Is African Volunteering Safe?
It’s common for a teen volunteer in Africa to be helped with funding for their trip by a parent or other family member. Understandably, despite being keen to help broaden a young person’s experience and outlook, relatives can be concerned about safety aspects – especially given some of the news footage of Africa seen on TV. So is volunteering in Africa safe? It depends to some extent on the volunteer organization. There is story of a teen volunteer in Africa flying into Vilanculos Airport, Mozambique, to find they were expected to travel to their volunteer placement by themselves – having never traveled to Africa before. A nightmare scenario. Fortunately such situations are rare and a reputable African volunteer organization would never let that happen. Properly run groups always, but always, collect people from the airport and would never leave a teen volunteer to find their own way. If you are at all concerned, get in touch with the people arranging the volunteer project. Any good co
