Volunteer in Tanzania - Life-Changing Service

I have volunteered as part of the Reach the Children’s’ Potential Program in 2018 and 2021. I really like the philosophy of Global Volunteers: the community decides on the projects and the families from the RCP program and community are actively engaged in the volunteer projects and programs. In addition, the program is committed to use local materials, resources, and tools readily available in the community which fosters the ability for self-sufficiency and sustainable long-term change.

RCP program has a lot of depth and there are numerous opportunities for volunteers to contribute. Some examples of activities that the team participated this year are the following: Home visits with caregivers, building chick coops, working in the local primary school teaching English, working and supporting the local women’s co-ops, facilitating workshops at the center and in the community, building earth boxes, working in the green house, working on computer related project that relate to the collection of data for the program, assisting a local pastor with harvesting his wheat field and participate in community building activities with local leaders, hospital and Iringa University. This program has so many different types of opportunities for volunteers to contribute!

It is great to be on the ground again and see the progress made in the region over the past two and half years since I was here back in November 2018. I truly saw the impact the RCP program is making in the region and how this demonstration program is working. Some areas that I can see change.
1. Having a health center on the mountain that mothers can now have a safe place to birth their children
2. The RCP center has a small guest house for some of the expecting mothers to stay at the RCP center when they are near their due dates. This ensure that mothers that live far away from the center do not need to make the trip in labor up the steep mountain roads.
3. The schools are more well attended and reported by the teachers that the children are more attentive/progressing further in school since the program now provides for 2 healthy meals for the children each day.
4. Nursing mothers have healthier supplemented meals, plus many families now have earth boxes where they can grow their own food rich in micronutrients. This directly impacts the health and growth of the nursing children. The children in the program for the past few years you can see as growing faster and are healthier. This can be backed by the measurements that are taken as part of the program.
5. Many of the staff at the RCP program have been here for many years. Many I worked with back in 2018. With stable staff it fosters the ability to build long term relationships with the families and community leaders. The staff and volunteers are looked as trusted advisors with the RCP families and many of the local community leaders. This helps support sustainable change in the region.
6. The community is now ready to deal with mental health related issue in the villages with more of the community getting basic needs such as healthy food met. Mental Health back in 2018 was an aspirational goal for the village community leaders to be addressed.

After many months of planning, I finally arrived in Ipalamwa for my first service trip with Global Volunteers. My stay was everything I had hoped for and more. During my 2 week stay, I was able to do home visits with local Care Givers, build hand-washing stations in village homes, teach English lessons in the nearby school classrooms, and play games on the playground with the children. The added bonus were the other volunteers who served alongside me. Wonderful people who had similar values and reasons for being there. Global Volunteers staff is highly trained and take very good care of their volunteers. Room and board were extremely comfortable; as a single woman traveling alone I never once felt at risk.

We have served on eleven programs with Global Volunteers and feel that the organization does a wonderful job in all aspects; planning, orientation, safety, direction, support etc. The Tanzania program is led and managed by country residents who provide an excellent understanding of the culture and the people. Their direction and support is superb. We live in the community and have amazing interactions including visiting homes, attending worship and helping in schools. We work alongside local citizens as we complete tasks designated as needs by the community. The intimacy in this type of travel allows us to obtain a deeper knowledge of the people and truly enhances our lives in innumerable ways. Although we know our actions are beneficial to the people we serve, we feel we get so much more than we provide.

Although the people we serve have very little financial wealth, they willingly share what they have. They are magnanimous, open and friendly making us feel very special in their presence.

Tanzania holds a special place in our hearts - we have served there twice - and as soon as it is safe to travel we intend to return to one of our favorite places on earth.

In January 2020, I spent 3 weeks working with the people of the rural villages of Ipalamwa and Mkalanga, Tanzania. Our volunteer group consisted of people from around the USA and New Zealand, with Winnie as our amazing team leader. The remote villages of this area have no electrical service or modern plumbing. Our team members did classroom teaching in the schools of Mkalanga and Ipalwama villages and participated in home visits. The nurses in our group led health workshops and worked in the medical clinic. The purpose of the Reaching Children's Potential Program is to prevent childhood stunting so that healthy children can reach their full potential. The Global Volunteers Health Clinic is an important and vital resource to the community. The home visits provide needed support to the families in the program. Working with the children in the kindergarten and second grade and going on home visits were the most rewarding experiences for me personally. This life-changing program in rural Tanzania is one of the most meaningful and memorable ventures I have ever participated in.

