Volunteer in Tanzania
VOLUNTEER IN TANZANIA
International Volunteer HQ’s partner organization in Tanzania requires volunteers NOW! IVHQ has a wide range of volunteering opportunities available in teaching, orphanage work and medical placements in both urban and rural Tanzania.
LOCATION OF TANZANIA VOLUNTEER PROGRAMS
IVHQ has volunteer placements in urban and rural Tanzanian communities and villages. This project is based in Arusha and volunteers will need to fly into Kilimanjaro International Airport (if travelling to the program by air). As one of our younger placements, we are currently only placing volunteers in and around Arusha, however as this program develops we will expand into other cities and rural villages within Tanzania. While we would like an indication of your location preference (rural or urban Arusha) when applying, this can be finalized with our program partner on arrival in Tanzania.
START AND DURATION OF TANZANIA VOLUNTEER PROGRAMS
Placements begin on the 1st and 15th of each month. Volunteers can choose to volunteer for periods of one week to six months.
TANZANIA VOLUNTEER REQUIREMENTS
Volunteers must be 18 years or older at the beginning of the program and have at least a high school education. Volunteers participating in the MEDICAL PLACEMENT must have appropriate training and certification (to be presented to IVHQ partner staff on arrival in Tanzania). Medical volunteers must also register at least 4 months before their start date due to the registration process with local Tanzanian authorities. If you wish to be a medical volunteer but fall within this time frame, please look at the Kenya or Ghana medical program. There is no time restriction on registering on other Tanzania placements.
TANZANIA VOLUNTEER PLACEMENT DESCRIPTIONS
TEACHING
Our volunteers are placed in exciting community schools, public schools, or orphanage schools. Many of the schools we work with are constantly understaffed and are always in need of new volunteers. In this program, volunteers can work by themselves or alongside other teachers and volunteers. Typical subjects taught include—English, Math, Science, Social Studies, Art and Physical Education. A typical school year depends on the type of school. Community Schools run throughout the year and have holidays for the entire month of April, the entire month of August and the entire month of December. Government schools have holidays the entire month of June and the entire month of December. They also take short, week-long holidays in April and September. During these school holidays (where Community schools and Government schools both have holidays), volunteers can take a break, travel, engage in tourist activities such as safari, take tutorials for senior students, or participate in another placement. However, we work with a combination of schools (Community and Government) therefore for the majority of the year volunteers will be able to work in the schools during the school terms without being affected by holidays. N.B. Volunteers DO NOT need to be a qualified or experienced teacher.
IVHQ PLACEMENT: Jue Preand Primary School
Located in Sakina area, 10- 15 minutes’ walk from the IVHQ volunteer house, this school has over 140 children ranging in age from 3 to 13. This school selects it’s children from the surrounding area from low income families but also accepts orphans who are in great need. Volunteers teach classes dependent on their education, confidence and experiences but past volunteers have taught English, mathematics, science, French, social studies arts and sports. NB This is only an example placement which is one of many offered by IVHQ in Tanzania and not necessarily the one you will be working at.
ORPHANAGE WORK
Sub-Saharan African countries are suffering from huge number of orphans left behind after their parents die from illnesses such as HIV/AIDS resulting in a larger number of orphanages in countries such as Tanzania. Contributing to this disproportionate number of orphanages is the fact that in some cases the parents are simply unable to provide for the children or they have been abandoned, increasing the number of orphans in Tanzania. Volunteers need to understand, however, that Tanzanian orphanages are not organized the way most Westerners expect. Because of the family-oriented culture, orphans tend to be absorbed into extended families or are even sometimes taken in by neighbors. These added children put a huge strain on the families who take them in and so the orphans are sent to ‘orphanages’ for certain hours of the day to receive education, interaction and food. Western volunteers must understand that the children usually do not live at the orphanage and are only there for a few hours in the day and so, if placed in an orphanage, one of your core roles will most likely be teaching. Along with teaching, volunteers who work in an orphanage help with general work and daily chores and will generally work from 8:00 am until 3:30 pm. Your participation in an orphanage project is not only appreciated by the children but also by the orphanage administration. This work ranges from cooking and cleaning to farm work, assisting with feeding programs, caring for children and babies and teaching.
