7 November, 2024

Tracing the roots of international voluntary service

A‎ 40 days regional workcamp which started in Tanzania, moving to Zimbabwe and ended in South Africa.

Introduction

In an effort to ensure regional understanding and cooperation 3 voluntary originations UVIKUITA (Tanzania), Zimbabwe Workcamps Association (ZWA) and South Africa Volunteer Workcamp Association (SAVWA) forged a partnership for a 40 days regional workcamp which started in Tanzania, moving to Zimbabwe and ended in South Africa. By tracing the roots of IVS in these 3 African countries, participants had to explore and experience local cultures, social behaviors, and languages, natural and cultural heritage and connect themselves with the communities and challenge their perspective or mind set in order to develop new views and ideas as Youth Leaders. In a nutshell, it was an experience of learning and unlearning African voluntarism to have a better understanding of the societies and also contribute to community development in the frame work of International Voluntary Service. The participants had to travel across 4 countries using buses as way to promote green travel and this is normally the African day to day experience. During this, they also had to experience volunteers’ mobility on the boarders. This workcamp was very diverse, rich with energetic and enthusiastic youths from different voluntary organization around the world, namely

  • UVIKIUTA – Tanzania
  • ZWA – Zimbabwe
  • SAVWA – South Africa
  • KVDA – Kenya
  • SCI – France
  • NICE – Japan

TANZANIAN PHASE: 1 – 10 JULY 2024

A group photo taken

Tanzaninan Phase: Group Photo

The Tanzanian workcamp was themed, Environmental Leadership. Participants were involved in learn by doing activities, to develop an urban garderning and organic farming. As volunteers, we took part to gardening activities in the Chamazi eco-village with the help of Ouzin, involved for many years in the organisation as landscape designer and campleader. She has been trained to permaculture technics that she was shared with us.

We have learned that the eco-village project is focusing on three dimensions:

  • Promoting community living because the garden is shared with people from the local community
  • Modernisation of technics with the use of permaculture methods
  • “Ubuntu”: a philosophy for Africa meaning that you can not be satisfied by yourself instead of capitalist philosophy that is always looking for profit
The picture shows us 2 photos, in the first one we can see people gathring near a house, and in the second we can see people putting something related with gardening into white plastic bags

Urban Organic Gardening

Through the act of planting medicinal plants and organic vegetables during this workcamp, the idea was to raise awarness to young people and people in the community about the impact of fast food on our health and on our environment and to return to spiritual connections to the earth and remember that whatever we do has an impact on our environment. The urban gardening is very environmental friendly as it is a form of recycle of empty plastic containers which are then filled with manure and soil, this type of gardening save space and keeps the environment clean.

One the third day, our group of 15 volunteers went to Dar es Salam trade fair “Saba saba” that is largest market in East Africa. Many NGOs, companies of every size and public institutions were there. As volunteers in an environmental organisation, we were coming there to connect with climate change issues.

As Youth development organisation, Uvikuita also organised on Saturday a football tournament for Young men. On that day our team of volunteers was invited to prepare a message to deliver for the players and participants. That is how we did a presentation in Swahili to explain what are environmental leadership and IVS (“Najitolea bure” ) through the use of a theater play and drawings that we prepared in a collective way during the 2 days before.

 

this photographs shows us a group of people, some of them are stading, some are sitting down on the ground, they seem to be waiting for something, some people are dressed ready to do a sports

Sport Bonza – Football

The last day before to travel to Zimbabwe was dedicated first to reflect on our practices and environnmental issues in our countries through a Workshop in the morning and then to share our experience with youngsters by participating to the Volunteering information day.


On daily life, the group of volunteers had to organise themselves as a collective to insure that the different duties in the house (cleaning, washing dishes…) were well done and fair distributed, with the help of their campleader Emy.

Last but not least, every day was a cultural evening planned. After dinner, one volunteer was presenting his or her culture to the group of volunteers using different tools to make discover their country (music, food, game, dancing…).

