A day in the life of an Intrepid Volunteering traveller to...
A day in the life of Intrepid Volunteering, Tanzania
Location: Machame, Tanzania
Project: Nursery class build
Volunteer traveller: Ailsa Dixon
6am the cockerel is crowing and I hear Mama lighting the fire to make our breakfast. Soon the sounds of my fellow travellers start to stir, someone has been snoring in the night! I look out of the window to see the first pink rays of light over the magnificent summit of Kilimanjaro. Time for school, I pull on my workbooks and we chatter excitedly following our crew leader through the village. The sounds of hundreds of small voices diligently reciting the Tanzanian national anthem greet us as we stand proudly alongside them for assembly. Into the classroom 'Good morning teacher' as more than eighty faces watch me and my fellow travellers, thank goodness we did our prep!
After lunch, time to get digging, the foundations of a new classroom will be there to support this school long after we have left. The work is tiring but we sing with our friends the local masons to keep us going. I know I'll sleep well tonight! The day is complete with a frenzied dance with the local Mama's group. We learn to weave and share hysterical laughter as the boys put on their newly made hats and the mamas try to play croquet.
We return to the volunteering house, it already feels like home, and talk about the day, play cards, shower in the garden, plan our lessons and munch on plates of vegetable stew. A quick look out the window at the brilliant night sky and as my head begins to loll, I wriggle into my sleeping bag and smile contently. It's been another unique day.
A day in the life of Intrepid Volunteering, Peru
Location: Cuzco
Project: Water pipe project
Volunteer traveller: Aisling Byers
Monday - Arrived back last night from town on the last bus. Surrounded by locals with chickens and guinea pigs, so glad of a quick wash at the sink this morning. Our cook made the yummy pancakes I love this morning, a good start to the day. Off to the building site at 9am. We had to clean the ends of pipes, then using a hack-saw blade scratch the outside and inside so that the glue would bond better when we stuck them together. We managed to lay quite a distance of pipes. Had a juice break for half an hour and lunch at 12pm. Finished on the site at 3pm and headed to the house to start planning our lessons for the day. Got the kids saying their names and asking each other "My name is Eduardo, what is your name?" Progress at last.
Tuesday - Our companions when we are digging are a group of hens. They've obviously worked out that we are their meal ticket, we dig and dig and dig, and provided them with a fresh supply of grubs. In the classroom today the kids are still colouring in the alphabet with one word for each letter. Yet when we asked them what water was they didn't know, and all animals are either dogs or donkeys!! But at least we have been able to do something with them in the afternoons, and we've had up to 35 kids, ranging from 2 - 13 years old. They all got prizes and stickers for finishing the alphabet. Sang theme tunes from cheesy TV shows for most of the evening and were all in bed by 10pm – shattered!!
Wednesday - Today comprised of digging, digging, digging, brick laying, eating, digging, eating, planning lessons, eating, teaching and eating!!! All the digging is hard but I'm totally motivated by knowing that we're making something really useful and worthwhile. Lunch and dinner today were amazing portions but the cook even produced chips! It's daft the things you miss, but the chips were demolished in seconds! The cook is amazing. Although she only has a small stove, she churns out chicken, rice, soup and even jelly!! It's all pretty carbohydrate loaded but is healthy and filling. Just what we need after a hard days work! Teaching today comprised of learning 'heads, shoulders, knees and toes'. A great idea at the time until we realised what a work out it is! I'm really settling in to Peruvian life.
Thursday - Back to the site for 9.30am this morning for digging, digging and more digging. I'm starting to develop muscles where I didn't even know you could! Back in the house we all got over excited when we saw some horse riders outside, and we all ran out of the gate calling 'Gringos, Gringos'. They looked very shocked to see us, don't know what they thought of us! We apologised and said that we didn't see other Gringos very often and tend to get a bit excited when we do. Oh well, at least we gave them something to talk about when they get home!! Back to school for more 'teaching'. Think we made a mistake teaching the hokey pokey as they're demanding to do all the time now! We are using it as a way to get through the regular teaching plans with the promise if they do their work... they can finish with the hokey pokey. The other teachers think we're crazy. We played 'Who am I' back at the house tonight. Who needs technology? Early night again!
Friday - Woke again and stepped out of the front of the house and made sure I made the most of the stunning landscape of the surrounding mountains that we're lucky to live within. Once I'm home, I'm going to miss these views. Headed to the building site for 9am and a stretch of the trench that we've been working on was ready to be filled in today. It took 4 of us less than an hour to fill in what had taken 8 of us 3 days to dig!!! Cuy, one of the locals we work alongside was a bit late to the site today (no surprises as he's a tad laid-back!), but we all knew he was coming as you could hear his infectious giggle miles away. He's been such a great laugh to work alongside and he brightens our day.
