Overview

Want to give some love and attention and brighten the lives of orphans and vulnerable children?

After decades of civil war Mozambique has emerged as one of Africa`s poorest countries with many children sadly becoming orphans and facing a future without hope. With a lack of food, shelter, care, love and attention most children do not hope for a great life. By volunteering on this project you will be able to help vulnerable children at an orphanage that aims to give the children a better start in life and the basic necessities that most of us take for granted.

Trip Highlights;

Work with some amazing children and help give them a better start in life

Experience what Mozambique has to offer and explore at weekends

Living 100m away form the beach!

Itinerary

Day 1 (Monday) - Arrive into Inhambane Airport (airport code INH)

Please book your flight to arrive into Inhambane Airport, Mozambique on the advertised arrival date to ensure your airport pickup (this will usually connect through Johannesburg International Airport (JNB))

On arrival you will be met at the airport and taken to your accommodation at the volunteer house in the village of Tofo which is located a stone`s throw from the beach. The accommodation is only a short drive of about 20km from the airport and this will be your main accommodation for the duration of your stay. You will have a relaxing time after your flight and be able to mingle with your fellow volunteers or if you prefer you can explore your new surroundings. Tofo is a small village but has its far share of bars and places to eat so there will be places that you can explore!

If you aren’t able to arrange a flight to get you into Inhambane on the arrival day we’d recommend you fly in a day early. We can arrange an early airport pick-up for you including one night’s accommodation, please give us a call for more information.

Day 2 (Tuesday) - Orientation

Today your orientation will start with a presentation by the project co-ordinator to prepare you for your project, you will be taken through what it’s going to be like at your project, do’s and don’ts, how to stay safe and it’s your prime opportunity to ask any burning questions that you haven’t yet had answered. You will then have an orientation tour which will show you around Tofo village and also the town of Inhambane. Your orientation presentation and your will have covered most things but if you can think of any questions then please feel free to ask!

Day 3 -5 (Wednesday to Friday) – Meeting the children and getting stuck in!

You'll start to learn the ropes this week, it’s your chance to get stuck in and show everyone including yourself, what you’re made of!

You will start your day in the morning by having breakfast around 7am so an early start before heading off to the orphanage in Inhambane usually by local taxi or chappa at about 7.30am. Your journey will take around 30 minutes and when you arrive you will be able to get stuck into your work looking after the children. Your day will be spent arranging games and doing basic chores with the children and just basically enjoying your day! At lunch time you will be helping the children to have their afternoon nap, don`t they look so sweet when they are asleep? You will finish around 16.30 before you head back off to the volunteer house!

Day 6-7 (Saturday and Sunday) - it’s the weekend!

During the weekends you will be free to travel and explore as you choose. There is plenty to do such as horse riding, kayaking, kite surfing, snorkeling, scuba diving or you could just choose to relax and chill on the beach. Where a possible longer weekend trip can be arranged you may find yourself on a tour to the Vilanculos and the Bazaruto Archipelago, all the trips at the weekend are optional and not included so please do remember to budget accordingly.

Following weeks

You’ll be working Monday to Friday at your project, with the weekends all your own.

Now that you’ve been shown the ropes, make sure you take some time to get to know the staff and children; understand more about how and why the project exists and carve out your own niche to help shape your experience.

Your last day - Monday

Having said goodbye to all your new friends you’ll transfer back to the airport on this day. The return transfer is covered within your placement fee as long as you are transferring on the Monday at the end of your stay, transfers other than this day are not included.

Project

What does the project do?

The orphanage in Inhambane aims to help orphaned and vulnerable children in a number of different ways; by giving them shelter and a typical family structure to grow up in, basic education, food, by providing guidance and care for the children while at the same time giving the children all the love and support that they need. These children either have no parents, are abandoned or are vulnerable and have no suitable support structure and with high unemployment rates of 50% and a limited state welfare many of the children`s needs cannot be met without the vital help of the orphanage. Most of the children cannot afford to attend school either and without the help of the orphanage their future is pretty bleak.

