The volunteer-led magazine with ever-changing voices exploring different perspectives on today’s rapidly-evolving world.
Volunteering
A Day in the Life of a Care Volunteer Changing Lives Through Love and Play
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to volunteer at a crèche? And not just dedicating your time to the local crèche but rather caring for children in another country far from home? Cape Chameleon visited Butterfly Way Educare in Vrygrond, to find out how the staff and overseas volunteers spend their day with the children.
Projects Abroad Nutrition Programme A Short Film by Anne van Verre
Cape Town’s communities have been struggling to cope with a myriad of health issues for decades. These ailments vary from weight issues to diabetes and HIV/AIDS. Tragically, 45 out of every 1000 children die before their first birthday due to preventable health issues. Every day 22% of children in South-Africa suffer from hunger and 58 people die from diabetes. Projects Abroad started the Nutrition Programme to help the people in these communities.
Thank you Ghana! Short film by Anne van Verre
In September, Anne left her hometown in the Netherlands for a four-week visit to Ghana. This was the first stop in a series of countries she would visit as part of a six-month Global Gap volunteer experience with Projects Abroad. Wanting to remember this trip of a lifetime, she filmed the different places she visited, capturing the beautiful rich culture Ghana has to offer.
Where Rainbows Meet Training and Uplifting the Community of Vrygrond
Driving through Vrygrond, you will see that most of the homes are shacks made of corrugated metal. The dull colours match the overcast sky. People wander seemingly aimlessly down the streets. The atmosphere is grim. Take a turn down Vrygrond Avenue, however, and your eyes are caught by a sign. A vibrant rainbow painted among the grey. It reads ‘Where Rainbows Meet.’
Mandela Day 2017 Volunteers Dedicate 67 Minutes to Action Against Poverty
Hundreds of homes remain in wreckage at Imizamo Yethu in Hout Bay after a devastating fire in March. Scorch marks still scar the sides of homes. Torched trees that once provided shade now look like shadows themselves. Many residents lost everything, with the smell of ash and smoke a distressing reminder. This Mandela Day, however, the scent of fresh paint wafted through the air as well.
Wild at Tuli Conservation Camp Saving Botswana Wildlife
A mother elephant waits for her calf as the rest of the herd moves ahead. The young elephant needs to keep up but isn’t strong enough. Their instinct is to follow the herd; without it neither will survive. She makes a heart-wrenching decision and leaves her new born behind. Left alone to fend for himself, his days are numbered and he will mostly likely perish at the hands of drought and hunger. This is life in the wild, in times like these you can smell death as it wafts over Wild at Tuli game reserve.
Every Child Needs Love Make a Difference in One Child’s Life This Christmas
It’s December. The festive season is in full swing, the malls are filled with gifts and people are visiting family and friends. The Christmas spirit is everywhere in Cape Town. Everywhere, but in the townships. People living in the townships don’t see the festivity in the malls or on TV. Often they don’t celebrate Christmas. But… that’s about to change.
In the Water with Projects Abroad Short film by Caroline Borg
Caroline Borg spent a week at the Projects Abroad surfing project to see how the programme was helping the groups they work with. From the young children at Village Heights Care Centre to the high schoolers from Lotus River, this water sport provides a great deal more than physical activity. The surf project encourages personal growth and goal-setting. The project also works with a rehabilitation centre, engaging the adults in a social activity that gives a healthy outlet and purpose to their lives.
Women’s Day Celebration A Day of Self-Empowerment in Vrygrond
‘You strike a woman; you strike a rock’. These words were sung in Pretoria and echoed nationwide on 9 August, 1956. Over 20,000 women filled the streets of the city, united by their rejection of the new pass laws proposed by the apartheid government. This day is celebrated as National Women’s Day.
Mandela Day 2016 Inspiring Change & Creating Unity
This July, the world has seen assaults in Libya, USA, DRC, Iraq, Syria, Germany and France. And these were just the assaults that made the headlines. What these events had in common was the aim to create terror within communities, to disrupt and divide society. To counterbalance the polarisation which seems to be on the rise, July was also the month to celebrate an icon of peace and unity. Mandela Day 2016 did just that.
