Voluntary Project Overview

Volunteers can teach English to children from the ages of 6-14. English is normally the third language after their local tribal language and Swahili. The schools suffer from a shortage of teachers, and generally have large classes making it difficult for children to get the support they need for their learning. The more rural schools are in the shadow of Mt Longido and offer an opportunity to those taking a career break abroad to teach English, and a variety of subjects in a very unusual environment. Volunteers can also get involved with a blind unit, a woman’s market and teaching Masai warriors in an Open Air Boma school.

The Volunteer Abroad Role

Career break volunteers help teach English to primary school children so they can gain entry into Secondary school, which is often English medium. Volunteers work with local teachers to swap ideas and exchange teaching methods to help improve the effectiveness of classes. Volunteer work and living in a Masai community is truly a cultural exchange. Class sizes at the schools are large with often 80 children in class making teaching programmes challenging but there is also an opportunity to use your creativity and imagination.

Other Volunteer Abroad opportunities

While the main role for career break volunteers is teaching English you can also get involves with other lessons and extra-curricular activities in the area. There always the opportunity to get involved with teaching English to adults in the village. The emphasis is on learning practical English that will help them in their jobs or to get better jobs. Depending upon where volunteers are based there is also an IT and Internet Centre which always needs help with computer maintenance, management and promotion.

Voluntary Programme Requirements/Eligibility Criteria

Volunteering abroad on a career break is always challenging and at the same time rewarding, we believe you always need good communication skills, an open mind, lots of enthusiasm and a good sense of humour to make the most of this voluntary programme in Tanzania. Our philosophy is to encourage the students to learn by having fun in the lessons.

Volunteer Accommodation and Living arrangements

During your volunteer placement in a Masai village you will live with a local family, which is a great way to see first hand the local culture and try real Tanzania delights! You meals are taken with the family, which are generally quite simple meals involving a lot of rice! The local villages and surrounding area are plains of rolling hills with many cattle herds and Maasai houses. It is not uncommon to see authentic mud homes and people dressed in traditional Maasai dress with their cattle.

What’s included in your Programme Fee?

• Project selection and placement - Our in-country teams work constantly to identify and select projects that are doing exemplary work in developing countries but need your skills and effort. Our staff are in dialogue with you to ensure that we choose a project that really needs you, where you will use your skills and contribute, because at MondoChallenge, we believe that a great volunteering experience is largely dependant on matching you with the right project
• Pre Departure Briefing - Before you leave, we will arrange for a pre departure briefing where we help you with small but extremely helpful details on your chosen destination. Things like: what to pack, local culture and customs, food, safety and precautions if any - simple things to make your life easier!
• Guidance for processing visa - MondoChallenge will arrange for any relevant documents and guide you through the visa process.
• Airport Pick Up - Arriving in a new city and not knowing where to go and how to go can be quite unnerving. A MondoChallenge representative will meet you at the airport and take you to your place of stay where you can put your feet up after a long flight.
• In country Orientation and Welcome Pack - When you arrive at your location, you will be given an orientation where you could meet other volunteers from MondoChallenge, learn all about your location, how to find your way around, where to get SIM cards for the phone, small bits that you will need help sorting out in the first few days.
• In Country Support - Our local co-ordinators are there to guide you through out your stay. They will make sure that you are settled at your project, are comfortable with your accommodation and provide guidance on local culture and customs to ensure that you have a memorable and rewarding experience.
• Accommodation - In most cases you stay with a local host family. It gives you a taste of the daily life of a local. You will be sharing a room with another volunteer, however if you prefer to have a single room to youself, this can be arranged but a cost supplement may apply. If you prefer totally independent accommodation, this maybe possible in certain areas at an additional cost and our Programme Managers will be able to assist you with this.
• Breakfast and Dinner - Local home cooked food, will be provided at the home stays. This gives you a chance to experience local dishes.
• Optional Contribution to the Education Grant - The Educational Grant helps projects like the one you will volunteer with, to get basic infrastructure and resources. Open air schools need a roof, some need tables or chairs and some need books for children. We identify needs and constantly work at improving the conditions at our partner projects. We also encourage you to identify needs at your project and let our local management know of any specifics that you feel may help. The grants are made through our registered charity, FutureSense Foundation (Charity No: 1132101). In the project fee above we recommend an optional contribution towards these grants. If you would like to fund raise or contribute further amounts towards this directly to the foundation we can assist you through the process.

Not Included:

• International Flights
• Visa and Travel insurance Costs
• Vaccination
• Local Transport and Travel
• Personal Expenses

Project photos

Testimonials