Why Don’t You Volunteer?

The donation of time is at least as impactful as the donation of money. For many of our learners, the idea that somebody would take time out of their busy lives to come to their school and help them is, to put it bluntly, almost inimaginable.  We cannot emphasize enough how great it makes our kids feel when a group of complete strangers turns up to read to them, or fix their toilets, or chat to them about their career choices and their future.

Quite simply, it makes our kids feel cared for.  Important.  Worth something. 

And that is worth far more than money.

We organize over 20 events a year that benefit the communities we serve.  All our Volunteer Days involve members of the community working hand in hand with outside volunteers, getting  involved in the school their children attend, and learning to take a pride in their kids’ education.  We do not want to just ‘do stuff’ for our schools.  We want to involve parents, educators and children in making a difference too.

Here are some examples of the type of volunteering we offer.  Most are one day events, but we can tailor-make two day or week-long projects to suit the needs of our schools and the available time of our volunteers.

• Build-a-School Days, where volunteers paint, build and upgrade schools
• Reading Days, where volunteers read to the learners and share their personal experiences
• Career Days, where volunteers share their career paths and choices, to assist learners in their own career planning and encourage them to stay at school
• Environmental Days, where volunteers clean up the school and its immediate surroundings, plant indigenous trees and teach the children the importance of conserving  and respecting our natural resources
• Party Days, where volunteers assist in the organization of Winter or Christmas parties, providing a day of fun to children who have far too little of it in their lives

At our Volunteer Days you will get dirty.  You will get tired, and frustrated, and hot.  But this is what you will go home with:

• A head full of memories of conversations with kids and adults you’d never normally chat to
• A conviction that you have made a small but significant difference to somebody’s life
• Memories of a doing an honest, physical, back-breaking day’s work: when was the last time you did that?
• Blisters

Please contact us if you are interested in finding out the dates of our next Volunteer Day. And bring along your own kids – we’ve got to teach them to care for other people too.

How gap students help and assist our work

A Scotsman in South Africa

Below is a 2 part journal written by one of the gap students that spent time with Izzi Trust:

Part 1
Part 2