Whilst an interest in environmental issues will be a benefit, the main skills volunteers need are
- the ability to follow instruction
- communication skills
- flexibility
- patience
- creativity
- good with your hands
Introduction
people and places was conceived to ensure meaningful experiences for volunteers and communities working together.
There is much debate about the validity of volunteering by the traditional "Gapper" - post school or university, but we believe that you DO have real skills to share, and that with good management and planning, your skills can help to make a real difference in the communities we serve.
We've worked with our local partners and communities with whom we already work to design volunteer placements for "Gappers" that will be meaningful, responsible and sustainable. You can be sure that you’re not replacing local employment and that your work will be part of a larger programme that is helping vulnerable communities build the future they would want for themselves.
A placement in this project will be challenging, rewarding, meaningful, frustrating ... and fun! It will help you develop your personal skills too - but that is not the priority - the priority is to help local people create a better future.
The Project
The Solar Cooker Volunteer Project was initiated after a successful pilot project with previous volunteers Alex and honeymoon couple Brett and Betsy from America. During their stay they built and tested a variety of different solar cookers made from cardboard boxes and aluminum foil. Alex went on to write her thesis on the design of a solar cooker for “Africa for Engineers without Borders” using her experiences as the basis for her work.
Not only is the cost of electricity escalating yearly but the South African government owner of energy supplier, Eskom, cannot guarantee that they will be able to continue supplies without additional multiple increases to fund their capitalization progamme. Consumers were hit with country-wide “load-shedding” or forced blackouts during 2008 as demand could not be met. Added to that, consumers were subjected to a 27.5% price hike in 2008, closely followed by a further 31.3% in mid 2009. Future increases over the period 2010 - 2012 could mean a further increase of more than 240 per cent.
This rural community is characterised by high unemployment, with single bread-winners striving to support extended families on a very low income. Many households simply cannot afford the costs of electricity. Even households with an electricity supply have returned to using wood burning fires, paraffin stoves and coal burners to cook their meals. The cost of a bundle of wood is rising and local trees will not be able to sustain the community at current rates. All too often, this results in old and maginificent trees being cut down to provide essential fuel. Some of these trees were planted by great-grandparents when they first arrived in the community in the 1950’s.
Your time as a volunteer on this project will be spent building the cookers with local people and educating the community about the new concept and power of solar cooking.
South Africa is ranked in the top 10 countries globally when it comes to sun availability for solar initiatives. You will build simple but effective solar cookers with a trained member of the community and host family, using everyday items that are readily available in the community and shops. In addition you will cook local meals with your host family, thus demonstrating that solar cooking is a viable alternative to expensive electricity.You will of course receive instruction and guidance before you start this work.
The project goal is to be able to roll out the education, building and supply of solar cookers to the community - thereby reducing their dependence on electricity, saving local trees, reducing the burning of coal and fossil fuels and limiting environmental damage. The overall impact will be to reduce demand on the electricity grid which is mostly powered by environmentally unfriendly coal-burning power stations in South Africa.
This project contributes towards the achievement of the 2001 Millennium Development Goal #7 of “Achieving Environmental Sustainability”. The focus is on Target 7A “integrating the principles of sustainable development into policies and programmes; reversing loss of environmental resources”; and Target 7B by “reducing biodiversity loss, achieving a reduction in the rate of consumption of ozone-depleting substances”.
This project is the perfect opportunity for volunteers who want to meet, live with and share their time with South African people. You can stay either in the community in one of the local homes or be accommodated in a traditional Ndebele village in their Lodge. During your stay, you will come to terms with much of the hardship and realities of rural life in South Africa. It may take a while coming from an urbanised city to get used to the way of life and realities on the ground, however, the riches you gather are well worth it.
Context
This rural community has been historically marginalised, as it fell under the “independent homeland” of Bophutatswana under the old Apartheid regime. The lack of infrastructure and economic development are still evident to this day even under the new South Africa as rural development takes a back seat to urbanisation and upgrading of major townships like Soweto. Mapoch Ndebele Village also finds itself in the same marginalised position as the Ndebele were forcibly removed under the Group Areas Act of the Apartheid government to their present site.
The history of the Ndebele village of Mapoch helps to explain why there is so much need in so many different aspects of community life. The original community of Mapoch lived in an area called Wonderboom in Pretoria. They were living on a farm of a certain white farmer. This community was evicted from Pretoria during the early 1950’s. Apparently the farmer petitioned to the government of the time, to have the community removed from “his” land as tourists were travelling through “his” land to visit the community. Blacks were forcibly removed from traditional settlements to make way for white communities under Apartheid policies.
This community was first moved to “Vlakfontein”, where it was found that there was not enough land for their cattle to graze, no rivers nearby and no space suitable to hold the traditional initiation schools, amongst other factors. The community petitioned and more suitable land was found for them. The Mapoch Ndebele Community then moved to a farm at Klipgat under the authority of Mr Speelman Buhlakani Msiza in 1953. The current village was built and life goes on as usual.
Mapoch Ndebele Village is a unique place as the community still live and practice their traditional way of life, i.e traditional ceremonies, Ndebele paintings, beadwork and Ndebele culture in general.
The three main families in the village are the: Msiza’s direct family of the Chief, Buda’s son in laws and Skosana’s. Locally the village is known as “Mabhoko”, which is the name of one of the late Ndebele Kings, but the white people had difficulty in pronouncing Mabhoko and called it “Mapoch”.
The Ndebele people are descendants of the Nguni tribes (greater Zulu tribes) who split from the Zulus and moved up and settled around the greater Pretoria areas. Mzilizazi and King Cha Ndebele feature greatly in their history.
This project works with the surrounding community as well as the Ndebele village of Mapoch who act as your hosts.
The local partners we work with on this project won the prestigious Chairman's Award at the Imvelo Awards for responsible tourism in 2007 for their work with the community of Mapoch. They have also won awards for Best Economic Impact and Best Social Involvement Programme in the community.
They were also Highly Commended by The Virgin Holidays responsible Tourism awards in 2008
