There are many volunteer organisations to help face the challenges South Africa faces including rampant HIV (nearly 20% of the adult population suffer from the virus), poor education, preventable health care (50,000 children in South Africa die each year from curable diseases or malnutrition) decent housing (one in three children live in inadequate housing), secure food and water sources (half of all South Africa's children do not have access to safe water supplies) to name but a few of these challenges. The key though to undertaking volunteer work in South Africa is to go local. It's a country widely promoted by the big volunteer organisations who make a small fortune out of sending volunteers there, but your experience will be so much more worthwhile if you work in a volunteer project on the ground run by South Africans rather than geared towards the volunteer tourist industry.

Please note that many volunteer opportunities in South Africa were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic which led to the permanent closure of some volunteer opportunities and restrictions on others. Hopefully things are now beginning to return to normal. If you run or know of a volunteer work project in South Africa let us know by contacting us here. We look forward to hearing from you!