Application process
Visa
Health & Safety
Vaccination
Money Matter
Field Support and Supervision
Communication
Climate
Materials to Bring
Gifts to Bring Host Family

Please read Rustic Volunteer Travel's 5 steps of application

• There are two options for applying to volunteer in South Africa through our program. You can apply online or you can down loan an application, fill it out, and mail it in to us. You will need to submit your application with a $200 deposit (this deposit will be deducted from your final program fee.) This program deposit is required to make an application valid.
  
• Once we get your application, we will immediately send it to South Africa for processing. They go over your application carefully and find the best project possible for you. The decisions for room and food are made at this time, Arrangement for room and food depends on the location of the project. The vast majority of our volunteers stay in full immersion home stays though some orphanage projects are residential.
  
• Once we get the details of your placements, we pass it on to you with a final invoice. Your final payment is due six weeks before your start date, and in expedited cases, as soon as possible. The placement details have local contact information use them for contacts on your Visa application or to get in touch with the local staff and host family.
  
• Preparation for trips should include reading about South Africa , immunization, travel Visa (entry permit), and booking airfare. If you face any problems our Program Manager is always available for assistance.
  
• Now, once you purchase your ticket, send your flight information to our US office by fax or by email. Your flight information will be forwarded to the South Africa staff who will arrange an airport pickup.

We strongly suggest volunteers obtain a tourist visa in their home country prior to departing for Uganda . This saves time and any associated hassles of filling-out forms, and waiting in long, slow-moving lines at the airport. Your visa is your entry permit allowing you into any foreign country - without which you may be denied access - a risk Rustic Volunteer Travel suggests avoiding at any and all costs. Volunteers stay in South Africa within the capacity of a tourist visa. When applying for you visa, please use the name and address of our in-country coordinator and office (provided in the pre-departure package) as a contact address in South Africa

Being informed is your first defense against disease and safety risks. We recommend visiting some of the following websites for health and safety information:

WHO website for international travelers ( http://www.who.int/csr/ihr/en/ )

• Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
  1600 Clifton Road, NE
  Atlanta , GA 31333
  (888) 232-3228
  (888) 232-3299 - fax information service

• Health Canada Online
• Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and Travel Report
• U.S. State Department & Consular Information Sheets
  Room 4811
  2201 C Street NW
  Washington , DC 20520
  (202) 647-5225

• Travel Health Online
• Travelers' Health

General Health Tips for volunteer in South Africa

• Drink only bottled or boiled water, or carbonated (bubbly) drinks in cans or bottles. Tap water should not be considered safe nor fountain drinks and ice cubes. If this is not possible, make water safer by both filtering through an "absolute 1 micron or less" filter AND adding iodine tablets to the filtered water. "Absolute 1 micron filters" are found in camping/outdoor supply stores.
  
• Buy bottled water from respectable outlets to guard against stomach upsets. Make sure that the seal of the bottle is intact as it is not uncommon for local street merchants to sell tap water in resealed bottles.
  
• Make sure you know how to protect yourself from injury while you travel. Motor vehicle accidents are a leading cause of injury deaths in travelers. Swimming related accidents are also a major cause of injury among travelers. Travelers should be advised never to swim alone or when under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Likewise, no one should ever dive or jump into an unfamiliar body of water without first determining the depth.
  
• The most common health complaint in any developing nation is upset stomach/diarrhea/vomiting. In many cases the illness may be attributed merely to a change in diet, but occasional cases of food poisoning can occur, whereby the symptoms occur very quickly, severely and explosively. These are seldom serious or extended illnesses, but medical treatment should be sought if it occurs. Make sure to drink plenty of fluids, preferably an oral rehydration solution.
  
• Avoid eating food from road side stalls. Don't eat unpeeled fruits and avoid fresh salads, especially in small hotels. If you are forced to eat food at some place that you have doubts about, make sure the food is served hot.
  
• Limit display of jewelry and handle cash discreetly.
  
• If you require any prescription drugs bring enough for the duration of the trip. They will need to be carried in their original prescription bottle and the prescription must be in your name.
  
• It is advisable that you carry a small health kit which should include remedy for upset stomachs, some antiseptic cream, hydration powder, Deet mosquito repellant, sun block, band aids, etc.

We use the Center for Disease Control traveler's health recommendations (www.cdc.gov.) Your travel doctor should be consulted about current epidemics.

See your doctor at least 4-6 weeks before your trip to allow time for shots to take effect. If it is less than 4 weeks before you leave, you should still see your doctor. It might not be too late to get your shots or medications as well as other information about how to protect yourself from illness and injury while traveling.

Recommended Vaccinations and Preventive Medications

The following vaccines may be recommended for your travel to Southern Africa . Discuss your travel plans and personal health with a health-care provider to determine which vaccines you will need.

• Hepatitis A or immune globulin (IG). Transmission of hepatitis A virus can occur through direct person-to-person contact; through exposure to contaminated water, ice, or shellfish harvested in contaminated water; or from fruits, vegetables, or other foods that are eaten uncooked and that were contaminated during harvesting or subsequent handling.
• Hepatitis B , especially if you might be exposed to blood or body fluids (for example, health-care workers), have sexual contact with the local population, or be exposed through medical treatment. Hepatitis B vaccine is now recommended for all infants and for children ages 11-12 years who did not receive the series as infants.
• Malaria: your risk of malaria may be high in all countries in Southern Africa , including cities. See your health care provider for a prescription anti-malarial drug. For details concerning risk and preventive medications, see Malaria Information for Travelers to Southern Africa .
• Rabies , if you might have extensive unprotected outdoor exposure in rural areas, such as might occur during camping, hiking, or bicycling, or engaging in certain occupational activities.
• Typhoid vaccine. Typhoid fever can be contracted through contaminated drinking water or food, or by eating food or drinking beverages that have been handled by a person who is infected. Large outbreaks are most often related to fecal contamination of water supplies or foods sold by street vendors
• As needed, booster doses for tetanus-diphtheria , measles , and a one-time dose of polio vaccine for adults.

