Volunteer Programme
The Centre for Creative Education (CCE) partners with the Freunde der Erziehungskunst Rudolf Steiners – Friends of Waldorf Education, based in Germany, as part of a socio-cultural exchange programme.
There is a north-to-south (Germany to South Africa) option, as well as a reciprocal south-to-north (South Africa to Germany) option.
Volunteers between the ages of 18 and 28 years commit to working at host sites for the period of one year. The volunteers go through an application process and must fulfill different requirements dependent on the respective programme, according to the specifications of the host country and hosting organisations.
The Centre for Creative Education (CCE) partners with the Freunde der Erziehungskunst Rudolf Steiners – Friends of Waldorf Education, based in Germany, as part of a socio-cultural exchange programme. https://www.freunde-waldorf.de/en/
There is a north-to-south (Germany to South Africa) option, as well as a reciprocal south-to-north (South Africa to Germany) option.
Volunteers between the ages of 18 and 28 years commit to working at host sites for the period of one year. The volunteers go through an application process and must fulfill different requirements dependent on the respective programme, according to the specifications of the host country and hosting organisations.
NORTH-TO-SOUTH
SOUTH-TO-NORTH
North – To – South Programme
NORTH-TO-SOUTH PROGRAMME
The Centre for Creative Education (CCE) is involved from the start; interviewing interested candidates, processing applications, placing approved candidates at a host site, organising accommodation, as well as providing transport to and from host sites daily, Monday to Friday. Transport is organised from the CCE campus and back.
WHAT TO EXPECT
During their time in South Africa, volunteers live with housemates for the period of their volunteer service. They share a communal living space and co-ordinate the sharing of a motor vehicle.
Volunteers attend weekly isiXhosa language classes, as well as Craft sessions where toys and equipment for their host sites are either made or repaired. At the Craft sessions they learn to make soft toys such as felt balls, dolls, animals, and they make hanging mobiles, wooden toys, and also pillows, blankets as are needed.
Currently host sites are Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres (kindergartens/educare preschools), a special-needs care centre, and Centre for Creative Education’s Zenzeleni Campus.
These sites are situated in low-income areas of the greater Cape Town area including Mitchells Plain, Manenberg, Delft, Philippi West, Nyanga East, Mfuleni, and various parts of Khayelitsha. Staff at these sites care for and educate children and youth, most of them from families with household incomes below the breadline.
RESPONSIBILITIES
At the host sites volunteers assist regular staff with various tasks, dependent on the site where they are placed. Tasks at an ECD site include assisting with the running duties each day:
- Taking care of children, assisting with supervised and free play activities.
- Helping carers and teachers prepare the space and equipment for activities.
- Assisting with the preparation of meals.
- Facilitating games and songs.
- Cleaning, maintenance, and gardening work.
- Helping to organise outings and accompanying children and carers/teachers on trips.
- Creating posters and games for the children as well as any specific project needed at a host site.
Volunteers at the primary school may also be required to assist with class exercises, tests, helping with extra-lesson support if they have the skills, crafts, sports activities, library tasks, administration tasks and helping to compile reports for sponsor donors. Volunteers at the special-needs care centre do similar tasks and may work with both young children and youth.
CONNECTING
The ECD centres where volunteers are hosted are connected to the CCE through staff who have done, or are doing, either formal or informal ECD training through the college.
Volunteers learn how to engage with people from different cultural groups, working in circumstances that are far removed from their own life experiences, often taking on tasks for which they previously had little knowledge or experience. They take back to their country all they have learnt and communities in their home country benefit from their learnt experiences.
Volunteers meet regularly with the CCE staff and are offered mentorship support as needed.
For the hosts there are many benefits for having a volunteer: helping to care for and educating children under challenging circumstances, engaging with young people who are keen to learn, and generally making a difference. Children benefit greatly from the experience of receiving caring attention from people from different backgrounds – something they might otherwise seldom or even never experience.
The Centre for Creative Education (CCE) is involved from the start; interviewing interested candidates, processing applications, placing approved candidates at a host site, organising accommodation, as well as providing transport to and from host sites daily, Monday to Friday. Transport is organised from the CCE campus and back.
WHAT TO EXPECT
During their time in South Africa, volunteers live with housemates for the period of their volunteer service. They share a communal living space and co-ordinate the sharing of a motor vehicle.
