What is the application procedure?
Complete and submit the following documents:
- Team Application (with Team Skills Summary completed)
- Passport copies (we send this to Interpol for verification)
- Police/background checks
- Recent photo of each team member
(This photo should be a recent and clear shot of each team member’s face. The photo needs to have been taken within three months of the team member visiting Swaziland.)
(Good quality, COLOUR scanned copies required. This can be loaded to a Google Drive/DropBox link as well to save our bandwidth J )
Please note that Police Clearance/Background Check documents may take some time to obtain, especially in countries like South Africa. Please ensure that your team members get onto this process as soon as possible. Without this document, team members will not be allowed any interaction with any of the children in the programme or the community. It needs to be issued by an official legal authority or similar (e.g. Department of Public Safety in the USA). If your team members are from various parts of the country (or world) where different procedures may apply (e.g. USA, Canada, UK) then please let them find out from their local authorities about the process for getting an original clearance certificate and let them get the certificate themselves.
PLEASE NOTE:
Background/police checks done by any agencies or secondary parties in your country will be permissible if a police check cannot be obtained from a local law enforcement authority. Please discuss this with the Teams Coordinator.
When the team arrives in Bulembu, we will need the following documents:
- Original Police Clearance Document
- Signed Release Forms
- Signed Childcare Policy forms
(all of the above documents should be scanned & emailed to the Bulembu Groups Coordinator when done)
How can the team prepare for the visit?
Read through the Info Pack carefully, and share it with your team OR brief them on the content. It contains some important information for teams to be aware of before they arrive in Bulembu, especially regarding appropriate dress code, amenities, etc. It also contains our Statement of Faith, which we ask that all teams respect – even if they don’t agree with it. Very important that all team members see this and be aware of this before they arrive.
Teams may also be able to bring materials or tools for their maintenance projects, so please ask the Coordinator for details about this.
Will we have transport in Bulembu?
Unfortunately we do not have vehicles to transport teams with, apart from the orientation tour day. Please ensure that all team members are aware of the walking prospects, especially those who may have health concerns. Teams will do a lot of walking to and from work projects and also for weekday afternoon activities at a school. There are a lot of hills, some of which are quite steep. We advise that teams rent a vehicle for use in Bulembu, if possible.
May we bring donations or gifts?
Yes. To balance the donations with our needs, we suggest that you request a wish-list from us, for a summary of suitcase-friendly items you could bring for one or more departments. Teams can also fundraise for a specific project or task – please inform the Coordinator if you wish to do so.
Please note the following guidelines:
- Please do not hand out sweets/gifts/donations to the children/staff/community as we don’t want the children to associate visitors with receiving sweets or gifts. All sweets/gifts/donations should go through the Volunteer Coordinator or Childcare Department.
- Quality time and interaction with the children is more important both for the children and also for your team. As we are growing the future leaders of this nation, your influence, ability to recognize their potential, and affirmation, is more beneficial for them than any gift we can give them. So please DO help us to do that.
What will our schedule look like?
The schedule will include orientation tours, for the team to see the various aspects of Childcare and Enterprise, and to gain a better understanding of how they fit together in the overall vision. The rest of the schedule is put together based on the team’s primary involvement with a work project(s), interaction with the children and/or other opportunities that may exist when the team visits. The Coordinator will send a schedule to a team leader before arrival to help the team form an idea of what to expect.
Flexibility is key, however, for all team members regarding all scheduled activities and involvements. For example, teams might have an expectation to serve one need, but a greater need may arise while the team is here. During summer months (Sep-Mar) some projects may also get rained out. These variables are beyond our control, but know that our heart is always to make your experience as pleasant and memorable as possible.
What will we do in Bulembu?
Teams will typically do work projects on weekday mornings. Weekday afternoons (Mon-Thu) teams will also have opportunity to interact with the children at the schools with extra-mural activities for one hour (IF they have police check documents in place). A work project may involve anything from painting, construction and maintenance related projects to gardening, clearing out areas for vegetable gardens – anything really. Please be prepared to serve wherever needed.
If there are any specific skills on the team that we need at that point, the relevant team member(s) may be asked to slot in with a specific department for the mornings.
Weekends typically allow time for hiking, visiting the museum and possibly travelling into Swaziland (if teams have their own vehicles). It’s very seldom that teams will work on a Saturday. Sundays teams attend church with us, and relax the rest of the day.