Required Vaccinations

• None.

Find the Exchange Rate for South African Rand at http://www.xe.com/ucc/

With a favorable exchange rate for many international currencies, you'll find South Africa a very inexpensive destination compared with Europe and North America . And an easy one - financial institutions are world-class, with no shortage of banks, bureau exchanges and automatic tellers. South Africa 's unit of currency is the rand, which is divided into 100 cents. Coins come in denominations of 5c, 10c, 20c, 50c, R1, R2 and R5, and notes in denominations of R10, R20, R50, R100 and R200. The airport offers convenient, international-standard banking, forex and car rental services.

Cash and travelers checks are suggested to settle most accounts. You will have trouble paying with traveler's checks, but you will be able to exchange them at local banks or post offices. Traveler's checks are recommended as a safe way to carry money with you, make sure you write down the check numbers and contact information you need to cancel stolen checks. Different brands of traveler's checks work better in different countries so consult your local financial institution about which company you should buy your checks from.

Travelers should have a credit card for large and emergency purchases so you won't go broke if something goes wrong. If you've requested a pin number for your credit card, you can use it to get cash advances at the ATM.

You can also carry a debit card that can be used at ATM's (Cirrus Network) to withdraw local currency. When using ATM's be advised to bring a friend along, travel directly from the bank back to your home and stash your cash in a reliable safe. When you are carrying cash, break it up into different amounts and keep it in different pockets so if you get robbed you won't lose everything.

Debit card is the best way of getting money and ATM vendors are available. Visa, MasterCard and American Express are accepted in some of the large stores and hotels in larger cities but may not be widely accepted in smaller cities and not at all in the villages.

How much money you bring depends on your personal spending habits. Thrifty people can get by on less than $15/day. Your budget should also include money to explore during free time as well as for your personal use.

How does Rustic Volunteer Travel help me when I am in the field? How can I maintain communication? Does Rustic Volunteer Travel visit volunteers?

How do I communicate with my family? Rustic Volunteer Travel staffs? Is there internet?

You will have plenty of opportunity to use the internet in Cape Town , it is widely available. There are several 'Internet Cafes' that rent computers by the hour and most hostels or hotels will have internet rooms. International phone calling at Private Phone Centers is pay in cash phone calling from widely available locations. The phone facilities are good, but you'll pay for it. You can expect international calls to cost around $1US per minute. Post offices are open weekdays with reliable but slow service. Try not to mail anything of value, but sending a nice note home is definitely an option.

Yahoo Weather forecast ( http://weather.yahoo.com )

Weather channel ( http://www.weather.com )

Weather Underground ( http://www.wunderground.com )

The climate in South Africa is generally warm and dry. In the winter, the temperature rarely falls below freezing. In the summer months - December, January, and February- the temperature in the drier regions may rise above 40C. A land of great contrasts, it includes regions of extreme dryness and tremendous rainfall. The heaviest rainfall occurs along the eastern coastline. As much as 6 feet of rain may be recorded in one year in this region. In the extreme northwest part of the country, in parts of the Kalahari desert , there is virtually no rain at all.

Passport and Documents  

Volunteers should hold a valid passport and necessary documents while traveling in South Africa . Please carry photocopies of your passport and travelers checks while in Peru , to make replacement easy if they are lost.  

Medicine  

If you are under medication, please do not forget to pack enough medicine for your entire trip; your brands of medicines may not be available in South Africa .

Footwear

Normal leather shoes or tennis shoes, which can be brushed off or wiped off, are appropriate for working in the placements. You will want light comfortable footwear for evening walks and other leisure activities.

Clothes

Rule of thumb - bring things you won't be bothered losing, ruining, or throwing away.

T-shirts, jeans, and shorts are common. Bring your bathing suit.

Please note that while it may get quite warm during the day, it may get chilly after dark, and you may need a sweater.

Medical Kit

It is always useful to carry a small personal medical kit. This should include: plasters (Band-Aids), personal medication to last the duration of the program, fungicidal foot powder/cream, antiseptic cream, mild painkiller (aspirin), tweezers, scissors etc.

Insect Repellent

Do not forget to bring insect repellent, and use it often to reduce the possibility of mosquito-borne illness, if you are traveling in the jungle find a repellant with DEET, the more the better, you can pick it up from a local sporting goods store like REI.

Other

Please do not forget to pack a torch (flashlight) some rural villages won't have electricity all day or after dark and you may have to use an outdoor bathroom (at night) at some point. Also pack a camera, film and maybe a personal stereo. You may wish to bring a diary, pens and pencils, and a book to read on the plane. Bring a rain coat during the rainy season.

If you want to bring gifts for your project] please bring practical items and enough for everyone; books, pencils, color pens, toys and games. If you have the ability to bring gifts, bring as much as you can.

All volunteer programs start on the first and third Wednesday of each month.

Program Fee: At Rustic Volunteer & Travel, we currently offer the most competitive price possible in today's market including an application fee (of $200) AND a small weekly fee as followed:

Two-way Airport receive/drop fee: $199
3 days of mandatory orientation (training, room, food): $299

Fee covers

Accommodation with Host family/Hostel
Food (local food 3 times a day)
Comprehensive Travel Insurance
Services of our local staffs

Program Fee Does Not Cover

Airfare
Visa and Visa extension fee
Airport drop, airport taxes
Any personal expenses on food and travel· Mineral water and soft drinks
Gifts to project staffs and host family
Laundry
Telephone
Immunization