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9 Days Enrichment through Service in Southern Africa Tour Package
Duration: 9 Days / 8 Nights
Priced From: $5,572 pp.dbl.occ.
Dates: Oct
Immerse yourself in the history and culture of South Africa and Botswana, learning about the challenges faced by local peoples, with the unique opportunity for hands-on involvement to make a long-term difference. Participate in your choice of social programs, working in schools, with health care providers and at an elephant foundation.
Through the participation on this Philanthropic Journey as well as a $500 tax-deductible donation, guests will contribute directly to Philanthropy projects including the Sizanani Village, Bajabulile Primary School, Pfunekani Project and Mohau Center. Your donation is 100% tax deductible for U.S. taxpayers.
Tour Itinerary
Days 1-2
Fly overnight to Johannesburg and transfer to Pretoria. Known as the Jacaranda City, the administrative capital of the Transvaal is probably South Africa's most attractive city. Your hotel is the Diplomat Guesthouse, a gracious turn-of-the-century Victorian manor with high, pressed steel ceilings, wooden floors and a beautiful garden. Gather later for a welcome dinner. The Diplomat Guesthouse D
Day 3
 Soweto, one of the largest municipalities in the Republic of South Africa, has long been associated with apartheid. Drive past the Chris-Hani Baragwanath Hospital, the largest in the world, to the Bara Bridge for a panoramic view of Soweto. Stop at the Hector Peterson Museum, site of the 1976 uprising, and Vilikasi Street, the only street in the world that has been home to two Nobel Prize winners: Nelson Mandela and Archibishop Desmond Tutu. As you drive through the suburbs, pass Winnie Mandela's former house and glimpse the sidewalk markets and spaza shops (informal home businesses) that are the pulse of the region. This afternoon, explore the Apartheid Museum's 22 exhibition areas that take you through a dramatic emotional journey that tells the story of a state-sanctioned system of racial discrimination. The exhibit brings home the terror of the townships of the 70s and 80s, with its enlarged photographs, metal cages and numerous monitors playing continuous apartheid scenes set in a double volume ceiling. Later, return to Pretoria to learn how the disparate Voortrekker groups used the city as a central place of assembly for their legislature and see some of the most significant places, including the Union Buildings and Church Square. This evening, Dana Mahon, who works directly with local townships on numerous programs ranging from housing developments to medical aid to orphanages and child-headed households, discusses his work and the impact of your efforts in the next few days. The Diplomat Guesthouse B L D
Days 4-5
Spend the next two days working on service projects that may include:Sizanani Village
Located in the farming community of Ekankala, Sizanani Village is a shelter for battered women, a residential care program for disabled children, a hospice for people in the late stages of HIV/AIDS and a home for orphaned children.
Bajabulile Primary
Home to one of the biggest squatter camps in South Africa, life in Mamelodi Township is ruled by violence, poverty and despair. Education is universally accepted as the one essential element in any solution, and you have the opportunity to create a vegetable garden at Bajabulile Primary, a government school for students in up to the seventh grade. This project serves the students (many of whom come from child-headed households) by teaching them social responsibility and personal dignity.
Pfunekani Project
Pfunekani Project is a home-based healthcare program that operates out of a church facility in Soshanguve. This sprawling residential area north of Pretoria has been hit hard by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, leaving many of its residents in dire physical condition with nowhere to turn for help. In response, Pfunekani Project sends a dozen young adults, trained in the provision of basic health services, out into the community on a daily basis. You are partnered with one of the healthcare providers and sent on rounds to various homes across Soshanguve to assist with the basic tasks of cleaning and cooking, as well as the distribution of care parcels to these indigent men and women.
Mohau Center
Mohau Center is located on the premises of Kalafong Hospital, near Attridgeville Township in Pretoria West. Like the many other group-care facilities in South Africa, Mohau provides orphaned and abandoned children with food, shelter, clothing, education, love and support. Unlike these other projects and programs, however, Mohau reaches out primarily to children infected with HIV since birth. You can participate in the running of the center and revamping the learning and play space available at the Mohau Nursery School. The Diplomat Guesthouse B L D
Day 6
Return to Johannesburg to fly to Maun and transfer to Stanley's Camp for your next project. Take your first game drive in the African bush this afternoon, then relax on the deck of your elevated thatched guest suite and gaze at the wildlife that inhabit the area. Stanley's Camp B L D
Day 7
One of the world's largest inland waterway systems, the Okavango Delta is home to large animal populations, including crocodile, wild dog and water buffalo. Game viewing opportunities abound. Search for elephant, giraffe, buffalo, lion, and colorful birds by 4x4 safari vehicle, by canoe, by motorboat, or on foot in the company of expert local guides. Participate in a special bush walk with semi-habituated elephant for an intimate exchange with these majestic mammals. Learn about Living With Elephants Foundation, which aims to provide environmental education for the children of the area in hopes of promoting a culture of conservation. Tonight, weather permitting, sit down for a dinner in the boma (open-air enclosure) at camp.Stanley's Camp B L D
Days 8-9
Fly to Johannesburg and connect with your overnight flight home. B
B = Breakfast, L = Lunch, D = Dinner
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For reservations: Fill out the vacation planner to be contacted by our South Africa Vacation specialist
Contact: Travelwizard.com
Phone: 1-800-330-8820 or 1-415-446-5252
10/09
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