EINSATZBEREICHE als Volontär

What can you do as a volunteer at Vision for Africa Intl.?

Some of our fomer volunteers put together some information for you:

Life as a volunteer

From Monday to Friday we meet together (the whole ministry) at seven to start the day with God. Here we sing and pray together and there is a short devotional. We have breakfast and then work from 8:30am to 1pm when we break for lunch until 2pm. We work from 2pm to 6pm (hours of work may vary depending on area of work). At 6 each day all the volunteers meet together to pray for half an hour and reflect on the day before supper.

One evening a week we have cell group together. Here we read the bible together, pray, sing, share testimonies and encourage one another!
And one evening a week we have a community evening. Here we might play games, or eat something special, or watch a movie (providing there is electricity) or invite another department from the ministry to spend an evening together with them. Otherwise everyone is free to use the evenings as they wish. We often sit together in the kitchen or volunteers’ room and drink a cup of tea or play cards together.
On Friday afternoon we meet together for an hour to talk about our work, some organizational things, and anything else that concerns all the volunteers.

We have Saturday and Sunday off from work! On Sunday there are two church services in the morning, so everyone can choose whether they are an early or late riser :-).

Once a month we have our “volunteers’ day”. We decide together what we would all like to do. A trip to the rainforest, go to a restaurant, shopping etc.

All in all we do a lot together, and we are never bored.
Life as a volunteer is as enjoyable as it is challenging, and your time here will certainly enrich you in many different ways.

Below are descriptions (written by former volunteers) of some of the different areas of work you could be involved in (usually a volunteer works in a number of areas)!

Volontäre

Children homes It is a true blessing to work in one of the 6 childrens’ homes at Vision for Africa. There are 2 house mothers each who run the household and make sure that the children are cared for. Each house has on average about 10 children and around 60 children live in all six homes. The ages range of young babies to teenagers, so you will be working with a variety of ages. However, the majority of these children are between the ages of 3 to six years old. What is a house mother`s day like? As you could imagine, it is very hard work to run a household of 10 children. The mothers must wash (by hand), cook, clean, and look after the welfare of all of these children. A mother’s day usually begins very early in the morning and can end very late into the night. Unlike other jobs, in which you have set work hours, house mothers work 24 hours. As many know, a mother’s work is never finished. Therefore it is the job of the volunteer to assist the mothers in whatever way is possible. What kind of work will I be doing as a volunteer? Your work might start in the mornings at about 8:30 and end at noon. Then you might start again when the children have woken up from their naps. You could also be working a variety of activities. One could be doing anything from mopping floors, peeling potatoes, or taking the children outside for some fresh air. The volunteers work in all six houses without being assigned to a specific house. The reason for this is that it keeps the children from getting too attached to you. While the house mothers are usually a permanent part of the child´s life, we as volunteers are not. We come . . .and then we go. Working in all six houses therefore allows us to get to know all of the children and also helps prevent us from hurting individual children as we leave. It is hard for a child to fully understand when a person leaves, so it is better for the little ones if we are not assigned to one specific house. What is required of volunteers in childrens homes? A love for children, flexible attitude, and a serving heart. Your number one priority should be offering support for both the mothers and the children. The job has its blessings and frustrations. What is frustrating is that when working with children, they of course do not always listen. It often requires both patience and understanding, as many of these little ones have come from hard backgrounds. You must also try to communicate clearly with the mothers. Ugandan culture is not as straightforward as Western cultures, so some mothers are quite shy in telling volunteers what to do (even if assistance is needed). It is good to ask how you may help and be willing to assist in any needed area. Any kind of support given to the homes, be it cleaning or child care, is a true blessing to the house. Things in these households might be done differently then how you might do them at home. This is where the flexible attitude is needed. While we should have caring and serving attitudes towards both mothers and children, perfection is not required. You often LEARN AS YOU WORK in these homes. Of course you will not be perfect at working with these children. It is a completely different culture. Of course you may not know how to peel sweet potatoes or wash clothes by hand, it may be something not ordinarily done at home. However, what is required is a willingness to learn and an open heart to these children homes. The mothers are very patient and very willing to teach you how to perform household duties. However, the blessing is that each home is a unique family. We get to know both incredible women who raise up these children and we get to work with these wonderful children. As you would expect, these children are such a blessing and as you get to know them, you are so personally rewarded. If you are considering volunteering in the homes, we want to thank you so much!! May God bless you for wanting to assist our children homes! (Maile Kawakami, Volunteer 2009/2010) Our Children homes Photo gallery of the children homes

