HANDS Teams Now Build Schools in Africa

March 20, 2008

Zambian boys at a future HANDS construction site

HANDS team opportunities now reach the African Continent.

WWCS announces a variety of HANDS Team opportunities in Africa during 2008 and beyond, following a successful HANDS Team to Zambia in January.

Beginning in October 2008, HANDS volunteers may select Soweto, a township near Johannesburg, South Africa.

A possibility in 2009 is a return to the site in Zambia to put finishing touches on the newly constructed Helen DeVos Secondary School, located in the city of Lusaka.

HANDS teams to Kenya are in the planning stages for 2009, after being canceled this year due to the post-election disturbances in that East African nation. Neighboring Uganda may also see HANDS volunteer openings this year and throughout 2009.

“HANDS veterans will find some differences when signing on for an African experience,” said Dale Dieleman, WWCS Field Director for Africa. “Those differences are more than cultural.”

Teams, for example, are limited to 10 people for logistic challenges. Team member limits, therefore, require specific skill sets of each member to maximize project impact. Teams will also find a maximum seven work days out of a 14-day experience, with four of the 14 days given to travel to and from North America, as well as Sundays for worship and fellowship with African hosts.

Venues for meals and accommodations are pre-set by WWCS in collaboration with hosts for security, proximity to the work site, and other logistical considerations.

“HANDS volunteers to Africa will gain as much from the cultural exchanges as satisfaction in the school construction,” promises Dieleman. “Every effort will be made to balance building and breaking pre-conceived notions of African life. Building relationships is stronger than setting re-bar. It’s where so-called comfort zones are blown away.”

Selecting the time of year for teams to Africa is depends on the time line of the hosting school project.

“As our Zambian team found out, going in January to Lusaka, the rainy season can throw all work-day intentions off schedule,” said Dieleman. “This is simply a reminder that in some parts of the world, weather trumps everything. But even for everyone from Zambia to Mozambique, the rain days and flooding levels were unusually severe this year.”

Dieleman said HANDS volunteers to Africa will also know blessings come in showers too.

“Leave your reserved worship style at home,” he cautioned. “You will be showered with the blessings of seeing your so-called ‘biblical world view’ with new eyes, and how the Body of Christ looks when it is truly 'on fire'.”

For up-to-date HANDS opportunities in Africa, click here .

To learn more, contact Dale Dieleman at ddieleman@wwcs.org.