Reviews of Volunteer Programs in Tanzania

Day in the Life of a Volunteer in Tanzania

I had practiced these greetings a million times in orientation with the other volunteers, but this time it felt different. I walked into the classroom and the students hurried to their benches. I set up my things, surveyed the room and nervously shouted the greeting "Hamjambo!" with as much confidence I could muster. Struggling through a few giggles at the mzungu (foreigner) in front of them trying to speak Swahili, the students managed to shout back, "Hatujambo! Shikamoo, walimu!"

I’ll never forget my first day teaching. Our school headmaster had given us a schedule that forced my roommate and I to split up and teach separate classes. It would just be Jensen, my Tanzanian teaching partner and I for three classes in a row at the primary school. That day we talked about our dreams and how making the right choices would help us achieve our goals. We drew pictures, sang songs, danced and laughed with our students—all before lunchtime. We were there to teach about HIV. But everyday, I learned new things from my students, and I’ll never forget my time with them. To me, they are Tanzania.

Dar Es Salaam is the largest city in Tanzania

Types of Volunteering Opportunities in Tanzania

• Health: Lack of resources and access to care present many health related problems to the people of Tanzania, particularly those living outside of urban centers in Tanzania’s rural areas. Common illnesses are malaria, typhoid, and hepatitis A. In particular, the HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to be a problem, as the prevalence rate in the country remains high. Of the 33 million people in the world infected with HIV/AIDS, 1.2 million are living in Tanzania. Volunteers interested in health are needed not only in the clinic setting, but also to educate on self-care and prevention.
• Community development: In Tanzania, 35.7% of the population lives below the UN poverty line and 80% of the population lives in rural areas. People living in these areas receive little support from the government and volunteers can help implement a variety of programs in construction, water and sanitation, education, and microenterprise that can help improve the local quality of life.
• Conservation: The wildlife conservation sector is important not only to biodiversity but to the economics of the country. Tanzania’s national parks, reserves, conservation areas and marine parks account for more than one-third of the country’s territory. Volunteers are needed to help maintain and protect these lands and the animals that live on them, which aids in encouraging and improving ecotourism in the country.

Health and Safety of Volunteers in Tanzania

Travelers to Tanzania should visit their physician or a travel clinic at least one month prior to departure. All volunteers are required to have received vaccinations for Hepatitis A, Typhoid, Hepatitis B, and Yellow Fever prior to admittance into Tanzania. Shot records are required at Tanzania’s points of entry. It is also recommended that travelers get boosters for Polio, MMR, and Tetanus-Diphtheria if their vaccinations are not up to date. It is important to maintain a malaria prophylaxis regiment during the course of your trip. Commonly pre-scribed anti-malarials are Lariam, Malarone, or Doxycycline. Learn more from the CDC.

Although most trips to Tanzania are very peaceful, traveler’s should be wary as petty theft can be a problem in large Tanzanian centers such as Arusha, Dar es Salaam, and Zanzibar—areas frequented by foreign travellers and expatriates. Travelers should be cautious when walking in the streets. Do not carry large cameras or wear expensive jewelry and always walk with another person. It is also important to take licensed taxicabs when you need transportation at night.

Background of Tanzania


Immerse yourself in Tanzanian culture

Tanzania as a nation is a union between the territories of Tanganyika and Zanzibar. Prior to this union, both territories have passed through the hands of several colonial powers. Tanganyika was a former German East African territory, and later British mandate. Zanzibar was a trading base between Arabia, Africa, and India—its control passing between Portugal, the Sultanate of Oman, and Great Britain before gaining independence in 1963. Tanzania was formally founded as a country in 1964 when the mainland Tanganyika and the coastal archipelago, Zanzibar formed the union. Zanzibar remains semi-autonomous from mainland Tanzania.

Visas for Volunteering in Tanzania

A passport and visa are required for entry into Tanzania. Visas can be purchased before you leave for your trip or at any point of entry into the country. More information can be found at VISA HQ.

Life, Culture and Customs

Tanzania is one of the longest inhabited areas on Earth with a distant hunter-gatherer past, rich legacy of indigenous tribal culture, and several colonial influences. It is is a multi-ethnic country with people of diverse backgrounds strongly united by the national language, Swahili.

When you begin to interact with locals, exchanging greetings is a huge sign of respect. They are not simply “Hello” but are usually an extended series of questions. Do not ask for something from someone without greeting him or her properly.

Here are some basic Swahili greetings...

