📝 Detailed information
🏢 About the local organisation
Our partner has more than 60 years of experience in international voluntary service. Each year, it welcomes many volunteers from all over the world on short, medium and long-term volunteer projects (3 weeks to 12 months) in Togo. These projects allow the national volunteers (about 200) to work hand in hand with the international volunteers and to create a real intercultural exchange throughout the year. Our partner is a member of the Coordinating Committee for International Voluntary Service (CCIVSUNESCO) and of the Network of African Voluntary Organizations (NAVO) and is in partnership with several volunteer organizations in Europe, Asia, the United States, Canada, and Africa. Its projects focus on community development through the promotion of education and citizenship, health, social, environmental protection and intercultural learning, and renovation and construction of socio-community infrastructures.
💼 What the programme involves
The «Mother Teresa of Calcutta» Reception House of Kpalimé, is one of the local partners with which ASTOVOT leads projects of a socio-sanitary nature to the benefit of dozens of patients of this center. The patients welcomed by the Sisters of this center are mostly in extreme poverty or are abandoned, so without a family to take care of them. Often these people have chronic diseases or are disabled. This summer, ASTOVOT launches an international project that will allow volunteers to bring their compassion and love to the sick and vulnerable people by participating in various activities that contribute to the improvement of their physical health, and their development.
OBJECTIVES?
-Assist center staff in their day-to-day tasks to alleviate their workload, and foster a warm atmosphere through facilitation with residents and workers;
-Learn and share other realities, especially in the management of people with disabilities and how society responds to the needs of vulnerable people;
TASKS FOR VOLUNTEERS:
Volunteers take part in the centre\'s activities. These are many and varied.
-Maintain the centre\'s green space (gardening, sharecropping, sweeping…);
Maintenance of dormitories;
-Participate in housework: preparing and distributing meals to residents, cleaning dormitories, washing dishes;
-Organize games and educational activities for the benefit of residents and patients;
-Assist caregivers in the management of patients at the center: patient treatment
🏠 Accommodation on site
Accommodation is generally basic, simple and specific to the project location. On site, volunteers are accommodated in groups of three or four people per room. The number of people per room depends on how the volunteers themselves organise the group. In some places, volunteers can use dry toilets and showers without water inside. This means that volunteers will have to fetch water from a fountain or well. The association provides volunteers with plastic or foam mats. Volunteers who have sleeping bags can bring them with them if possible. Access to drinking water on site.
During the work camp, the volunteers will cook their own meals. An internal organisation will create groups that will alternate to carry out the various domestic tasks domestic tasks, including cooking. The food products used for cooking are imported, local and organic. The diet of each volunteer will be taken into taken into account when preparing meals. Volunteers will have access to tropical fruit such as bananas, oranges, pineapples, mangoes, avocados, papayas, etc. Along side the main activities of the work camp, other activities are organised, such as discovery walks, hikes, festive outings and cultural encounters. These activities enable the volunteers to come into contact with the local population and to discover Togolese culture.
🍲 Food
During the workcamp, the volunteers will cook their own meals. An internal organization will create alternating groups to carry out the various domestic tasks domestic tasks, including cooking. The food products used for cooking imported, local and organic. The diet of each volunteer will be taken into taken into account when preparing meals. Volunteers will have access to tropical fruits such as bananas, oranges, pineapples, mangoes, avocados, papayas, etc.
📍 About the location
Kpalimé is about an hour and a half's drive from Lomé and is set in a beautiful natural environment. Located in south-west Togo, the area surrounding the town is lush and fertile, encircled by thickly wooded hills, deep valleys and small farming villages. Kpalimé is also the country's most important craft centre, home to a large number of artists and craftsmen: woodcarvers, batikeur, potters, weavers, calabash-makers, etc. The many "nature" walks and hikes take you along the paths to discover the daily life of the local people, who live mainly from agriculture.
🎒 Leisure activities
Alongside the main activities of the workcamp, other activities are organized such as: discovery walks, hikes, festive outings and cultural encounters. These activities enable volunteers to come into contact with local populations and discover Togolese culture. During the weekends, group excursions are organized by the volunteers and their leaders to discover the tourist sites in the region where the workcamp is taking place. Please note that expenses related to excursions and outings are not included in the participation fees. However, the association can facilitate or negotiate transportation for volunteers on outings or excursions.
⚠️ Requirements
This project requires certain qualities from volunteers: motivation, patience, team spirit, solidarity, sharing and listening, compassion, humility, adaptability, etc.
ℹ️ Additional information
The NGO ASTOVOT, like all associations in Togo, receives no subsidy from the Togolese government. It is the volunteers' participation fees that enable ASTOVOT to finance its projects. The cost of participation in volunteer work camps is €220 per person for 2 to 3 weeks. This contribution covers: accommodation costs; food; accompaniment of the group; administrative costs; purchase of materials and equipment for the project, and other steps involved in setting up volunteers on the project site. The funds contributed by the volunteers are divided as follows: 3/4 for the organisation of project activities and 1/4 for the administrative management of ASTOVOT.
The languages of the project are French and then English. However, we recommend that volunteers who are not French-speaking have a basic knowledge of French before they arrive, as the official language of Togo is French. The vast majority of local volunteers and local communities have a very poor level of English.