Volunteering to build a school in Tanzania

Construction work

Some of the 08 Gang at Joas's

The Livingstone Tanzania Trust provides uniquely rewarding opportunities for volunteering in Tanzania for GAP year students, those seeking a career break and for those who are 50+ with skills and time and a desire to continue to use them.

If you want to make a real difference to real people then read on.

As a self-help poverty alleviation charity, all of our projects are based on community needs and so have a hugely positive impact. We never seek to replace local people's jobs with volunteers, but we seek to work alongside them both learning from them and providing mentoring to help them learn new skills, abilities and a greater understanding of their areas of work. This way volunteering in Tanzania can be both ethical and responsible.

Why?

Volunteering used to be defined as "willingly working without payment". This is still very much the case, but when you are volunteering away from home there are costs involved. Where will you stay, what will you eat? When you are in a developing country you also need to consider what will you do? What skills can you offer? And what are you going to work with? Whether you are a brain surgeon or an unskilled student, there is always something you can do to help if you have the desire. Most developing countries are not short of manpower. What they lack is the funds to pay for the materials to do the building work. In the community where we work most people live of less than $1 per day, and cannot afford to pay the local taxes to renovate the school or build new classrooms. This is where volunteering comes into its own. The volunteers make help by making contributions towards the building material that the local community cannot afford. Then hand in hand with the community we can build not only classrooms but a future for the young people. Volunteering in Tanzania can make a real difference to real people if done responsibly.

Where?

THe community gather at the school

Waangwaray is a small community on the outskirts of Babati in the Manyara Region of northern Tanzania. Described by Baron Bror Blixen (of Out of Africa fame) as one of the most beautiful parts of all of Africa, this town nestles at the base on Mt Kwaraa on the shores of the stunning Lake Babati. Home to an assortment of different tribes Babati is the newly elected capital of the region and as such is a boom town. The bustling markets, the village green, the small shops and cafes give this town a fantastic aura where things happen all the time but never very fast. Waangwaray is 4km out of town and boasts just a handful of shops and retains its rural ambience, with most people still tending their land.

This is why we are helping this community

This is a poor community where most people lives of less than $1 per day, and cannot afford to pay the school development charges to renovate the school or build new classrooms and so many have fallen into disrepair. This does not create an environment conducive to learning or working in.

This is why we are helping the community.

We ask that the community make the bricks and help with the foundations of the school and then we buy the cement and other materials and pay the labour costs and together with experienced builders our volunteers will renovate and build new classrooms, teachers' houses, dining halls, kitchens, farm buildings and toilets.

With a reduced class size the students are far more likely to be able to get the attention they need to help them learn.

Help us build more classrooms and create an environment to inspire young minds.

We ask that the community make the bricks and help with the preparation of the foundations of the school and then we buy the cement and other materials needed and we pay the labour costs. Together with experienced builders, our volunteers will renovate and build new classrooms, teacher's houses, dining halls, kitchens, farm buildings and toilet. These are all facilities that are very much needed at all the schools we work at.

With a reduced class size the students are far more likely to be able to get the attention they need to help them learn.

So...... help us build more classrooms and create an environment to inspire young minds and help them reach their potential and escape from poverty.

The highlights

Building or renovating classrooms and other buildings
Learning Swahili
Learning to dance
Holding conversational classes with the students
Living with the community
Going on a cultural visit to visit Barbaig, Iraqi and Gorowan tribes
Climbing Mt Hanang
Going on a safari in two of Tanzania's National parks.

Skills needed

You don't need any special skills to work with us, just a heap of enthusiasm and good humour. Our builders will teach you all you need to know and will work with you on the project. We need to build in each of our schools two classrooms for each year group, teachers' houses, toilet blocks, kitchens, storage rooms and dining halls. When this is complete we will be able to start building at another school in the community. If the opportunity arises there might be work on the farm with the crops or the livestock.

Jobs to do

Dig the foundations,
Lay the foundations;
Build the walls,
Insert the lintel,
Build up the walls to ceiling level,
Put on the roof,
Cement the floors,
Insert the doors and windows,
Plaster the walls inside and out,
Lime and paint the walls.
Put on the rainwater harvesting.
Put in the desks and tables.
Build pit latrines and cesspits,
Build ovens,
Build accommodation for teachers and future volunteers

(Please note that your project may not involve all of these tasks subject to existing work patterns.)

Day in the life...

Up at 6.00 with the sun, two are in charge of breakfast which will be tea, fresh eggs and fruit. Then we tidy our rooms before meeting for a daily brief. The students arrive from 7.30 to clean the school and the labourers are on site raring to go. We will normally send someone off for chapattis or donuts for a mid morning break. We buy these of the local ladies; it's nice to put some money into the local economy. We work at our own pace with the fundis (local builders) and try to have a laugh while we work. When the students have their breaks we play or chat with them, sometimes they'd rather help us than go to school, but we usher them away. At noon we have our Swahili lesson, this is about learning what the things are in the market and knowing how to ask for them and what the prices are. As the weeks go on, we get pretty good, but we all learn at our own pace so it is pretty laid back.

Lunch is a welcome break and usually consists of rice with tomato salad and beans in sauce with some greens. On weekdays a chef cooks for us but on weekends we eat in town at lunch time. Then it is back to work, whatever we were doing. In the middle of the afternoon, two go off and shop and then start to cook dinner while the rest of us work. When the kids finish school we have small conversation classes with them or the teachers. This is hard because they are quite shy to use their English and you have to really coach it out of them, but with praise and encouragement they start talking. Getting them to stop is harder!

We stop at 4.30 and have showers and stop for a while. Dinner is early because of the light and the lack of electricity, and after supper, we chat and play card games. By 8.30 we are ready for bed, tired but able to see progress.

The play

Of course it is not work all day long. At lunch time there are Swahili lessons where we start off with basic greetings and move on to numbers before starting on the items in the market. You will need this for when it is your turn to do the shopping. In the afternoon, after work, there are opportunities to hold English conversation classes; learn traditional dancing and play sport with the kids.

Cultural Tourism

We will take a few days off in the middle of the project to go and explore. We will go first to Katesh where we will register to climb Mt Hanang before walking 5km into the bush to visit a Barbaig Village. The Barbaig are semi nomadic herdsmen and live a life that has not changed for millennia. We return to Katesh in the evening and to bed early. The following morning we are up early for the ascent of Mt Hanang. This is a 6 hour up and 4 hour down trip giving you stunning views of the surrounding area.

The following morning we set off to Dareda and a short walk to the Bacho Village where we visit coffee plantations, an Iraqi farm, the Ufani primary school and in the evening we might chance upon a traditional dance. The following morning we return to Babati where we visit the Gorowan story teller who is 92 years old and knows all the historical stories. After that we go to Lake Babati and enjoy the sunset over the lake as the Hippos call out before returning to our camp in the evening.

The safari

To see the animals if Africa in their natural environment is one of the greatest sights of all time. This is nature at its rawest.

We will visit the Tarangire National Park on the first day of the safari, the great open spaces, the huge herds of elephants and the magnificent Baobab trees makes this one of the loveliest parks. Then we stay at a local guest house before spending the next morning and early afternoon at Lake Manyara, which, on the slopes of the Great Rift Valley escarpment has a very different habitat and tree climbing lions. All safaris are in 4x4 cars with pop up roofs. If you stay for three months we will include a trip to the Ngorongoro crater , one of the most fantastic places in the world.