Hostel Hoff is an organization started in 2006 for the purpose of helping volunteers to participate in developing Tanzania. Along its whole life, Hostel Hoff has now helped school children, disabled kids, and women become independent, and in healthcare facilities.
They started with a small team, but on the go, people from all over the world contributed to their dream, making them explore different regions where help is needed. They don’t want the volunteers to spend a lot on the stay, so they provide everything to live, charging a basic amount.
Story of Hostel Hoff
- Hostel Hoff started in 2006 with a vision to support the local people and organisations in Tanzania.
- There are other volunteering organisations as well, but in Tanzania, people don’t get paid to volunteer, and they also pay for their stay.
- Tanzania had a lot of visitors, and they also wanted to volunteer.
- So, Hostel Hoff came up with providing private spaces and basic amenities for stays at reasonable prices and also allow them to participate in the volunteering activities in and around Moshi.
- Hostel Hoff provides welcoming spaces, trusted hosts, and an opportunity to enjoy and reflect on life in Tanzania. You get to explore the people and life on a very deep level.
You can explore more of Hostel Hoff on their website and learn about them in detail.
Why is Tanzania a popular volunteering spot
- Tanzania is a very beautiful place to visit. Visiting the place for volunteering allows you to explore the place in a much better way as you get to connect with people, helping them, and learning so much from them. Hostel Hoff is just a platform that allows you to have some real-life experiences.
- The local people there treat all the volunteers as celebrities and treat them very well. Moshi is a safe place with some basic security steps, like not going out in the dark alone, locking your things, etc.
- Tanzania does not pay for volunteering and so Hostel Hoff don’t want the travellers to spent a lot of money in accommodation and food. So, they provide stays with food and other basic amenities at a reasonable price.
- Above all, Hostel Hoff provides a lot of options to the volunteers to work in a field that they want to work in. The place is definitely beautiful, but, needs a lot of awareness among the people.
- So, the volunteering opportunities in Tanzania provide an opportunity for visitors to volunteer. Along with some volunteer work, people can also enjoy scenic places in Tanzania.
Types of volunteering options in Tanzania
Hostel Hoff presents a lot of volunteering options to people who visit the beautifully scenic place, Moshi, located in the heart of Tanzania’s Kilimanjaro Region. If you are someone who wants to volunteer but you also has a vision to work in a particular work field, then Hostel Hoff is the right place for you. Explore the best volunteer programs in Tanzania:
Childcare Support
- To the childcare and support them, volunteers can work in schools, orphanages in and around Moshi and Arusha under the teaching volunteer programs in Tanzania.
- You can teach the kids art and crafts, extra-curricular activities, languages, games, music, and also help them in their school homeworks.
- Hostel Hoff also provides assistance to children with disabilities, known as Special Needs Children. Volunteers are free to help these kids learn basic reading and writing. You can also feed them food, play with them. Along with this, you can also work with the microfinance unit that helps the families of these children financially.
- You can volunteer in the schools and also help the children in the orphanages with their homeworks and other activities after they return back from schools.
Medical Assistance
- Hostel Hoff allows the volunteers to work in providing healthcare facilities to everyone in Tanzania.
- You can perform the basic tasks like measuring temperature, assisting the doctors, helping in the major and minor surgeries, assisting during childbirth, giving basic health advice, and treating minor wounds.
- You don’t just provide the basic medical aid, by doing volunteering in Tanzania, you learn more about the healthcare facilities and connect with people, and learn about their lives in Tanzania.
Education Sector
- For children in Tanzania, they study in Swahili(the local language), and in secondary school, they learn everything in English. This is a major shift, and children need some assistance during the shift.
- Hostel Hoff helps these students as well where by choosing a volunteer program in Tanzania, you can teach them as tutors, help in their study, provide one-on-one help as personalized training, and make them adapt to English.
- Help for orphaned and disabled children is also included in the teaching volunteer programs in Tanzania. In this way, the children needing special care can be seen and valued.
- Music, art, drawing, painting, gardening, and basic hygiene can also be taught to these kids apart from the main study subjects.
- Tanzania volunteer opportunities also include teaching the street children, young people on remand, and kids with difficulties.
Conservation of Wildlife
- Tanzania is a gift of nature situated near the Kilimanjaro region with a wide open space, rich wildlife, and beautiful water bodies.
- There is a long list of places to visit in Tanzania, which includes Kikuletwa hot springs, lake chala, Moshi city, Materuni waterfalls, Rau forest, and hiking at Kilimanjaro hill.
- If you are an animal lover, volunteer work in Tanzania is one of the best choices, as you can participate in the animal welfare activities.
- You can participate in the farming done for the orphanages and grow food for the children there. You can learn a lot about their food habits and farming from this.
Women’s Empowerment:
- There are many local women empowerment groups that help women widowed due to HIV/AIDS or are themselves HIV positive. The prime vision is to make the women self-sufficient, by providing them the basic education, hygiene, and ways in which they can start earning for them and their families.
- Tanzania volunteer opportunities help these women learn everything that is needed for them. You can also spread awareness about basic health and hygiene to the women.
- The women’s groups also help in conducting the surveys and seminars to educate the women in and around Moshi.
- The projects for women’s development are the best volunteer programs in Tanzania for those who can spend at least 3 months over there.
Moshi is a very beautiful place in Tanzania. You just don’t give up on the volunteering opportunity in Moshi, you also learn a lot about their culture, tradition, life, and experiences. Plus, this is an opportunity for you to visit a lot of places there and witness the beautiful nature gifted to them.
To get a better understanding of the volunteering programs they organise visit Hostel Hoff.
What to avoid while volunteering?
- When you register for a volunteering work in Tanzania, do remember the following pointers:
- Choose programs that focus more on community building, and not just tourism.
- Make sure while choosing a volunteer program in Tanzania, you see the fees structure clearly and be sure about the amount you need to pay.
- Try to find the works they did for the community as a volunteering program earlier to know the seriousness they have for the works.
- Book the accommodation before you reach there, so you don’t get any surprises when you arrive.
Choosing a volunteer program in Tanzania is a task. But Hostel Hoff is a family where you get to help, learn, reflect, experience, see the beauty, and be a part of life at a different part of the earth.
Its not working, it is just contributing your part to humankind and helping others grow as well when you grow.