Barberton is a beautiful and picturesque little mining town about 45 minutes drive south of Mpumalanga’s provincial capital, Nelspruit. Barberton is split into different quarters each home to a different culture group, among them are the Siswati, Afrikaner, Indian and English. The town centre is popular with tourists and has all the amenities you would expect in an average western town. ‘The Location’ is the township in which the volunteers will be based, an area where the stark disparities in wealth and life chances are apparent.

Volunteers on Barberton 2012 will play a crucial role in developing the projects in future years. There are exciting opportunities to consolidate Shririki Partnership with Umjindi Resource Centre, where local South African volunteers work alongside UK volunteers.

Any questions? Contact Sian Long, Barberton Communications Officer: safricacomms3@tenteleni.org.uk.

Accommodation

Volunteers will be living in homestays with local educators in ‘The Location’ in Barberton. A homestay allows ample opportunity to immerse oneself in the local community and to build strong long lasting relationships with educators and the schools.

Food

Volunteers will live and eat with their host families who are given money to cover the expense of catering for volunteers. The daily amount is equivalent to that allocated to feed volunteers living in hostel accommodation on other Tenteleni projects in South Africa. Expect traditional South African food- PAPALICIOUS!

Transport

Volunteers will be transported by car to and from school by educators.

Formal Education Placements

Tenteleni works in 3 primary schools:

• Sibongiseni Combined School (a new school, which has combined Fairview and Dixie, previous Tenteleni school placements)

• Ekhiyeni Primary School

• Ekucathuzeni Primary School

Non-Formal Education Placements

Thandanani Home Based Care Centre.

Thandanani runs a daily feeding scheme and provides clothes for orphans and vulnerable children in the area. Between 50 and 200 children attend every day, and the centre relies entirely on charitably donations from the community in order to stay open. Many children get their second meal of the day (second to school) here. The children that attend the centre often have nothing to do in the afternoons and commonly do not have parents at home, so we organise activities for example, treasure hunts or big football and netball matches, which allow the children to have fun and boosts their conversational English.

Emjindi Library

Children from schools based in the ’The Location’ come to the Emjindi Library after school to read and do their homework. Volunteers are placed here twice a week to support the children in these activities.

Umjindi Resource Centre

The Umjindi Centre comprises a Digital Village with computers, a dedicated study centre and a reference library. The centre also runs a volunteer programme and in exchange for their time, volunteers are trained in various aspects of running the centre and gain valuable work experience and computer literacy, whilst serving the community. This is also where our Shirki partnership is established.

Tenteleni volunteers help to support the children involved in the computer reading program, which not only improves reading skills but provides children with a basic understanding of computer literacy.

Tenteleni aims for the Barberton volunteer role to involve:

• To help learners reach their full potential through education.

• To assist teachers in bringing imagination and enthusiasm into the learners’ school experience.

• To initiate or help with extra-curricular activities to enrich the learners’ school experience, such as after school sports or drama clubs.

• To assist with youth issues awareness amongst school children.

• To give special attention to learners who, for whatever reason, have fallen behind at school.

• To establish sustainable projects in all schools that can continue in our absence.

• To provide positive role models for children and young people.

Additional Information

Volunteers on the Barberton Project are placed in pairs in three primary schools and work as Teaching Assistants. This involves working alongside a variety of teachers- referred to as "educators" in the South African school system, helping to plan lessons and offering classroom support. Each school and educator is different so you can make the programme work for you and your school. 

The school day starts at 7.30am, so to avoid the heat and finishes around 1.15pm. This means the average day for volunteers starts at about 5.30am (or 5.55am for sleepy people that don’t mind rushing breakfast). Educators from your schools will transport you by car to your schools, in time for assembly, which is usually held outside. Listening to the educators’ and learners’ singing is a wonderful way to start the day.

After assembly, there are three one hour periods from 7.30am until 10.30am, and then it is lunch. Early I know but after the early start you will be ready for it. Lunch will consist of either rice or pap (boiled maize – the staple food of sub-Saharan Africa!) accompanied with either beans or meat stew. During this time, volunteers will generally sit in the staff room and chat to educators, a perfect opportunity to share cultures and stories, strengthening your relationships with the educators. After lunch, there is another two periods until 1.15pm.

Tenteleni encourages volunteers to support or initiate after school activities- reading clubs, maths clubs, music/drama or sporting clubs such as, football or netball or why not teach your children a new sport!

Volunteers will then be driven back to their home-stays. Twice a week volunteers will then travel to their non-formal placements after school. The Project Coordinator will have the opportunity to support one of these placements also. The other three days you will be taken back to your homestay where you can lesson plan or just relax, reflecting on the events of the day.

Often volunteers will go shopping in the town centre, which is a safe 30 minute walk to the centre of town where there are supermarkets and internet cafes, or go hiking.