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Share on FaceBookThe Global Volunteer Network currently has opportunities aimed at providing primary and secondary education to needy children, and community outreach and counseling with our partner organization in Uganda. This provides an opportunity to experience Ugandan life first-hand while working to improve your host community.
Program Location
Programs are based in:
- Mukono District (30 km out of Kampala city). Volunteers are placed in Mukono Town and in surrounding villages.
- Wakiso District (5 km out of Kampala city). Volunteers are placed in Buloba and Bulenga.
- Jinja District (50 km out of Kampala city). Volunteers are placed in Jinja Town and Kainogoga.
- Masaka District (180 km out of Kampala city). Volunteers are placed in Kyazanga.
Our partner in Uganda has projects based in Mukono, Jinja, Wakiso, and Masaka Districts. All projects are aimed at providing primary and secondary education to needy children and community outreach and counselling to youth and adults. Most projects have little or no resources, so foreign volunteers with different ideas and experiences are highly valued. Please note that all projects require volunteers who are self-starters and can conduct their daily activities with minimal supervision. Specific daily schedules and activities will be determined between volunteers and their coordinator upon arrival. Three meals are provided each day which will consist of local foods, such as matooke (mashed plantain), posho (corn meal), potatoes, and rice. They are generally served with beef, fish, peas, beans, or groundnut sauce. Bread, eggs and fruits are available for breakfast. Vegetarians are also accommodated.
Village Placement:
Our partner works with a number of small community based organisations that provide counselling, care, and education for rural people and orphaned and underprivileged children. Some of these placements focus exclusively on teaching primary or secondary school. Others include both teaching and community outreach components. Please inform us of which activities you are most interested, so we can best choose your program.
Village teaching placements can include arts and crafts, structured play, music/singing, sports, health, and academics. The main focus is to provide children with a loving, creative environment in which to flourish.
Village community outreach placements can include youth mentoring, HIV prevention and AIDS care, home visiting, sanitation and hygiene, public health, women's groups focusing on vocational skills and women's rights, and teaching modern organic farming methods. For volunteers with a medical background, placements can include working with health-based organisations.
A village placement is particularly appropriate for volunteers with great ideas and enthusiasm for grassroots development. This is a real opportunity for deep cultural exchange.
However, if you wish to work in a very remote area with HIV affected orphans, our partner works with a project in Masaka district in western Uganda. This is the area where HIV/AIDS has most devastated Uganda. The organisation is focused on bringing aid, education, and love to the orphans of the area, many of whom have lost their parents due to AIDS related illnesses.
Volunteers help with feeding, organizing play, arts and crafts, hygiene and HIV/AIDS education appropriate to the childrens' age level (3 to 12 years). Volunteers may be asked to help with administrative work such as budgeting, updating paperwork, writing proposals, and maintaining personal files on the children. (Please note: there is a significant language barrier between volunteers and the children. Local teachers will have to help you with translation.) This is a challenging but amazing program for volunteers with experience organising children, such as camp counsellors, day care workers, and people who love children. Bring your games, songs, and enthusiasm to the village!
For all village placements, accommodation and daily meals will be provided within the village of placement, and will range from private apartments to rooms in private homes. No more than 2 volunteers will be placed together in any village placement.
Mukono Town Council Projects:
Primary Schools: Our partner works with four private primary schools in Mukono town that cater exclusively to the education, housing and feeding of needy children and orphans. Volunteers are involved in arts and crafts, structured play, music/singing, sports, health, and academics. The main focus is to provide children with a loving, creative environment in which to flourish.
All volunteers working in Mukono Town Council (up to 5 at one time) will be housed together in shared accommodation in a large apartment in Mukono Town, a semi-urban area.
Mukono Youth Project:
This is a project promoting grassroots development in Uganda. Volunteers work alongside Ugandan counsellors in a variety of programs, directly benefiting 10 rural communities, which can include the following activities:
Youth Mentoring: Public speaking and mentoring of youth and youth leaders respecting HIV/AIDS, public health/hygiene, family planning, condom use, creativity workshops promoting small business development, the importance of basic education, and women's rights and empowerment. This is the most important and most common activity undertaken by volunteers.
Community Outreach: Includes home visits to elderly, disabled, and persons living with HIV/AIDS to keep company, offer relief, and assess needs. This is a good opportunity for volunteers to see the daily challenges faced by marginalized groups in Uganda.
Administration: Budgeting, planning, fund-raising, and handicraft marketing.
Vocational Training: Teaching computer skills, hairdressing, and tailoring.
