Linda's volunteer experience in Tanzania

Report: Tanzania Host Community: Mwika, Kilimanjaro Host Organization: Uvikiuta Dates: First Camp (24th of Jan-6th of Feb 2010), Second Camp(14th of Feb-27th of Feb 2010)

Sweat, cockroaches and crazy bus drivers….Welcome to Africa!!!!!!!
My adventure began on a Friday the 22nd of January 2010, when I said goodbye to my friends in the Parisian metro. On the way to the airport I began to feel a little nervous, since it was the first time for me to go to Africa. After a very relaxing flight with Emirates via Dubai and unfortunately 2 hours delay I arrived safely at Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam. Luckily Uvikiuta’s driver Edison was still waiting patiently and when I saw the sign with my name on it, a wave of relief overcame me. I met the first member of my team from South Korea, who had actually been sitting on the same plane as me since Dubai. Together we were taken to Uvikiuta centre at the outskirts of Dar es Salaam. The accommodation for the first few nights was a simple room, two loft beds, and an outside toilet, which served at the same time as a home for cockroaches of all kind. Although we had been prepared by our sending organizations about the living conditions in our host country, it took definitely some time to get used to. Especially to the heat, the insects and the monkeys running and jumping on our tin roof all night. After a few days of acclimatizing, visiting Uivikiuta centre and of course Dar es Salaam, the third member of our group, also from South Korea, arrived and we were ready to start the journey to our host community in Mwika, Kilimanjaro. Of course we were all quite surprised realizing that we were only three international volunteers, two from South Korea and me, who would be joined by three local volunteers from Mwika. At four in the morning our trip began, when Bovin, a Tanzanian volunteer from Uivikiuta accompanied us to Ubungo bus station from where we took the bus to Mwika.

Since we were all trying to be patient, flexible and adapting to the “African” lifestyle, whatever this might be, and therefore sure that the bus would at least leave one hour late, we were quite surprised when with a lot of beeping, shouting and some very dangerous maneuvers our bus driver jiggled us on to the jammed streets of Dar es Salaam, direction North. After an 8 hour-drive and with the hope that we were finally there, a sudden stop of the bus pulled us out of our dozing and dreaming. I opened my eyes and the motor which was right in front of my seat was smoking and spying extremely hot water. We all jumped of the bus and after a one hour break, in which all passengers helped to fetch cold water from a nearby well, we reached our final destination, as we thought, after a 10 hour journey. When we got of the bus we were welcomed by our camp leader Robert and the village chairman, Mr Mringo. Soon we
realized that we were not there yet and that what was going to come was even worse than a ten hour ride on a cramped and hot bus with a crazy driver. We were put into one of the so-called dalla-dalla’s , a public bus, which was going to bring us up the hill into our camp. It was ten times worse than a roller-coaster and after 30 minutes of bumping our heads and knees involuntarily on the tin car interior lining to the rhythms of a Congolese Ndombolo song blasting out of the radio, we were more than happy to see our new home for the next two weeks. The first few days of my second work camp were quite similar to the above description, unless this time I started my journey from Dar Es Salaam to Mwika with 9 Japanese people. In the end we were a group of 14 volunteers, 9 Japanese, 4 Tanzanians and me. Both times we were surprised about the good conditions of the residential community houses where we lived. We shared a room with two or three people, had one inside and one outside toilet/shower room, an outside fire place, which served as the kitchen and one dining/community room, where we spent most of our time when not at work. In every camp we had kitchen supervisors, Mama Dinna and Dada Dinna, who were supported by one of us as part of the kitchen team every day. Although the drinking water was boiled over the fire and the food always cooked, some people had to fight with diarrhea and sometimes stomachaches. Nonetheless, we always looked forward to eating chapati, bananas, chips, vegetables and of course the famous “Kitimoto”(porc).

