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Volunteer Zimbabwe!
Have you been dreaming of visiting and volunteering in Africa? Would you love to help struggling communities? Are you interested to see the rushing waters of Africa’s Victoria Falls?
Join our meaningful volunteer opportunities in Zimbabwe to experience above all.
Victoria Falls, known to locals as The Smoke That Thunders, is a massive waterfall twice as tall as Niagra Falls, impressive enough to make the list of the top 7 natural wonders of the world.The falls are located in the beautiful
country of Zimbabwe,also home to the iconic wildlife known as the Top 5: Elephants, Leopards, Lions, Rhinos, and Cape Buffalo.
Unfortunately, though the town of Victoria Falls has a booming tourism industry, the surrounding rural communities haven’t benefitted much. Many people living in the area are struggling, in poverty, and lack access to basic necessities like electricity, running, water, and education for their children.
Volunteer in Zimbabwe and provide much-needed support working in an orphanage, providing childcare, and teaching English and other subjects to young students who otherwise might never receive any kind of education, at all. Make a difference and help children in need! Contact GCR to learn more about helping disadvantaged children in Zimbabwe!
Available Programs in Zimbabwe
Whether you want to work with orphans or share your passion for education, we have volunteer programs in Zimbabwe that’s perfect for you. Keep reading to find a cause that speaks to you:
Orphanage Program
Volunteer at Charity Home, an orphanage for 23 children between the ages of 3-18 years old in the low-income community outside of Victoria Falls called Chinotimba. Most of the kids have lost their families due to the ravages of the terrible HIV/AIDS epidemic that has devastated many parts of Africa. Volunteer in Zimbabwe in orphanage program and help support the center to care for needy children.
In addition to providing a permanent home to these orphans, the center also provides nutritious meals and after-school care daily to 55 children from low-income families. Your help is desperately needed as the permanent staff has only three members and is in great need of support from volunteers like you.
Volunteer Responsibilities and Impact
When you join Zimbabwe volunteering program, you’ll be volunteering from 8 am- 4 pm, Monday- Friday. The children are in school until 12 pm after departing from breakfast, so your working hours will be flexible, and you’ll have some free time to enjoy your stay in Africa. You’ll be helping provide care to the children and supporting the efforts of the hardworking local full-time staff.
Zimbabwe volunteers will pitch in wherever their help is needed each day, watching over the children during their free time, taking them to and from school, and ensuring they are well cared for. You’ll also be doing things like cooking and serving meals to the children, cleaning and keeping up the orphanage, helping with fundraising, etc.
Working with the orphans will touch your heart and have a profound impact on these poor kid’s lives, as well as sincerely helping the hard-working orphanage staff who just can’t keep up with all the children and their needs without the help of volunteers like you. Travel to Africa and provide compassionate care to orphans who desperately need your help!
Childcare
GCR offers meaningful childcare volunteer opportunities in Zimbabwe options in both a rural village, and within the town of Victoria Falls.
Rural Village Option
Travel to the rural village of Sizinda, an impoverished community with no access to formal education or daytime childcare. You’ll be volunteering in Zimbabwe at a special kindergarten class for 3-5-year-olds. Prior to the formation of this class in 2014, local adults were teaching informally under trees in the village, and many kids did not attend.
You’ll be working from 8 am – 1 pm Monday-Friday. Many of the “teachers” have no formal education or teaching credentials themselves, so any help, direction, or encouragement you can provide them in formalizing the education they are providing the students will be greatly appreciated.
Town childcare option:
Volunteer in childcare program in Zimbabwe town at Angels pre-school, only 800 meters from where you’ll be staying. While 65 children between the ages of 3-5 are fortunate enough to be able to attend this school, there are only a handful of teachers for all the students.
Because of this teacher shortage, the school can only focus on the basics and are unable to provide individual attention to struggling students or offer extracurricular like music, art, and sports. Volunteers like you can make up the difference, and ensure these kids are receiving the best education possible.
Volunteer Responsibilities and Impact
Zimbabwe childcare volunteers will help local teachers teach lessons, engage the kids in enriching activities like games, sports, music, and art and watch over the children while they play and have free time. You’ll also help out the school with preparing and serving food, cleaning, admin, school function, and helping raise funds.
Your time spent working with these children who need your help will have a big impact on the quality of their lives. You’ll make sure each one receives the one-on-one attention they’ve been missing, introduce them to creative pursuits, and bring smiles to their young faces while providing compassionate and much-needed care.
