Community

We believe that travel can change lives! Travelling can change you as a person and, if done responsibly, can have a profound effect on the people that you meet and the places that you visit. We want as many people as possible to experience the heart and soul of another culture in the way that we have, and in doing so, help them to make a positive and lasting impact on our world.

South Africa has a remarkably rich biodiversity, comprising about ten per cent of all known species of plants on Earth. Additionally, the country is renowned for its huge diversity in language and culture, regrettably, however, it is even better known for its high unemployment rate, violence and poverty. The real South Africa consists of both, a beautiful countryside with its stunning scenery and a people in need of emotional and physical support. This is the reason we have teamed up with local community development projects dedicated to providing a better life and future for underprivileged children in the country and those who have made it their task to help the environment by performing a variety of conservational tasks.

Participating in the South Africa volunteer experience you will find yourself constructing enjoyable activities for underprivileged township kids, learning about sharks and wildlife in nature reserves, while taking tours to local sights, experiencing the beauty of South Africa’s beaches and waves and making friends for life. You therefore take part in a variety of activities which give you a chance to help others and experience their way of life balancing this often physically and emotionally challenging work with leisure time others can only dream of.

You’ll stay in a dormitory room on site ensuring that you directly support the local community while you’re there. You’ll also be supported by your local in-country coordinator; Alison who with her team is best placed to understand the specific economic, social and developmental needs of South Africa.

On average 48% of your placement fee is distributed in-country for the services included with your placement (i.e. Local support, Food, Transport & Accommodation) meaning that the local communities are directly benefiting from your travels to their country. The remaining funds are required to cover the administration costs associated with sourcing, training, marketing and coordinating your travel experience.

We do not give a financial contribution to this or any of our projects as we believe that money is rarely the answer to complicated development issues; if it was, the poverty problems in the world would be getting better! Short-term aid relief can cause aid-reliance and financial instability and the corruption seen in many developing countries means the guarantee of your money going to the heart of the cause is massively reduced. From our experience (and by learning from our mistakes) projects benefit far greater more from a sustainable framework to ensure they develop rather than short-term financial aid relief.

If money is paid directly to projects then they may become dependent on that income. If that country or project becomes unpopular, or through restrictions in the opportunity to travel to that country, the money dries up and they are no longer able to continue with their work. Supplying projects with enthusiastic volunteers creates a constant supply of helpful hands and as they are not reliant on an income can continue without the assistance of the volunteer travellers, although significantly slower in achieving their goals.

Instead of giving money direct we operate a grants scheme from our Helping Hand Foundation. This is designed to allow all our partner projects to submit applications for funding to achieve a specific objective. We have supported a number of partner projects including the installation of 20 toilets at a school in India, the construction of a community centre in Brazil and providing a radio communications unit for a turtle conservation project in Costa Rica.