Is Community volunteering in Ethiopia with a group, right for me?
If you’re eager to work with children and you’re ready to use your own hands to support local communities, then this project is an ideal fit for you. Better still, you’ll be working with a group of like-minded people, and you’ll have constant support from the Lion Of Judah staff. It’s one of our team trips, where we run a project on fixed dates so individuals from around the world can come together to form a group. It’s a great way to make a difference while meeting new people.
On this project, everything is organized for you from the moment you step off the plane. Your group will have a full schedule of volunteer work, activities in the evenings, and a weekend trip. You’ll work and sight-see together.
You don’t need any previous experience or qualifications to join this project. You’ll work alongside local teachers and caregivers, and the Lion Of Judah Travel staff are there to provide guidance and answer your questions. You can also brainstorm ideas with your group.
Joining a project like this could help your future career. You’ll gain childcare experience, and the project will give you interesting points to talk about in applications and interviews. You’ll also develop personal skills, like communication and working with people from different countries and cultures.
This is a fixed-date trip that runs at specific times during the year. You can choose the dates that best fit your schedule.
What will I do on this project?
In Ethiopia, your group will support local teachers and caregivers at a daycare center or kindergarten. Here’s what you can expect to do:
- Promote early childhood development through educational and stimulating activities
- Encourage children to practice good hygiene every day.
- Participate in renovation work to improve learning environments.
- Get to know the Ethiopian culture and way of life.
- Meet like-minded volunteers from all over the world.
Your work will be divided into five main areas:
- Promote early childhood development.
Your main role will be to support the work of local teachers and caregivers by focusing on early childhood development. Through games and educational activities, you’ll help with their physical, social, and cognitive development. The skills they learn, like improving hand-eye coordination, will help them cope with the demands of formal schooling.
- Help improve literacy and numeracy.
You will also work towards improving literacy and numeracy in children. Reading, writing, and counting are essential skills that everyone needs in life. By focusing on these skills at a young age, we can give children a head start for when they start school.
- Encourage children to practice good hygiene everyday.
You will also focus on encouraging children to practice good basic hygiene. Poor hygiene is the cause of many illnesses and diseases. By getting children to practice good hygiene everyday, we can reduce the rate of infection and improve the overall health of the community.
- Community work
In Ethiopia, you’ll help with gardening or light renovation work such as painting or decorating. Feel free to voice your creativity and share your own practical, low-cost ideas for renovation work. Assisting in this way will mean the local community with benefit from your contribution even once you’ve left.
By doing this kind of work as a group, you’ll be able to accomplish a great deal in the short time you’re in Ethiopia.
Explore Ethiopia with a group of people your age.
In Ethiopia, you’ll get to explore and experience life in East Africa accompanied by a group. When you’re not working, you’ll have plenty of social and cultural events and activities to keep you busy. You’ll also have constant support and guidance, as the Lion Of Judah Travel staff will accompany you throughout your stay. We’ll also take you on a trip over the weekend.
Where in Ethiopia will I be working?
- Addis Ababa
Your group will be based in Addis Ababa, where you’ll work in the local community and at a care center. Most of the care centers in Ethiopia look after children from families where both parents work. In most cases, funding is limited so the center are under-resourced and, at times, under-staffed.
When you are not working, you will be able to explore this historic town with your group. Ethiopia is a safe country renowned for its kind and friendly people, making it an ideal country for those visiting Africa for the first time.
- Airport pickup
When you arrive at your respective airport, a member of Lion Of Judah Travel staff will be there to meet you.
What are the aims and impact of this project?
The aim of this project is to bring a group of like-minded people together to improve early childhood development and education in Ethiopia.
In Ethiopia, the care centers we work with have limited resources and staff. They need extra support to make sure that each child learns the skills they need to thrive when they start school. Your group will become part of our ongoing efforts to help local teachers and caregivers do this. Each member of your team will be a welcome pair of helping hands. You’ll work together to improve early childhood development, literacy, and numeracy.
Your group will also help improve the learning environment. You’ll do this by adding a fresh coat of paint or colorful mural to a classroom wall, or build a vegetable garden.
And our secondary aim is to encourage the exchange of cultures, knowledge, and skills between members of your group and local people.
Management Plans
We set out the aims and objectives of our projects in documents called Management Plans. We use them to properly plan the work you’ll do. They also help us measure and evaluate our achievements and impact each year.
Ultimately, our management plans help us make our projects better. This in turn means you get to be part of something that makes a real impact where it’s needed.
Measuring Our Impact
Our projects work towards clear long-term goals, with specific annual objectives. Every volunteer and intern we send to these projects helps us work towards these goals, no matter how long they spend on our projects.
Every year we take a step back and look at how much progress we’ve made towards these goals. We put together a Global Impact Report, which documents our achievements.