Volunteers attend weekly isiXhosa language classes, as well as Craft sessions where toys and equipment for their host sites are either made or repaired. At the Craft sessions they learn to make soft toys such as felt balls, dolls, animals, and they make hanging mobiles, wooden toys, and also pillows, blankets as are needed.
Currently host sites are Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres (kindergartens/educare preschools), a special-needs care centre, and Centre for Creative Education’s Zenzeleni Campus.
These sites are situated in low-income areas of the greater Cape Town area including Mitchells Plain, Manenberg, Delft, Philippi West, Nyanga East, Mfuleni, and various parts of Khayelitsha. Staff at these sites care for and educate children and youth, most of them from families with household incomes below the breadline.
RESPONSIBILITIES
At the host sites volunteers assist regular staff with various tasks, dependent on the site where they are placed. Tasks at an ECD site include assisting with the running duties each day:
- Taking care of children, assisting with supervised and free play activities.
- Helping carers and teachers prepare the space and equipment for activities.
- Assisting with the preparation of meals.
- Facilitating games and songs.
- Cleaning, maintenance, and gardening work.
- Helping to organise outings and accompanying children and carers/teachers on trips.
- Creating posters and games for the children as well as any specific project needed at a host site.
Volunteers at the primary school may also be required to assist with class exercises, tests, helping with extra-lesson support if they have the skills, crafts, sports activities, library tasks, administration tasks and helping to compile reports for sponsor donors. Volunteers at the special-needs care centre do similar tasks and may work with both young children and youth.
CONNECTING
The ECD centres where volunteers are hosted are connected to the CCE through staff who have done, or are doing, either formal or informal ECD training through the college.
Volunteers learn how to engage with people from different cultural groups, working in circumstances that are far removed from their own life experiences, often taking on tasks for which they previously had little knowledge or experience. They take back to their country all they have learnt and communities in their home country benefit from their learnt experiences.
Volunteers meet regularly with the CCE staff and are offered mentorship support as needed.
For the hosts there are many benefits for having a volunteer: helping to care for and educating children under challenging circumstances, engaging with young people who are keen to learn, and generally making a difference. Children benefit greatly from the experience of receiving caring attention from people from different backgrounds – something they might otherwise seldom or even never experience.
South – To – North Programme
SOUTH-TO-NORTH PROGRAMME
CCE, in partnership with Freunde der Erziehungskunst Rudolf Steiners – Friends of Waldorf Education, offers young South African adults the opportunity to work in a social facility in Germany: this is a voluntary service and all work is performed without pay. The programme does, however, offer participants the opportunity for travel, and the opportunity to enjoy intercultural encounters and exchanges, as well as new areas of work alongside new spheres of learning.
This volunteer venture is made possible by the German Federal Voluntary Service, which is supported by the German Federal Ministry for Family, Seniors, Women and Youth. Interested participants are required to visit the Freunde der Erziehungskunst Rudolf Steiners – Friends of Waldorf Education website [https://www.freunde-waldorf.de/en] to complete the online application form and check the necessary requirements.
Participants must be at least 18 years of age and able to express themselves effectively in German. Ideally they will have some experience working in social care situations such as a children’s home, a special-needs care centre, a farming community working with children or youth requiring care.
Applicants should be curious and open to meeting new people and gaining cultural experiences. Equally important is that they are interested in working within a Waldorf environment and open to the underlying philosophy of Anthroposophy. Currently we can accept only interested persons based in the greater Cape Town area.
Successful south-north volunteers will receive:
- Free room and board in Germany.
- A monthly “pocket money” stipend.
- Health, accident and liability insurance coverage.
- Seminars and pedagogical support.
- Support in the visa application process.
Note: All costs related to the visa, preparatory language courses, as well as the return ticket to Germany are for the volunteer’s own expense. In individual cases, the Freunde der Erziehungskunst Rudolf Steiners – Friends of Waldorf Education might be able to assist with travel expenses.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Before departing Cape Town, volunteers attend a preparatory seminar, co-facilitated by alumni volunteers where possible. On returning, they attend a “debriefing” returning seminar.
Participants typically attend 25 seminar days, during which there is opportunity for personal exchanges and reflection of life in Germany. Friends of Waldorf Education staff support the volunteers during their entire year in all matters related to their voluntary service.
SCOPE OF THE WORK
In social therapeutic and curative educational institutions people with and without special needs work together. Our volunteers support these people in all their daily activities (eating, getting dressed, personal hygiene). They work mostly in special-needs households but often also workshops (woodworking, weaving and pottery, as examples).
