There are six primary schools on this project. There are also after school placements at a homework club, local youth centre and feeding scheme. Volunteers will assist in these non-formal placements twice a week helping out with homework, leading life skills sessions and playing games with the children.

Volunteer accommodation is a lodge set on the outskirts of the small town of White River, approximately half an hour from the provincial capital of Nelspruit. It provides a beautiful setting to reflect on your day at school and plan lessons with your fellow volunteers.

The two Project Coordinators will provide support to the volunteer group by organising and leading training week; managing the budget; meeting with project partners; as well as helping out at a local after school club in Hills View where time allows. They will also have the use of a car so they can easily visit the schools and in-country partners.

The project is eight weeks long. The first week will be training, which will refresh and build on what volunteers have received in the UK, and will be delivered by PCs along with Tenteleni’s in-country partners. Then volunteers will spend seven weeks assisting in the project schools.

Any questions? Contact Harriet Knowles, Pienaar Communications Officer: safricacomms1@tenteleni.org.uk.

Accommodation

Volunteers on Pienaar will live together in a lodge on the outskirts of the small town of White River, along with the project coordinators. Each morning they will take a minibus to their schools here they will be met by their teachers. At the end of the school day they will be picked up and either taken back to the lodge or on to their non-formal placements.

Transport

Volunteers will be transported by a private minibus to and from school. Project coordinators will have the use of a car.

Food

Volunteers will be provided with breakfast and dinner during the week. Lunch will be provided at school, giving the opportunity to try the local staple ‘pap’, usually served with meat, beans or vegetables.

Formal Education Placements

Schools – all schools involved with the Pienaar project are Primary Schools

Sindzawonye (2 Volunteers)

Shishila (2 Volunteers)

Siyakhula (2 Volunteers)

Somcuba (2 Volunteers)

Tiga (2 Volunteers)

Tiboneleni (2 Volunteers)

Non-Formal Education Placements

Two Sisters Children’s Centre, Mganduzweni

The Two Sisters centre founder Patrick, set up the centre to assist the children of Mganduzweni who were affected by / orphaned by the HIV pandemic. Patrick sources local foster homes for orphaned children in the community and also provides home-based care. The Two Sisters centre provides a safe place for these 200+ children to play and learn and also serves as a drop-in care centre.

For more information please visit their website - www.twosisters.org.za

Ethandweni Feeding Scheme, Msogwaba

The Ethandweni Feeding Scheme, linked to the Nelspruit branch of Child Welfare, provides food to orphans and vulnerable children in the Msogwaba area of Pienaar. Once the children have eaten their food, they stay at the centre to play educational games.

Litsemba Centre, Daantjie

This newly-build youth centre in the Daantjie area of Pienaar hosts a feeding scheme, homework club, film showings and discussions.

Boys and Girls After school club, Hills View School

Hills View School is situated 5 minutes from the project accommodation in what is known in South Africa as a ‘coloured’ area. This is a placement for Project Coordinators and they assist at the ‘Boys and Girls’ after school club, run by the local branch of Child Welfare. PCs work together with the Child Welfare representative to run educational sessions focused on ‘Youth Issues’ – such as peer pressure, bullying, drugs & alcohol and self-esteem.

The volunteer role is Assistant Educator. In practice, this involves:

• Assisting staff in the planning and delivery of lessons in school.
• Facilitating small learning / reading groups for students with additional needs.
• Initiating extra-curricular activities such as sports, music or drama.
• Assisting in school initiatives – such as library schemes, debating competitions, sports clubs etc.
• Linking schools with other organisations to support educational opportunity and youth welfare.
• Carrying out activities to assist non-formal education placements with their weekly work.
• Promoting education and youth welfare within the non formal education placements.
• Assisting children at the home with their homework, and engaging in informal play activities.

Additional Information

Pienaar volunteers work in pairs. This enables volunteers to get involved in the areas and lessons they are personally interested in as well as work with a wide variety of teachers. The pairs will either be a pair of Tenteleni volunteers, or a Shiriki pair made up of one Tenteleni volunteer and one local volunteer from our local partner, the Oneness Revival Team based in Pienaar. The cross-cultural working involved in the Shiriki programme can be challenging, but it offers volunteers a unique opportunity to build a relationship with a member of the host community and benefit from the knowledge they have of that community.

Volunteers will work alongside teachers, helping to plan lessons and offering classroom support. Each school and teacher is different so you can make the programme work for you and your school.

School starts early to avoid the heat of the day. Therefore, you will be getting up around 5.30 to grab breakfast before your short bus journey. There is always a chance to sleep on the bus although you may be easily distracted by the beautiful scenery. The bus will drop you off at 7.30 ready for assembly, often held outside, and lessons.

Lessons are often an hour long, which means an early lunch at 10.30am. This may seem early but after the early start you will be ready for it! Volunteers eat lunch with the educators and it is a chance to get to know everyone. The food is ‘pap’ which is a sub-Saharan African staple, which is something between rice and porridge. There will also be either meat or beans. After lunch you will have two more hours of class before the end of school at 1.15pm. This is an excellent opportunity to take part in extra-curricular activities or even organise your own such as sports, reading or homework clubs.

The bus will then pick you up from the school gates. Two days a week you will be taken to your non-formal placement for a few hours to help with homework or just have fun and get to know the children. The other days you will be taken back to the lodge. You then have an opportunity to visit White River or plan lessons in the quiet surroundings of the lodge.

Project Coordinators will have the chance to take up their own non-formal placements by assisting at the Boys and Girls Club, alongside local volunteers from the Child Welfare office in White River and/or the Phaphamani home based care centre in Kabokweni for approximately two afternoons a week.