I came to South Africa knowing I had to be there for three months. In the beginning everything was overwhelming. You never really know what it is, before yogurt there, you know? but i was only positively surprised. After a few weeks, you start feeling very home. You make friends you would't think possible, and the work with this kids is Amazing. Cape Town itself is quite extraordinary, which you're going to realize really fast. But it would never have been the same, if i hadn't been volunteering. You get to see the other side of all the beautiful nature and the sweet food. The experiences you get with the other volunteers gives you a friendship, you can't compare with anything else. The time you spent with the kids makes you happy and sad at the same time. But this is the kind of thing you can't write down, you have to go down there to see it yourself. When I think back now, i know, that I learned more from them and this trip, than i could never give back to the kids I went down to help. Expensive, indeed, but you can never calculate the kids and the love you get, in money. Sounds cliché? But this is my story. And it changed my life forever. hopefully something changed a little for the kids as well.

I have traveled before but never volunteered abroad. This gave me a whole different perspective of the culture. It was so rewarding to work with children and help them learn as well as learn from them. The other volunteers and SAVE staff were all great and I did not want to leave this project once it was over. It was the most well rounded traveling experience I have ever had.

Throughout the duration of my five weeks spent in South Africa I had the pleasure of teaching a class of 0-3 year olds at Babes Educare in the township of Du Noon. These were some of the most affectionate children I have ever encountered in my entire life. I woke up every morning excited to arrive at the school knowing that as soon as I cracked open the front door I would be bombarded with an endless amount of hugs and kisses as the kids chanted “teacher! teacher!” I will never forget my first day at the crèche- I had absolutely no idea what I was doing… Taming the classroom was way harder than I ever expected. The principal of the school heard the ruckus from outside the classroom and as soon as she entered, the kids immediately scurried to their seats and threw on their most pleasant and innocent smiles- they had such a genuine admiration for her. She explained to me the dynamics of the classroom; 5 students on the reading carpet, 6 students with the building blocks and 6 students with the toys. Easy enough, right? Well, it took some time, but after about a week and a half of attempting to master my “angry face” I finally gained some respect. Every day was truly an adventure with these hooligans, they never failed to make me laugh until I had tears strolling down my face. After five weeks you can only imagine the connection I formed with each and every one of my students- I never thought it would be so hard to say goodbye. On my last day of project, the principal visited my classroom once again… this time, as opposed to helping me control the kids, she came to inform me of what an incredible job I had done working with them. She recognized how much I loved them and said she’s never seen anything like it. She wished me safe travels and hoped that I would return to Cape Town in the near future. This warmed my heart more than you will ever know. My time spent in Cape Town, was unlike anything I have ever experienced. I will never forget the feeling of utter bliss that filled my entire body when I would return to the hostel after a work day. Knowing that I was making an impact on these children’s lives was enough to satisfy me. I will be returning to Cape Town hopefully this December and I cannot wait to watch my students continue to grow and excel in all of their endeavors.

I volunteered at the Elundini School in DuNoon. Very disorganized program and SAVE leader. No follow through with students that need specific programs and materials. Seem to only care about monetary donations.

SAVE offers a variety of projects which makes it possible to work at all kinds of places. You can work with children, disabled and healthy, help building a garden in a settlement or build a jungle gym; everything is possible.

During the surfproject I participated in, you start the mornings by working at a creche with children from the age of 2-6 years. If you want you can always ask to go to another project in the mornings. So if you think another project suits you better, or if you just want to work with disabled people for once in your life; SAVE offers it all. This variety of projects gave me the opportunity to learn working with (disabled and healthy) children and do some communitywork once in a while.

During the afternoon I went back to the volunteerhouse, ate a delicious lunch made by Yussef (awesome guy eventhough you cannot hear a word he says), grabbed a wetsuit and surfboard and left to the beach. At the beach you learn to surf yourself after which you can help teach children from a township to surf. If the weather or the waves are dissapointing, volunteers can think of any other sport to do with the children. You learn them some life lessons and the importance of being healthy!

When all the experiences become too much there are enough possibilities to relax. We used to go out to grab some drinks and dance in the evenings or just relax together. When you have the weekends off you have enough time to do whatever you want, a safari, shark cage diving, the movies, mzoli's (awesome!). Whatever you want to do, there is always someone that wants to join you and your programleaders will be happy to call you a cab or just join them yourselves.

To summarize; SAVE is an amazing organization driven by the right enthusiastic people who will join you in great and bad times. You will become part of their family and you will want to go back the second you set foot home.

We taught 126 children to count to 20 in english. Together with people that was at first was strangers, which eventually became life long friends, the experience I shared with them is something I always refer to as indescribable. The children was between 1- to 6 years old and we taught them more than just counting. We taught them how to differ colors, what the meaning of the 7 days of the week stands for, the 12 months of the year and how to differ a square from a triangle. But most importantly, we gave them our love. And they gave back a kind of love that I think is very rare and precious. Everyday we woke up, ate breakfast together with the volunteers and was given a ride to different projects. At my project, we had control over 126 children in 2 separate houses. What most people think is that these children needs more attention and that is of course extremely true. The children in poverty needs us. But what most people doesn't understand, is that we need them. More than ever. I have learned so much about values after participating in SAVE Volunteering. The best thing was the first time 67 children at the same time screamed my name when I entered the school in the early morning. They did that every morning until I left after that day. It is definitely the highlight but also a big difficulty because the last day was very sad and emotional. I would love to hear their voices, to see their bright smile and to give them hugs and love every day of my life. As a poor student, I learned how much I can give individually and realized how big of an impact we can all do together.

My visit to South Africa and the SAVE project was life changing, it was the perfect balance between volunteering during the week. With working days from 08.00 till ~15.30 and doing socials and having fun after and in the weekends. The impact we made on the childrens life was amazing, and that's the reason I'm going back in November! Great staff and a perfect location for the volunteers to stay.

I spend two months in Cape Town at the adventure surf club. I worked 4 days per week, before noon we where at "Babes crèche" to teach children between 2-5 years basic English, and in the afternoons we taught children how to surf. I am really glad I did this , I had so much fun! The other volunteers were very nice and we had a really good time together.