South Africa
Placement options: Gap Year Teams (5.5 months), Summer teams
Summer 2010 (Johannesburg or Gateway)
Dates: 31st July - 30th August 2010 (Gateway), 24th July - 7th August (Johannesburg)
Training dates: 22nd - 24th July 2010
Minimum age: 18+
Cost: £2200 (Gateway) £1800 (Johannesburg)
Application deadline: 31st May 2010
September 2010 (Johannesburg only)
Dates: early October 2010 - March 2011
Training dates: 14th - 18th September 2010
Minimum age: 18+
Cost: £4250
Application deadline: 31st July 2010
Gap Years - more details
We send Gap year teams to two locations in South Africa - Pietermaritzburg (Project Gateway) and Johannesburg (Oasis South Africa). Teams to Pietermaritzburg only go in March.
Read more about Oasis South Africa and Project Gateway
Pietermaritzburg teams at Project Gateway live on-site in dormitory-style accomodation, and serve in different aspects of the community projects. This could be helping in the primary school, assisting in HIV/AIDS education in the local area, serving homeless people at the overnight shelter, or spending time with the ladies and children at the women's refuge. There is limited public transport, so a driving licence is very helpful if you are going on this Gap year team.
Johannesburg teams help at the various projects set up by Oasis South Africa. These include mentoring of school leavers, teaching community health workers, running after-school clubs for children and visiting a hospice for people with AIDS. This team live in a secure house and have a car to get to their projects, so it is important to have a driving licence if you are going on this Gap year team.
Summer Teams - more details
Summer teams to Pietermaritzburg are largely practical in their focus - helping with painting, cleaning out storerooms, maintenance around the Gateway site and so on. There are SOME opportunities to visit the Gateway projects such as the school on-site, but the focus is on practical serving.
Summer teams to Johannesburg are likely to have a practical element too, but will focus more on youth and childrens' work.
What is it like?
A past Johannesburg Gap Year team describe their time away:
"Our projects ranged from leading sessions in a pre-school in Diepsloot, a huge informal settlement to the north of Johannesburg, to visiting an HIV/AIDS hospice in the inner-city.
There is so much potential for South Africa as a new, united nation. As inner-city Jo'burg is slowly being renovated, there is much hope for a renovation of people's hearts and minds towards those that are less fortunate in their city. As for us, we learned that it isn't always about changing and helping those you go to serve, but more about them changing and helping you."
Our current team describe what they are getting involved in:
"Oasis South Africa have asked us to befriend the young people in the Bridge The Gap programme - this includes sitting in on their Life Skills lessons, helping with IT, and joining the young people in the work they do in the community. This community work takes up most of our time, amd includes running after-school clubs and Life Skill lessons in schools. We all are really enjoying getting to know the Bridge The Gap students, both while working and chilling in front of the soccer at weekends!"