Nestled on the western coast of Africa, Senegal is the jewel in the crown of the former French empire, where Projects Abroad organises care placements. As a nation Senegal elegantly combines African groove with a suave accent of a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ appeal. The combination of colonial buildings, buoyant towns and natural phenomena means it is as enticing as it is stunning.

But the reality is that in Senegal there are many orphanages and street children centres which suffer from severe understaffing. If you could spare some time, energy and devotion to work with those who need support, you could make a big difference to many lives.

In the mornings volunteers work in local kindergartens with children aged from three to six. Parents are very keen to send their children to these kindergartens, often struggling to pay the small fees charged and it’s not unusual to find classes of up to 45 children. However, local teachers tend to be overstretched and poorly trained and have very few ideas as to how to work productively with such large numbers of children.

You may assist a teacher or work alone with a smaller group, bringing fun and affection to the children’s lives. Your duties will involve teaching basic numeracy, building vocabulary in French and sometimes English and organising arts and sports activities to improve coordination and motor skills. You will have an important role in adding to the staff’s repertoire of songs, games and activities, ensuring that your contribution lives on beyond your placement.

In Saint Louis there are a large number of street children known as ‘talibés’. These children receive no formal education and are forced to spend much of their time begging for scraps of food and small change. Many Projects Abroad volunteers choose to spend some of their spare time helping at ‘And Taxuwu Talibé’, a talibé drop-in centre on the mainland of St Louis. Volunteers prepare and serve at least two meals a week, often to over 150 children at a time. You may also want to help the children with activities such as brushing their teeth and washing their clothes and just spend time with them drawing pictures or playing.

Volunteers also sometimes take the children to the nearby beach or arrange evenings of wrestling and football. This is a placement that is truly rewarding, for the children and volunteers alike.

Accommodation is with host families who are chosen both for their warn hospitality and their interest in meeting new people. As well as providing support, advice and an insight into Senegalese family life, host families also provide three meals today which tend to be traditional recipes and therefore give you a great opportunity to sample Senegalese food!

"My day begins at 7:40am - I eat breakfast (baguette and coffee) with the family. We eat on the floor as with every meal. I leave the house at about 8.15am - already it’s getting hot. The streets are busy - children on their way to school, taxis beeping and caleches (horse and carts) clattering along the road. I meet some of the children from my class on the way, they grab my hands and we walk together.

I work in a small kindergarten. There are two classes and around 40 pupils in total. At first I was shocked - the teachers did absolutely nothing with them. I sat and watched the children and they sat and watched me. It made me realise the vital importance of the volunteer’s role in such places. There was lots of work stuck on the walls, but as I looked closer I realised it was all produced for the children by volunteers - the teachers don’t seem to be interested in providing a great deal of education or stimulation to the children - so that was where my job came in!

The main challenge was that the kids spoke very little, if any, French. I decided that I would introduce some structure to their day, so we spent the first half an hour of the day singing - this is something all of the children love, and it seems to put them in a happy mood.

The next hour I would spend doing slightly more formal work with the children. I prepared worksheets daily, with activities to learn shapes, colours and numbers in French. I would do a short lesson based on the worksheet, getting the children to shout out words and practise. They would then complete their worksheets. I would try and make the sheets so that they could colour them in afterwards - always goes down well!

Break is at 10.30am for an hour - school finishes at 12.30pm, so the final hour would be spent finishing worksheets, then perhaps playing some games outside such as ‘Simon Says’, ‘Follow the Leader’, and ‘Hokey Kokey’. I found the biggest challenge at school was the teachers - physical punishment prevails even with the smallest children, something which is difficult to deal with. I hope the children benefited from our work together, I certainly did. They taught me how to think on my feet, how to be very patient, and how, whatever the language barrier, you can make yourself understood if you’re inventive!" - Amy Montgomery

0845 344 7562

Help, Learn, Explore. You can do all of these with Projects Abroad. We organise flexible volunteering programmes in the developing world. We have sent 20,000 volunteers away to 23 different countries since 1992. We offer projects such as Teaching, Care, Conservation, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine, Journalism, Business, Law and Human Rights amongst others.