Volunteering under the Roof of Africa…

(in the picture: walking with the other volunteers to get to the project site)

Both work camps had the theme of Forestry and Environment, but as was indicated by our sending organizations, the work could change, depending on what the host community needed at that point in time. During the first work camp our workday started with a 30-minute hike to Marimeni Primary School, during which we could normally get a glance of the otherwise so “shy” mountain, the Kilimanjaro. After a few days we got to know some of the children, started to remember their faces and names and were really quite sad when we had to leave. During the first week we were instructed to plant trees at the tree nursery of the primary school. We normally worked for 4 to 5 hours with a short tea-break in between. After finishing the tree nurseries, we were instructed to help renovating the primary school, which first of all meant painting the rooms. This was quite hard work, since we had to get off the layers of old paint with sandpaper. We however managed to paint three classrooms in 5 days and were quite proud of our small team of only six volunteers. During the second work camp we were located within the same community but worked in a different primary school. Once again we were involved in establishing tree nurseries and planting trees and coffee plants. During the second week our work existed in establishing a record of all the trees that had already been planted by other volunteers. This involved a hike of 1- 2 hours every morning to get to the forest from where we then separated to mark and count the trees. In both work camps it was important to be flexible and very patient. Sometimes our schedule changed from one day to the next or we arrived at work and had to wait two hours to get instructions and actually work. Nonetheless, in the first camp we managed to establish 3 tree nurseries with 600 trees and paint three classrooms. In the second camp we established 1 tree nursery with 500 plants, planted 900 coffee plants and counted over 10 000 trees.

(In the picture, volunteers working in the tree nursery)

“Haraka Haraka”(quickly) or “Pole Pole”(slowly) in the afternoons: Sports with the children and more…
During both work camps the afternoon activities were quite similar. Twice a week it was sports time and after some planning in the camp we made our way to the local primary schools to teach some sports. Easier said than done! Used to the German school system, where at a maximum a class exists of25 pupils, you are quite shocked when nearly a hundred screaming kids run towards you and you are told that this is your class for today. With a little Swahili, some words of the local Chagga-language and a lot of patience we managed to explain them our games. After this hassle, it was always extremely rewarding to see their big smiles, hear their laughter and see the excitement in their eyes when even playing the simplest games.

(in the picture: playing games with the children at school)

Other afternoons we made excursions to traditional worship places or visited emerging microfinance networks, such as VIKOBA, the village community bank. We also visited the local market, learned about traditional coffee processing and participated in the rehearsal of the local youth choir. The evenings were the time for cultural nights, as well as debates and discussions about climate change and environmental issues.
Being a “Mzungu” or a “Mchagga” at the Weekends?
The weekends meant free time for all of us. During both work camps we were given to go to the national parks of North Tanzania to do a Safari, of course at our own expense.
During the first work camp I decided to remain in the camp with the three local volunteers, while the South Koreans went on Safari. This was definitely a good decision to make, since for the first time I was the only Mzungu (White person) in the community. Although at the first thought it was strange, I quickly realized that this was the best way to learn more about my host community. On the first day we
visited the family of one of the volunteers and I was given such a warm welcome that I nearly felt at home in the small stone house, which only had one chair, which of course was given to me. When we left I was given a sugar cane and a whole bowl of avocados. In the afternoon we made a trip to the nearby Marangu Water Falls, a place where locals come to relax and swim. When we arrived several boarding school classes were enjoying the cold water. Some of them had very old cameras and as soon as they saw me started screaming “Mzungu,Mzungu” and ask to take pictures with me and of me. Suddenly the tables turned, they were acting like tourist, me being their attraction. This was a very strange, but at the same time good feeling. Times change!!!!
The next day the local volunteers took me to church, which was once again a very intense experience. Although I certainly believe, I usually never go to church in Europe. But on that day, in the bare brickwork of the yet unfinished church, under the hot morning sun, I could feel for the first time that people really believed in to something. An honest and intense believe. After accompanying my new friends, the children and youths of the community to the front of the altar to get a special blessing, a women sitting next to me shook my hand and said “Wewe ni MChagga sasa.” (You are a Chagga now.)
Safari to the land of grasshoppers, lions and wet tents…

