About Khaya Volunteer Projects

History
Khaya Volunteer Projects was founded in South Africa in 2005 by Martijn van der Put (Netherlands, 1975) and Ellen Fischat (South Africa, 1975) and started with offering international interns the opportunity to come to South Africa and get practical experience by working in local companies and organizations.

Seeing that the need of some projects did not match with what interns could offer Khaya grew into offering volunteer work and projects in South Africa. In 2011 Tanzania and Zanzibar were added followed shortly by Kenya and Uganda.

During their study years, both Martijn and Ellen volunteered in several countries such as Israel, Suriname, Zimbabwe and South Africa. These experiences made them rethink the concept of volunteering abroad and how most organizations are offering this.

What we offer
Khaya Volunteer offers affordable and unique volunteering projects and programs in South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and more. Our programs vary from working with children, the community, sports development, wildlife conservation or education projects. We do our best to offer honest prices and clear information so you know what to expect and experience.
 
Our volunteering organization has a personal approach meaning that you will be in contact with one person all the time, who will not only always reply to your emails or phone calls, but will also go the extra mile to give you all the information needed to answer your volunteer or travel questions. If you ever you ever have a need or question, our personal service is what makes us stand out and makes people come back time and time again.

The volunteer projects that Khaya works with are small and handpicked. You won’t be one of 50 volunteers taking turns to touch the elephant or lion cubs! Some projects are just starting up and need to improve their ways of dealing with volunteers. That is our focus - to uplift and support those projects that need it the most!

Khaya Volunteer projects commits itself to finding those projects that need your help and truly offer a life changing experience to you, the volunteer. We have been around long enough and seen many projects doing very well with their numbers of volunteers, but we truly believe that volunteer numbers need to be managed and kept in line with the actual needs of projects.

Mission
‘To provide unique and affordable volunteering opportunities for international travellers benefiting projects in the best way possible’

We want to let people experience the real African culture and beautiful nature. By living locally and actually working with projects on site, we can offer truly unique and affordable volunteer projects in South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Zanzibar. By offering this in an ethical and responsible way we try to create a different and affordable way of experiencing travels while simultaneously supporting the local community.
 
Why Khaya?

Affordability
Khaya focuses on providing projects that are affordable to the volunteers. We are able do this by keeping a small and personal team at our office in South Africa as well as keeping our overheads as low as possible. The fewer overheads we need to cover, the more affordable we can make our projects. Why would we want to do this? By keeping our costs as low as possible we can offer volunteers a better price for their volunteer experience as well enabling them to save extra money for travelling or donating gifts to a project.

Project and volunteer selection
At Khaya we allow only small groups of people that we feel will benefit the project the most so that volunteers can be fully immersed within the project and the projects in turn will be supported in the way they need to be. We look for and work with projects that need your help and that will offer you a unique and life changing experience. These are projects where you can be an individual and not one of many others. Khaya focuses on offering projects that are long term and that will actually benefit the community or environment they are trying to help.

Where does your money go?
Unlike many other organizations, we donate 15% of the money paid by volunteers directly to the project itself (can differ per project). So the volunteer does not only help by giving the project their time but also by offering them financial resources. Many bigger organizations don't offer any financial donations to the projects. For most of the projects we offer, we have made the costs of that project as transparent as possible to the potential volunteers. We do this so that you can see exactly where your money is going. If you cannot find out where your money is going for one of our projects, please contact us and we will gladly clarify any questions.

Locally based
Another difference is that we are based in Africa and are directly involved in the running of the local projects. We also take time out to go visit the other projects around the country to see how things are going and where we can help them. If need be we also do fundraising for projects where extra money is needed and we keep close contact with our projects. We also offer 24/7 emergency support and are always available to support with any needs volunteers might have.  Khaya also strives to help the community by offering local employment in a number of the projects.

Flexibility
If you find that your intended project is not for you, we will help you find a new project that is better suited for you. Khaya advises that you speak to us about the kind of volunteer work you would like to do before booking your trip so that we can assist you in selecting the right project.

Going the extra mile
If you need help with travel arrangements of have other questions not directly relating to the participation of a project; Khaya is there to assist and to go the extra mile. Many projects offer weekend trips and outings to make your stay as complete as possible.

Keeping it real
All the pictures that Khaya use on their website and advertising are taken either by the Khaya staff or the volunteers themselves. We do this to try and show the project as seen through the eyes of a volunteer so what you see is what you get.

Pre-departure and feedback
Before you leave, Khaya will send you a pre-departure guide with information about the project, the tasks and requirements as well as specific information on visa requirements and items to bring with on your journey.

Once you have completed your time as a volunteer we will follow up with you to get feedback on your experience to improve our services and continuously keep offering the best services as possible.
All volunteers will receive a ‘certificate of participation’ after their project.

Discounts on your travel
If you're looking to combine your volunteer period with some sightseeing and travelling, Khaya will assist you in planning your trip beyond just being a volunteer! Khaya has partnered with a few local companies so that we can offer volunteers good discounts on Bazbus, local car hire and rental as well as Overland Tours through NOMAD. So if you want to do just more than volunteer, speak to us about what else you'd like to do and we'll do our best in assisting you and giving you the best options/prices possible.