Volunteering in Zanzibar:

Humanitarian Work in Tanzania, Africa

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Zanzibar has become a very popular tourist destination due to its perfect weather and the beautiful beaches on the Indian Ocean.  It's important to start our trip with a comprehensive village tour of Jambiani where students will meet local families and learn about day to day life in Zanzibar.   Students will spend their volunteer weeks in coordination with the local city counsel, building roofs for local families in need.  Students will receive 50+ volunteer hours for their project work in Zanzibar. Participants will have an additional two days off at the end of the trip to explore the island before heading to Kahama.

Volunteering in Kahama

Connection & Collaboration

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Once we arrive in Kahama, we will start our project work right away. During the 2.5 weeks volunteering in Kahama, we will be working on Phase 3 of building the community center. More details to come on Phase 3.  Students will receive 50+ volunteer hours for this project.  Kahama is hard work. Students will be demolishing existing walls, mixing cement and laying bricks. We will have a couple of swim days, a visit to the village and to the orphanage.

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Kahama offers an incredible experience that goes beyond the hard work of building a community center. It allows you to immerse yourself in a fun and kind culture. Becoming a part of this community is one of the most rewarding experiences you can have!

Egypt: Our excursion week to Egypt will be focused on delving into Egyptian culture and history. We will spend a day riding camels at the famous pyramids in Giza, snap photos by the Sphinx, visit the famous museums and eat amazing food. We will also travel to Luxor to visit the exquisite sites including Karnak, Valley of the Kings and Hatchepsut Temple. We will have a blast with a sunrise hot air balloon ride over Luxor. We will then take some time to cool off in Hurghada; famous for their beautiful beaches.

Excrusions in Zanzibar:

Stone Town - a visit to Stone Town, the home of infamous Freddie Mercury is a must do for anyone visiting Zanzibar. Students will explore the old streets and famous wooden doors, shop for souvenirs and grab some food at the night market.

Beaches - The property is a 2 minute walk to Jambiani beach where students will spend a lot of their free time. In addition, we will visit Paje Beach in addition to everyone's favorite; Mtende Beach.

Caves - We are fortunate to have three cenontes very close to us. There is one very special one in the south of the island where we can swim with turtles

Sunset - Sunsets in Africa are like none other and with the sun setting over the Indian Ocean, it is a wow experience. We will have two sunset excursions, one on a dhow boat and the other is a sunset party at Kae Beach.

Other excursions can be added on once in Zanzibar; there are opportunities to enjoy snorkeling, riding horses on the beach, kite surf lessons, diving, sky diving and other activities as well.

This is our travel day from the US to Dar es Salaam and then a ferry ride to Zanzibar.

In Zanzibar, we work in tandem with the city to choose families who are most in need of roofing. For the past two years, we have been building makati roofs for families in need. The photo above is a photo from 2025. The students not only built the roof but the entire shelter.

Students will have materials delivered and they will hand weave long leaves from coconut and palm trees, which makes the walls for the home. They will also use lumber to construct the shape of the roof and hand knot the makati material over the wood structure to complete the roof.

During the weekends, students will have the students will be out and about on their island excursions including the caves, beaches, swimming with turtles, sunsets and hanging out in Stone Town.

Our projects will begin the next day we arrive in Kahama. A typical schedule would be a tour of the community and the center, project planning and going into town and picking up supplies. Subsequent days would be spent on construction of the community center. We typically work 5-6 hours a day. Because of the labor intensiveness of the project, we will have two full days off a week and will add in time at the pool once a week. We will take a day off and visit the village and a day to visit the orphanage. We do try to blend in team building activities and have fun while also working hard.

We are going to put a lot into our week in Egypt.

Day 1 - Arrive. in Egypt - eat local food

Day 2 - Ride camels through the Giza complex, visit the sphinx and the museum

Day 3 - Head to Luxor; visit the Valley of the Kings, Karnak and Hatseputs tomb.

Day 4 - 1/2 day in Luxor for an early morning hot air balloon ride and sunset boat trip

Day 5 - Depart for Hurghada; spend the afternoon at the beach

Day 6 - Free 1/2 day in Hurghada and and journey back to Cairo.

Day 7 - Free 1/2 day in Cairo and depart

The dorms are nicely situated and perfect for volunteer groups. They are about a two minute walk to the community center and houses 16 people. The dorm itself is comprised of four dorm rooms, each sleeping 4 people. There are shared bathrooms, a mini kitchen, dining area and a loft for chilling. There is also a large attached play room with a ping pong table, darts, craft area, punching bag, yoga space, snack shack, flat screen TV and cozy seating.

Participants will be living in the Jambiani Backpackers hostel which is owned by our organization. This facility, while the students are not occupying it houses travelers from all over the world. Opened in 2023 and has received the 2024 award for being the best new hostel in Africa and the 2025 awards for being the best hostel in Zanzibar and the best small hostel in Africa.

Students will be living in dorms in this little piece of paradise. The property boasts a swimming pool with sunbeams around, small kitchen, large veranda upstairs with hammocks and small yoga space and a sand volleyball court in the back. We are about 200 meters from the Indian Ocean (think two football fields).