Teach township children from Cape Town how to surf

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Program Overview
Life on the Program
Project Details
Volunteer Testimonials

Program Overview

Come and join our team and teach children to surf in addition to coaching other mainstream South African sports in townships that surround the beautiful city of Cape Town.

The aim is for you to assist teachers and GVI staff to run sports lessons at the township schools in the mornings. You will be running general physical education classes but you may also be teaching specific sports like football, netball, cricket, tennis, athletics and rugby. In the afternoon you will help run our surf club. This involves giving the children surf lessons and teaching them about how to care for their coastal environment.

Volunteer and live in an attractive coastal village close to Cape Town and Stellenbosch, with direct exposure to local culture and communities. Optional side trips are available to Robben Island, Table Mountain, Cape Point and Penguins, Cape Town wildlife safari, wine tasting in Stellenbosh. For those travelling onwards there is easy access to the Garden Route and cheap domestic flights to Kruger National park from Cape Town.

Scholarships

We are always looking for enthusiastic and dedicated people to join our team. This project offers qualifying and high-performing volunteers the chance to stay on the project for a longer duration on a GVI Scholarship free of charge and as part of the staff team in the field. If you would like to work towards a field career and make the very most of your time abroad, you might want to work towards a place on a GVI Scholarship. Successful scholars may find themselves offered full time employment with GVI, and many of our current staff have come through this route. Contact us for more information!

Please note, the awarding of scholarships is at the sole discretion of GVI and may be offered immediately after the completion of your program or at a later date.

Life on the Program

Every weekday morning you will be teaching sports classes at township schools. In the afternoons you will head to the beach where you will be working with an instructor to teach children to surf. Even if you have no previous surfing experience, this project is a great way to start out.

You will be sharing accommodation facilities with your fellow volunteers in an apartment or house with access to electricity, hot running water.

During your downtime at weekends you can relax and enjoy many of the amazing sights and experiences Cape Town has to offer. Several optional side trips are available such as a safari day-trip or cultural tour of the city.

Project Details

This program runs with the collaboration and support of community leaders and teachers from the local communities.

Volunteers will: prepare and run general physical education classes; coach specific sports such as football, netball, cricket, tennis, athletics and rugby; teach children how to surf; educate the children about their coastal environment and its importance through fun and interactive workshops; and, assist with beach clean ups.

Without this program or volunteer assistance, the children would not have the opportunity to take part in such a variety of sports activities and events, due to lack of equipment, skills and supervision within the township.

How this project makes a difference:

This project gives township children the opportunity to play sports and learn to surf in conjunction with creating an awareness of the environment around them. The children not only learn how to respect and protect their local beaches but the project also keeps the children physically active, healthy and safe from the drugs, alcohol, and crime which is so prevalent in the townships.

Volunteer Testimonials

Austin Collins, USA

I highly suggest GVI in general to anyone who loves meeting new interesting people and seeing the world, but specifically the surfing program if you want to make a one on one impact on the children. You get to watch them grow from day one. In every single lesson they become better at surfing and open up to you. You see the smiles on their faces as soon as we pick them up from the classroom and it really makes my day every time we do it. This is really just a great experience which I can’t say enough about!

I did sports and surfing in Cape Town for 6 weeks. My highlights were seeing the kids stand up on the boards for the first time which was great and also when they started turning as they were...

Samantha Plunkett, USA

I did sports and surfing in Cape Town for 6 weeks. My highlights were seeing the kids stand up on the boards for the first time which was great and also when they started turning as they were so excited! Off project I would definitely recommend going to Cape Town as it’s a great bonding experience and there is so much to do and it’s really fun. I would definitely recommend this program to everyone because I had such a great experience I just wish I could stay longer.