To greet people who are around your same age:
Greeting: Mambo Response: Poa or Safi
Greeting: Hujambo Response: Sijambo

To greet an older person or authority figure:
Greeting: Shikamoo Response: Marahaba

Here are some common questions to ask after initial greetings have been exchanged:
Greeting: Habari yako? (How are you?) Response: Nzuri, na wewe je? (Fine, and you?)
Greeting: Habari za leo (today)/asubuhi (morning)/ mchana (afternoon)/ jioni (evening)? (How are you this…?) Response: Nzuri, asante (Fine, thank you)



Capital: Dodoma
Say Hello: Hujambo (Swahili)
Population: 44,841,226
Currency: Shillings

Because of a long-time NGO culture and large presence of the tourism industry in Tanzania, Western culture is more and more integrated into Tanzanian life. While in major urban areas, volunteers will likely run into a growing community of expats. Here is a list of all of the NGOs in Tanzania. However, there are a few key customs to observe while in Tanzania that are different.

• Food: Staples for traditional Tanzanian meals are beans, rice, and stiff cornmeal porridge called “ugali.” No matter what you’re eating, use your left hand whether you are using a utensil or not! This custom is related to the idea that the right hand is cleaner than the left, which is often used for cleaning after going to the bathroom.
• PDA: The ability to keep calm and control one’s emotions in public is very important in Tanzanian culture. While you may see men holding hands as a sign of kinship, public displays of affection, even hand holding between men and women, is definitely off limits.
• Requirements and Things to Know before You Go: Learning the basic greeting will get you a long way when you first arrive to Tanzania. Putting forth an effort in that way will make people more receptive in helping you find your way. Keep an open mind and be new to trying all kinds of new things once you get to know the people and places of Tanzania.
• How Volunteering in Tanzania Will Help Your Future: Volunteering and networking with one of the many established Tanzanian organizations will give you great professional and interpersonal experiences with a multicultural staff. As NGOs and non-profits continue to compete for funding, you will inevitably learn how to best manage your resources to help the maximum number of people. Remember your experiences and use them when you return home.
• How to Save Money While Volunteering: With the exception of major, up-scale tourist locales, Tanzania is largely cash only. Research which banks have ATM fees for your bank at home and which don’t. Use this money to shop at street markets, local shops, and restaurants as opposed to any Western supermarkets or tourist venues.

This official volunteer guide was brought to you by Elaine Andres

Elaine is a rhetoric major in her final semester at UC Berkeley. As an advocate for HIV/AIDS awareness, with an interest in post-colonial trauma, Elaine spent last summer as a sexual health educator in rural Tanzania. She can't wait to soak in more of Tanzania and beyond when she returns to work in Africa after graduation this spring!

Sureet Rai, YCI volunteer in Tanzania alumna

Volunteering in Tanzania

Sureet Rai is from Vancouver, Canada and is currently completing her Bachelor’s Degree in History at Simon Fraser University. She enjoys travelling, watching TV, and playing badminton. She travelled to Tanzania with Youth Challenge International from July to August of 2011. She is studying towards a Bachelor’s Degree in Education so that she can teach both in Canada and around the world.

Morning: A typical morning as a volunteer with YCI begins at your homestay. I was living with one of my co-volunteers while the other two volunteers were in another homestay closer in the city-centre. After eating breakfast and greeting our host family, we would walk to the YCI office to meet up with the other volunteers. The mornings were set out for planning our lessons and special events for the Tanzanian organization we were working with. The office is right in the middle of the city, so it’s a beautiful view of Mt. Meru and the shops and people down below. The walk to the office was usually 30 minutes, but it wasn’t too bad since we would talk to the locals as we walked by. We also had the choice of taking the Dala Dalas (public transportation), or a taxi if we wanted. At the office, we were given time to plan our lessons, have meetings, or sort out our weekly and daily plans for our project.

Afternoon: In the afternoon, we made our way to the organization we were working with. We would take the Dala Dalas to the centre, which took around 30 minutes. Lunch was provided by the centre we were working at, which usually consisted of traditional Tanzanian food of maize or rice. We also had the choice of having lunch before getting to the centre, in which we could go to a traditional Tanzanian restaurant, or go to a Western-style restaurant when we were craving foods like burgers and cake. YCI provides stipends used for water, food, and transportation as well.

The best part of the afternoon was at the centre, when we would teach the students our lessons or plan our community initiatives. Our typical day at the centre ended at around 4 o’clock. On the weekends, we were able to do more tourist things, including going on safari, shopping at the local markets, visiting some national attractions, and spending time with our local friends.

Volunteer with youth in Tanzania

Evening: The evenings always varied as a volunteer with YCI, because this was usually the time when we were given free time (besides the weekends). The four of us would sometimes go into the local market and do some shopping, visit each others’ homestays and stay for dinner, hang out at the cafes, or go straight home if we were particularly tired. The evenings were free time for us and we could do whatever we wanted. One of my favourite things to do in the evening was to go to our homestay and help our family make dinner and play with the children before dinner. The evenings were the times where we could really spend time with the family.