IVHQ PLACEMENT: Faraja Orphanage Centre
Located at Kwa Ngulelo village near Arusha this orphanage is home to sixty children ranging in age from 4 to 14.During the school period there is a nursery school program in the orphanage for the lower aged children in the orphanage and local village. Attending this school is approximately 40 children in total, spread over two classrooms. Volunteers in this orphanage help teachers to do their lessons, drawings, sports, games and sometimes assist with the cleaning of the dormitories and clothes. In addition to this they also help with the cooking of meals for the children. NB This is only an example placement which is one of many offered by IVHQ in Tanzania and not necessarily the one you will be working at.
MEDICAL PLACEMENT
Healthcare is neither easily accessible nor affordable for many Tanzanians living in the rural villages and poor urban areas. Poverty creates a large barrier to the acquisition of healthcare in general, but in rural areas in particular. Our volunteers work in a number of medical clinics and hospitals in urban and suburban Arusha. These dispensaries and hospitals have very basic equipment and facilities. Volunteers are placed in a hospital or dispensary based on previous medical training and experience. The key requirements in a medical volunteer (aside from the relevant training and qualifications) are initiative, enthusiasm, and readiness to work in unfamiliar circumstances - a surgery with minimal equipment, an understaffed hospital, or a clinic for leprosy or tuberculosis patients. Because of the utmost importance of proper healthcare coupled with the fact that most volunteers cannot communicate directly with patients due to language barriers, volunteers need to understand that a key role in medical placement is simple observation. The doctors are understandably hesitant to allow volunteers to operate on patients. While a medical volunteer may be appropriately qualified to do so, the instruments available in Tanzania will probably not be familiar to volunteers. So, if working on the medical placement do not become frustrated if you are not actually conducting surgeries. You will be observing surgeries, taking blood pressure, administering vaccines, along with a wide range of other medical tasks.
N.B. For the MEDICAL PLACEMENT, volunteers need to be training or qualified in a relevant medical field. Therefore, volunteers must supply a scanned copy of their medical certificate to Blanche at IVHQ upon registering into this program. Also, advise which specific department or area you would like to be involved in during your volunteer experience (this must be relevant to your training). Medical volunteers in Tanzania, must be registered onto the IVHQ program at least four months before their due start date, due to the registration process where we have to register you with the local Tanzanian authorities. if you fall within this time frame you can also consider the Kenya and Ghana medical programs. Finally, medical volunteers will need to bring a white lab coat. You will not be allowed to work in the placement until you have one, and while you can have one tailor-made for you in Arusha, you will lose at least 3-5 days of work time while waiting for it to be completed.
IVHQ PLACEMENT: Lovolosi Maternity Clinic
Located in the city centre 3 km from the IVHQ volunteer house, the clinic is very busy serving pregnant women and their babies from Arusha city and the surrounding area. The clinic accepts volunteers who are both medical professional and medical students (at least two years clinical hands on experience required). Volunteers have done a variety of jobs at this clinic but the main task and roles centered on assisting local nurses in labor room, giving vaccination to the new born, general cleaning in the ward, and treating mothers and their children who come to attend the clinic. NB This is only an example placement which is one of many offered by IVHQ in Tanzania and not necessarily the one you will be working at.
TANZANIA PROGRAM COSTS
One of the strengths of IVHQ is our extremely affordable fees. Click here to see the program cost to volunteer in Tanzania and what you receive in exchange for your fees.
ACCOMMODATION AND MEALS
Considering the fact that hotels and guesthouses can be expensive for volunteers especially those wanting to stay for longer periods, we work on a program where we place our volunteers in a home stay where they live with a local family or a volunteer house with other volunteers (please note that spaces in the volunteer house are very limited and can only accommodate 18 to 26 people). The volunteer house is a large, Western-style house with 6 bedrooms (all shared accommodations with bunk beds). It has 2 bathrooms with Western-style toilets and occasional hot water for showers. The house also includes one double bedroom, and this room is generally reserved for married couples. The house is safe and secure, with a security guard and a large gate. In the volunteer house, there is a cook who cooks the meals for the volunteers. While we ask for an accommodation preference prior to arrival, it is very important for volunteers to realize that spaces in the house are limited and cannot be guaranteed at all.