(in the picture: visiting the local market)

During the second workcamp I decided to accompany my new Japanese friends on Safari, which was certainly a completely different experience to my first weekend in Mwika. When we arrived on the campsite near the national parks, after a 5 hour ride on the dalla-dalla, it started raining. A few hours in the night we realized that our tent was not as waterproof as we had hoped. The water did not only come from above, but also from below, since rain in Tanzania means actually a flood. Somehow we survived the night, with occasional visits from frogs and 10cm long grasshoppers and we were all quite relieved when the alarm rang at 5 am in the morning. The days, in which we saw incredible landscapes and untouched nature, as well as all kinds of wild animals, made up for the wet nights in the camp. It was definitely an adventure and with the right touch of Japanese humor a certainly unforgettable experience.
Time to say goodbye…
Unfortunately the days passed too quickly and on Saturday, the 27th of February, my second workcamp was coming to an end. With our backpacks shouldered we hiked down the hill in darkness at 5 am to catch the bus to Dar Es Salaam. We were wrong to think that the biggest adventures were already over. After maybe two hours on the bus, we were stopped at a police station. Stupid enough to believe that the control had nothing to do with us, since we are white, we were quite shocked when two police men instructed us to get off the bus. Fortunately, a volunteer from Dar es Salaam was travelling with us, who enquired straight away about the reason for our stop. We were told that each one of us had to pay 100 US Dollars if we wanted to continue our journey. The reason? No real reason, “a contribution to the government”! When they told us to get our bags off the bus and instructed the bus driver to move on, the situation changed from being exciting to very scary. The police station was in the middle of nowhere, our bus was the only one going to Dar es Salaam on that day and none of us had a 100 dollars. Finally, we managed to call Uvikiuta and after a 1 hour discussion between Uivikiuta’s chairman and the police, we were let back into the still waiting bus. We were all extremely relieved to arrive in Dar es Salaam that night to spend our last few days in the capital…

Linda, Tanzania 2010

(in the picture: group photo with the other volunteers)

Read more about volunteering with our North South Programme >>

Hannah in Moldova on EVS - 2010

After a day of travelling I sighed a breath of relief as I met my mentor at Chisinau airport. We jumped into a taxi, not a seatbelt in sight, and one of my very first impressions of Moldova was the roads, or in places the lack of. Pot holes were swerved round on the lane-less roads as we drove up the wide highway and entered the capital through the ‘Gates of Chisinau’; two vast apartment blocks on either side of the road reminiscent of the USSR era. Yet, these were exactly the stereotypes of Moldova that I had heard back home; poor infrastructure and vast concrete blocks left behind from the Soviet times.


However, I was soon to discover that Chisinau, and Moldova as a whole, has far more to offer than what fits into these stereotypes. One of my favourite things about the city is its greenness. Vast parks are found in every district and tall trees line the majority of the streets. Another favourite is all the markets selling fresh produce from the countryside, second-hand clothes at bargain prices and flowers in all the colours under the sun.

I am living with a host, an elderly lady called Lydia, together with another volunteer. We have our own bedrooms and the flat is fully functional and clean. Living with a host provides a great insight into the Moldovan way of life, as well as helping with learning the local language. The latter has been a great challenge, especially as there are two languages spoken here. At first it was difficult to decipher which language was being spoken, let alone understand what was being said. I hope, however, that with continued language lessons this will change. The hosting project of ADVIT Moldova that I am working at is the ‘Aids Foundation East-West’. It is a small office with only three permanent staff, of which only my boss speaks English, which is a challenge. So far I have been involved with preparing for and participating in the Aids Memorial Day, which took place on the 16th May and was a great success. I am the only and first EVS volunteer with this organisation. Due to the on-arrival training and intense language lessons I haven’t been to my project much yet. However, I am really looking forward to getting stuck in and involved with the work that they do.

