Short-term (2 to 4 weeks) "heritage protection" project in Mozambique

The participants will live and work together with the local volunteers and help in renovating the local Hospital as well as painting the local Museum and the Fortress of the Island.

Classroom or Tents, No Shower, Self-Catering.

Ilha de Moçambique is located about 200 km east of Nampula city, the provincial capital. Declared a UNESCO Cultural Heritage Site in 1992, it is linked to the mainland by a 1.5 km long single lane causeway, the crescent shaped island measures a mere 2.5 km from north to south and is at no point more than 600 m wide. Despite of its small size the island supports a population of roughly 7000 and has the most important Portuguese settlement on the East African coast for the best part of centuries, boasting several of the oldest colonial buildings in the Southern hemisphere.

Participants should arrive at least two days before the camp starts for orientation.

Portuguese and English.

Weekends are meant to be for free tours that the group can organize by itself. You can decide to visit places of interest around the area of the workcamp. It has now become a custom in all our Workcamps to have cultural nights. This affords each volunteer the opportunity to present her/his country and culture. Please bring with you your national flag and traditional dress if possible.

Mozambique is a large country and beautiful to see.

If you are attending a camp in the northern part of Mozambique (Nampula Province) we advise you to book your ticket to arrive by plane in Blantyre – Malawi and from there you can catch a bus to Nampula (this trip may take you all day) where you will meet our contact person who will show you the surroundings of the city before driving you to the camp.

If your camp is in the central part of Mozambique (Manica province) we advise you to take a plane to Harare and from there you can get a bus to Chimoio (this trip takes half a day) where you will meet our representative who will show you the surroundings before departure to the camp. Another possibility is to arrive in Maputo and meet our volunteers at our office who can show you a bit of Maputo city and afterwards you can get a bus to Chimoio (this trip takes 15 hours).

For those who are going to attend a camp in the southern part of Mozambique you can arrive at Maputo airport where you will be picked up.

For those who are planning to attend two different camps they will get advice from other local workcamp participant on which is the best way to travel in Mozambique.

Please, do not book your flights to arrive to those locations before getting advice from us.

Please inform us as soon as you have your travel details, special the possible arrival time, this will allow us to organize a picking up for you from the airport or from Bus station.

It is also important to note that project locations may change due to several reasons some within (not enough applications, massive cancellations or community failing to make its contribution to the project) and without our control (political instability, natural disasters).

The visa procedures for going to Mozambique are as follow -
all participants must proceed to the closest Mozambican embassy with an application form accompanied by an invitation letter from AJUDE Mozambique. The application form can be collected at the embassy. Normally visa is issued within two weeks time. It’s important to notice that there is no volunteer visa for people going to Mozambique and normally the volunteers that come to Mozambique they apply for a tourist visa with the duration of 30 days and renewable at the end of the period of one month. For this kind of visa the volunteer can get at the entrance immigration point (boarder gate, airport, etc). The cost varies from 25 to 45 USD.

US$210 to be paid to AJUDE upon arrival. This covers simple accommodation, food and project expenses during the camp. Please note that this does not include travel expenses to and from the camp, so participants are asked to reserve an amount of money for the return trip to the camp. We advise all volunteers to ask for advice from us when they are planning to book their ticket to Mozambique.