I was a member of one of the first teams to travel to ipalamwa, Tanzania to establish the Reaching Children’s Potential program. It was a great privilege to be a part of such an important volunteer experience. Experts in health, child development,
education and community developmenr with a commitment to eradicating childhood stunting were on a shared mission. While we worked in an isolated village, we always felt safe. Our lodging in the closest town was quite comfortable and close to restaurants where the team could review the day’s accomplishments.
Global Volunteers has established a very well organized international program overnight as well as in country management. The volunteer teams worked along side Tanzanian families and other community members in a joyful way.
This experience will be with me always.

I am of a mind set that we are here to Learn, Love, and Grow. The best way I know to do that is to be available when someone or something "asks for help". The beautiful thing about my experiences with Global Volunteers service programs is that is exactly what is happening! Instead of imposing what we think is best for the situation, the community asks for help in what they think is best for them. With that in mind, it requires one to step out of our daily fast paced routine and step into the lives and time lines of a different culture. This is part of the experience that can be frustrating if you don't allow yourself to shift your perspective and see things differently. For example, in Tanzania, the term "first thing in the morning" could be anywhere from 8:00am to 11:00am because that may be the first time they can spare from there essential routines to participate in projects. Once you realize that the people are making an extreme effort to be part of the program and that when they do show up at 8:00 am it was it reflects how grateful they are, and even when they show up at 11:00 that means their family requirements took longer than anticipated and that we were actually STILL a high priority because they showed up and were grateful! Keeping in mind that most of the people in the village don't have easy access to water, don't have electricity, and certainly don't have watches then you realize that time is not as critical or important as it is to us. The thing that sticks with me (after that shift in perception) is knowing that whatever it was that I was asked to help with(and it varied from construction, to teaching, to just sitting and listening) is what they needed at the time, and the joy and gratitude expressed by the team leaders, staff, community hosts, and members of the village at our participation in the things needed to make life better for their families and loved ones now and future generations is truly genuine! It takes a special type of person to volunteer to help someone else , if you are still reading my review, YOU are that special type of person and I highly recommend Global Volunteers to help you to Learn, Love, and Grow!

My experience in Tanzania was completely unforgettable. I went without expectations and only a desire to help. I was rewarded daily with a new challenge and a new learning experience. I was able to teach Civics, teach English, work in rural clinics, work in an AIDS clinic, plant trees, weigh babies, and more.

The community was extremely friendly and welcoming. My only regret is that I didn't spend more time there. The program is well-integrated into the community and is well-respected. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that will stay with you forever.

I'm an 18-year-old girl who is currently taking a "Service Gap Year," volunteering in impoverished countries around the world between high school and college. My first experience was six weeks in Tanzania with Global Volunteers (I combined two three-week sessions). It was beyond incredible. I taught English and chemistry classes at the Secondary School, helped to repair the secondary school library, tutored chemistry, English, geography, math, and history. All the classes at the secondary school are taught in English, so many of the students want to practice their conversational English with the volunteers!

I also worked at the village clinic, attended mass, went on a short hike to the stream and waterfall in the village, and much much more! It's a great community to be a part of, and I always felt safe.

I would definitely recommend this service experience to anyone looking to experience the "real" Africa and to make a difference. It's not a luxurious experience, but the volunteer accommodations are incredible and Mama Toni's food is fantastic. Edward, Mohammed, and Mama Toni take wonderful care of all of the volunteers, and provide a great connection between the volunteers and community members.

I was so inspired by my experience in Pommern that I launched a project to send solar lights to the students at Pommern Secondary School. If you are interested in the project, you can visit my page at igg.me/at/lightsforlearning

I highly recommend this program, and am already looking at planning the next time I will volunteer!