I have got to know fellow EVS volunteers and there is a great volunteer community in Chisinau. There are always things going on in and around town, which is the benefit of being in a capital city. The transport has taken a while to figure out and I’m still not quite sure which number bus goes where, but I hop on and hope for the best.

It is difficult to answer the question ‘What are your first impressions of Moldova?’ It is simultaneously everything and nothing that I expected it to be, if that is possible. I like the pace of life here, taking things day by day rather than continuously planning ahead. To be a capital city, Chisinau is very relaxed. I am still discovering new things every day and look forward to continuing doing so throughout my stay here.

Hannah's stars on Youth Networks see: http://blog.youthnetworks.eu/2010/07/my-first-impressions-of-moldova/

Hannah is spending 6 months on a European Voluntary Service (EVS) project in Moldova. If you are aged 18-30 and would like to spend 6-12 months volunteering in Europe see: http://www.concordiavolunteers.org.uk/volunteering-overseas/european-voluntary-service/how-to-apply/ to find out more.

Luke in Iceland on EVS - 2010

I have been in Iceland now for two months of an eight month stay. It is a truly unique country and it takes my breath away almost every day. It is an island half the size of Great Britain, but with a population of only three hundred thousand people, it feels much bigger. If you like vast and empty panoramas, countless waterfalls, a huge sense of freedom and a small town spirit in a capital city, then Iceland is definitely for you. Provided you don’t mind the bad weather of course.

I am working, through EVS, for an organisation called SEEDS (www.seedsiceland.org). Based in Reykjavik, they aim to promote understanding and environmental awareness by offering environmental/community project camps which usually last for two weeks. Short term volunteers come from all over the world to take part, and it is my role, along with a family of around 25 other long term volunteers, to organise and lead these camps. To date I have been involved in three camps, and I am currently leading a fourth. I have shovelled volcanic ash in Þórsmörk, just a few kilometres from the infamous Eyjafjallajökull volcano and learning how to pronounce it as I did so. I have cleaned beaches and collected Eider down with local farmers in the remote Arneshreppur area, worked in an abandoned Herring factory made famous by Sigur Ros’ video ‘Heima and I have pulled up countless Alaskan Lupins (an invasive species) at Europe’s largest glacier, Vatnajökull. I have met many great friends along the way.

At the moment I am leading a workcamp in the small town of Hólmavík in the Westfjords region of Iceland. The past week has been really great. Working with 5 other volunteers from Russia, South Korea, Italy and the U.S, we have been helping the town prepare for its annual ‘Happiness Festival’. We were given free rein to devise some street theatre, and decided upon the theme of magic and sorcery according to the subject of Hólmavík’s famous museum. Dressed up rather ridiculously we cast spells of happiness on tourists and locals alike, in a town which was once voted Iceland’s happiest town. Next week the team and I will work on the hiking trails in the area, making sure they are properly marked and mapped. On almost every workcamp I have had the opportunity to mix with Icelanders, and I have had some great experiences as a result. I have just returned from a fishing trip out in the fjord, and a wonderful ride into the mountains with the unique Icelandic horse breed. It really feels as if I am getting a real taste of life here in Iceland, and it is great to share that with the volunteers on my camps.

Being a camp leader is difficult but immensely rewarding. We are expected to take care of everything from travel, accommodation and food, work on the project, organising environmental activities and finding things to do in the free time. You can imagine that making sure a group of people from all over the world are fed and motivated to work is hard enough, let alone making sure they take something valuable away from the camp. It is also difficult because as a leader it is your job to balance the requirements and expectations of your volunteers, your host in the local community and your boss. Having said all that, it is great fun. I have learned a lot about myself and I how I see my own place within it, and I have become a lot better at communication, especially with people whose first language is not English. It is great to be given the opportunity to learn from so many people, too, and I have been doing my best to make the most of it! I have rarely been busier in my life, but meeting a new group of people every two weeks, getting to know them, sharing ideas and values and being responsible for a group of strangers becoming lifelong friends is truly rewarding. On top of that, the work we are doing feels truly appreciated and worthwhile, and it is fantastic to get such positive feedback from all sides.. My biggest problem lately has only been saying goodbye to so many lovely people.

