Ecoteer

Help out in a Uganda Primary School

Moses is a teacher from the a primary school in Bujagali Falls Uganda, is a very dedicated teacher. Besides teaching the kids, he is very much involved in many things related to the community development around the school. Uganda as many people know, is a poor country with high cases of AIDS. Many of the kids who attend the school where Moses taught, are orphans as their parents were victim to AIDS. With that, many of the kids have little or no money at all.

Thus Moses with another 15 teachers form a volunteering project to provide for the children and community needs. Most of the children need books, stationary, uniforms but these are generally quite expensive so most of the children drop out from school not soon after they have joined. However this does not deter the teachers to make a difference.

Moses and his team of teachers form projects to help make their school and community environment a better one. The projects were successful with the help from local and foreign volunteers as well as donations.

Children could not concentrate in class because they have no breakfast and lunch, so porridge are provided to help with the children concentration. Now the school have a new kitchen thanks to the volunteers and more porridge can be prepared to fill up more tummies to make these children feel more energetic! The children now also have a room called ‘Library’. However more books of reading age 7-15 are needed to fill the shelves of the Library. But it is a good progress looking back from how the school started just from a few shacks.

Volunteers who had participated in this projects are touched by the dedication of Moses and his team of teachers put in to the projects. The ex-volunteers donated some money and with that Moses has recently put electricity, running water, showers and flush toilets in the volunteer accommodation so that the volunteers could have the benefit of this.

Currently in this project, donations are needed to provide the children with teaching and learning resources, three new classrooms, science equipment and raw materials to conduct basic experiments, cupboards and shelving, metal doors and shutters and second hand digital camera used as teaching resources.

Besides that, the girls are in need of sanitary pads because it is too expensive for the poor communities. Without sanitary pads, it becomes very unsanitary and disallow the girls to go out from their home during during their periods. Most of the time, the girls would be using water from the puddles to clean themselves because they have no access to nearby clean water sources. Thus sanitary pads would help them and reduce the unhygienic conditions.

Volunteers are welcome to join Moses and his team to help out in the projects to make the school and the community surroundings a better place to live in. More stories about this project at Success of Volunteers in Uganda.

Find out more about this project at Teach/ Help a variety of task to help develop a poor Uganda primary school.

Here is a video on the children singing the Busoga tribe national anthem before their school starts.

Want to find for other humanitarian volunteering projects? Find out more at Ecoteer – Humanitarian Projects.

Does voluntourism make a difference?

Alot of people ask the question ‘do volunteer projects make a REAL difference?’  This is a very difficult question to answer as it really depends on the project.  So the answer is YES and NO depending on the project so the question should be ‘Which volunteer projects make a positive difference?’

Below is an article from a blog I found which address’s this issue, listen to the radio talk show, it gives interesting listening.

I was recently on a radio show on CBC radio in Canada called “Q with Jian Ghomeshi” in a segment titled “Do gap year volunteer programs do more harm than good?”.
You can listen to it here if you’d like. I agree with the comment regarding animal and conservation projects (trail clean-ups etc) as being examples of volunteer programs which have the potential to add a lot of value. And I agree that it’s not black and white. My main point in speaking on this issue is that we need to consider our impact – collectively and individuals – when we engage in programs claiming social impact as a main purpose. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Comment by a reader

thats the problem that its not always black and white and there is so much disinformation competing with cautionary advice like yours that its hard to tell whats what.

unfortunately marketing which is designed to connect with a potential volunteer on an emotional level and claims something like “make an amazing difference on people more unfortunate than yourself” will always outshine cautionary advice for a gap year youngster who hasnt yet had enough life experience to become as cynical as us

the problem with animal conservation centers at least here in South America is that some trap animals and keep them like a zoo and claim they are rehabilitating them to bring lots of unsuspecting gringos and cash – but then again there are some great animal rescue centers out there as well where an high turnover of lots of short term volunteers make a difference

how do we get the message out about the good guys without resorting to the same wild marketing claims?   naming and shaming the bad guys?  trying to set a good example?  hope someone else can help answer !

So please before you go on a volunteering project ASK them many questions especially ‘HOW does your project make a positive impact’ and also ask for past volunteer emails.

Making a difference at Uma Nivas

Although Uma Nivas has had a fairly quiet year so far with only six volunteers to date, Emma and Nuria and Sally and her family, lots is going on. The children’s English is coming on by leaps and bounds and after meeting our volunteers, the children are really motivated to learn to speak English, not just read and write in the usual Indian style. Even Sally’s children, aged 9 and 11, helped teach English, as well as how to play the musical instruments they had brought with them and a host of British games.

We have used the funds Sally and her team of volunteers fundraised last year to cover the high school garden with new topsoil and put water tanks on the roof. So now gardening has started in a big way. Lots of fruit and vegetables are coming up and we are well on the way to self-sufficiency. We also took over one of the two broken vehicles belonging to the orphanage, repaired it, got it working and have built a garage to keep it in. As a vehicle is a lifeline in remote villages, where public transportation is almost nil, this is no small achievement.

Didi Vratiisha has also been very active in other areas too, holding homeopathic medical clinics at different villages 6 days of the week. The clinics are always packed, and Didi is kept very busy, all this on top of her duty as high school principal.

Tatayara School, located in a village around an hour from the Uma Nivas project, used to run in a broken down building with many of the children studying outside in the open air under trees and some of them actually sitting on the dusty street. Now thanks to the tireless efforts of our volunteers, Denise, her children and her friends, who put on a pantomime called Dracula back in the UK, there is a beautiful school building with 5 rooms for the children to study in. The roof is finished, so all 200 children have now moved into the school, although the plastering and doors and windows are not yet complete. Fantastic work, Denise! Thank you all so much! And Denise just now told me that they have raised the funds for the doors and windows. Incredible!

There are so many ways to help. You can go out there and get your hands dirty helping with the garden. You can teach English and a whole range of other skills, you can help treating patients if you’re a doctor, or you can simply play games with the kids. If you prefer to do something from home, you are most welcome to help us fundraise.

As you will realize, a little here can make a big difference over there….Together we can give these kids a better, brighter future.

If you would like to know more about our volunteering opportunities please go to our Ecoteer page at VOLUNTEER IN INDIA