Volunteer 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.

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.