What’s the project like?

The orphanage is made up of quasi family units which are family units of approximately 10 children with one house mother or guardian giving the children a feeling of a real family. The centre is relatively well organised and can accommodate up to 150 children between the ages of 1 and 9 years of age. There is a pre school at the centre and also an attached primary school which caters for the wider community. Food for the orphanage is often grown in local gardens and some food is also donated.

Why does the project need volunteers?

The project has a dedicated number of staff who are overstretched to provide the love and attention that each child needs. This is where you come in, your help with the children will not only take some pressure off the staff but will also help to give the children the attention that they need and help with education and having fun!

Activities and schedule

Your role as a volunteer will be to assist the care givers, social workers, teachers and other staff at the orphanage in looking after the orphaned and vulnerable children. You may be located in one house unit for your stay or may move from one house unit to another on a daily basis but each day you will be helping the house mother or guardian to care for the children. Your activities may include helping to bath and clean the younger children, prepare food, teach the children basic life-skills, arrange games and fun activities for the children, teach at the pre-school or primary school or any other activities associated with the day to day care of the children. You may also be involved in helping with the administration and development of the center. You will be encouraged to use any skills that you may have to help meet the needs of the center under the guidance of our project co-ordinator and the center staff.

Some of the activities that you can expect to get involved in are as follows and depends on the needs of the project at the time and also your own particular skills;

Care – you will be giving adult care, support and love to the children helping them to feel wanted;

Cleaning and daily chores – helping to bath and clean the children and also teaching them basic hygiene;

Games – organising games and playful activities for the children, helping to arrange and taking them on educational outings such as visits to the beach;

Teaching – helping to teach simple English, math and basic life skills;

Feeding programs – you will be involved in developing trench gardens, helping to source food donations and helping to feed the children;

House management – helping to improve basic needs for the children in their house-units;

Outreach and needs identification – visiting homesteads to help find vulnerable children and develop profiles for each child and identifying their needs;

Fundraising – you may be organising events to raise awareness and funds in order to help meet specific needs for vulnerable children.
You will be working Monday to Friday from 7.30am to 16.30pm and a typical day can be as follows;

07:00 – Time to get up and have breakfast!

07:30 – leave the accommodation and head off for work at the orphanage

 08.00 – Carry out your morning activities helping to look after the children. 

12.30 – lunch

13:30 – rest for the children and helping to get them to sleep for their afternoon nap. 

14:30 – Afternoon activities including games and fun activities, also time for children to do some daily basic chores! 

16:30 – Home time and time for you to catch a local taxi/chappa to head off back to Tofo for a relaxing evening after a hard day`s work! 

Project resources and advice

You will be provided with the teaching resources needed at the project but you may want to bring some stickers and resources with you, these are always welcomed and the kids love stickers! You may also want to bring some photos of your home, hometown and family to show the children, they will be so interested! You may however want to wait until you are in country and bring funds with you so that you can buy anything locally and also help the local community.

What exactly do i-to-i provide?

It may seem like a strange concept to pay for your volunteer experience. You'd be right if you think you shouldn't and the truth is you actually don't! Your placement is free; it's the benefits around it that you pay for. It's important to note that i-to-i is a travel company and not a charity. We provide a professional travel service. We are responsible for finding and assessing worthwhile projects across the world, preparing you for the volunteering experience and supporting you whilst you're there.

Here’s some more information about what your placement fee covers….

Project sourcing and assessment

We work with hundreds of locally run partner projects around the world and are constantly sourcing new opportunities. We visit all projects to check that they are worthwhile and legitimate and we also conduct a thorough safety assessment before we'll send volunteers there. More

Expert help-desk

Almost everyone who works for i-to-i has traveled extensively or worked overseas. This means we're a goldmine of information; we're always available to offer support and guidance before, during and after your trip.

