2 days of voluntourism with hands up holidays & new kidz on the block

Though we did our fair share of the required sightseeing, wine drinking and animal obsessing while in South Africa, there was one big reason we finally tackled this long-time dream destination of ours. For years, we’ve toyed with exploring Africa together. We knew that when we finally did, wherever we went, we wanted to incorporate volunteering into our experience. Including 2 days of voluntourism with Hands Up Holidays was a no-brainer.

We had tossed around tons of possible itineraries before #LTsouthafrica came to be, and when we met Christopher Hill, it felt like a sign. Chris is the founder of a luxury voluntourism company called Hands up Holidays that creates tailor-made itineraries, featuring philanthropy experiences all over the world. With Chris’s help, our custom-built trip through South Africa had it all. Our itinerary combined traditional sightseeing, luxury accommodations, and two days of volunteering our time to help the local community. Because we’ve never done anything even slightly resembling this type of trip before, we had no idea what to expect! Would we be building houses or cleaning up beaches?!

One stand-out difference between Hands Up Holidays and other volunteer organizations is the variety of projects on their radar. Hands Up partners with local volunteer groups on anything from renovation and repair to environmental conservation to medical and physiotherapy. We were excited and nervous to find out where Hands Up would place us. But as two proudly lazy travelers who find loud noises jarring at best, we also felt a little anxious. For instance, we knew we wouldn’t be much help in a labor-intensive home-build. We probs would do poorly with buzz saws, electric drills, and hammers, because what even is a buzz saw?

Luckily, about a month before our departure, we received our mission and felt immediately at ease. Hands Up had paired us with a less physically demanding (but equally as rewarding!) experience. We were going to help renovate children’s care centers in Cape Town.

This was our first time having a third party put together a full itinerary for us, and it was definitely a learning experience — one we promise to get into a bit more in a later post. Without a doubt, however, the very best thing that Hands Up did for us was connect us with Newkidz on the Block, a local organization that works to create awareness for South Africa’s 3 million orphaned, destitute and vulnerable children.

Together with the founders, Hilda and Michael De Beer, we would spend two full days showing some much-needed love to four care centers: Noma’s Baby Centre, Lusanda Educare, Forever Educare and Christian Centre Educare. It would be a lot of work, but that’s what we had signed up for. We were mostly just so excited to make difference in the lives of 265 local kids.

Bright and early on our third day in South Africa, Hands Up arranged for us to be picked up from Dock House Boutique Hotel and driven about twenty minutes outside of downtown Cape Town to the Samora Machel community in the Phillipi township. As we’d already learned from our Hands Up guide, townships are communities in and around South African cities. During the time of apartheid, designated “white only” neighborhoods developed in the cities. These segregated townships became home to the non-white population.

Today, though the apartheid era is over, most townships remain segregated. They are also often severely underdeveloped. Many lack modern infrastructure, such as plumbing and electricity. We didn’t take many pictures of the township itself. If you’re interested in learning more and seeing photos, however, this Township Tour post by Geraldine at The Everywhereist is worth a browse. So is this post she wrote on the History of Apartheid.

Our first time in the township was jarring. Phillipi is one of Cape Town’s largest townships. Thousands upon thousands of hand-made structures and dwellings are stacked and wedged in together. Most of the houses are literal shacks, built from a variety of materials, including tin, wood, and plastic waste. Over half are without electricity, proper sanitation, and plumbing. Despite the obvious hardships in Phillipi, its self sufficiency was impressive. As we drove to our first stop, we spied a barber, a clothing store, multiple schools, and numerous small businesses.

Our driver pulled onto a narrow, dusty road and dropped us in front of Lusanda Educare. Lusanda is a children’s day care facility that cares for approximately 30 children. A narrow courtyard connects two small buildings. The main building has a central playroom with two windows, white plaster walls, and a small kitchen. There was also a small bedroom off to the side. In the adjoining building, about 20 children ranging in age from about 2 to 6 sat crossed legged. They looked at books and relaxed away from the hot morning sun while we started remodeling the main building.

The main educare room before we worked our magic!

We were met by a sassy local artist, Theo the Mural Maniac, who works with Newkidz from time to time on painting and renovation projects. Our task for the morning was to paint the inside of Lusanda’s central room with an educational mural. Theo quickly sketched numbers on one side of the room, and the alphabet on another. Then, we got to work painting.

With the help of two interns from Newkidz (not pictured), we completed the murals, hung new curtains on the windows and added hooks for the children’s coats.

We quickly brought back in the furniture, and we were able to reveal the mural to the kids. They were shy at first, but soon they looked so genuinely happy to see their new, colorful room.

Photo used with express permission from Newkidz on the Block, Lusanda Educare, and the parents

After a quick lunch break, we drove to our next stop. We arrived at Noma’s Baby Care to find that Theo and the Newkidz team were already hard at work. They primed the exterior of the building, and we looked around. Though Noma’s isn’t much larger than Lusanda’s, it cares for more than double the amount of children. These little ones range in age from newborn to about 3-4.

For the next three hours, we helped paint the entire front exterior of the building bright blue, and assisted Theo with murals on the front fences and the new “Noma’s” signage above the door. By the end of the day, our arms were shaking from a day full of painting. Our efforts speckled our clothes. We revealed the new exterior to Noma, who cried in delight and couldn’t stop hugging us and the Newkidz team. You can imagine we had to keep our own emotions in check. Didn’t want to ruin our tough girl street cred.

(Seriously, it was a good thing we were wearing sunglasses.)

Climbing back into the van after our full day, we were on an absolute high. There was nothing like seeing everyone’s reaction as we revealed our day’s work. A few days later, minus one wino, we got to do it all over again. Our last assignment was at Forever Educare and Christian Centre Educare.

In the end, along with the materials required for renovating these four spaces, Newkidz also used the donations from our readers to buy even more necessities. With your help, we provided educational toys, rolls of papers, new curtains, and new signage. Your donations also went towards gifts for the staff, groceries and healthy snacks, and baby bottle sterilizers. We honestly cannot thank you enough for your generosity. We were so, so thrilled to see firsthand what our funds accomplished. It was such an incredibly worthy cause!

After our time with Newkidz, we can honestly say it was our favorite experience of the trip, by far. There are plenty of reasons we want to return to South Africa. Spending more time with Newkidz is at the top of our list.

xo!

the romantic & the wino

We were guests of Hands up Holidays during our time in South Africa. All opinions are, as always, our own.