- Typical Day
- Why do people like doing this?
- Staple Diet
- Accommodation
- The Season
- Time Zone
- Plug
- Distance from town
- Transport to town
- Cost of a beer
- Cost of a coke
- Cost of internet
- Communication with home
- Things to do at weekend/free time
- Extra points for this destination
- Background Reading and Information
- Current Exchange Rate
Typical Day
Tanzanians are up at first light about 6am and go to bed earlier than we would particularly where there is no electricity. Working hours and school hours are generally the same as they are in the UK and Europe. Breakfast is whatever you want to make for yourself in your volunteer house. Tanzanians might start with some tea and biscuits. Many schools stop mid morning for a snack - often something that tastes like a doughnut.
If you are teaching you will probably only teach one or two lessons a day to start with. This will prove quite challenging as you will need to fit in marking up to 70 text books - stickers and stamps come in handy for good work. There is likely to be a teachers meeting as well as plenty of preparation for the next day. Initially you might choose to teach with another Oyster volunteer and spend time working out how best to take the lesson and reading the school text book that will be your guide.
After school, or whatever project you decide to do, there is time to get involved in activity, perhaps visiting an orphanage nearby or playing football in the school. Darkness descends suddenly being so close to the equator and you will need to be home before dusk to cook, eat and relax with your fellow volunteers. Evening activities, include, playing cards, chess, reading, keeping a diary etc. There is no TV.
Weekends will be a little different with most volunteers coming into Arusha to meet up, email, visit the cash machine and eat out relatively inexpensively. More details below.
Why do people like doing this?
Firstly it is because it gives volunteers a chance to make a genuine contribution to schools and excellent projects that have welcomed our volunteers since 2000.
The Oyster program allows you to go out as a group of like minded people, having met on the Oyster Pre departure course in the UK. Many lifelong friends are made this way with people you would not have otherwise met.
Most volunteers stay for at least 3 months giving them time to live and work as a local rather than just passing through as a tourist and make solid friendships with the local community as well as others in the group.
Volunteers also enjoy having the time to climb Kili, visit Zanzibar and see game in the Serengeti, something most people don't experience in a lifetime and then only as a short term tourist.
Staple Diet
Locals eat Rice and beans and a maize dish called Ugali. One dish popular with past volunteers is Chips Maayi this is effectively Chips covered in omelette. It is easy for volunteers to enjoy a good balanced diet. There are always plenty of fruit and vegetables. Buying imported food such as Weetabix and marmite, is possible but very expensive as it has to come overland to Tanzania by Truck
Accommodation
As you might expect accommodation is basic. Volunteers are pretty positive about their accommodation because it is usually more comfortable than most locals' accommodation and at least as good as the teachers' accommodation. All our volunteer houses are right next to the schools and even if you are not teaching at a school you will be based at the school and be part of that community. In our view this is the best way to immerse yourself in the heart of the community.
Currently all but one of our houses has running water although it is prone to go off occasionally. If you don't have running water you fill up at the village tap, warm up your bucket in the sun and then wash. Most houses have electricity although this is not regular enough to run a fridge. Oyster try and make it is as comfortable as possible in the traditional Tanzanian way. All volunteers share a room, nearly always in specially built bunk beds that are high enough to be able to attach a mosquito net.
The Season
Arusha has a remarkably pleasant climate despite it being so close to the Equator. Arusha is 1400m above sea level which provides mostly cool dry air for most of the year. The temperature ranges from 13-30oC with an average of 25oC. Arusha's main wet season is during April and May.
Time Zone
The time zone in Tanzania is three hours ahead of GMT. GMT + 3
Plug
Plug sockets in Tanzania are the same as a UK three pin plug.
Distance from town
All our placements and projects are within easy reach of Arusha. Some are within walking distance or a short minibus (Dalai - Dala) ride. The furthest away is about 15 miles out of Arusha and takes a little over an hour as you have a pleasant walk to the main road where you catch a Dalai - Dala. Getting around costs the equivalent of 20p per journey.
Transport to town
On foot or by Dalai - Dala. To get to the coast or Dar - es Salaam there are a number of different bus operators. The 8 hour bus journey to Dar is around £10.
Cost of a beer
At a local bar 65p and at a western style bar £1.25 dependent on the current exchange rate
Cost of a coke
At a local bar 25p at western style bar or a hotel 50p
Cost of internet
Maximum a pound an hour. The internet café's are well equipped with webcams and opportunities to download pictures. Some are air conditioned too.
Communication with home
Oyster gives you advice on getting an inexpensive local SIM on arrival. This works out cheaper to text and phone home. There are many internet cafes in Arusha where you can also download pictures, use webcams and Skype.
Things to do at weekend/free time
There is so much do and see in this incredible part of Africa. Volunteers teaching in Primary and Secondary Schools will get School holidays that are roughly Christmas, Easter and July. It is fine for other volunteers to take reasonable time off too. This gives plenty of time to explore.
Oyster runs optional safaris for the September and January groups at a fraction of the price of booking in Europe. Thanks to our rep Madeline's contacts and the fact that you are a volunteer you stay at some of the best lodges in game parks like Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater. If you are going out a different time, it's possible to help you organise a similar experience.