As none of the Mukono Youth projects are full-time, volunteers take part in a flexible schedule, which includes some or all activities offered by the program. The exchange of ideas, experiences, and culture is encouraged. This project requires walking long distances in the sun. Volunteers are encouraged to bring a sleeping bag, and protective clothing and shoes.
Volunteers will be given a private room at the Mukono town headquarters of the organization as their home base. As most work is done in surrounding villages, volunteers will be billeted short-term at various villages during their stay.
About Uganda
Full country name: Republic of Uganda
Area: 237,000 sq km (92,300 sq mi)
Population: 31,367,972
Capital city: Kampala
People: Baganda, Lango, Acholi, Pygmy, European, Asian, Arab
Languages: English, Swahili, plus 30 indigenous languages such as Luganda.
Religion: Roman Catholic 41.9%, Protestant 42% Muslim 12.1%, other 3.1%, none 0.9%
Government: Republic
Major industries: Coffee, sugar, brewing, cotton, tea, textiles, tobacco, cement, and steel production
Major trading partners: Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Kenya, UK., Japan, India, South Africa
© Copyright 2008 Lonely Planet Publications. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
Uganda Fact Sheet
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Uganda has ten national parks, ten wildlife reserves and seven wildlife sanctuaries, some of which are acclaimed as being amongst Africa's best.1
Agriculture is the most important sector of the economy, employing over 80% of the work force.2
Due to high birth rates and excess mortality as a result of AIDS, half the population are made up of children aged 0-15.3
By 1993 about 15% of the adult population was living with HIV.4
By 2001, an estimated cumulative total of 2.2 million people had been infected with HIV and about 800,000 Ugandans had died since the onset.5
Interviews with Ugandan health officials revealed that the impressive decline in overall HIV/AIDS prevalence rates in Uganda is levelling off, and in some areas the number of people living with HIV/AIDS may even once again be on the increase.6
Sex work is mainly driven by poverty and many sex workers are HIV-positive, it is thought the prevalence is more than 50%.7
The majority of children involved in commercial sex are between 8-18 years old and in the sample size study of 143 respondents along the 5 truck stop over towns, 97% of children most hit were female and boys accounting for 3%.8
According to women’s rights activists, in many Ugandan communities, wife battery that does not result in serious injury is tolerated and is considered a normal part of marriage.9
Roughly 500 women die of childbirth-related complications for every 100,000 live births, according to the 2000/01 Demographic and Health Survey.10
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Program Requirements
Volunteers for the Uganda program must:
- be 18 years or older
- have no major health problems
- be able to walk distances up to 5km daily
- obtain a police check from your home country prior to volunteering
- sign a general waiver of liability
- have a positive and outgoing personality
The Application Process
Your application process is free and seamless, and if you are successful we will provide you with a choice of application fee payment options that include a secure online service. We also are one of the few organisations that allow you to transfer your application fee to another program at no extra cost.
Communication & Support:
Throughout the process, we are committed to working with you to answer any of your questions or concerns. During your placement we are also available as a form of support to you as a volunteer and will email you while in country to discuss how the program is going.
Program Schedule
You can start your placement on the 1st or 15th of each month.
Volunteers can stay from a period of one month to 3 months.
Your stay can be extended beyond 3 months on a case-by-case basis (depending upon our partners requirements and your ability to obtain an extended visa).
School terms vary from year to year but are approximately as follows: Feb 1 to April 20, May 20 to August 20, Sept 15 to November 30. Volunteers are not placed in teaching projects outside of these times. Please also note that exams take place at the end of each term and normal class schedules will end prior to that. Short term volunteers are advised to start earlier in the term.
As a general rule we can not place short-term volunteers beginning January 1st as all projects take a few weeks to get going in the new year. We advise you to plan your arrival for January 15th, or February 1st in the case of teaching placements.
Apply Now
Program Cost
A US$350 application fee (fully transferable) will secure your place on the program, with your program fee due for payment eight weeks before you begin your placement. You only pay your application fee once and then you can access any of GVN's volunteer programs over the next 5 years.
Your application fee includes the following benefits:
- Personal Staff Support
- Your Program Guide
- Your Fundraising Guide and Software
- Access to Your Own Online Journal
- Online Video - Preparing For Your Trip
- Opportunities for Discounts on Airfares
Once your application fee is paid the remainder of the cost for your time in the program is:
- Cost for 1 month - US $847
- Cost for 6 weeks - US $1147
- Cost for 2 months - US $1447
- Cost for 10 weeks - US $1747
- Cost for 3 months - US $2047
The in-country fee covers administrative charge, project donation, airport pickup, transport to project, meals and accommodation during placement, and supervision.
You will need a weekly budget of approximately US$25 to cater for all your other expenses like bottled water, personal costs, beverages and entertainment. The other costs you will need to meet are your flights, visa, shots, travel insurance, and departure tax.
