nap, and we would get to eat. We spent the afternoon doing one to ones getting to know the children and then brushing their teeth before we left for the day. Every child there was beautiful and amazing. They will stay with me forever.
We spent the weekends doing amazing cultural tours, safaris, wine tasting, and a few social events. Getting to know the other volunteers was a great experience! I really hope to go back one day soon!

It was tuesday morning when myself and the other volunteers at the nceduluntu nursery in Nomzamo township had our first day. I think I speak for all of us when I say that we had no idea that the loudest sound we could hear throughout that street was the cheerful chanting of "TEACHER TEACHER TEACHER!!" comming from a large number of Xhosa children between the ages of 2 - 5.

From a great start it could only get better:
This children were so enthused by us and enjoyed comming to nursery. They were full of charisma and very cheeky - one of the boys I taught managed to say "alright mate?" in a Liverpool accent!

Mornings began by teaching basic maths - counting, adding, recognising quantities, followed by literacy - reading a story or trying to get them to copy letters. After this they had snack time with a physical session afterwards followed by creative time. The group I taught spent most of their time cutting as many pieces of paper as the could into as many pieces as they could!

It was startling to notice how independent some of these kids were. At 4 years old some of them were walking home all on their own - sometimes looking after a younger sibling.

Two weeks later I was in the local orphanage. The children here were equally cheeky and loved playing hide and seek. Lessons were slighlt different as classes were smaller and they were more exposed to english which enabled us to give them one on one lessons each day. Again though, during creative time they just wanted to cut as much paper as physically possible!

One of the difficulties that I faced was that I had arrived without the necessary visa - to be specific, I needed a tourist visa and a volunteer endorsement - the latter of which I did not obtain when comming through immigration. Because of this, I had to resolve this at the home office in Cape Town which mean that I eneded up missing half a day's work. This could have proved to be a decisive factor in ruining my experience - at one point I was told by someone in this home office that I would need to go back to Johannesberg airport immigration to get the propper endorsement! Thankfully, the GVI member of staff who accompanied me was able to sort this issue out efficiently and proffesionaly, and the necessary stamp and documentation was given to me within the space of a couple of hours. A potential disaster had become a minor inconvinience thanks to the help of the GVI staff.

I think this issue highlighted the proffesionalism and thoughtfulness of GVI. Before I left for South Africa my parents had warned/ nagged me about the dangers of arriving in an unfamiliar country with a company that I had only know via a google search. and some of the issues I ought to be aware of. GVI gave us a full briefing on safety, conduct and expectations whilst on the project and provided us with plenty of fun and everlasting memories.

I thoroughly recomend this experiences and am very jelous of anyone going soon!

The organisation is great, we got picked up from the airport and transported to the project everyday. I felt really supported and looked after. The project was great and it's aim was to teach the children English through play and games as most are young. The highlight was seeing there faces when we arrived in the morning and they all shouted "teacha, teacha" I thought I might have difficulties fitting in as I am a bit older but this was not the case at all. We did lesson planning every day as a team and got help from the coordinators if needed. As I have experience with young children I helped potty training some toddlers which was successful!

I lived one of my dreams volunteering in an orphanage, South Africa and came out the other side a much better person. I met the most amazing people and found a second family away from home. I held hands with some of the most beautiful little children in the world, saw their incredible smiles every day and became friends with their massive personalities. I woke up each morning awaiting the sound of their giggles and excited about the day ahead. I learnt more about myself than even I knew and had the privilege to be a part of a culture that I never anticipated existing, full of the most grateful people I have ever met. I experienced more in these four weeks than I probably will in years and years of my life and I had the most fun ever possible at the same time. I only have GVI to thank for all of this, for giving me the safest, best time of my entire life, providing me with a heart full of memories, a million special moments, the passion to make a difference and for giving me that focus that there is forever something to smile about. – ‘always do what you think you can’t, because nothing is impossible’.