What project did you sign up for?

What do you do for a living?

What does volunteering mean to you?

Reason for choosing All Out Africa?

Your experience as a volunteer, did it had any positive impact in your life?

Enough about one’s Christmas month upbringing and let me share what a wonderful morning I had with our NCP children, spreading around all our 8 Neighbourhood Care Points. As an All Out Africa staff member, my colleagues and I managed to create an amazing Christmas spirit atmosphere with a for these less privilege children that we Love and Support.

With the traditional Christmas spirit “roaming in the air”, we felt that the prefect venue to hold this year’s children Christmas party would be a place called “Mantenga Cultural Village”, which has great Swazi traditional values and cultural experience. The cultural village is located in a peri-urban area in Ezulwini, an area centered between our NCPs’, so logistically it was the perfect venue. 

What an awesome decision our team made in securing this venue because all our NCP children and majority of the NCP teachers ventured into a cultural exploration that they had not experienced before. Seeing those faces when we entered these grounds, made one’s emotional nerve feel a kind of “pain of happiness”, if that makes sense, which obviously made me smile throughout the morning. 

The incorporation of a cultural village, where Swazi history, culture and traditional dance is brought alive for visitors was just awesome to see and watch. We all had a great time and most importantly the children make it even more especial for us as an All Out Africa, community outreach project team.

Written by Tjengisa Dlamini, Social Projects Coordinator 

We asked our previous volunteer why volunteering is important.

The experience as a volunteer had a great impact on my life. It gave my way of looking at the world more perspective and I got to know myself better. I’m very grateful for this journey and getting to meet all of this lovely people with such big hearts. – Hanne Van Doren, Belgium

My time in Eswatini was incredibly impactful, as I really loved volunteering in this beautiful country and meeting so many friendly people along the way. Volunteering here proved that the smallest of actions can make a huge difference in somebody’s day or even later on in their lives, and this was really fulfilling. Knowing that we helped in teaching children to swim as well, and helped with children in primary schools doing their exams, is such a wonderful thing. My work here reminded me of how important it is to take time out of our day to day lives so that we can volunteer and give back to others, and it has made me a lot more appreciative and a lot more willing to step out of my comfort zone. Thank you Eswatini! – Nina Marquand-Karp, Sydney Australia

This year I had some very special help as we began the year end assessments of the children; my mother and nieces from the USA! After a 14 hour journey from Detroit Michigan, USA to The Kingdom of Eswatini, they were thrilled to get a glimpse into what I do at All Out Africa.

A few years ago, we created a curriculum with the assistance of some amazing interns with decades of early education experience. This year we have decided to put our lesson plans to the test by creating a short verbal exam for the children so we can assess what they are excelling at, and where we are struggling. This information is extremely valuable. Through the assessments we are able to spot kids who are falling behind, and we are also able to see what lessons or NCP’s may need a bit more attention as we go into next year.

This year we started at Mvujini NCP. It was amazing to see how far the kids have come in one short year! The children ranged from 2 years – 7 years old,  and each one astonished my team of family-assessment officers. The smallest child, at 2 years old sang through her ABC’s and each child counted higher than our assessment questions required! This is an extraordinary accomplishment for our NCP teachers and the children that attend our preschools.

We will continue these assessments throughout the month and I am personally excited to see our office and community team celebrate their hard work at graduations this year. Well done. And thank you to my family for your contributions this week!

Stay tuned for our end of the year assessment results!

Written by Ginger Green, Communication Manager

-Tristan Diedrich, Cape Town Volunteer Coordinator

“I would definitely sign up with Hout Bay APD (people with disabilities). Cape Town has everything…..from tourist destinations such as Table Mountain and Robben Island to safaris. I’ve been working with Hout Bay APD for 2 years now and the clients that go there are such loving, warm-hearted, positive people despite their disabilities. You can learn so much from them by just talking to and interacting with them.”

-Adriaan Begemann, Kruger Operational Manager

“Kruger overnight safaris. Because it is simply the best place in the world, with the best guides from All Out Africa (Adriaan & Ruben). I love the Kruger National Park as I used to go to the Kruger with my grandparents and parents since I was a small kid. Reminds me of some great holidays”

-Menzi Masina, Sports Coordinator

“I would sign up for the Sports Development project, because I love what I do!”

– Michael Mkhonta, Building Project Coordinator

“Building of course! You can actually see how you are contributing to the communities for years to come!”

-Tiphiwe Vilakati, Bookings & Finance Manager

“I would sign up for Kruger to Coast! I would choose this one because it’s a combination of volunteering and tours. It’s my biggest dream to go to Kruger to see the Big 5 live!”

-Eunice Nkambule, NCP coordinator

“If I were a volunteer I would do the Marine Research & Whale Shark Conservation project. I grew up swimming and I would love to go scuba diving! It would be so cool to see the depth of the ocean”

-Ginger Green, Marketing coordinator

“I would sign up for the Kruger to Cape project. I have travelled several places in my lifetime, but if I had known there was an all-inclusive trip that would take me to 3 countries in 8 weeks and included awesome excursions throughout the trip, I would’ve leapt at the opportunity! Even now, and even though I have been to all of the places Kruger to Cape take you; I would be excited to join the tour. Bungee jumping, quad biking, ocean safaris, the garden route, a camping safari and volunteer (among other perks!)… It’s the perfect vacation for anyone who doesn’t like to sit still when they travel!”

-Simise Masilela, Marketing Assistant and Team Leader.

“I would definitely sign up for Kruger to Coast, if anything is on your bucket list, it should be a trip to the Kruger National park, the park has the largest variety of wildlife compared to any other park in Africa. What I also love about this program is that you get to do voluntary work in the beautiful country Kingdom of Eswatini and wrap it off with a trip to the coast in Mozambique Tofo.”

-Tjengisa Dlamini, Social Project Manager

Since joining All Out Africa over 4 years ago, I would honestly say that with proper funding I would join the Build A Future program because I have seen two NCPs’ being built and this contributes to the fundamental of early childhood education. It would also compliment All Out Africa’s childcare program and reach the less privilege children. Our main scope as All Out Africa, is to see our community outreach programs extending to other communities and obviously this kind of growth needs facilities to be built, so “Build A Future” program would be ideal to meet this goal.

-Mduduzi Ngwenya, Assistant Savannah Conservation Coordinator

As someone who has worked for All Out Africa since 2004, I would sign up for Savannah Conservation Research because the program gives you plenty of opportunities to work with wild animals and explore the bush at your own pace without a guard. You also have a better understanding how the ecosystem works.

Written by The All Out Africa Team