In July some of our Year 11 and 12s travelled to Zanzibar to spend time volunteering at schools in a developing area of the island.   

The 13-night trip was organised by African Adventures, who specialise in educational trips for young people in the UK. African Adventures’ partner schools provide an education for children from underprivileged backgrounds and volunteers support the long-term development of the schools. The students were excited to take part in the trip, with several having spent the previous months raising money towards their trip costs through weekend coaching and selling items on Vinted and eBay. Volunteers were able to choose either a teaching and sports coaching role or a building/renovation role. 

Following a long journey to Zanzibar via Dar es Salaam, the first day of volunteering saw the students getting stuck in at the Kijito Upele School with teaching English, Maths, Science, ICT and Geography and PE. The pupils in the classes were from 9 years old through to 13 years old, with most classes of at least 40 students. 

The group also helped with the laying of cement floors. This involved clearing the courtyard of rubble and then laying down a concrete slab (flooring) in the area/courtyard of the reception classes. This took about five days to complete, with the help of local tradesmen. Students had to complete tasks such as shovelling stones and sand, mixing them together, wheelbarrowing the wet mixture to and from the areas, filling up buckets with water and levelling out the concrete. Then the last two days were spent painting the metal doors and burglar bars on the windows of the nursery block/buildings.

The next day continued in a similar vein with more teaching, sport and construction work, with time for a lunchtime lesson in Swahili! By the third day, we enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing the completion of the cement floor in the courtyard as we continued our sport and teaching classes. Throughout the trip, students were all eager to do a variety of work (all ended up doing teaching, construction and sports coaching, allowing for an all-round experience). Some felt that they developed confidence in speaking to large groups of students, while others were delighted to be able to teach the children despite a language barrier!

Heading up to the weekend we enjoyed a day walking through the Jozani Rainforest (one of three rainforests in Zanzibar) spotting the indigenous Red Colobus Monkey and the Blue Monkey where we learned all about the Mangrove. On Saturday we explored Stone Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of a walking tour. There we saw the birthplace of Freddie Mercury, the House of Wonders, an infamous old slave fort and its famous fish market. We continued the day with a walk to a spice farm where we learned about turmeric, cinnamon, ginger and lemongrass, rounding off the tour with a fantastic fresh coconut for everyone to drink! We spent Sunday on Zanzibar’s east coast for a relaxing stay at a tranquil beach resort, watching the sunrise and exploring the sandy beaches, before most of the group stayed up to watch England in the Euros final.

At the start of the week, we returned to Kijito Upele School to continue our volunteering work for the next two days, with more construction work on the floors, teaching and PE lessons. In the evenings we relaxed by the pool, enjoyed the sunsets and one evening visited Forodhani Gardens to enjoy the local food.

On our last day at the school, we brought donations for the school and were given a wonderful send-off from the students and staff. The group had taken about 20 suitcases full of donated items out to Zanzibar, including a variety of sports equipment, sanitary towels, clothing, stationary (pens, pencils, chalk, paper) and reading books. Fun Fact – each of those 20 bags weighed at least 15 kg each!

Also present were representatives from the Minister of Education, along with reps from the school and African Adventures, were there to thank us and accept the donations we had brought with us.  The school were very grateful for our assistance with the construction of the concrete flooring and painting, while teachers were appreciative of the students teaching their classes various topics – it was challenging at first for NHEHS students but by the end, they all loved being in the classroom and using various teaching methods to get the content across. There was a farewell ceremony at the end of our time at the school where the Minister of Education of Zanzibar (along with the principal, governors of the school and the head of African Adventures) attended. We handed over our donations and they all thanked us for our volunteering.

The final day of the trip was incredible, with an Ocean Safari on a traditional dhow boat. We enjoyed a guided snorkelling session searching for colourful corals, bottlenose dolphins and tropical fish, before a beautiful seafood and exotic fruit lunch. On our return to the hotel, the staff gave us a fabulous farewell, throwing us a party and making us a cake, before we headed back to the UK.

An unforgettable trip where lifelong memories were made.

Final morning at Kijito Upele School, and what a lovely send-off from the students and staff 🇹🇿

The Minister of Education, along with reps from the school and African Adventures, were there to thank us and accept the donations we brought with ☺️ pic.twitter.com/m5Rx9aOtIw

— NottingHill&Ealing (@nhehs) July 18, 2024

Second day of volunteering & another action packed day! 👍🏻

Construction, teaching & sport all took place throughout the day, & during lunchtime we even got a lesson in Swahili 🇹🇿

Finished off the day with a trip to the beach & watched the sunset 🌅#zanzibartrip #volunteers pic.twitter.com/GiPkWGe3Cs

— NottingHill&Ealing (@nhehs) July 10, 2024

Today was spent at the Jozani Rainforest 🌳🌴

A walk through one for 3 rainforests in Zanzibar, spotting the indigenous Red Colombus Monkey & the Blue Monkey 🐒

Then walked through to learn all about the Mangrove 🌳#zanzibartrip #volunteer #jozanirainforest pic.twitter.com/AjclVGTezd

— NottingHill&Ealing (@nhehs) July 12, 2024