Travel and leisure
Volunteer travel
A volunteer's perspective
Retired teacher Caroline Vincett spent a month helping out at the Tshume School in Port Elizabeth with Saga Volunteer Travel. She recalls her experiences in the South African township
A friend greeted me the other day with, “On a scale of one to ten, how did it go?”. Without a thought, my answer was 11.
From the outset I was encouraged and reassured by those involved in planning my trip. I was able to ask questions without feeling like an idiot and was given enough information beforehand to give me a flavour of what to expect but still leave me room for discovering things for myself. Being able to speak to the other volunteers before I went was a great help too.
I think I was as prepared as I could have been. I was glad I took pictures of my family with me as it led to some interesting discussions with some of the older children about many things, from the breakdown of relationships to breastfeeding, but I wished I’d taken specific materials for art projects as it’s a fun thing to do which also develops the children’s independence.
My time at the school was a mix of fun, friendship, smiles and frustrations. I learnt different ways of working and also got a buzz from sharing my ideas with other teachers. But it wasn’t all work: the Humewood Hotel in Port Elizabeth became our comfortable, friendly home for four weeks and we had weekends and evenings free to see the sights.
We had a wonderful time and I miss all the laughter we had. The farewells were special and quite overwhelming so I’m glad we had Saturday to unwind before coming home.
I believe I grabbed the opportunity to volunteer at Tshume with both hands, and have certainly become a more confident, richer person for the experience.