Orphanage Volunteer Program in Cape Town, South Africa

There is no place in the world filled with so much love and happiness as the Nceduluntu nursery and Ikhayalethemba orphanage. I was so lucky to have spent 4 weeks at Nceduluntu and 2 weeks at Ikhayalethemba. Adding up to be the best 6 weeks of my life.

On my journey to Africa i was nothing but freaked out. I was questioning exactly what on Earth i was thinking. But as soon as I arrived i felt right at home. The staff were lovely and so were my fellow volunteers. The first day at the nursery was one i was never going to forget. Walking in and hearing about 60 screaming voices "TEACHER TEACHER TEACHER" from the most beautiful children, craving your attention. All they wanted was a high 5, a smile, a cuddle or to grab onto your leg and not let go.
Whilst in lessons they were crazy and the language barrier was quite a struggle, they were so excited to learn and so greatful you were there to help them.
My most treasured memories of the nursery are one little boy Maurena, who every morning would say "Good morning teacha, owa you?" I would respond and ask him how he was and never received a reply. He had no idea what it meant, but knew that it was the polite thing to say when greeting someone. So cute! I also loved when they all came out so sleepy from nap time and just put their head on your lap and curled up into you. aahh.

The ikhaylathemba orphanage was a real place of hope. The children spoke a lot better English and were so beautiful. At times it was sad to remember why they were there and that some of them may be there until they reach their adult lives, but they were so happy that it was easily forgotten.
The best memory i have of Ikhayalethemba was during one of the fun fridays when we were doing a treasure hunt. We all dressed up as pirates and went to find the treasure. They were all so in character and so excited! The smiles on their faces when the got the treasure of a couple of lollies, a piece of orange, a pirate hat and a small silly wrist band was priceless.

I think of these children everyday and cannot wait to go back and see them again sometime. :)

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!