When working in Waldorf schools, volunteers support teachers by attending to individual children with special needs. In afterschool care centres the children are supported with their lessons in a family atmosphere. In the kindergartens, volunteers support educators in structuring the day for children between the ages of two and six.
Volunteers caring for the elderly assist these people with eating, getting dressed and bodily hygiene, while handling various other necessary daily tasks.
In biodynamic agriculture, core concerns are the responsible cohabitation of humans, as well as the care of soil and animals. Volunteers might find themselves working in food gardens, general farming or in animal husbandry. In Germany, many of the social therapeutic institutions to which volunteers are sent also have a biodynamic farm.
CCE, in partnership with Freunde der Erziehungskunst Rudolf Steiners – Friends of Waldorf Education, offers young South African adults the opportunity to work in a social facility in Germany: this is a voluntary service and all work is performed without pay. The programme does, however, offer participants the opportunity for travel, and the opportunity to enjoy intercultural encounters and exchanges, as well as new areas of work alongside new spheres of learning.
This volunteer venture is made possible by the German Federal Voluntary Service, which is supported by the German Federal Ministry for Family, Seniors, Women and Youth. Interested participants are required to visit the Freunde der Erziehungskunst Rudolf Steiners – Friends of Waldorf Education website [https://www.freunde-waldorf.de/en] to complete the online application form and check the necessary requirements.
Participants must be at least 18 years of age and able to express themselves effectively in German. Ideally they will have some experience working in social care situations such as a children’s home, a special-needs care centre, a farming community working with children or youth requiring care.
Applicants should be curious and open to meeting new people and gaining cultural experiences. Equally important is that they are interested in working within a Waldorf environment and open to the underlying philosophy of Anthroposophy. Currently we can accept only interested persons based in the greater Cape Town area.
Successful south-north volunteers will receive:
- Free room and board in Germany.
- A monthly “pocket money” stipend.
- Health, accident and liability insurance coverage.
- Seminars and pedagogical support.
- Support in the visa application process.
Note: All costs related to the visa, preparatory language courses, as well as the return ticket to Germany are for the volunteer’s own expense. In individual cases, the Freunde der Erziehungskunst Rudolf Steiners – Friends of Waldorf Education might be able to assist with travel expenses.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Before departing Cape Town, volunteers attend a preparatory seminar, co-facilitated by alumni volunteers where possible. On returning, they attend a “debriefing” returning seminar.
Participants typically attend 25 seminar days, during which there is opportunity for personal exchanges and reflection of life in Germany. Friends of Waldorf Education staff support the volunteers during their entire year in all matters related to their voluntary service.
SCOPE OF THE WORK
In social therapeutic and curative educational institutions people with and without special needs work together. Our volunteers support these people in all their daily activities (eating, getting dressed, personal hygiene). They work mostly in special-needs households but often also workshops (woodworking, weaving and pottery, as examples).
When working in Waldorf schools, volunteers support teachers by attending to individual children with special needs. In afterschool care centres the children are supported with their lessons in a family atmosphere. In the kindergartens, volunteers support educators in structuring the day for children between the ages of two and six.
Volunteers caring for the elderly assist these people with eating, getting dressed and bodily hygiene, while handling various other necessary daily tasks.
In biodynamic agriculture, core concerns are the responsible cohabitation of humans, as well as the care of soil and animals. Volunteers might find themselves working in food gardens, general farming or in animal husbandry. In Germany, many of the social therapeutic institutions to which volunteers are sent also have a biodynamic farm.
4 Victoria Road, Plumstead, 7800
Cape Town, South Africa
PO Box 280, Plumstead, 7801
ZENZELENI CAMPUS
64 Mongesi Road, F-Section,
Khayalitsha, 7784
Cape Town, South Africa
PO Box 280, Plumstead, 7801
POLICY OF NON-DISCRIMINATION
The Centre for Creative Education promotes respect for all students, employees, and applicants for admissions or employment, and prohibits discrimination based on race, colour, nationality, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, pregnancy, marital status, or any other category that is protected by law. These nondiscrimination policies apply in the administration of our educational policies, hiring policies, admissions policies and financial aid programs.
Registered with the Department of Higher Education and training 2000/HE08/003
Centre for Creative Education – Iziko Labantu be Afrika
NPO 007 349 / NPC 1997/21076/08 / PBO 930005582/ B-BBEE Level 1