When we decided we wanted to give a significant period of our lives to volunteering in the developing world I had said to Pete that my ideal voluntary placement would incorporate education, health and community but these three facets are, in my opinion, inexorably linked if we are to tackle poverty. Pete’s only stipulation was that it was hot! Kanungu fitted our criteria perfectly.
So, now that we are back at home in the UK, it is time to reflect on the last 22 months; what we achieved and what we have learnt. And in writing this I am painfully aware that no blog can possibly do justice to the experience of our time in Uganda. A blog is a broad brushstroke and cannot pick the nuances and details that have coloured our everyday lives.
Managing Volunteer Uganda was an absolute pleasure. We have met so many wonderful volunteers from across the globe who are incredibly brave to stand up in front of a class of sometimes 60 or more primary school children, who have English as a second language, having had only a limited amount of training. What these lovely enthusiastic individuals bring to a classroom is interactive lessons where students are able to express themselves. They bring language skills to improve pronunciation. They bring motivation and excitement to children’s lives. They bring themselves as role models to positive behaviour management. And on top of this they bring the HIV / sexual health message to secondary age students. And then they spend money in the local community, and, just be being here, they allow Volunteer Uganda to spend money in the local community to help with what should, in my opinion, be the main aim of any development activity – poverty alleviation. For Pete and I our role has been very much about supporting the Ugandan and UK staff to look after these volunteers. By introducing health and safety procedures, child protection and equal opportunities policies, by investing in staff welfare and training, by putting the community at the heart of decisions, by advocating for staff, by building links between VU and community leaders and stakeholders. For all the fractious staff meetings that made us a stronger team and move forward there were dozens where we shared and laughed together. For all the times we argued with the UK team leaders there were hundreds of times we laughed, cried, hugged and made a formidable team with energy, drive and integrity. The staff, Ugandan and UK, were awesome. Education + Health + Community = Poverty Alleviation.
Being part of the management team that saw Great Lakes Regional College become a University makes us so proud. Nearly all the students come from impoverished backgrounds and their dedication to securing their future, not just for themselves, but for their mothers, fathers, younger brothers and sisters and the wider community is truly humbling. Project managing the opening of the Science Education Faculty was challenging, exciting, frustrating, joyful. Now that the SEED Institute is open with its first 30 students (and a nearly finished beautiful physics lab!) the university is able to create motivated, enthusiastic, interesting science teachers so that they in turn can inspire the next generation to become doctors, nurses, engineers and, hopefully, teachers. Helping the campus upgrade classrooms, become landscaped, improve water and sanitation has been so satisfying. The local community is proud of it’s university and businesses are springing up daily to support it – stationary shops, photocopying services, rolex stands, vegetable sellers and much, much more. Education + Health + Community = Poverty Alleviation.
A side line of our work has been to manage Inspiring Futures projects. We have been involved in helping 8 schools give clean water to a total of around 3000 students (rain water collection, kitchens, fixing broken systems). This means for those children they are less likely to miss school from water borne diseases. We have also been involved in the building of classrooms, toilets, a schools hall and lots of renovation projects. And in most of these the local community have been involved – in giving free labour to level land and as paid masons and builders. The materials have been bought from local shops. Education + Health + Community = Poverty Alleviation.
And then there is the USHAPE sexual health project I have supported to expand, grow and consolidate where teachers get together four times a year to learn about sexual health issues from experts. To dispel myths, to learn about the issues, to allow open dialogue in a safe environment. And then take that message back into schools to the staff and children. Who then take the messages back to their parents, who in turn pass the message around the local community. Education + Health + Community = Poverty Alleviation.
But all these achievements are not what we really take away with us. What we take back to the UK is the love of a community that have helped, supported, looked after, advised us every step of the way. A community who have taken us into their hearts, if not always their minds! A community that has kept us safe. A community that has genuinely accepted us “muzungus” and helped us become a little bit “bakiga”. A community we will always be part of. A community we love back. From lecturers to students, from staff we have managed to volunteers we have shared pizza with, from head teachers and teachers to pupils of all ages, from builders to mechanics, from bank managers to shop owners, from the wonderful team at Mountain Gorilla right on our doorstep to those far away in Buhoma and Bunyonyi. It’s been awesome. We are truly blessed.
Webele Munonga and Kalay basebo, banyabo and bana.
We miss you.
Sam and Pete in Uganda 