Tanzania Orphanage Projects

The orphanage projects in Tanzania are based in Arusha in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro!

You will be based at a home for about 70 children on the outskirts of the town. The boys and girls come from very mixed background. Some have been abused, some abandoned and some have parents who can just not afford to look after them. The children come to the orphanage at a young age and are supported right up to when they leave for university or are encouraged to learn a trade.

You will start at the orphanage quite early in the morning, helping to get the children ready for school. During the day, you help with the running of the orphanage, general maintenance, painting and cleaning or help the children in their trade workshops.

You will be busiest in the afternoons after school when you help with homework and after school activities. You might also elect to work at weekends, taking a couple of days of to go travelling during the week instead, when the orphanage often arranges trips to local parks.

Daily schedule

School hours: Juniors 7am – 11am
Seniors 7am – 2 am

Morning:

You will arrive at 8am. In the morning you will be assisting and teaching children in the nursery class or attending school with the older children, this will be arranged with the local schools by the Director. This is very helpful as it ensures the pupils attendance at school. Some of the primary school children don’t start school until 11am so time will also be spent with them.

Afternoon:

The younger children take a nap 1pm until 3pm during which time you can spend time teaching interacting with the older children. After 3pm, most of the children will be at home from school and this is when you will be busiest with after school activities. You will play sports or do arts and crafts with the children until the end of the day at 4.30 pm.

Opportunities also exist to spend time in the workshop helping and instructing the children on projects to help the home. For example, construction projects currently in need of assistance are a new basketball court with hoops etc. There is also plenty of general maintenance and painting the volunteers could help out with.

There are regular day trips organised for the children which you will be asked to help with. These include trips to local beaches, picnics in the country outside of Dar, museums and even the airport.

Dates

The school terms are listed below. We recommend that you should aim to arrive during the school term as some of the children go home to visit relatives during the school holidays. If you can’t come during term time there will still be work to do. Even during the holidays, the orphanage will still run activities and vacation classes for those without families to go home to.

January – March
April – July
September – November

Note all projects working with children require a background check. This is an extra cost of about £10 but we will make the necessary arrangements. Parking tickets, speeding fines, and some criminal convictions will not prevent you from joining us; we simply check if you have any prior convictions relating to harming children.

Tanzania

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
2022	£895	£995	£995	£995	£995	£995	£1,095	£1,095	£995	£995	£995	£895
2023	£895	£995	£995	£995	£995	£995	£1,095	£1,095	£995	£995	£995	£895
2024	£895	£895	£895	£895	£895	£895	£895	£895	£895	£895	£895	£895

Costs in

All costs shown above are for one month. Additional months can be added for £495.

You choose your dates for teaching, orphanage, journalism and medical placements but spaces throughout the year are limited so reserve your space now.

What's included?

Why are some dates cheaper than others? Our pricing policy explained.