Apply NowWe have compiled a list of frequently asked questions which we receive at the GVN inbox. This is a great place to start if you have questions about Global Volunteer Network and our placement process. This information should answer the majority of questions you may have.
What is the climate like in Uganda?
What kind of volunteer work is available?
Do I have to be from New Zealand?
What age do you have to be to volunteer?
Do I need to speak English to become a volunteer?
When do I need to arrive in Uganda?
What immunizations/vaccines will I need?
What are the living arrangements when volunteering?
Can I bring my family/children to this program with me?
Can vegetarians be catered for in this program?
Are we able to do any sightseeing while volunteering?
Are there more expenses once I arrive?
How safe is it to volunteer in Uganda?
How many volunteers are there on site at the same time?
What resources are available for teaching when Im volunteering? Do I need to bring my own?
Who organizes my visa for my volunteer placement?
How does GVN choose volunteers for this program?
Question not covered here?
Please check the generic FAQ, and if still unanswered, please ask us a question here. (We aim to answer all email within 48 hours).
Don't just take our word for it, hear what previous volunteers have to say out the program.
Volunteer Diaries
We would like to thank these volunteers for taking the time to write about some of their experiences on the Mukono project.
Volunteer Feedback
Linda
"The townspeople are very welcoming. They are getting used to Muzungu folk at this stage and are usually eager to say hello. And the children-be it in your school or on the street-you just want to bring them all their Christmases at once. They are eager, adorable and genuinely unspoilt in their nature and they can dance like no one you know.
As soon as we applied, the correspondence and guidance kept coming and even when nothing was actually required anyway and it was just the countdown to take off, there was still communication in the way of 'how are you getting on' which is very reassuring to have. GVN is a serious business and although they get the job done, it’s not without the personal touch -- a great combination."
Volunteer Journals
Saturday, July 25th, 2009
I can’t believe that my time is almost half way done. I’ve been having a blast. last weekend us volunteers went to Kampala. It was great yet i was very happy to come back home to Lugazi. This week I was a little sick but I’m feeling great now. Yesterday me and Jade (a I volunteer with) took two of our students to the hospital, both of them are alright they just needed some medication which they got. I was very surprise on how little the hospital visit cost which is quite sad to think about when you realize lots [...]
Sunday, July 12th, 2009
Today was the first day that I got to teach, I choose to teach p5 and p6 those are the older kids. Idid this so I could teach more advanced things like first aid. Today we had a fun day or getting to know each other each student was to write there name what they like and what they want to be. at the end they were to write I AM BEAUTIFUL and then read it to the class the children really liked this and laughed alot. then with one class i taugh them the macarana and they other we [...]
Sunday, July 05th, 2009
Sorry it took me so long to write, I have been busy settling in. I spend my first day at the Mukono Guest house with the other volunteers and asking so many questions. Leslie my real uganda corrdinator is awesome and she helped me get thigns set up. the next day Valence came and picked me and Jade(the other volunteer i’m with) up and we came to where I’ll be living for the next two months. I love it here in Luganzi Valence and Doreen (his wife) are amazing I like themso much they are so nice. As well their [...]
Please visit for more journals and feedback from past volunteers
Articles
Paper into Pearls (Uganda)
Some come out to volunteer to see what the tourists never get to or simply don't want to. Others dig in to join in the chorus that is singing Jeffrey Sachs' line, 'The End of Poverty,' and yet for a few others volunteering goes so deep they turn their lives inside out to work for months on end. New Zealander, Malcolm...
Mother to Mother, Child to Child
Mother to Mother, Child to Child: How an Understanding of Loss Connected Families Across the World The give-away pile of toys in the living room doubled in size. Josh turned over another plastic wonder is his hand and decided to sleep on whether he could give it away. In the morning, the toy was always there, placed proudly on top of the mound...
Checking Expectations at the Door in Uganda
Had she approached the trip differently, she might have come back disappointed. But Amber Burridge, a resident of Calgary, knew that to travel and work in Uganda any other way would spell disaster. In fact, she had been warned. "I had a friend that had gone to Malawi and she told me to expect the unexpected when I was in Uganda," Amber said. "I...
Working Together to Make a Difference
This article was first published in and . Sad expressions of sympathy arise as another charity appeal screens...
The Spirit of the Modern African Woman
She puts on her jacket of pride and buttons it up with confidence taking slow steps, moving her hips from left to right, with the expression of a lioness in her own land her eyes roar to the crowd as her stare explains to the judges, she is proud to be an African Woman. The village women in Uganda start work when the moon is still present; their...
