Soweto Youth Initiative

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Love Movement

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Volunteer

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There are lots of ways in which you can help with our programs and activities

Children’s program

The center is open Monday through to Saturday from 10:00 to 16:30 with a lunch break from 12:30 to 14:00. Within these hours, we aim to carry out the following activities:

  • Teaching – We are looking for volunteers that can teach languages and school subjects such as mathematics, sciences and computer lessons. The lessons usually take place in the morning from 10.00 till 12.30. Volunteers can prepare these lessons and bring supplies. The afternoon is usually filled with playing games with the children.
  • General skill training – The children require coaching in basic skills such as personal hygiene, good behavior/manners and safety rules.
  • Organizing field trips – The children love going on educational field trips, because they don’t get a chance to go out much. Volunteers would need to raise funds for transportation and entrance fees, if needed. It can also be fun to organize a clean-up in the community or helping the elderly.

Interact with me 

  • We are looking for volunteers with a background in the following areas to raise awareness and mentor our youngsters. These topics can include:

    • HIV/AIDS
    • reproductive health
    • gender based violence
    • alcoholism and drug abuse.


Sanitary Towels Distribution Program

  • Sanitary products are needed to enable the girls to go to school. If volunteers are able to bring some (or raise funds for) products this is highly appreciated.


Somo initiative

  • We are looking for experienced fundraisers to help us with raising money to fund the children to go to school. Even if you are not able to come to Soweto but have a background in this area, get in touch!


Nishike Mkono

  • Volunteers with transferable skills are welcome to share these with our young adults. You can do things such as making jewelry, painting or baking. The aim of this program is to make the youngsters self sufficient by setting up their own business. You are free to design the workshops, however you will need to provide the resources yourself.


Healthcare

  • We do not only want to help the children in Soweto, but also the elderly and disabled members of the community. They need some extra help with day to day tasks but also specialiced care like physiotherapy is required.
  • There is a hospital located in the Soweto slum. Volunteers with a medical background can help the existing nurses and doctors with their day to day checkups. There is also a fertility clinic which is under-staffed and therefore requires help.


Other

  • We would like some help getting our office more organized. Volunteers who know a bit about administrative duties are welcome to teach us.
  • To accommodate the programs we require more space and have a plan to expand our center by building a second floor for the village polytechnic. We need funds for buying the materials as well as help with construction when these funds are raised.
  • To make sure our organization is sustainable we could use help with training our staff in strategy and auditing. This will enable us to apply for more funds.
  • If volunteers are able to bring some supplies, the following items are much appreciated: pencils, drawing materials, books, donations of clothes and shoes for the children, used laptops for youth and children training, digital/video cameras, English books for kids, construction blocks (for games), small cars/toys, baby/barbie dolls, balls (football, rugby, volley, soft), paper, pens, pencils, colors to paint and brushes.


Accommodation

There are three possible accommodation options to stay at during your time here. Depending on the amount of volunteers you will either be placed with a family in the slum or in one of two apartment blocks close to the center. We will provide blankets, bedsheets and water for showering, but bottled drinking water is available to purchase in shops nearby (around 5 minutes walking). To help the host with food and accommodation, we ask for a contribution of 12 US dollars a day.


We are very happy to welcome you and kindly ask you to fill out the form below. Make sure to read our terms & conditions about volunteering and we will contact you soon. If you want to know more about previous volunteers’ experiences, scroll down below to read some of our previous volunteers’ testimonials.

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testimonials
CALL US TO START CREATING YOUR DREAM HOME

408-821-3682