When I am not on a work camp I am based in Reykjavik, living in a house shared by many of the long term volunteers. They are a really great bunch of people, mostly from Europe, but also further afield. We have become a real family, and it is great to have a home to return to after 2 weeks on a workcamp. Reykjavik is a great place to live, and there is always something happening. When I am there I normally have a day off and a day in the office or helping with logistics before I start another workcamp and the cycle begins again. In a week or so I will begin another workcamp, the SEEDS ‘Photo Marathon’. Over twenty volunteers are coming to receive professional photography tuition and create an exhibition of their own work around a social or environmental issue here in Iceland. I am very excited to see the results!

All in all, every day I get the feeling that EVS was definitely the right thing for me to be doing right now, and Iceland is the place to do it. Thanks to EVS, the people I have met and the organisations with which I am involved, I have great expectations for the next 6 months! All the best from the land of fire and ice!

Luke is spending 8 months on a European Voluntary Service (EVS) project in Iceland. If you are aged 18-30 and would like to spend 6-12 months volunteering in Europe see: http://www.concordiavolunteers.org.uk/volunteering-overseas/european-voluntary-service/how-to-apply/ to find out more.

Joe in Austria on EVS - 2010

A little over three months from my last update, and I'm now on the home stretch of my EVS. The major item to report since then is that the application for the youth exchange that I described in my last post was accepted by the Austrian National Agency for Youth in Action and will definitely be going ahead. We'll be working with partner organisations in Spain, Italy, Slovenia and Hungary and will be hosting 35 participants in total, so it's going to be a big project. In fact it's only now that I've really sat down and considered what needs to be done that I'm able to appreciate just how big! It's daunting, but I'm excited about the challenge too. The fact that it will be taking place in my very last week in Klagenfurt means my EVS will be finishing with a bang.


In terms of what's been going on outside my project, by far the most interesting event was my television debut. The local TV station in Carinthia were filming an EU-themed quiz show and as part of this wanted to include a citizen from a different EU country on each participating team. They got in touch with my boss, who forwarded the email to me, and next thing I knew I was in front of the cameras answering questions with Irmgard and Max, a pair of medieval re-enactment enthusiasts whose team I'd been assigned to. The best part? We won! The prize was a holiday to Brussels, which I got back from last Saturday. That in itself was an interesting experience, in that I got a tour of the Parliament, sat in on a meeting and even got to meet an MEP. I appreciate this all sounds very far-fetched, but the attached picture will show that I'm not fibbing. The whole experience definitely has to rank as one of the most unusual and memorable things that has ever happened to me, and just goes to show that an EVS project is anything but predictable...


See Joe on TV again reporting on his trip to Brussels: http://kaernten.orf.at/magazin/studio/fernsehen/stories/453527/

Joe is spending 12 months on a European Voluntary Service (EVS) project in Austria. If you are aged 18-30 and would like to spend 6-12 months volunteering in Europe: http://www.concordiavolunteers.org.uk/volunteering-overseas/european-voluntary-service/how-to-apply/ to find out more.

Simon's report on his project in Kenya 2009

(In the picture: the volunteers and the members of the local community dancing together)

Ebusiralo, September 2009

Jambo. Welcome to my little review of the Ebusiralo workcamp, which I was fortunate enough to attend last year. The continent was Africa, the country was Kenya and this volunteer was more than a little nervous. However, remembering the maxim ‘be flexible’ I set off on what has been one of the most memorable experiences I have had to date.

Orientation in Nairobi from the Kenya Volunteer Development Association Director advised the gathered volunteers from many European countries and Japan that we would encounter cultural differences but essentially to go with the flow and if an doubt ask. We were also taken to Kibera to meet with the Kibera Youth Reform group. This is a self-started group, formed when the locally feared and armed young gangsters had lost many of their number due to violence. Their decision was to become a force for community support not severance. It is a remarkable story and the experience of Kibera showed those of us who have never experienced dire living conditions the worst we could expect.

