Help a charity with some community projects and enjoy safari life in Mambwe, Zambia

Details

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  Description

  Muli Bwanji! Join Our Family
  
  Do you love people, adventure, wildlife, an outdoor lifestyle, and working to create a real impact in a dynamic community setting? Ours is an NGO working on community development projects focused on sustainable farming, youth empowerment, cultural heritage, in communities close to South Luangwa. To support these projects, we run a small guesthouse and a cosy campsite. Your work here helps create real impact for local communities.
  
  Our Projects
  Our mission is to create positive, sustainable change, working closely with community members.
  
  Green Fingers: We train local farmers in sustainable agriculture, focusing on experimenting and learning about new techniques in areas like healthy soils, water management, natural fertilisers, and how to use natural pesticides. Education and experimentation on this topic are important for the community to create food security and promote environmental conservation.
  
  Hands & Horizons: this project is all about fighting poverty and negative behaviour while at the same time creating income opportunities for the youth. Through local arts and crafts training this initiative helps young people in the village to learn artisan skills. We also host workshops for tourists.
  
  Roots & Rhythms: we are building a museum that showcases local culture, which is all about preserving heritage while connecting visitors with the community’s history and traditions.
  
  Village Tours: our village tours promote equal intercultural knowledge exchange between tourists and the local community. Visitors get an authentic look into daily life, learn about culture and traditions, and see our projects in the village.
  
  Our Headquarters: the heart of the mission
  We work and live at our Headquarters (HQ). When we are not working in the community, the HQ is where we spend our time. We have an office space and it is our general working place. Besides that, we have a guesthouse, restaurant and small but busy campsite for international travellers.
  
  The HQ is a nice little paradise with vegetable gardens, fruit gardens, braai areas, and a lot of creative projects which are always ongoing! There is really always something to do and something happening at our HQ!
  
  We run the guesthouse and campsite to financially support our community projects. This is where we need the most assistance from volunteers.
  
  Short-Term Volunteers (Under 3 Months): Your help is most valuable in hosting, maintenance, and running the guesthouse/campsite. You will be able to join, see, and know what we do in the community, but the short stay makes it difficult to get you a truly sustainable, focused part in our main projects.
  
  Long-Term Volunteers (3 Months +): Staying longer provides the time needed to be fully submerged in project roles or take on focused responsibilities (like the Hospitality Assistant) that directly ensure the financial success of our mission.
  Our mission is to create positive, sustainable change through hands-on projects. We work very closely with the community members to ensure that all our projects fit their real needs. We are always working on multiple projects and new projects always pop up!

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Charity Work

  Art Projects

  Language practice

  Help with Eco Projects

  Teaching

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Hospitality/Tourism

  General Maintenance
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  Interests

  

  Culture

  

  Charity work

  

  Photography

  

  Animals

  

  Nature

  

  Outdoor activities
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  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

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  What's this?
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  Besides Emma and Sabine, who are Dutch, we work with only local Zambians. Our staff, but also the people in the communities that we work with would love to show you around and share their culture with you. They also love to learn from your culture. You can learn so much about traditional lifestyle! You will get a big inside into daily life by being invited into homes, joining local soccer games, or attending church services alongside the local team.
  
  Volunteers are encouraged to learn and try new things while working closely with the local team. They can learn about daily operational support, maintenance, hosting, and creative assistance necessary to keep the organisation running. Also they will become masters in approaching challenges with a positive outlook, focusing on adaptability and finding solutions in a rural, off-grid setting. Volunteers practice clear communication skills while interacting with both international guests and the local team and community.

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  Help

  We would love to invite people to join the family. We love to share our knowledge about Social Innovation, community development, and of course the Zambian culture. We like to invite people from all over the world who can share their knowledge with us on various topics and support us in our projects.
  
  We have a place for almost everyone. We are looking for people with a passion. People that can help with educational programs, give trainings, write reports, manage our social media, help in community gardens, train farmers, facilitate intercultural interactions between locals and internationals… but also help us to organise events, contribute of fundraising efforts, welcome the guests at our campsites, maintain communal areas, build and decorate at our headquarters and so so much more! There is always something to do and we would also love to hear your ideas.
  
  What we find most important is that you are passionate, open-minded, eager to share your knowledge, are respectful to other cultures and traditions and of course support the goals and mission of the foundation. You should be willing and happy to work alongside our amazing Zambian team. Speaking English is essential, but it is okay if you are not fluent. We work from approximately 07:30 until 16:00 - and depending on the programs of the day, that is what we expect from our volunteers too. We always have a one hour lunch break and take one or two days off in the week, depending on the busyness of the season.

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  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent
  Dutch: Fluent
  Chichewa, Chewa, Nyanja: Fluent

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  Accommodation

  Staying with us means you have to love being outdoors and spending time in nature. We live in an area surrounded by wildlife, from elephants and leopards to snakes and many insects. So, expect a basic and outdoorsy lifestyle.
  
  Your accommodation is located right at our Headquarters, which serves as our operational base. Here, we run an off-grid setup, meaning we rely 100% on our solar system for power (so you get reliable 24/7 power with no power cuts!) and use our own borehole for water. You won't find shopping malls or fancy bars nearby , but we guarantee the most amazing sundowners, safaris, BBQ nights, karaoke nights, and small trips around the area to enjoy together.
  
  All volunteers stay in a basic but comfortable private room at the Headquarters. Your room has a bed, a place to store your personal items, and mosquito nets. You will use our shared ablution block, which includes hot water showers. We also have on-site safekeeping provided by our night guard.
  
  You get three fresh, diverse meals every day, prepared by our chef and/or staff. Lunch is always a local dish, which you share with our local team. Dinner is a diverse vegetarian meal. We provide drinking water, coffee, and tea throughout the day.
  
  Note: Ordering from our small restaurant menu is at your own expense.

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  What else ...

  Activities
  Volunteers are encouraged to use their free time for adventure, relaxation, and cultural connection, as living here places you right next to the famous South Luangwa National Park and local communities.
  
  Safari & wildlife: You can easily visit South Luangwa National Park. There are different options for exploring the park, including booking with a trained guide. You can also go into the Game Management Area (GMA) where you find plenty of beautiful places to chill at the riverbanks.
  Cultural connection: You can join staff on project days or village tours. The team sometimes invites volunteers to their homes, local soccer games, or church services, offering an opening to daily African life that goes beyond tourism.
  Social & leisure: Back at the Headquarters, you can relax in the swimming pool or join social evenings. Fun nights are hosted for guests and the team, including movie nights, a braai/pizza night, karaoke, game nights, or campfires. Volunteers are welcome to join or organise their own events.
  
  Transport
  Airport/bus pick-up: Airport pickup from Mfuwe airport is included for all volunteers.
  Getting here: Travel to the location (via air from Lusaka to Mfuwe in about 45 minutes, or via bus from Lusaka to Mfuwe in about 11 hours) is at the volunteer's own expense.

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  Space for parking camper vans

  Depending on how busy our campsite is you can use a camp site, and if we are fully booked we can sort something out. :)

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  My animals / pets

  Kumba

  Plenty

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