Volunteering in Orphanages in Tanzania

Tanzania and all the sub-Saharan African countries are badly affected by the epidemics of poverty and HIV/AIDS. The number of orphans and street children is growing. Efforts have been made by various local organizations to protect these children by offering much-needed education as well as skill-development training. Thousands of orphaned children who suffer from extreme poverty, HIV/AIDS and hopelessness leave their villages and travel to Dar es Salaam, Arusha, Moshi and other cities, where they most often end up worse off on the street. Most orphanages in Tanzania lack resources and are under-staffed. Some are extremely poor, and struggle just to feed the children. Not all of the children can attend school, as they lack sponsors to pay for uniforms, books and so on. Other orphanages are more fortunate and even have their own school close to their premises. All of them, however, rely on volunteer workers and donations of all kinds in order to be able to run the orphanage and maintain an everyday, secure environment for the children.

Some orphanages are in rural areas and volunteers will have to take one of the local minibuses (called “Dala Dala”) to get there, a cheap way of transportation. there, a cheap way of transportation. You can buy a weekly pass for a "dala dala" minibus. Cost approx. $ 5.

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