In the teaching program, volunteers are usually placed in Arusha’s poorer areas, supporting primary or secondary schools. Education is highly valued in Tanzania; children do enjoy education, especially in the presence of volunteers. Schools are often under-funded as not all children can afford tuition fees; they are provided with school uniforms, food, and school material. Often you will find schools with poor teaching facilities, without running water, and without electricity.
As a volunteer you may engage with classroom activities, check homework, support teachers with their preparations, and more. If you are confident in teaching, you may also teach by yourself according to the syllabus. Subjects usually vary from English, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, and more. A class may contain one or up to 30 children.
As you will be working alongside local coordinators and the teachers, you will not need to be a qualified teacher for this program. However, some experience in teaching and managing a large number of children may be valuable. Sound English skills are recommended for the teaching project.
If you are passionate about teaching children, this project will be perfect for you. The gratitude and appreciation from the children is unparalleled and you may find yourself receiving more energy from the children than you can give!
This program has an extra fee of $50 that is given directly to the school to develop their facilities and service provision.
What to Expect
Given the project activities (participating in classroom activities by teaching, checking homework, supporting teachers with lesson preparation, socializing, extracurricular activities and the likes), it is better to approach this project with limited expectations as the schools have different work conditions. Any activity can be assigned to any volunteer. If you are confident enough to teach and you have familiarized yourself with the Tanzanian curriculum, you may teach with supervision or alone in accordance with the syllabus at hand. Expect to be proactive and prompt, as the experience will be out of your comfort zone in the case of inadequate resources. You will need to apply initiatives that would satisfy the particular situations. Expect to learn, be challenged, and to experience a sort of fun you have never known while engaging with the children and the people.
What NOT to Expect
Limit your expectations; the work is fulfilling but not easy, as our conditions in Africa derive unique approaches to everything. Schools are often underfunded and even though they accommodate all students, not all of them can afford the other fees required for lunch and development contributions. This derives the lack of adequate teaching facilities and services like water and electricity. We encourage you to be proactive and embrace the norms as part of a learning experience, and ensure that the locals learn from you as well.
What are the Teachers like?
All schools are different. Some have enough qualified teachers and some don’t. Some teachers are more accepting in involving volunteers, whereas others are reluctant. There are barriers to communication such as language and experience. The focus is not to ignore each other but to work together, share your knowledge, skills, applicable resource utilization, and teaching strategies.
Participate in lesson planning, teaching, and create relationships with the teachers as they are friendly and love that you are there to work alongside them. When allowed to teach, use your platform to share knowledge and experience as best as you can, while involving the teachers so they can broaden the level of understanding of the students. Do not let the teachers delegate all the work to you; it’s a supportive role. Work alongside them and do not be disheartened when you do not get a chance to teach. Work with initiative to help other aspects of the classroom; the supportive role you play as a volunteer is temporary, so make sure you instill the right skills, knowledge, and expertise to the placement assigned as a legacy to learning.
What are the Children like?
The children are amazing and are very fond of volunteers as they participate in lessons, extracurricular activities, and games very willingly. The children come from different households and backgrounds; they are all unique. New experiences and learning from a teacher that has a different background can provide new substance that inspires their learning interest.
Duties and Tasks
Volunteers will be assisting and teaching, depending on what you are comfortable doing. These activities range from lesson planning, marking books, cooking, cleaning, and playing games, to assisting and socializing with the children. Some volunteers prefer to be hands-on in their placements and can broaden their activities to building, renovations, and painting within the school premises. It is best to acquaint yourself with the Tanzanian education curriculum and the syllabuses. The volunteers should be present at their placements from Monday to Friday within school hours. If not, be sure to inform your placement and volunteer coordinators beforehand.
Challenges
Culture differences, specifically the different approaches to life.
Different living conditions (for example: the weather, availability of basic resources such as water and electricity, consumer goods and distance to services).
Transportation (inadequate transport especially in the rural areas, bumpy rides while traveling with motorcycle 'boda boda' and congested public buses 'dala dala')
Expectations. With high expectations, it is easy to be disappointed by the lags and reluctance to be involved, especially with impatience to reach perfection.
Positives
Attain new skills and experiences to further your profession.
Arusha is a beautiful tourist city with much to appreciate. The people are welcoming, and the landscape and scenery are magnificent.
Take the opportunity to travel and socialize on the weekends. There are many spots for leisure and fun.
THINGS TO BRING, DONATIONS, SPONSORSHIPS
What can I bring?
You are not required to bring anything to your volunteer placements, but if you feel like donating and sharing it will be appreciated. There are many needs due to the limited resources schools have ranging from stationeries and books to school facilities and other requirements.
Can I Sponsor a child’s education?
Yes you can! In the schools we place our volunteers, some of the children at these schools have been unfortunate to lose a parent, in most cases the provider; or both. These children become victims, they can not give up but they face hardships in their education such as lacking school fees, uniforms, school materials and they cannot provide for themselves, they still need support. Such challenges add up to the child’s mental stress which hinders their performance in class, and the likelihood of being expelled from the school.
The options are flexible to your ability. Every academic year has three terms. If your funds are limited but still wish to sponsor a child’s education, you have the option to pay per term.
You can sponsor a child’s education for a year, for several years or all their educational years in Primary or Secondary school or both.
Other things to bring are those for your personal use like decent clothes, sunscreen, soap, towels, slippers etc.