Ever since high school, I’ve had “Volunteer South Africa”
bookmarked on my computer. I never had the plan to take the Travel and Tourism
program while I was in high school, but a bit later in my life, when I realized
that was more the direction I wanted my life to revolve around, I started my
search for programs. I found the Tourism, Travel and Eco-Adventure program at
Confederation College, and absolutely fell in love with all my classes, and my
desire to travel was stronger than ever. In our first year, we completed a
South African Specialist Certificate. This sparked my interest in Volunteering
once again, and I thought that maybe my dream since I was 17 might become a
reality sooner than I anticipated.
In September, I
started doing more and more research about different programs to make this a
possibility. I came across a program called International Volunteer Head
Quarters, or IVHQ. I researched some of the different volunteer programs we
could participate in. They had Teaching, Childcare, Surf Outreach, Sports
Development and Computer Training. Having a love of children, I immediately
applied for the Childcare program for 3 weeks after my completions of school.
Within a day, I received my acceptance and I booked my flight the same day I
was so excited! I then decided to tell my family and they were overjoyed, but
also a bit nervous about me travelling across the globe by myself.
The end of
school came faster than I had ever expected, and after an amazing year of
school, I had a life changing trip ahead of me. I also had about 40 hours of
travel ahead of me, which was a bit less appealing. After 3 flights, and 15
hours of layovers, I had made it to Cape Town, South Africa! My housing and
accommodations were based in Muizenberg, one of the most famous surf towns in
the world. Muizenberg is most known for the colourful shacks along the beach!
Because I was pretty jetlagged from the travel, I slept
most of the first day. Monday was a holiday in Cape Town, so we had a day off
from program. About 30 of the other volunteers decided to take a train to
Simon’s Town to see the penguins at Boulder’s Beach. This being my first
adventure in South Africa, I was pretty excited! Sadly, the penguins that day
weren’t the best, but the scenery was amazing! You could really tell where it
got the name “Boulder’s Beach”.
Tuesday started our first week of Program in the township
of Capricorn. Going into the Childcare program, I wasn’t really sure what to
expect, and I had no clue how much these children would have an impact on how I
live my life. Our class was comprised of about 30 children from age 0-5. I
worked with the older kids, probably from age 3-5. This age was perfect for me,
because they were able to hold conversations in English, and they showed so
much love towards “Teacher Kelsey”. You can tell that these children have such
huge hearts, and so much love to give. At home, these children live with broken
parents, violence, AIDS, drugs and alcohol. When these children are at school,
they receive unconditional love, education, and the opportunity to feel safe
for 9 hours. For 5 hours of their day, I was able to give that to the children.
Our daily routine consisted of arriving just before breakfast, getting tackled
first thing in the morning, because they were so excited to see the teachers,
and feeding porridge to the babies. This is where I separated from the 2 other
volunteers and went with the older children. Our days would differ, but they
always consisted of an art project, a book and then outdoor play. After that,
they would all come together for lunch, and then the volunteers would head home
as the children went for their naps. In my 3 weeks of volunteering, I truly
hope I was able to make a difference in these children’s lives, because they
made the biggest difference in mine. They even taught me how to speak some
Afrikaans, which was pretty cool. I will forever miss these children, and I
will absolutely be back within the next few years to volunteer again.
Because I was only there for 3 weeks, I tried to complete
as many things as I could in that short period of time. Some of the adventures
I went on were seeing the beautiful views of Cape Town from Table Mountain,
watching an amazing sunset at Camp’s Bay, exploring the colourful houses at Bo
Kaap, driving along the famous Garden Route and seeing some of the most
beautiful scenes, experiencing a Game Drive with The Big Five, being able to
Walk and feed elephants, going to a wildlife ranch and having lemurs crawl all
over me, pet a cheetah named Sapphire, boat out to one of the most populated
area of Great White Sharks and cage dive with them, and to top it all off, I
bungee jumped off the world’s highest Bungee Bridge (Bloukrans Bridge).
If I any advice to anyone wanting to go and
volunteer, and especially in South Africa, it would be DO IT! And stay longer
than you think you want to. I regret only staying for 3 weeks. If you’re
worried about going alone, you’re only travelling alone! You will have so many
volunteers there with you, and you will make some life-long friends for sure.
None of this trip would have become possible
without taking the Travel and Tourism program at the college. It really showed
me that travelling and volunteering is more accessible than you think it
is!
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