Highlights: This trip with YCI was an amazing experience and one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. The highlight of my trip was the community initiative project that we worked on with the students. The students were asked what issue they found important in their communities and we were to help the students take initiative and make change in their communities.

My group decided that Malaria was the greatest issue. As a result, we taught the students about Malaria and how to prevent it. The students then took our information and taught their community members about Malaria, to help create positive change in their community. The students made brochures, did skits, and gave out mosquito nets to their community members, in order to have a lasting and positive effect in their community. Watching our students take initiative to make positive change in their community, and knowing that our students were being seen as capable young people by their community members was very heartwarming. Having had the opportunity to work with Tanzania’s young people was amazing in itself, because we created unbreakable connections that none of us will ever forget.

Learn more about volunteering with Youth Challenge International in Tanzania.

Precious Mealia, IVHQ volunteer in Tanzania alumna

Precious was born and grown in England's 2nd largest city, Birmingham, but currently in her first year studying African Language and Culture (Swahili) at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. She headed to Tanzania for one month in May 2011, aged 19 at the time, and will be returning again summer 2012 for a few months.

Morning: A typical day consisted of waking up at around 7:30am, having a very quick cold shower then breakfast with the rest of the volunteers which usually consisted of mandazi, which is fried dough, omelette, toast, tea and fruit before heading off down the road to catch a dala dala (bus) into town which takes about 20 minutes. There was usually someone heading in the same direction as me so we all went together.

After getting off in town we'd walk to a place called 'friends corner' and get another dala dala to my placement which was a bumpy but interesting ride into the poorer parts of Arusha. After a short walk up to my placement saying hello to locals on the way, I'd usually arrive and catch the end of morning assembly which is the cutest thing ever; 60 little kids singing the Tanzanian national anthem and other songs! I would spend the rest of the morning doing some marking for one of the teachers or teaching a quick lesson before helping to hand out the kids morning snack of porridge.

Afternoon: At play time I would find myself playing football or reading with the kids which gets crazy at times but is lots of fun. After break, I would quickly have a snack provided by my placement mama and a soda then help prepare lunch,(varied from rice and veg to ugali and meat) before doing some more teaching or sitting in on one of the classes.

After Lunch, the kids would go home and my placement baba (father) would always walk us back to catch the dala dala at around 3pm. I would usually head to the internet cafe after, to one of Arusha's many markets or go home and relax at the volunteer house.

Evenings and weekends: At least once a week all of the volunteers would go out for dinner or for nights out in the town which were always great or simply all chill together on the porch. Also on the weekends there were lots of things to do from coffee tours in nearby Moshi, trips to Zanzibar, Waterfall hikes or sunbathing at one of the swimming pools in Arusha.

Learn more about volunteering with IVHQ in Tanzania.

Kelsey Hulet, CCS volunteer alumna

Kelsey Hulet volunteered in Tanzania with CCS from July 8-31, 2011 and is currently 22 years old. Originally from Hoffman Estates, IL, she has been attending school at University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh since September 2008. Kelsey will graduates in May 2012 with a Bachelors degree in Social Work. In July 2012, she will begin my Masters of Social Work program at Carthage College in Kenosha, through Loyola University. Her experience volunteering in Tanzania has led her to pursue a career in International Social Work in the future. Kelsey is currently involved in a project with other former CCS volunteers and a local in Moshi, to start an orphanage and center for street children in Tanzania. Her volunteer experience led her to really want to get involved in this project.

Morning: We would get up and get ready for the day, eat breakfast with our fellow volunteers which was cooked for us by our incredible chef, Primo. We would then get into the vans with fellow volunteers and be dropped off at our placements. I volunteered at Bridge Nursery School. Volunteering at Bridge began each morning with singing and dancing with our kids, then we moved into our classrooms. I helped teach English, simple math (adding/subtracting/counting), letters, shapes, and colors to a classroom of 4 and 5 year olds.

Kelsey on a coffee/waterfall tour in Tanzania

Afternoon: After class we would spend time outside playing with the kids and help with one-on-one attention to some of the children. After placement each day we were picked up and driven back to our home-base for lunch. When we finished lunch we would walk into Moshi Town and do some shopping with fellow international volunteers and local volunteers. Some days we returned for Kiswahili or cultural lessons. Some days we went on culture trips with some of the CCS staff to see different towns and villages, Maasai Markets, etc.

Evenings: We would then return in the evening for dinner, again, cooked by Primo. After dinner we would visit with fellow volunteers, plan for our volunteer placement the following day, and e-mail/call family members back home.

Learn more about the CCS volunteer program in Tanzania.