We've got quite a quiet weekend planned, we're going out for dinner tonight, and I may well be going along to my second salsa lesson.
Saturday - We had a picnic in Chinchero ruins, except this wasn't like any picnic I've ever had before. Our cook made us cheeseburgers with chips and salad, so there we were sat in the middle of some fantastic ruins, eating with knives and forks off plates!! It was a complete surprise to all of us. Ok, so our planned quiet weekend didn't go to plan!! We all decided to check our emails in town which turned in to visiting our favourite back street restaurant which in turn lead to a few rounds of Pisco sours. Ended up dancing the night away in Mambos and we all stayed the night in a local hostel!
Sunday - A lovely lie in, and breakfast in town. Some of the others headed to some of the Inca ruins that they've not seen yet, and the rest of us took an early afternoon bus back to the village to catch up on our diaries and reading! We had a camp fire tonight, with the locals. It was a very entertaining evening, especially playing English games in Spanish!!
A day in the life of Intrepid Volunteering, Fiji
Location: Lautoka
Project: Football Coaching
Volunteer traveller: Dan Robinson
The sun is already hot and the sea looks spectacularly blue in the distance as we wake up and get ready for the day ahead. Breakfast is a self-service affair but there's always a good supply of food. Everyone mucks in and helps out with things around the house and our crew are always on hand to sort out any problems and facilitate the whole programme. As people eat, plans are made and revised for the day ahead; even the best laid plans in Fiji can fall foul of the relaxed island mentality and pretty soon everyone knows that 'Fiji time' is infectious and you just become more relaxed with every day.
There is a full programme of coaching almost every day and you have the flexibility to focus on just one sport or combine all the sports depending on what's happening that day. Some volunteering travellers came out with the intention of just coaching football but might have ended up coaching netball, tennis and hockey by the end of it! I'm focussing on coaching rugby and the Fijian's are mad about it! We coach primary school kids for a couple of hours in the morning and do a few more hours in the afternoon with the older kids. A couple of days a week we coach at the local college academy.
We return to the house and maybe after relaxing in the pool for a bit, head out to train with the local team in the evening who welcome us like neighbours and don't go too hard on us in the tackles, thankfully. The coaching is really rewarding and despite their obvious and natural flair for nearly all sports, the Fijian's are really keen to learn more and improve their skills and technique as well as learn about us. I've made some incredible friends, not just among the volunteers, but in the local community too. Occasionally we drink the ceremonial and traditional grog made from Kava root which is a big part of the culture here and to feel part of the community and the culture is something really special.
All the volunteering team are back at the house for a big group meal later that evening. We take turns cooking which is always fun, then depending on plans for the evening we might just relax in the house, plan tomorrow's coaching sessions, watch a DVD or head out to the sleepy town of Lautoka to check emails and who knows, maybe even have a few cheeky beers before coming home to bed! All this and we've still got the weekend to look forward to, to visit some of the most beautiful beaches and swim in some of the clearest water in the world. Not a bad day's work!
A day in the life of Intrepid Volunteering, Ghana
Location: Volta Region
Project: Building pit latrine blocks
Volunteer traveller: Rupert Pate
It's half six in the morning and my alarm clock rings in my ear, it's the start of another day on the project and who knows what fun I'll be in for. I climb out of my mosquito net and make my way to the rest of the group to try and wake them from their slumber. Our Ghana Mama's have already been up for a while preparing breakfast. We all dig into eggs, bread, loads of fruit and of course a mug of our favourite, Milo. There's just no other way to start the day.
By about 7.30am we all head over to the building site to be greeted by the smiling faces of the community ready for a good hard day's grind! Most of the morning is spent down the long drop pit laying the foundations for the 10 seated toilets which will soon be perched on top. It's hard work but great fun chatting along with the local guys getting to know them really well, especially when they all crack out the local palm wine and get that little bit drunk. It's just the way things are done in a Ghanaian village!
After a hearty meal of rice, pasta, red red, palm nut soup, chicken or vegetable stew to name a few, some of the group will head back to the building site where as some will head in to the classroom for an afternoon of teaching some of the most eager, smiling kids you'll ever meet.
Everything kind of wraps up for the day at about 4pm. I'm ready for a refreshing bucket shower with the chickens and then to settle down for another lovely meal and a game of cards with the rest of the guys. All notion of time kind of goes out window in Ghana, with people waking when the sun comes up and going to sleep when the sun goes down. It's hard to get used to at first but you come to love it and feel it's a great way to live by the end of your stay
Compare these trips
