Volunteering in Kairo, Zanzibar

An overview of what volunteering consisted of and how GIVE has impacted the small village of Kairo.

Before I explain what my time volunteering in Zanzibar entailed I want to write a quick disclaimer. The locals and the community are perfectly content with their life and don't need any of our help. We are here simply to make opportunities like school, learning English/computers, and health more accessible. GIVE's goal is to empower communities with difficulty obtaining these services. They bring in the money and resources and teach the locals so Kairo can become sustainable without outside help.

One of the main ways they accomplish this is by having people from Tanzania lead the projects. I had the honor to work with and get to know five hilarious and smart boys who will take over this project in the future.

Throughout my week in Zanzibar my group had the opportunity to participate in four different projects: construction, English education, computer education, and health. Each volunteer participated in construction and either education or health.

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Our main project for construction was building a security booth at the entrance of the school. Before, anybody could come into the school and some tours would bring tourists around the school. Now there will be a guard that will make sure only the students and teachers come on the school grounds. Throughout construction we had the help of Boi, Hamis and locals who worked alongside us and showed us what to do.

To build the security booth we mixed a lot of cement. We would take three wheelbarrows of sand and three wheelbarrows of rocks and mix it with cement and water. After mixing we would put it in buckets and take it to the booth where some of the locals would pour it into the molds.

We also brought wheelbarrows of dirt and rocks into what will become teacher offices to level out the floor. This consisted of someone breaking up the soil with an axe and others shoveling the loose dirt. I really liked using the axe, so that became my primary task.

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I had the opportunity to be one of the computer teachers. My job was to help the students understand how to use a computer, type, experiment with paint, and use word. For the more advanced, I would explain PowerPoint and Excel.

The majority of my students were from the Masai tribe in Arusha. They would come to Zanzibar for a few months every year to earn money by selling souvenirs to tourists. While they were here for business they began taking English and computer classes. All of my students spoke English well, so communication was easy. They were very fun to work with and simultaneously learn about their culture and life back in Arusha.

We worked alongside Coco. He was taught how to use computers by a previous group and is now a teacher himself. He primarily worked with the younger students who had limited English knowledge.

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There English classes were split into gender and then again into levels. The males had two levels, and the females three. MC was the local who was in charge of running the English Education program. He was once a student in the English classes and is now fluent and teaching others. His would give the volunteers topics to teach and then help them create lesson plans.

One of the main ways they would teach was through different games and activities. I didn't get a chance to witness any of the classes in person, but from watching videos and hearing the laughter and shouting, I could see how much the students enjoyed learning.

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The last program was the health program. Three of the volunteers along with our guide had experience in the medical field and were selected to help start this program. GIVE also brought in a few nurses that worked with the volunteers. Their job was to do a simple check-up on each student. This consisted of taking their temperature, height, weight, listening to their heartbeat and taking their blood pressure.

Each student was then put into a database with all their health information and a photograph to identify them. Next the volunteers looked through each students profile and decided which ones needed to see a doctor. A doctor was then brought out the following week to take a closer look at these students and prescribe any medicine needed.

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Volunteering and interacting with the community of Kairo was one of the most influential and meaningful experiences throughout my travels. I met some of the happiest and most down to earth people who have sparked me to change the way I view the world and go about life. I honestly feel as though my time spent helping these kindhearted people taught and inspired me more than it impacted them.