Kindergarten An African kindergarten is not what we know as kindergarten. Here there are three classes – baby, middle and top class. The children attend the class corresponding to their age and are taught primary school basics here. They learn reading, writing and maths. They have a proper timetable where sport, art, music and English are also taught. The children have a very close relationship to each other and to the teachers and volunteers, as they also eat and sleep at kindergarten. Because of the large catchment area they only go home during the holidays and the kindergarten is thus home for them. Each of the native teachers is assigned a volunteer. We help them during lessons, correcting books, preparing lessons and everything else that is necessary. Lessons are held during the mornings only and the children are free to play during the afternoon, as we are used to from European kindergartens. The children spend the afternoons mainly outdoors, whether in the sandpit, on the swings and slides or playing football. But things like cleaning shoes, washing clothes and personal hygiene also take place out of doors during this time (Isabelle Bohnacker and Kerstin Rossow, Volunteers 2007/2008) Our Kindergarten Photo gallery of the Kindergarten

Primary school At the moment the primary school consists of 7 levels (P1 - P7) whereby several levels have more than one class. As the classes are very large (40 to 50 children) the volunteers have the possibility of supporting the teacher during lessons. For example in sports lessons, where the sports teacher welcomes new ideas for games and sports activities. Creativity is in great demand here, as conditions are very basic (balls and grass :-). It is also a great help for the teacher if the class can be divided into two groups for games. Volunteers are also a great support during English lessons. Whilst the pupils are working on their own, the needs of children with difficulties can be attended to. The teacher is of course also glad to receive help in marking the many exercise books :-) Resource Room The Resource Room in the Primary School was brought up in 2007. Every afternoon the youngest students come for one hour while the older students are in class. The volunteers are free to decide what they want to do with the children. It is possible to play games, do dramas, sing and dance, coaching them or do some bible study. The aim of the Resource Room is not only to preoccupy the children while the others have lessons but to teach them in creative and various ways to think autonomous and make decisions, which is not so much taught in Ugandan schools. The work in the Resource Room was also a great enrichment for us, for children were always very happy to come and very motivated to learn. A very warm and trusting relationship was built up through the constant close cooperation, so that it was very hard for us to say goodbye to the children… (Petra Ohnemus and Katrin Hagenbusch, Volunteers 2007/2008) Our Primary school Photo gallery of the primary school

Vocational schools Young people, hearty laughter, motivated students and a wonderful atmosphere – this is the vocational school for boys and girls. Approximately 90 students receive training here in dressmaking, pottery, car mechanics, bricklaying, carpentry and printing. There are also a number of leisure activities such as the choir, the Alpha course, a first aid course and various other things – all offered by volunteers. When I arrived here I was given the unique opportunity of working as a computer teacher, and I am very grateful for this. As I am only 20 years old, my students were all older than me, but they always treated me with respect and appreciation. I was able to learn many lessons for life through the various challenges. The friendliness, gratefulness and loving attitude of my students was a great joy to me! I was really moved one day when a student came to me and asked if I possessed a second pair of shoes. When I said yes, she said that I should put them on so that she could wash my old shoes in the meantime (and these shoes were more than old – they were almost falling apart!)… The three months I was able to spend here were unforgettable. In addition to myself, many other wonderful people are doing valuable work here. Steffi, who teaches dressmaking, Carola, head of the pottery, Horst and Lukas, who run the printery but – to name but a few… … and perhaps YOU will soon be here, too?! (Sarah Herzog, Volunteer 2007) P.S. You can work in all the other areas as well, of course, not just as a carpenter, bricklayer, potter, printer, tailor… Our Vocational schools Photo gallery of the vocational schools

Sponsorship Office You can also help in the Sponsorship Office: Every Monday the sponsored children or their guardians can come if they have questions or if they need additional money. People who want to apply for sponsorship come as well. Since I had already been working in the sponsorship department in Imst, I already knew something about this work and so I could do some secretarial work here. One of the native staff talks to this respective person sometimes also in Luganda while I wrote lists or withdrawal receipts. Of course there is also a computer database but we still do a lot of manual work here. In my free time I sometimes visited the people who live close to us together with another staff member. We gave them letters or presents from their sponsor. (Damaris Eisinger, Volunteer 2010)

Garden work The grounds of Vision for Africa are a paradise of flowers. All plants are home-cultivated and then planted out by our gardeners. It is great fun working in the plant nursery. We always work in a team, sowing papaya seeds, growing cuttings from various trees, pricking out eucalyptus trees and other things. There is a lot of laughter as we share our cultures and languages. Anyone with a love for nature and fellowship is in the right place in the nursery. (Blanche Müller, Volunteer 2007/2008)

Practical crafts and building Those who have already worked with the children or who simply want to spare their nerves may be able to find their niche here :-) And if you also have a sense of humour, are creative and motivated, and perhaps also know how to use a hammer or a bricklayer’s trowel then this is the very place for you. What can you expect here? To give you an insight I would like to introduce some of our projects. Live-in accommodation is being built for our kindergarten, and this is growing fast. Two of our six houses in the African village will soon be finished, and the orphanage – the first of five – is also making great progress. You could continue the creative development of the playground, help in the carpenter’s workshop or arm yourself with a paintbrush and support our team of painters. And if you still feel you haven’t found the right thing? Then you could help in the garden or the kitchen. Fun is guaranteed! (Markus Schunke, Volunteer 2007)