My SAVE Experience

I was working with SAVE Foundation, in Cape Town for 3 and a half months and what an experience it was! I was part of both the Educare Programme and the 'Teach, Surf & Skate Project'. Save Foundation work with the children and schools based within Dunoon, which is one of Cape Towns biggest townships. The staff in the Cape Town are truly amazing, ensuring that all volunteers are safe and happy at all times, nothing was ever too much to ask. They ensured our safety and well being during our stay as well as making sure we had fun and all the resources to help the schools and children we work with. The sense of community between Save Foundation and locals in Dunoon is extraordinary - seeing families and children running after the minibus or just simply calling Shannon (Cape Town coordinator) when she’s dropping the volunteers off. The children in this community are truly wonderful, warm hearted and have so much love. Even with extremely limited resources, all the children are so happy to see the volunteers at school with them. The schools and volunteers are important for the children so they have a focus during their time; especially the older children who can easily get into the wrong crowd at such a young age.
When working on the educare programme, I worked at Sunshine Educare based in Wolvervier (a settlement just outside of Dunoon) and Good Hope Educare. Sunshine Educare is a pre-school and learning centre for an extremely neglected community which has recently been relocated to a new site called Wolwerivier. There was no safe place for children during the day and no access to an educational facility before the age of 6 years old. During my time at Sunshine, it was the Holiday Club programme where all children from the settlement were allowed to come to the school for a safe place to play and be kids. The volunteers would organise sports games, activities, arts and crafts for the children as well as be there to love and nurture the younger children, caring for each child with great enthusiasm.
Sunshine Educare also run a Christmas project where they supply each child with a Christmas present that has been funded by volunteers fundraisers and donations. All donations of presents and toys were set out like a toy store for the children to come into the room and chose one toy they would like to take home. For most of the children, this is the only time they will receive their own present that they have chosen. The joy and excitement on the kids faces were so warming, and immediately after receiving the toy they were playing with their friends in the settlement.
The second school I worked at was Good Hope Educare, based in Dunoon. Good Hope had been moved to a new building in Dunoon, therefore at the start of the programme we set up the school, clearing and cleaning out the building so it was sanitised for a safe place for children to play and learn in. We also painted and decorated all the classrooms, to make it a more inviting and vibrant space for the children to be in.
The children in this school were aged 1-7 years and the volunteers have the joy of watching each child learn and develop through the process. Each volunteer is assigned to a class and teaches the children maths, English, colours, science, shapes, art in fun and engaging ways. Most of the teaching is taught through play and vocabulary stimulation, which enables the children to stay engaged and understand the volunteers. Volunteers helped stimulate the babies and toddlers with developmental toys, touch and by speaking English to them.
The final project I was apart of was the Adventure Surf Club, where the children from Vissershook primary would come to learn swimming, skating, sports and surfing with the volunteers after school. Before this programme, I had never surfed or skated before, however thanks to the fantastic staff members I was able to learn a new skill too! The afternoon project for these children was a fun activity they could do each day, knowing they would be in a safe place and leave with a huge smile on their faces! It is all about learning whilst having fun for these children and I know that I certainly had fun with these kids! They bring so much joy and enthusiasm to the programme, that makes it so rewarding to work with them everyday!
The accommodation that SAVE provides is always clean and tidy, not to mention the fantastic meals we received, cooked by the amazing mumma Coll. The social side with the Volunteers was also great, being able to spend your free time in the heart of Cape Town or just chilling at the beach. Overall, I had a fantastic experience and can't wait to go back to South Africa and work with this incredible organisation!