50+ Volunteering

I saw rhinos and cave paintings and had the chance to visit a village, where I met an 82-year-old chief that told me the tale of fighting a leopard that was eating his livestock. His stories were incredible and followed shortly by a dance performance by the children of the village. I could not write about this day with enough detail to do it justice, but believe me when I say it was one of the most memorable days of my life!

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Our day started at 7am with making our own breakfast. We would meet with all the staff at 8 for the day’s work which would continue until 4 or 5. We were assigned different jobs with different staff and animals every day. We had baby monkeys which were so cute, but bratty; we took turns bottle feeding and playing with them as well as a little dyker and springbok.

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Working in Thailand was one of the best experiences of my life. The children were so incredibly sweet and eager to learn. The younger children barely knew any English so we had to find ways to communicate with them through pictures and hand motions. After this experience, I really think anyone can learn to be a teacher!

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I know the friends I made will be in my life for a long time! Even though I was only in Thailand for a short period of time, I know I helped make a difference in the lives of the children I met.

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All in all, it was the best thing I have done in my entire life, and I would go back in a heartbeat. The animals, group of volunteers, amazing staff and incredibly fun weekend excursions made my time in South Africa an unforgettable experience. 

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Typical days at the African Wildlife Ranch aren’t typical at all. Each day provided for a new opportunity to help improve the lives of the animals at the ranch. Whether it was assisting with cleaning enclosures each morning, preparing food for various animals, providing enrichment to one of the many wonderful animals, building and preparing enrichment opportunities or assisting with project work, there was always something new to keep you focused on.

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The Ho Chi Minh Community Involvement placement starts off with four days of Culture Week, a fantastic opportunity to get to know the other volunteers we would be living with for the next three weeks. This involved language and culture classes, a tour of the city and its major historical sites, cooking class and Vietnamese towel folding class (the last two of which caused a LOT of laughter!). Then we all started work.

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I learned a lot about the culture in Vietnam and was able to explore the famous places in Ho Chi Minh as well. Apart from the amazing time I had during the cultural week, I was more keen for my week of volunteering to come, as that was my main purpose of enrolling myself to this program. I’ve never been happier that I chose to work in a school as I; myself enjoy having children around me.

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In the afternoon the volunteers would take the baboons down to the river and watch them play and socialize for about an hour. This also gave us time to socialize and become very close friends and family. The baboons would grab my legs and hands when they wanted me to carry them as we walked down to the river. This was my favorite part of the day.

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One of my favorite aspects of my project was “baby time.” On this day, one group would be in charge of taking care of the baby monkeys. We fed them bottles, spent time in their enclosures, took the baboons to the river, prepared their night boxes, and much more. This allowed us to develop a connection with the baby monkeys, which was so unique.

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While I was there, we were working on a new space for Roger the caracal. We also assisted on daily tours of the facility. In between working, there was plenty of free time to spend quality time with the animals of our choice, including cheetahs, caracals, lions, servals, monkeys, and more.

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I truly loved my time volunteering in South Africa at the Wild Cat Sanctuary and look forward to returning in the future to see for myself the fantastic work they continue to do for their animals.

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I’ve traveled to farms to work with livestock, injecting, de-horning, pregnancy testing and artificially inseminating. I spent a lot of time in the townships, getting to know the locals – dogs and children! It was refreshing to be in community that valued love and kindness over materialistic items. We dipped the dogs (and many puppies!) for fleas, ticks and mange, de-wormed, vaccinated, and injected antibiotics to treat illnesses and injuries.

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The hands-on involvement was unlike any other! It felt great being able to help the local vets and townships. Volunteering in South Africa was by far one of the most rewarding experiences of my life!

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Hard work pays off, and this doesn’t go unnoticed by the amazing crew. I managed to go onto an exclusive boat trip which had less clients on board, giving me more opportunities to capture some great footage of the sharks who displayed incredible activity, breaching around six times in the space of two hours.

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Volunteering with GoEco on the Great White Shark Conservation Program has been a most rewarding experience! Being able to go out on the ocean almost every day, seeing Great Whites 20cms from your face, and helping manage a commercial shark cage diving vessel is possibly the most exciting thing I have ever done!

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I couldn’t imagine how those township kids’ childhood would be until I participated in their life. We had a totally different life with them. Finally I realized how happy and lucky I am and I’ve never felt regret to join this volunteer experience. I could deeply felt the happiness during my trip and I felt that it’s more blessed to give than to receive. I did learn a lot and also received a lot during the volunteering trip.

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I sort of became the head teacher there quickly. And the kids listen to me and trust me – and I learned a little Xhosa (pronounced kosa) too. I’m such a mess right now because I love them and I feel awful leaving them. In a perfect world I would stay and make sure I saw them all graduate from high school.

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As my volunteer time came to a close, I felt so inspired and so confident that I couldn’t wait to go home and show off my newfound knowledge of vegan baking...I am so very proud of myself for having the courage to experience one of the best adventures of my life.

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Every day, Yael and Ella would guide me through new recipes, techniques, and how to overcome the challenges of baking vegan (without eggs, dairy, etc). By the end of my three weeks, I was familiar with almost all the products and techniques used in the bakery..

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