Via Volunteers: Educational Enrichment at Fikelela Children's Home

Fikelela Children's Home is situated in a quiet area of Khayelitsha township not far from Cape Town.

Fikelela provides safe, secure and nurturing home-based care for up to 40 children aged between 0-8 years of age. The children are either affected by, or infected with HIV/Aids. All of the children have been abandoned and orphaned, neglected or abused. Many of the children in Fikelela's care are nursed back to health and put on anti-retrovirals when necessary. Fikelela also provides care for children in foster care and orphans in the community.

As a volunteer at Fikelela Children's Home you will assist with a fun educational enrichment programme for the 3-8 year olds which is designed to help them improve their Maths and English fluency, improve their fine motor & gross motor skills, build confidence, and improve self-esteem.

You will also be involved in helping the children when they get home from school, assisting the staff to serve food, preparing the babies and older children for bath time and getting them ready for bed with a relaxing activity or story.

To join this project you will need to be in good physical condition and aged 18 years or older by the time you arrive in Cape Town. Emotional maturity is an important asset for volunteers at Fikelela, and you must also have personal characteristics like commitment, flexibility, patience and the ability to use your initiative if you find yourself at a loose end.

To ensure effective communication between all team members, a good understanding of the English language is also required.