High Impact Volunteering

Transforming Lives

Volunteer Uganda works with a group of charities that have spent the last ten years helping to improve the lives of people through education in rural Uganda.

When we started, the region was not economically developed. Local people suffered from poor education, health provision, lack of clean water. Most people work in the fields and there are few cash earning jobs so little chance for people to improve their lives without outside help.

Helping this community transform itself requires far more than a simple quick fix. Parents started by building the "Kirima Parents Primary School" and, with the help of the Volunteer Uganda charities, step by step developed a series of interlinking projects which have had a remarkable effect on everybody in the area.

The Volunteer programme has become part of this success story. Following basic training and with mentoring and support volunteers help local people in many ways, both directly and indirectly below are the ways we have our impact:

• Teaching: Volunteers teach English, Maths and Science in both primary and secondary schools, bringing outside skills into the area.
• HIV Awareness: Working with local NGO "Mend the Broken Hearts of Uganda" Groups give HIV awareness and youth empowerment talks at both
• Running sports events & tournaments bringing together and empowering young people.
• Raising IT skills at Great Lakes college
• Raising money: As well as fundraising. Volunteer fees raise money for the charities. For sponsorships and school improvement.
• Cultural exchange: The cultural exchange empowers young Ugandans to achieve in school and allows them to learn about the wider world.
• Volunteers become Ambassadors for Volunteer Uganda raising awareness for the good work done by the charities.

HIV/AIDS Awareness Outreach Projects

Andrew our program manager is one of the founders of an NGO called "Mend the Broken Hearts of Uganda" in which volunteers work to educate young people in rural communities about how to avoid HIV and about the importance of family planning. Western volunteers command great respect and interest. This makes our teams the perfect vessel for the delivery of this valuable information. For example one of the biggest causes of the spread of HIV is the lack of empowerment of young women to refuse sex. Female volunteers working in focus groups with teenage girls can empower young women and teach them how to refuse sex and thus protect themselves from HIV.

As well as from our information packs and mini library volunteers are taught the material through Andrew, our experienced UK group leaders and by Alex from "Mend the Broken Hearts of Uganda". They are guided in how to pass this information on in a captivating way. (See the Volunteer Diary for examples)

What will I be teaching?

Most volunteers teach English, Maths, Science, and PE. You are not expected to teach all of these subjects and different schools have different needs. We try to place people in a school that will make the most of their strengths and interests. Volunteers teach 3 lessons each day, one before break, 1 after break and 1 after lunch. They also act as co-teachers in each others lessons which allows for more personalized teaching. There is scope for getting involved in all sorts of things with former volunteers having done everything from introducing sport, bedtime stories, private tuition to trumpet and guitar teaching.

Our partners have recently installed ten computers and a constant broadband connection at the college so there is a need to demonstrate basic IT skills to students and lecturers alike. There is an almost total lack of IT skills in rural Uganda and the college is yet to find IT teaching staff. This is entirely optional but some volunteers find it very rewarding.

Different people have different preferences, qualifications, strengths and weaknesses and when allocating our volunteers to positions, we will take this into account when both arranging time table and placing people in the different schools. Generally the content to be taught is not challenging and we work from the curriculum. The challenge is bringing it alive and being an inspirational teacher.

People in developed countries have had the luxury of great education and Volunteer Uganda gives them the chance to share it with the less fortunate.

Local Language?

All of the teaching done at the schools is done in English and the level of pupils is reasonable.

It is not necessary for you to learn the local language but picking up some of the basics is valuable and enriches the experience of visiting rural Africa. During the First week the Andrew gives local language lessons including basic greetings, phrases, numbers etc. This is followed up by optional weekly lessons over the next month.

Any practical work?

Volunteer Uganda and "CHIFCOD" has the 4 Primary Schools, the High School and the College. This means that our links to the schools are strong; as well as providing volunteer teachers our Volunteers will work tightly with them in developing their school facilities which involves projects such as decorating dormitories & classrooms, clearing sports fields and equipping schools with mosquito nets.