Our experience at Ubomi Ubutsha

We (Wilma, Vanessa and Anne-Marie) just came back from a pilot at Ubomi. We had a great time and would like to share our experience with future Ubomi volunteers:

Practical information Be More volunteers at Ubomi Obutsha 
 
June 2009
As the first volunteers at Ubomi we really enjoyed ourselves and it was great to get to know the project, the township and the people. What is so great about the centre is that it is run by local volunteers. All the local volunteers were very friendly and helpful to us and made us feel at home right away. They were not afraid to ask for help which made it easy for us to get started right away. The centre is very lucky to have a team of motivated and committed volunteers to run the centre in a very organized and structured way.
 
Our main task at the centre was to help out at the Educare (daycare for 30 children age 2-6) every morning from 08:30 – 13:00. We helped the teacher with her daily program, and organised activities for the children. Next to that we could help out with the soup kitchen, kids program, teens program, Sunday school and home visits. The centre is also wants to start giving Be More volunteers the opportunity to go and help out at the neighbouring primary school.
 
The programs at the centre are very well structured and organized. There definitely is space for own initiative and ideas but they mostly need help with the existing programs. There will be times that there is not much to do and volunteers will have to take initiatives themselves to stay occupied.
 
The children (especially the educare children) hardly speak any English so it sometimes is difficult to communicate with them.
 
All volunteers will receive a letter from Ubomi with more information about the centre and the different areas they can help out with as a volunteer before they come to South Africa.
 
Accommodation and car  
The volunteers are staying in a small apartment in a suburb of Port Elizabeth, Fernglen. This is a quiet and safe area at about a 20 minutes drive from the centre. The volunteers have their own car with which they drive to the centre themselves. Every week the volunteers receive 300 Rand petrol money which is more then enough to drive around.
 
In the apartment there are 2 bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen and a shower/toilet. There is a tv, dvd player, iron, ironing board, 1 set of bed linen, and 1 towel for every volunteer. We did our laundry at the nearby shopping centre for about 30 Rand a load.
 
We have put a file in the volunteer house with some practical tips, brochures for outings, restaurants, maps etc. This can be continued by the volunteers for future volunteers. We have also put a box in the house with materials that the future volunteers can use as well.
 
Things to bring
The centre has lots of toys and art materials like scissors, glue, paper, crayons, pencils etc. It might be nice for future volunteers to bring some pictures or a map of Holland so they can explain to the older children where they come from.
 
There is a beamer and screen at the centre and they often use this to play cd’s or dvd’s. It might be nice to bring some (children’s) movies or dvd’s.
 
The Educare teacher would also really like the volunteers to do puppet shows with the children. There are some puppets but it might be nice to bring some more.
 
It might be nice to have a book with age appropriate art/ sport/ game ideas for volunteers to get some inspiration about what to do with the children.
 
Internet
There is no internet available at the centre and it is not easy to find an internet café close to the apartment. There is a wireless modem for which you can by airtime so you can use it with a laptop. It is easy to use and not to expensive.
 
Our activities at the Educare June 2009
 
Friday 5/6                   Baking cookies. We prepared the dough for them an took groups of 5 kids at a time to the kitchen, this worked very well and the children enjoyed themselves very much!
 
Monday 8/6                Making paper masks. We prepared the masks for them and they just had to colour them in.
 
Tuesday 9/6                Split up the groups in 3 separate groups and do 3 different activities for about 15 minutes;
-          simple cutting exercise (still to difficult for most of the children)
-          stamping with paint (using potatoes)
-          “toverkrasblokken”
 
Thursday 11/6             Making picture frames (kids had to put stickers etc. on it, went really well. They all got their own picture) and decorating cakes
 
Friday 12/6                  Decorating a drawing of a sheep with cotton wool
 
Tuesday 16/6               Movie day for all children
 
Wednesday 17/6         Outing to the beach with 6 children
 
Monday 22/6               Making paper lanterns

Tuesday 23/6               Colouring a picture of a bird and pasting feathers on it.
 
Wednesday 24/6         Making paper hats
 
Thursday 25/6             Making “magic sticks”
 
Friday 26/6                  Dutch games and making pancakes 

Future Ubomi volunteers, have fun!!!!!!