Know Before You Go

• Go and Get travel insurance and check that the cover is appropriate.
• Check what vaccinations you need at least 6 weeks before you go and consider whether you need to take extra health precautions
• Get a good guidebook and get to know your destination. Find out about local laws and customs.
• Ensure you have a valid passport that is in good condition and the necessary visas.
• Applying For Tanzanian Visa.
  Please make sure you apply for Business Visa instead of Tourist Visa to join us in Tanzania. Visas are issued at designated Tanzania Embassies and High Commissions abroad, however Visas can be issued upon your arrival in Tanzania, at a cost of US$100.00 per person. Business Visa is valid up to three months.
• Make copies of your passport (including any visa pages), insurance policy plus 24-hour emergency number, and ticket details.
• Leave these copies, your itinerary and contact details with family and friends.


• Take enough money for your trip and some back-up funds eg travellers cheques, sterling or US dollars.
TeV monitors daily the travel advice and safety warnings issued by the:

www.tanzania.go.tz
www.fco.gov.uk
www.cbp.gov
www.voyage.gc.ca
www.smartraveller.gov.au
www.diplomatie.gouv.fr
www.auswaertiges-amt.de
www.minbuza.nl
www.govt.nz

Gift for Host Families

First of all; please do not feel obligated to bring a gift from home for your new host family. Just sharing your culture, experiences and yourself is the best gift you can give your host family. However, if you really want to bring a gift from home, you might want to consider a photography book about your hometown or country, or perhaps chocolates or sweets (especially for the children).

One option we highly recommend is to get to know the family first, their interests, needs, and then buy something for them locally. This way, you will get them something they truly want and need; you will be supporting a local business; and you’ll have fewer luggages to pack. For example, one volunteer bought his family in an electric stovetop cooker for US.$40, so that mama didn’t have to cook any longer with firewood in a smoky hut.

Gifts for Organisations:

We strongly discourage our volunteers from giving money, gifts, or materials to the organisations. Such giving, although well intentioned, creates a “Santa Claus” mentality that we want to avoid. It fosters dependency on foreigners, which is not the best approach in finding solutions to local issues. Instead, we want our volunteers to contribute their time, skills, and caring to the projects and organisations we work with.

Materials brought from your home country, such as flash cards and books, might be biased or entirely irrelevant to the local culture. For materials that might be beneficial, such as arts and crafts supplies, probably communities will not have the money to buy more supplies when theirs run out; or the materials might not even be available locally. Another consideration is that the giving of money/gifts/materials creates expectations in communities that future volunteers will also do the same. This is really unfair to those volunteers who arrive in the host country “empty-handed.”

If you absolutely intend on donating non-culturally sensitive materials, such as medical supplies, we can coordinate this with you. Please simply write us before well before you leave home.

Academic Credit:

Our participants often receive academic credit for their programmes. Normally, students find out the eligibility requirements for academic credit from their school, then the school provides TeV with paperwork to complete and/or contacts us by email.

Use of Photos & Comments:

Participants agree that we may use any photos that we or someone on our behalf take of them or any comments (written or verbal) they make during or in connection with their programme for our promotional purposes, without obtaining the participant's specific permission or making any remuneration to them.