THE JOURNEY TO ZIMBABWE

The journey started early in the morning of the 11th of July, participants were very enegetic as they knew that its going to be exciting travelling miles for 3 days exploring the beautifull landscape of 3 countries (Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe). The jouney was filled with joyfull moments with the 6 volunteers who had become more than a family, it was interestng trying new food, fruits and bevarages along the way. It took one day from Dar es Salam to reach Tunduma the boarder town of Tanzania entering Zambia. After a long day and night, the participants were exhusted and they had to cross the boarder at midnight but unfortunately this wasn’t a smooth process as they face challenges which are related to passport power, political relations of countries and corrution. This made the volunteers to spend about 6 hours at the boarder. However all things were sorted later on and the volunteers had to continue with their journey to Zmbabwe. In Zambia there was so much to explore during the trip and and the participants had to sleep along the way from Lusaka the capital city of Zambia to Zimbabwe, crossing the boarder was very smooth. In total, the journey from Dar es Salam to Harare took 3 days.

This image contains 3 photos. The firts one show us a group picture taken as a selfie. The second us show us a road sign, the photo looks to be taken during the night and the sign is reflecting the flash from the photo. The third picture show us people in what looks like a reasturant eating food.

ZIMBABWEAN PHASE: 13 – 24 JULY 2024

The second phase of the camp was hosted by Zimbabwe Workcamps Association in Goromonzi. The voluntary organisation had recruited local participants across Zimbabwe to join the caravan participants and the camp started with posivite energy with a diverse group of youth volunteers.

Grouph photo taken in zimbabwean

Zimbabwean Phase – Group Photo

The Zimbabwean phase covered a number of topics such as:

  • Environmental conservation
  • Peace and Social justice
  • Cultural Heritage

The camp activities were community oriented, whereby the Demberere Village, Goromonzi worked together with ZWA and come up with activies which the community needed the most, to ensure local development and cultural exchange through the participation of both parties

On the first day, it started with an introductory meeting (volunteers and the community) lead by the Village Head Mr Gutsa. In the name of community engagement and interaction, the partcipants together with the local people were involved in a clean-up campaign at the village shoping center. This was very interesting and speak to the theme of environmental conservation.
Besides clean-up campaign, as part of environmental conservation, the participantswere invloved in making Fire guard within the village. This was to prevent wildfires in destroying the natural forest of Dembere Village. Participants were very energetic in practicing this interesting activity of using traditional knowlage to protect the environment. Fire guards are commonly used in many areas around Zimbabwe and because of its simplified traditional technique in nature, it is vey sustainable and many communities can practice this method since there is no special knowlage or technical resources required.
Under the theme Peace and Social Justice, participants were involved indirectly through the construction of Traditional Chief’s Court. Volunteers were to fetch grass for thetching, their hands were very crucial in the construction of a peace house (Court). During this activity, they had to learn how the case or disputes are handled in the community and how the Chief make paece in among the community and through these learnings and participation, volunteers got a deep insight in peace and social justice as far as traditional courts is consered. They had time to interact with Chife Musonza, learning about chieftainship and leadership, cultural
heritage among other topics.
On anoter day, volunteers together with the community worked on borehole installation project. This was a long time project of Demberere village and the Goromonzi rural distric council, ZWA was glad that the vollunteers had to learn by doing, borehole pump insatllation ensuring clean water supply for the village.
Volunteers had an opportunity to eplore the Demberere village to better understand the local culture and day to day livelihoods of the community. The friendly and welcoming people always invite the volunteers to their homes, this was very instrumental in making the volunteers challenge the sterotypes, mindset and better understand village life with enduaging experience and come-up with a fresh perspective.
This image contains 2 photos. In the first one we see 2 people that are posing for a photograaph while zebras eat in the behind them. In the second one we see a group photo.

