Every year many people in Britain finish school and they take a year off before they start work or go to university. Some of them go to other countries and work as volunteers. Volunteers give their time
to help people –for example, they work in schools or hospitals, or they help with conservation.
Mike Coleman is 19 and lives in Canterbury in England. He wants to become a teacher, but now he’s
living in Namibia. He’s working in a hospital near Katima Mulilo. He says,’ I’m working with the
doctors and nurses here to help sick people. I’m not a doctor but I can do a lot of things to help – for
example, I help to carry people who can’t walk. Sometimes I go to villages in the mobile hospital, too.
There aren’t many doctors here so they need help from people like me. I don’t get any money – but
that’s OK, I’m not here for the money.
I’m staying here for two months and I’m living in a small house with five other volunteers. The work is
hard and the days are long but I’m enjoying my life here. I’m learning a lot about life in southern
Africa- and about myself! when I finish the two months’ work, I want to travel in and around Namibia
for three weeks – for example, I want to see the animals in the Okavango Delta in Botswana.
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