Teaching English Project
If your passion is education and you’d like to join a teaching project in Africa, there are two great options for you:
Rural Village Primary School Option
Volunteer teaching English in Zimbabwe in the rural village of Monde, about 12 kms outside of Victoria Falls. This school serves 301 students, and although it has been running since the early 90’s, it wasn’t until 2012 with funds raised by international volunteers like you that actual structures were built. Before then, students were taught under the shade of trees.
Although the village school has made great strides since those early days, it still faces many challenges like no running water or electricity, lack of funding and resources, and teacher shortages. You’ll volunteer from 8 am – 2 am, Monday – Friday, providing much-needed support to the local teachers who can’t keep up without the help of volunteers like you.
Victoria Falls Town Teaching option:
Volunteer to teach English in Zimbabwe at Shalom primary school in Mkhosana, a lower-income community of outside of Victoria Falls Town center, about 5 kilometers from where you’ll be staying. Built by a local couple and privately funded, the school has a very limited number of teachers for over 100 students between the ages of 5-13 years old.
Because there are so few teachers for so many students, without the help of volunteers like you, the kids would never have the chance to be exposed to enriching creative activities like music, art and sports. Volunteer from 8 am – 2 pm, Monday-Friday, and help the student’s experience a much more well-rounded education thanks to your help!
Volunteer Responsibilities and Impact
Our Zimbabwe Volunteer teachers will be assisting a local teacher with their classroom lessons, and also providing one-on-one tutoring to students who are struggling and need extra attention. You will coordinate fun extra-curricular activities for the children, monitor them during their lunch break, and help the school out with admin and fundraising tasks.
The time and effort you put into volunteering at the local schools will have a major impact on the quality of education the children are receiving. They will learn more about the outside world and get the individualized attention they need. You’ll be helping support local teachers while gaining experience in the education field at the same time.
Volunteer in Zimbabwe :Program Dates and Fees
Start Dates
Global Crossroad’s programs always begin on Monday of every week of the year. If you have some travel constraints, we can of course let you start on any day that fits.
Fees
Global Crossroad has been a trusted and reputable leader for volunteering abroad since 2003. Our goal is to provide the highest quality volunteer experiences with the lowest fees, making these opportunities available to everyone, including students. Anyone can be part of our programs, and have a positive impact without paying high fees.
We are always fully transparent with our costs, which we divide into two parts:
Registration fee of $299. This money goes directly to paying our daily running costs, or our overhead costs for running an organization.
Zimbabwe volunteering projects’ weekly fee- this part is paid directly to your host family (via the country coordinator) in order to cover food and accommodations. These payments are direct, and involve no ‘middlemen’, or third parties.
Duration | Projects |
---|---|
2 Weeks | $650 |
3 Weeks | $880 |
4 Weeks | $1200 |
Mandatory comprehensive travel insurance $3.49 a day »
How your fee is allocated?
Accommodation and Meal
While volunteering in Zimbabwe, you will be staying at our clean, comfortable, and secure volunteer house in a safe, quiet neighborhood of Victoria Falls Town. Up to 20 volunteers can stay in the house at a time in 4 bedrooms. There are three shared bathrooms, air conditioning, and free WiFi for checking emails and using social media.
You will share a living and dining area complete with cable tv, and a kitchen that is fully equipped with a stove, fridge, microwave, etc. Breakfast, lunch and dinner will be provided to you daily as part of your volunteer fee. The volunteer house is a 20-minute walk into the town center, and 5 minutes to a convenience store. Laundry service is available at $5 a bag.
Frequently Asked Questions: FAQs
Have a few questions about your Zimbabwe volunteer opportunity? We’ve got some answers for you!
Visa
You will fly into Victoria Falls’ own international airport. Please send your final flight details to our in-country coordinator, and we’ll have someone waiting for you when you land. However, we do not offer airport departure service.
*Please consult your country’s visa regulations and requirements prior to travel.
Vaccination
Make sure you get proper vaccinations prior to your departure as Africa has high rates of epidemics and communicable diseases. Please make an appointment you’re your travel doctor before volunteering in Zimbabwe. Recommended vaccines to travel to this destination include hepatitis A, hepatitis B, typhoid, cholera, yellow fever, rabies, meningitis, polio, measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis), chickenpox, shingles, pneumonia and influenza. Please visit CDC website for more detail information.
Contact GCR today to learn more about volunteering in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe!
Volunteer Opportunities Available in Other Countries
Other than this Zimbabwe volunteer program, GCR offers great volunteering opportunities in many countries cross the world.
Check out some of the most popular destinations below.
- Volunteer in Ghana
- Volunteer in Kenya
- Volunteer in South Africa
- Volunteer in Tanzania
- Volunteer in Uganda