Excursion Kumusha Resort

During free time, the volunteers had an excursion to Kumusha Resort. The resort is designed to conserve and preserve cultural heritage with an open museum which exhibit artefacts of Shona cultural heritage. There we lots of fun activities such as horse ridding, zip line, conoe and sight seeing animals like zebras, ostritch, impala among others. they also had a city tour in Harare the capital city, exploring the national monuments buildings, Mbuyanehanda iconic statue among other fun places. As the Zimbabwean phase was ending, the participants had time to evaluate and reflect the camp activities before they had to start prepare for their deputure to South Africa. This was a moment to prepare for the last lap of the caravan. But the community had a supprise farwell party for the volunteers and it was a huge moment filled with joy and celebrating the time and good work that was done.
THE JOURNEY TO SOUTH AFRICA
The trip to South Africa started in Harare and this was not very stressfull for the participants because they new it was only a day and also they had rejuvinated their energy for the last interesting phase of the caravan camp. It took a day and night to reach Pretoria and along the way, participants had to explore the beautiful landscape of the southern part of Zimbabwe to South Africa, completing the from East to Southern of Africa journey.
This image contains 2 photos. The first one show us a group picture taken as a selfie. The group seems to be in front of a bus. The second picture was taken during the night and the people seem to be with their luggage

Journey to South Africa

SOUTH AFRICAN PHASE: 25 JULY – 4 AUGUST 2024

For the final stretch of the Caravan Workcamp project, the 7 volunteers joined the activities of SAVWA centre in Pretoria, this time in an urban area and with colder temperature. The SAVWA founders, Enock and Dorcas graced the Volunteers with a warm welcome to the last phase of the caravan.

The workcamp started with an orientation session that was helping us with non-formal education tool to share participants’ feelings and expectations at this stage for the last 10 days of CARAVAN. This session was very important as it enabled participants to express theirs feeling after the past 2 countries and to share their expectation as the curtain was about to come down.
Group photo, people are holding tools for gardening and treating the land

South African Phase – Group Photo

The South African phase ran with 2 main themes which are Organic gardening and the after school kids program.


Every morning then, we took part to activities in the garden such as preparing the ground for the organic garden using the no-dig method and fixing the garden fence. The volunteers had to learn the advantages of organic gardening which includes:

  • Chemical-free produce, this avoids the use of synthetic pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers, ensuring healthier produce.
  • Environmental friendly, this method promotes soil health, conserve water and reduce pollution.
  • Reduces soil erosion among many other advantages.

This garden is use for pedagogical activities but it also produce vegetables that are shared with kids and youngsters in the local community. The gardening method was very environmental friendly and simple as it do not require main power. It uses card-boxes to prevent weeds and stones designed to form beautiful shapes which saves space.

Group of people working with land and rocks

Organic Gardening – Permaculture

SAVWA runs an after school program which aim to develop kids from young age as little as 4 years. In the afternoon, volunteers were also joining the after school kids program and spending time with people from the community contributing thus to a better cultural understanding. This program provides the kids with Outdoor play, games sports or free play in safe environment aiming to promote physical activity and teamwork. It also provides Homework Help, this covers tutoring and guidance on their after school work. The kids also enjoy creative time such as arts and music which encourages self-expression and confidence. The kids are from the local community around SAVWA in Soshanguve, Pretoria. The volunteers had to interact and socialize with the kids every day in the afternoon. This was very interesting for the volunteers as they had a new experience to spend time with the lovely funny kids. This complemented all other activities in previous countries as it was now different and new, to time with a young age population.
Apart from those activities, we had the opportunity to visit Soweto, Vilikazi Street, a famous street known for its historical significance and cultural importance. Being a home of Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu, the street was a hub of anti-apartheid activists and intellectuals making it a significant location in South Africa’s struggle for freedom. Volunteers also visited the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg to learn about the history as South Africa stands today. Later they also experienced a Decolonisation City Tour of Pretoria, which included visits to the Union Buildings, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, exploring the architectural masterpiece of the Union building which is a Government Headquarter which serves as the official seat of the South African government and President Office. Participants also explore Church Square and the Ditsong Cultural Museum in the city centre.
Group photo - the group is standing for a photo, behind them there is a statue

Group Photo – Union Buildings

The last day of the South African phase was for the overall evaluation of the caravan camp. The participants received certificates from SAWVA on behalf of its partner organisations ZWA and UVIKUTA. The caravan workcamp ended with a farewell party and volunteers shared the last moments celebrating the 40 days of happiness, challenges, excitement, teamwork, among other experience during their expedition of tracing the roots of International Voluntary Service from East to Southern Africa.

 

Group photo, people are holding their certificate of completition

Certificate Handover Group Photo

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