Another popular possibility amongst Oyster volunteers is to climb Kilimanjaro - a 6 day trip taking you to Africa's highest point nearly 6000 metres above sea level through varied and breathtaking scenery. Nearly all volunteers visit Zanzibar and stay on the beautiful white beaches for a long weekend or longer. There is diving, snorkelling, swimming with dolphins and much more. To get to Zanzibar either a full day by bus and ferry or an hour by plane
Extra points for this destination
You might like to read Alice Reid's (May 2010) account of her stay
I cannot now imagine not having the experience that I have just had and I don't know why I deliberated about having a gap year so much. It was a tremendous few months.
I chose to go and volunteer in a small village just outside Arusha in the foothills of Mt. Meru in northern Tanzania with Oyster Worldwide who provided a very useful 2 day induction course before departure. Mt Meru is an active volcano which, until its eruption 8000 years ago, was taller than nearby Mt Kilimanjaro. The soil is therefore very fertile, my village is nestled between lots and lots of banana trees and coffee plants, making it very pleasant place to live and work for 4 months!
When I was first greeted by my Tanzanian class at the Primary School, it was incredibly daunting. I had no idea how I was to control all seventy five Swahili jabbering children. However I soon settled into it and became so busy with lesson planning, books to mark and trips to Arusha to catch up with the other volunteers, that I didn't really have much time to think about it. When you throw in reading club, and helping out at local orphanages the weeks flew by and while 4 months sounded like forever before I left, it quickly became a very short amount of time.
Getting used to living the African way of life was something I did find a little frustrating to begin with. They live 'pole pole' which means slowly. If we wanted to go into town, we needed to get two dala dalas (the local buses and cheapest mode of public transport). At the top of the hill I sometimes waited up to 45 minutes for the dala dala to fill up - this means if you need to be in town for a certain time; you end up being either incredibly late, or incredibly early, but never on time! If you are meeting another 'mzungu' (white person) then this is an issue, but if meeting a Tanzanian, no problem, they will be late too!
Mama and Baba (my Tanzanian parents) lived next door to us with their grandchildren Linda and Doglas. In order to get another source of income, they had moved out of their house and rented it to volunteers, and they lived in the outhouses. Life was never quiet despite being deep in the countryside. The cockerel crowed at all hours of the day and night, and the cows lived in our garden, shaking our house whenever they galloped about. Rogue chickens often found their way into the house. Cold showers and doing our washing were all fine, until the water supply failed and we had to go and get it from the river 20 minutes walk away. Electricity sounds great until you get a power cut at around 7pm every evening, just when you need to cook supper. Cooking was another challenge, but once we realised our diet couldn't have much variety it all tasted delicious. Fresh aubergines, tomatoes and peppers daily sounds lovely until you realise that is all you have to eat with your pasta and rice. There is only so much you can do with them on a gas hob! Local food was another culture shock. I soon learnt that ugali was something to avoid but rice and beans is very tasty, and so is 'chips maille' (omelette with chips in!).
I helped out in 2 orphanages and the Plasterhouse. The orphanages were very different places. The one in my village had had quite a bit of funding from Germans, but the African ladies who ran it desperately needed help in feeding the children, and the children just wanted our love and attention. The children there were aged between newborn and six, and most were there because their mothers had died in childbirth; other mothers had died from AIDS, diabetes and drug overdoses. Many still had fathers who visited them, but refused to raise them single-handedly because this is not accepted in their culture. The second orphanage I visited was on the other side of town. It was a day-care centre for children whose parents work or cannot look after them during the day. About thirty younger children go for their early education there, and at the weekends there are in excess of two hundred children who spend their days there. The Plasterhouse has been set up to help care for Masai children who require surgery. They go to there before to prepare, and afterwards to recover from their operations. They are then returned to their parents out in the bush.
Climbing Kilimanjaro was something which I wanted to do before I went out there. I ended up climbing with a group of volunteers who came out with a different organisation. I found this quite refreshing as it was nice to get to know some new people. It was the best experience ever, but also one of the hardest things. Getting to the top was amazing, but I soon realised I had to get back down again - that was the worst bit! We climbed the Machame route over 7 days, and after a midnight start under the full moon, reached the summit at 6:20am, April Fools Day, just as the sun was rising. Between the twelve of us, we had 29 porters and 5 guides; it is a major industry in the area. The night after we finished, we were put up in a hotel for the night - my room was on the top floor - ouch my knees!
Zanzibar was a welcome break from teaching, although the 10 hour bus journey to Dar es Salaam was a bit of a chore, particularly as we missed our boat by 5 minutes. Once we arrived it was idyllic, and very very hot, especially at night with no fans as there was no electricity on the entire island! The main electricity cable under the sea from the mainland had been broken since November and was mended 2 days after we left. We snorkeled off Mnemba Island and saw all sorts of fish I never really thought existed. The night food market in Stonetown was very impressive and I tried all kinds of new food including white shark, Zanzibar pizzas and coconut bread.
Safari was something that was arranged through Oyster, and I appreciated not having to organise it myself when I was out there - I don't think I would have had time! It was an excellent few days, although we did all find ourselves getting more excited about the food and hot showers at the hotels than about the animals! We went to Lake Manyara, the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater, and saw all of the 'big five' animals during the 4 days.
I went in the middle of January just before the start of the rainy season. The first few weeks were very hot, but when the rain started it became much more bearable and a bit like an English summer! The rain was intermittent, and it never rained all day, only for an hour or less each time.
Background Reading and Information
Tanzania - Lonely Planet Country Guide
Learn Swahili - Lonely Planet Phrasebook
Current Exchange Rate
1 British Pound = 0 Tanzanian Shilling
This information should be used as a guide only.
Currency data has been provided by a third party source.