Happily for us our project took place against the backdrop of beautiful hills and lush vegetation (despite much of Kenya being in the grip of an extended drought, you may remember the news footage?). However, the reason Western Kenya is relatively lush is that the seasons consist of short rains (about a 30-minute downpour most days) and long rains (which is what it says on the tin!). Don’t be put off by this, generally the rain is a temporary inconvenience, which does not get too much in the way of what you are doing and you learn to live with it. Our accommodation was a concrete house with a tin roof, set in a compound of about 5 other houses and we had access to a large communal rainwater tank.

Our project was about a 50/50 split of international volunteers and Kenyan volunteers. Despite the task essentially being advertised as construction it quickly turned out to be so much more (and far better for it). Remember the maxim? So I found my self one day digging trenches for a new teaching block, the next wheeling hardcore in a wheelbarrow for a mile time after time, the next helping to mix concrete, learning to lay bricks and so on. However, I also spent some time teaching English (being the only native English speaker in the camp) at the local primary school, other volunteers taught maths and science. Language in Kenya is very interesting. With English I did not really have a problem. However, as well as Swahili there are numerous regional dialects, which have commonalties but are not the same. Apparently using Swahili is equivalent to speaking very proper English in the UK, think of the 1940’s films!

(In the picture: volunteers at work)

The project subdivided the group into a series of committees for kitchen, health (cleaning and water), work and entertainment duties. This meant that the members of each committee would have to organise the entire work camp to ensure that the necessary tasks were performed. Undoubtedly the work committee enabled us to achieve the overall goal of the project (don’t expect a plan if you are starting from the beginning of a construction project!). However, the other committees were just as important in ensuring that we could survive (food and water) and had other activities to look forward to.

Having now carried buckets of water for drinking, cooking, washing and construction over what are laughably short distances by Kenyan standards I have a real respect for the value of water. And yes it is possible to have a perfectly good wash in half a litre of water. Our kitchen had no roof, which was ideal for letting out the smoke from the open fires over which we prepared all the meals but not so great at keeping out the rain! Preparing food for almost 30 people with three pans, three knives, some of the biggest wooden spoons I have ever seen (I kid you not, these were 3 foot beasts) and wood which gives off an aroma which had us shedding tears for every meal, is a significant challenge! And yet we did it with so much success that when I got home I felt like a child for the first day, marvelling at running water, gas and an oven. Did I really need those things?

(In the picture: Simon and the wooden spoon)

I quickly realised that the construction was a highly visible but ultimately not necessarily the greatest contribution we could make. It is the people that matter. Our interaction with the primary school, our chats to members of the polytechnic (‘A’ level years in England) and encounters with members of the community, enabled us to share our experiences and learn from one another. Money is not the only currency in the world. The community elders managed to procure an astonishing amount of materials from their community. Personally, I was deeply touched at the enormous kindness shown to me when I was sick in the first week of arrival (not food or water related I should add). Also our relationships with the Kenyan volunteers was (and still is) very important. We did everything together for three weeks and it was fascinating to swap tales of life experiences with them.

As for our leisure time, the entertainment committee did us proud! We visited numerous homes in the community and shared beautiful traditional Kenyan food with them, accompanied by storeys and sometimes music. We visited Lake Victoria, hiked to the equator (as you do) and visited a rain forest. Not bad for a construction project!

I needn’t have been nervous about going to Kenya as a volunteer (if heading out there keep mentioning you are a volunteer, there’s plenty of volunteer rates to be found!). The sheer kindness of people was amazing. Whilst there were challenges and some things could have gone differently I do not remember a day going by when were not laughing about something, it was a genuinely a happy experience. Many people have asked me if I would I do it again? My answer, when can I go?

If anyone wants to get in touch you can contact me by e-mail: simonbonsall@hotmail.com

Happy volunteering!

(In the picture: volunteers in a group photo)