Thorough project briefing materials

Once you book on to a project you'll receive an online account that contains loads of general information about volunteering, about your chosen country and how to have fun and stay safe. We'll also give you advice on visas and inoculations.

Airport pickup

It can be pretty daunting arriving in a different country for the first time - especially after a long flight! If you arrive on your project start date, there'll be a welcoming face at the airport to pick you up and take you to your accommodation.

Arrival orientation

Soon after you arrive you will attend a thorough orientation with our in-country team. This is to cover important safety and security information. You'll also get some tips about sight-seeing options for your time off and maybe even learn some of the local lingo!

Accommodation and meals

Accommodation is included with all projects and meals are even included with some. We only use locally-owned and operated accommodation so that part of your placement fee is filtering back into the local economy. Most projects offer homestay, guesthouse or shared volunteer houses as standard accommodation, but some offer the chance to upgrade to a more comfortable living standard. More

Local in-country coordinators

Your in-country team will arrange a pick-up for you at the airport and will conduct your orientation upon arrival. All coordination teams are English speaking and are locals of your destination country. They won't be at your project every day, but will be on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week if you need them. More

24/7 emergency support

Aside from the local support from your in-country team you'll be given access to a 24/7 emergency phone line manned by our response team in case any problem should arise while you're overseas. We also hire crisis management professionals to be on hand in case of a situation that requires additional expert support. More

Ongoing training

The safety and security of our volunteers is paramount. For this reason we provide ongoing crisis management and emergency response training to our local teams around the world. We also fly in our in-country coordinators to the UK regularly for thorough training to help them offer the best safety to the thousands of volunteers they support each year. More

Supporting our projects

We don't fund our projects directly from the project fee that you pay us. Instead we choose to support a number of projects through our Big Giving initiative to provide resources to those projects that really need it.

Recruiting people like you

We make no secrets of the fact that part of your placement fee is reinvested in to recruiting volunteers just like you! The volunteers recruited in one week will typically deliver over 2000 man-days of service. The difference this makes to projects overseas is immeasurable. Many of our overseas projects rely on assistance from international volunteers, so it's necessary for us to put together brochures and websites to find the people who can support them. This recruitment process is vital to ensure programs have a constant stream of reliable volunteers.

The intangible benefits

Volunteering through a company like i-to-i has a lot of intangible benefits to developing overseas communities and the individual projects that we work with. To find out more about our placements. click here

Next Steps

What we will do after you've booked:

Once booked on you will instantly receive a welcome email confirming your booking with access to your online account

Community Development and Teaching customers will be requested to complete a police check (where relevant)

We will contact you if we require anything else e.g. CV/resume for some projects, doctors note for medical conditions etc.

We will prepare for your trip and you will receive all information required to prepare yourself in your online account 

We will ask you to complete personal information and pay your final balance if they are still due when required

We are available for any questions you may have on 1-800-352-1793 or support@i-to-i.com

What you need to do after booking your place with us:

Book your flights

Arrange suitable travel insurance

Fill out your personal details through your online account

Complete your police check if requested

Make final payment at least 90 days before you go

Make sure you have a visa for your trip if it's needed

Visit a nurse or travel clinic for advice on inoculations and malaria prevention

Read all details and prepare as much as you can for your trip

Take contact details of the in country team and where you're going in your hand luggage - just in case!

Get on the plane!

Orientation Information

Next steps

You will arrive on the Arrival Date (Monday) and will be met at the airport on that day (whether it is 12 in the morning or 11:59 at night). You will then be taken to the volunteer house approximately 20kms from the airport, where you will be able to settle in and recover from your flight.

The volunteer house is located in the village of Tofo 100m from the beach and 200m from the centre of the village. In the village you will find a supermarket, some basic shops, a few bars and restaurants and beach activities! Note: If you're arriving early we can arrange a meet and greet for you. If you require this please contact us to arrange this service.

