Tourists visit Uganda one of the beautiful East African countries for different reasons. Majority of visitors come for wildlife adventures like gorilla tracking, wildlife viewing, and honeymoon vacation, business and conferences, white water rafting, cultural safari and mountain climbing while others aim at bringing positive change towards the development of the country.
By 2025 Uganda is projected to be the 3rd world’s fastest developing nation. However, the country’s economic growth is faced with challenges such as poverty, unemployment, inadequate health care and treatment, low skills and levels of education, climate change and conservation issues which all need improvement in order to provide better services to local people.
This presents opportunities for travelers who want to volunteer in different programs and communities on a period ranging from few days, a week to as many months you can afford. Volunteers need to take note that they could find living conditions which may involve working in remote villages with no piped water, national parks or some of Uganda’s town.
You can volunteer as individual, family and group while engaging in work at a local area where there’s much need for your skills.
Work may involve working with local organizations or international NGO’s in areas such as teaching in local schools, helping vulnerable orphans and women development organizations, working with community hospitals like Bwindi hospital, construction of rain water harvesting technologies, student research internships like medical or conservation. There are affordable packages that you can combine both safari and volunteer. Therefore, you need to plan with a tour operator for accommodation, what you need to pack with regard to the kind of work and the place you will be staying.
Volunteer at Bwindi community Hospital
Bwindi community hospital is found in Kanungu distirict in Buhoma trading center outside the main headquarters of Bwindi impenetrable forest national park. It was started in 2003with support from Dr. Scot kellerman and it has grown to provide health care and HIV/AIDS treatment to more than 100,000 people in the district. The hospital management welcomes travelers work as volunteers including surgical doctors, nurses and healthcare givers, orthopedists, nutritionists and researchers research.
Volunteering at a Schools
Education in Uganda is one of the government sectors that contribute to development especially by improving business or social life skills, reducing illiteracy levels and reducing poverty. Most children start school with nursery, to primary and secondary levels both in rural and urban schools. Some are funded by community, private or government. However, in rural areas some parents depend on income obtained from farming to pay school fees. Uganda is a high birth rate which means that the number of children wanting to go to school is big. Much emphasis is therefore placed on early child hood education such as helping children with English or any other foreign language skills and teaching in classrooms which are opportunities for volunteering with a certain school.
Community Work
Uganda has a population of about 35 million people. Most of these live in rural areas and depend on agriculture to earn income for their family wellbeing. The public and private partnerships have put much emphasis on community driven projects to empower local people and create employment for the youth. People depend on natural resources like water, firewood, medicinal herbs which puts a threat on wildlife and biodiversity. Hence projects are geared to create sustainable ways of living in harmony with nature.
Most projects are found in many communities around national parks like Bwindi rainforest, Lake Mburo, Kibale forest, Bigodi wetland among others. Some are funded by community lodges, NGO’s while others by individuals. They range from tree planting, food growing, construction of rain water harvesting technologies by Bakiga lodge in Ruhija-Bwindi.