Ya Bana Village Long-stay Volunteer and Intern programs

• Require confirmation
• Duration between 3 and 28 days
• English
• 1 - 10 volunteers can stay
• Help with Childcare, Cooking, Education & teaching, Farming, Household, IT, Maintenance & renovation, Marketing expert, Non-governmental organisation (NGO), Non-profit organisation (NPO), Sport

About this host - 'Ya Bana Village for the children. '

Ya Bana Village is situated in the township of Winterveld, Mabopane. We are an hour’s drive from Pretoria in the smallest province of South Africa – Gauteng.

The organisation is registered as a non-profit organisation, in terms of the Non-Profit Organization Act, 1997 (079-399NPO) and it is registered as a Child and Youth care centre in terms of Section 200 of the CHILDREN’S ACT (Act No. 38 of 2005)

Ya Bana means “for the children.” The Village provides 58 vulnerable and orphaned children between the ages of 1 – 17,  with permanent housing in a family environment where trained house mothers offer love and structure.  Our holistic care focus on the physical, emotional, educational, spiritual and cultural needs of our children.

Our children’s education is most important, and we endeavour to provide as much assistance in the form of equipment and tutoring as possible.  Our children go to 12 different schools in the area!

Extra-mural activities like art, gymnastics, soccer, netball, dance and choir plays an important role in our children’s road to healing.  They gain self-confidence while having fun!

Ya Bana Village is a place where we not only love and care for our children, our task is to built their sense of self again. We want our children to become confident adults, able to partake in the joys of life: love, families, their individual talents and becoming financially independent.

Details of help

We have a wide range of tasks for our volunteers and we aim to find the best possible place for our volunteers in our valuable team.

Volunteer tasks

Specialist skills – maintenance, plumbing, marketing, physiotherapy, education, environmental specialist

Toddlers – Daily enrichment and early childhood development program

Develop a program and training material

Organize required supplies and equipment

Train mothers

Primary school kids – Assist in one to one reading and homework

Supervise free play

Facilitate craft hour once a week

Time table activities

Sport and recreational activities

Supervise daily library visits

General – sorting donations, toys, games, educational games, books

Gardening

Cleaning

Cooking

Volunteers will be assigned specific volunteer duties weekly and will be expected to do at least 5 hours of volunteering per day.

Internships

Why intern with us?

• Gain international work experience
• Enhance your CV
• Develop a global understanding of community service
• Gain social hours and a letter of recommendation
• Discover the South African culture and social challenges
• Gain insight into the South African social system
• Make a difference in the lives of our children.

Accommodation

Extra information

• Internet Access
• Private room
• We offer a pick-up for arrival
• We offer meals
• We have pets
• We are smokers

What else

Esther
Germany

Re: Recommendation Letter Ya Bana

Ya Bana has been my home since 2014 when I was first introduced to this wonderful place
located in Winterveldt, South Africa. In 2014, after finishing high school, I decided to volunteer
for approximately two months at Ya Bana. All of the staff members and the children welcomed
me so heartfully that I soon called them my family. Since it was a very enriching experience to
me, I have stayed in contact with them until now and I am glad that I have had the opportunity
to return in the beginning of 2019.
I can very much recommend Ya Bana as an orphanage which tries to strengthen the Ya Bana
children by sharing true love with them and enabling them through receiving a good education
and healthy nutrition, and supporting them in their perspective aims. Furthermore, Ya Bana
is very willing to make a valuable contribution to the sensitive surrounding by inviting the
community to participate in recreational programs such as Sports (Netball/Altus Sport) or
Arts. Although the area around Ya Bana is a sensitive one, I have always felt safe at Ya Bana.
The Ya Bana ground is organized as a small village with a village father, a village mother,
several houses, a community hall, and security staff who ensure a safe environment. All of the
staff members were looking for my safety and made sure I am in good health. As a diabetic
and vegetarian, I do have to take care of my health and my nutrition by following a special
diet. Despite of my special nutrition, I have never lacked anything at this place and I highly
appreciate the work of the kitchen staff and gardeners. Ya Bana manages to plant different
kinds of vegetables which the mothers are cooking incredibly well.
Since my experiences at Ya Bana have had a huge impact on me in terms of realizing that life
is about with whom you are spending your time with, about the small things which make you
laugh, about caring for each other and sharing the love, I can imagine that the student visitors
would very much enjoy their stay at Ya Bana. Therefore, I truly recommend Ya Bana as a warm,
special and enriching place to visit.
Sincerely,
Esther

Map

Photos