subject: Volunteering Africa - Changing Lives At The Volunteer Orphanage [print this page] One of the areas of volunteering Africa which gets a lot of good coverage and publicity is volunteer orphanage work. Often we see TV and movie celebrities with a babe in arms, or sports personality kicking a ball around a dirt pitch.
This is one of those times when all publicity is good publicity. The more people who are aware of the difficulties faced by orphans in Africa, the more help will arrive. Of course you can't get much idea of the work with a two minute news clip, so what really happens at a volunteer orphanage placement?
In St Lucia, South Africa, there are large numbers of Zulu orphans who have lost their parents to HIV and AIDS. Education here isn't just about reading and writing - important though that is - it's also about making the next generation aware of the problems of these killer diseases so that hopefully their children won't suffer the same fate.
Volunteer orphanage work here is also about maintaining the infrastructure. If you are an educator looking for a volunteer teaching assignment in Africa that's great, but you are equally valuable if you are a bricklayer or decorator. It's difficult to teach if you don't have a classroom to do it in!
In Mozambique and Zambia the need is just as great - in fact anywhere in Africa that has children has a volunteer orphanage project that could benefit from your help. Even the stunning island of Zanzibar has it's share of children left without parents by AIDS and HIV. There is nowhere you can go that your help will not be highly valued.
And despite all the hardship and poverty, the children will greet you with smiles and laughter. They are bright and boisterous outside class, attentive and eager to learn within it. Working at a volunteer orphanage in Africa isn't the kinds of thing that will get you down, far from it. The only thing you might struggle with are your facial muscles - from smiling all the time!
by: Jeff Seams
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