For the home stays, we give that family money from your fee for support, food and board. It is exciting to stay with a family; that way you will learn the Tanzanian way of life, meet local people, eat local food and engage in local customs and traditions. Living is basic but all the home stays have electricity and running water and accommodate volunteers in SAFE and SECURE homes (some rural home stays may not have electricity or running water during times of drought). All home stays have been inspected thoroughly by local staff and chosen because of their safety and security. Do not worry about staying in a home stay—we would not place you somewhere that is unsafe. Most volunteers here love their home stays and feel that they get a more authentic Tanzanian experience by staying there. Sometimes the power and water go out due to some technical problems, but this is for both the volunteer house and the home stays. In this event, we always make sure that we provide bucket water for bath and toiletries. Volunteers can expect to share a room with one or two other volunteers. While bedding is provided it is recommended that volunteers bring their own sleeping bag and mosquito nets for any trips away. Home stays are located in the town of Arusha and in the villages and surrounding country side of Arusha. Some home stays may be a 20-30 minute drive (by dalladalla from the city centre). Regardless of the tribe or culture your host family is from, they will be sure to give you a good Tanzanian treat and meals will be relatively varied. Bottled water is readily available in Tanzania and volunteers should budget approximately US$5 per week for this (2 litres per day). Breakfasts generally consist of Chai (tea), toast, cereal, fruit and mandazzi (deep fried dough). A typical lunch can include meat and vegetables with rice, sandwiches and fruit while dinner usually sees traditional food such as ugali, chapatti, boga and irio accompany the meat and vegetables. Breakfast is taken in the morning, then, lunch, which is served at about 1 pm (or you can take a packed lunch if you wish to eat at your project) and then dinner/supper served at 6 or 7pm. If you have special eating needs, please let us know ahead of time so that we can make arrangements for you. However, we need to stress the point that you should not expect to eat as you normally do at home. We will do our best to see that you are well taken care of, but also as a volunteer, there is a need to be flexible.
ORIENTATION
Orientation will be held on the weekday closest to the 1st and 15th of each month. For instance, if the 15th falls on a Thursday, orientation will be held on that day. However, if the 1st falls on a Saturday, orientation will be held on Monday, the 3rd for example. Orientation will be conducted by staff in Arusha and cover everything you need to know for your volunteering placement in Tanzania—Introduction to Tanzania, Tanzanian Customs, Basic Language Training (Swahili), Rules and Expectations, Safety, Travel Opportunities in Tanzania and Introduction to your project and placement. The orientation will also give you a chance to meet other volunteers and swap contact details for weekend travel and socializing. Once orientation is complete, volunteers will be transported to their home stay and introduced to all relevant parties—home stay family members and program placement staff.
VOLUNTEER WEEK
First Day: On the first day of the volunteering placement, the volunteers will be escorted to the project and introduced to the staff at the project you will be working with.
Weekdays: While our programs are flexible and can be fitted to your requirements, an example of a typical day is as follows.
- 7.30AM Breakfast with the host family or other volunteers (if staying in a volunteer house).
- 8.00AM Volunteer leaves home and catches a dalla dalla (or walks) to the project.
- The volunteer joins with the local staff. You will be given a duty roster and a plan for your work. There is usually a tea break and a lunch break. Work and hours is dependent on the project and location that the volunteer is participating in.
- 12.00PM-5.00PM Work at the project usually ends. The volunteer at this point is free to visit and see places or do shopping. You may also want to hang out with the kids up to around 6.00PM.
- 6.30PM Dinner with the host family or other volunteers.
Weekends: During the weekend, volunteers have spare time and usually just relax or take the opportunity to explore other parts of their local town and Tanzania. Long weekends can be taken to go on safari or to travel further afield to places such as Zanzibar, Kenya or Uganda. If volunteers wish to volunteer over the weekends they can join local teams and visit other orphanages (or other children helping organizations) to spend time simply playing with and entertaining the children.
GENERAL COUNTRY INFORMATION
Capital City: Dodoma
Population: 37,849,133
Languages: Swahili
Currency: Tanzanian shilling (TZS)
Time in Tanzania: EAT (UTC+3)
Weather and Climate:
Tanzania is hot throughout the year and is humid on the coast and dry on the central plateau. The heavy rains last from March to June and can make unsealed road travel difficult. The hot, dry weather in January and February attracts the most tourists. The best time to visit the Serengeti is from January to March when the grazers are calving and there are plenty of lion around, or to witness the wildebeest migration to and from Kenya which occurs at the onset of the dry season and again with the first rains, usually the beginning of June and mid-November. Zanzibar has a warm climate year-round and its coastal resorts are tempered by sea breezes. The island is best avoided in April and May, the rainy season.