If you want to volunteer abroad in Africa then Tanzania and Kenya are your options with Outreach International. Tanzania is one of the largest countries in Africa. A country with stunning landscapes and warm, friendly people makes it a great location if you want to volunteer in community project. The projects we support are humanitarian projects seeking to help local communities.
Volunteers have the opportunity to support a number of projects centred around semi-rural town of Moshi, in the shadow of Kilimanjaro. Volunteers work with children in a good but basically equipped school, as well as offering support to children’s refuges that offer care and a home to children who can no longer be supported or looked after by their family.
Creative volunteers with an arts background have a rare opportunity to get involved with an arts and crafts business cooperative. This provides young Tanzanians with training in life skills to earn a living.
Medical students, doctors and nurses wishing to volunteer can consider helping in a local medical centre to gain experience in an African outpatient clinic. This is a great opportunity for students seeking a career in medicine or volunteers qualified in medicine who would like to help on a project in Africa, and potentially help on outreach medical tours into local villages.
On the Human Development Index of the United Nations Development Programme, Tanzania ranked 152nd of 187 countries in 2013. It is estimated that one third of the 45 million Tanzanians live below the basic needs poverty line, and well below the international poverty line. Poverty reduction has been slow and unevenly shared.
There is an evocative mixture of people and cultures including the Masai, Sukuma and Chagga who live in the Moshi area, farming the foothills of Kilimanjaro where our projects are located. Despite having over 120 tribes, Tanzania has successfully become one nation, in part due to the adoption of Kiswahili as the national language.
Accommodation is in a simple and comfortable guesthouse close to the projects.
A quarter of its 95 million hectares is designated as ‘wildlife protected areas’, which is more than the combined area of France and Belgium. This includes such famous areas as the great Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater. The massive game parks, challenges of Mt Kilimanjaro, stunning beaches and beauty of Zanzibar provide opportunities for volunteer travel outside of their project work.
See more of our volunteer projects available in Tanzania