You will be volunteering at Sara’s Children on the southwest shore of beautiful Lake Malawi.
Your Project
Sara’s Children is a nursery and feeding programme created for vulnerable children in the local community. The nursery is funded by a group of Canadian optometrists who perform yearly visits and assist those in the area.
The project currently consists of a nursery and standard 1 class but they hope to expand and open a standard 2 class in the coming year. Volunteers’ main responsibility will be to teach a range of subjects including English, Maths and Expressive Arts. You may also be asked to assist the local teachers to teach Chichewa. Students have an informal test at the end of each week, so it is the role of the volunteers to create engaging lessons and weekly tests. The ages range from 2-5 in nursery and 5-9 in standard 1. Class sizes vary from 20 to 100 students, there are currently 175 children who attend the school, but they are hoping to expand in the near future.
There are lots of opportunities to set up extra-curricular activities such as additional tutoring for the older students, sports clubs or arts and crafts. This is a relatively new project so there is plenty of scope to be creative and get involved.
Accommodation
Your accommodation is on a compound which is shared with the landlord and his children as well as three other tenants. You and your partner will live alone in a house that has a bedroom, bathroom and living/kitchen area. The landlord is friendly and will kindly help you with anything you need. You will have access to running water and electricity and use a gas cylinder for cooking.
Your living allowance provided by Project Trust will cover your daily living costs.
Important Information
The following pages contain important information relating to your Volunteer placement. Please make sure you read them thoroughly.