Your orientation will take place the next morning - Tuesday - and will introduce you to any other volunteers participating in the projects. You will also learn about what to expect in Mozambique and from your project. Wednesday you will be introduced to your project and begin work the same day. From here on in you will spend your time with the project but the in-country team are there if you need them.

Flights & Insurance

Insurance

It's important that you get adequate travel insurance for your i-to-i experience and as many of you will be working this often means standard policies won’t work. The good news is that no matter where your coming from we have already found a policy to suit you.

The best time to get your insurance is when you book your project as this means you can get a fully tailored policy exclusive to i-to-i, just ask your consultant for further details at the time of booking.

EU Customers – find out more here >>

Australian customers - find out more here >>

All other customers - find out more here >>

Flights

As with insurance we advise you get these booked as early as possible to avoid high prices and to make sure you arrive on the right day. The i-to-i team is right up to date with the best deals no matter where you’re flying from; their insider knowledge could save you some time and money.

Accommodation

What type of accommodation will I be in?

You will be staying in a volunteer house in Tofo village 5 minutes from the beach (how good is that?). You will be sharing the accommodation with other volunteers and will be based in shared rooms with up to 4 people.

Accommodation facilities

The volunteer house has 6 bedrooms with most bedrooms having 4 single beds and a couple of rooms with 2 beds. A sheet and pillows are provided however you may need to bring a sleeping bag with you during the winter months ie May to August. There are shared toilet and shower facilities and you will be able to do your laundry by hand.

There is a kitchen on the first floor and also downstairs where there is a communal lounge where you can all sit and relax and talk about the days events.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner are all included and you will be provided with food so you will all take it in turns to get involved with making the meals! This is definitely one way of learning how to cook! But do not worry as this will be under the supervision of the project co-ordinator. Breakfast will usually consist of cereal and toast, lunch will consist of sandwiches and your evening meal will usually be a cooked meal. Dietary preferences can be catered for but please remember that meals are usually basic and food is limited but the team will do their best to cater for you. If you do have any dietary preferences then please do let the in country team know in advance so that they can make sure that they can cater for you.

Things to bring from home

General

Sleeping bag (suitable for the season in which you are travelling – Summer (September – April) / Winter (May - August)

Sleeping bag liner: for hot nights or as an extra layer to your sleeping bag

Small torch (head torch is preferable)

Toiletries (you can easily buy toiletries on arrival)

Sunglasses

Sun cream (a range of factors)

Hat

Camera and accessories

Water bottle

Day pack

Mobile phone with roaming (or buy local network SIM on arrival)

Pocket knife

Clothing

Outdoor cotton clothes for warm days and cold night (winter)

Fleece or jumper

Clothes for Project work should cover shoulders and go down to the knees.

Trainers and sandals

Casual clothes for the weekends

Swimwear

Light waterproof jacket (rainy season Nov – April)

First Aid Kit

Mosquito repellent

Anti-malarial tablets

First Aid Kit 

Hand sanitizer

Personal medication

If you suffer from seasickness bring tablets for the ocean safari.

Please Note: You will need to pack as lightly and compactly as possible as space and weight is limited. Ideally you should have no more than 22kg of luggage and you should be looking at fitting it all into a backpack of about 60 litres. It is easy to buy toiletries in Inhambane and this can reduce the amount of weight you have to travel with. Don’t forget to bring a small day pack with you too!

Where is the accommodation?

The accommodation is located in the village of Tofo situated about 100m from the beach. The town center of Tofo is located about 200m away where you will find a market, some very basic shops, a few restaurants and bars and a number of beach activities!

How far is it from my project?

You will be approximately a 30 minute journey away from the orphanage using a local taxi or chappa. You will need to budget approximately US$7 TO US$10 per week which will be refunded at the end of your stay, or you could donate to the project if you wish!