School, boarding house & women's/community empowerment in Jinja district, Uganda

Details

• 

  Description

  Our Foundation is a registered community project only 9km’s away from Jinja town in the village of Kyabirwa right next to the Nile river.
  
  Our vision is to provide children with access to an education, medical and dental care in a happy, healthy, safe, caring & love filled family environment whilst empowering our staff and community as a whole.
  
  We are a school, a boarding house and a women's and community empowerment group all rolled into one and we do this in four ways:
  
  1. School - We have built a school using the International Cambridge curriculum used by the children who board with us and other external paying students.
  
  2. Boarding House - We provide boarding facilities including nutritious meals, schooling, access to health care & support for 20 children in our love filled home with our children ranging in age from 3 to 16.
  
  3. Women's & community empowerment - We work with local women and indeed all members of the community primarily via empowerment using education (knowledge = power), up-skilling (tailoring, jewellery making, growing crops) or direct employment as our tools of choice.
  
  4. Community health - When possible, we provide assistance on any and all health issues. We have in the past paid for members of our village to have surgical operations, supplied re-usable sanitary pads to the women of the village and even donated care packages to the women in nearby Jinja prison - the list is a long one!
  
  Please note that we do have animals in case you have allergies

• 

  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Charity Work

  Art Projects

  Language practice

  Help with Eco Projects

  Teaching

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Animal Care

  Babysitting and creative play

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
• 

  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

  ×

  ...

  ...

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  What's this?
• 

  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  We welcome all volunteers to our team and will teach them about life in rural Uganda explaining our traditions, beliefs and customs
  
  We cook outdoors using charcoal stoves and will gladly teach volunteers how to cook the Ugandan specialties of posho, beans or rice. We would love for you to cook one of your national dishes for the children
  
  We attend church on a Sunday and if anyone who wants to join us is welcome to come along and experience an all-dancing, all-singing African service
  
  We can also offer volunteers a chance for language exchange and can teach Luganda’n or Lusoga

• 

  Projects involving children

  This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.

• 

  Help

  There is an endless list of things for volunteers to do and we welcome anyone with a desire to get involved regardless of experience or expertise. Below we have outlined the main activities but we are also happy for volunteers to come with ideas for things that will help our project grow and develop
  
  1. Teaching the children at our school(s)
  
  2. General help preparing food, washing clothes and cleaning- Looking after so many children is a lot of work and any help with daily chores is massively appreciated
  
  3. Assisting with an exercise program for Brian (aged 16)
  
  4. Women's & community activities - we would love to run more community activities such as health education and would love if any volunteers could help us get these sessions running
  
  For example, one past volunteer supplied and distributed washable and reusable women's sanitary pads for the village women & another volunteer set up a sewing machine & provided training for local women on making clothing and bags
  
  We are currently researching where to purchase the 'PUL' fabric needed to make our own reusable sanitary pads & diapers, where to source women's reusable sanitary cups (plus dietary advice for natural sources of iron) and looking at creating malaria prevention (nets and natural preventatives), clean drinking water and birth control (implants) projects
  
  5. Maintenance - Their is always something to fix or improve. Past volunteers have found themselves concreting, laying bricks, doing carpentry, fixing motorbikes, maintaining the bore hole, hanging doors and everything inbetween
  
  Volunteers are asked to help out for 5 hours a day, 5 days a week and we like to give volunteers the flexibility to choose work that they enjoy doing, when they do it and we are always happy for volunteers to come up with new ways in which they can help our project
  
  We do ask though that all volunteers put our children first, the community at large second and themselves third
  
  As every single volunteer or indeed visitor to us is in essence a role model we also ask them to dress appropriately and respectfully. Whether male or female, we simply ask for a minimum of a t-shirt and knee length loose fitting shorts at all times and no skin tight or revealing clothing (if in doubt use the common sense rule of wear what would be deemed appropriate at a private school or office in your home country)

• 

  Languages

  Languages spoken
  English: Fluent

  This host offers a language exchange
  This host has indicated that they are interested in sharing their own language or learning a new language.
  You can contact them directly for more information.
• 

  Accommodation

  Volunteers stay in one of our home stays which are within a 5-minute walk from the our school and boarding house.
  
  The basic home stay’s have everything you need and give you the additional benefit of the cultural experience (and an income for the host). We only ask for 15,000 Ugandan shillings per person per day (approx $4 USD) which includes accommodation and three meals a day.
  
  We also have one home stay which offers sleeping quarters for up to three people and is self contained with its own toilet and shower, there is only one available and is 25,000 per person per day including three meals a day.
  
  For guests in the basic homestays, showering is an opportunity to experience the classic African bucket shower, however most volunteers choose to go down to one of the tourist camps 1km away where there are both hot water showers & flushing toilets. It is only a 10 minute walk and is a great place for chilling out, getting a drink or maybe a meal if you are craving burgers or fries
  
  The meals we provide are 99% vegetarian, vegan and gluten free and we ask for a minimum stay of two weeks so you can get used to the routine of the day
  
  The local camp’s offer free (slow) wi-fi however if you prefer to have your own internet connection this can be organized easily and cheaply with the purchase of a local SIM card and data pack in Jinja town - all you need is your passport and money

• 

  What else ...

  As we are on the banks of the Nile river volunteers can enjoy all of the activities the local camps & community offer’s including kayaking, white water rafting, stand up paddle boarding, ATV or mountain bike tours, village walks, craft lessons, yoga classes, massages etc. You can also safely swim in the river at the nearby Nile River Camp or if you prefer they have a swimming pool which you can use for a small fee
  
  
  We are only a 20 minute Boda-Boda ride (motorbike taxi) from Jinja town where you can visit the source of the Nile, find Western style restaurants and bars and do any shopping you need to
  
  Volunteers can also explore more of Uganda with share taxis available frequently & cheaply from Jinja to Sipi falls, Itanda Falls & Mt Elgon to name a few. We are centrally located between Kampala to the West and the Busia Kenyan border crossing to the East
  
  GETTING HERE FROM KAMPALA OR ENTEBBE:
  
  There are several ways of getting here with the most popular being either a private hire taxi directly from Entebbe airport which takes 3-4 hours which we can organize for you or the Pineapple Express shuttle service (refer their website for details)
  
  Alternately there are many shared taxis and buses that run between Entebbe, Kampala and Jinja however it requires up to 4 different taxis/share taxis and can take up to 7 hours depending on how long the share taxis take to fill
  
  GETTING HERE FROM ELSEWHERE:
  Ask us
  
  VISA'S etc:
  
  The recommended way of getting a visa is applying online (please only use the official Ugandan government immigration website!), it is the same price whether you ask for 30 or 90 days but you may only get the option of a 30 day visa if doing a border crossing. This varies from nationality to nationality so check out the Ugandan Immigration website for further information
  
  Ugandan tourist visa extensions can be easily organized in nearby Jinja at the regional immigration office
  
  Alternately you can get the 90 day East African Tourist (EAT) visa which also grants you entry into Kenya & Rwanda (information can be found on the Immigration Uganda Visa and Passes web page)
  
  You will be asked for evidence of a Yellow Fever vaccination so we strongly recommend you have it

• 

  A little more information

  • 

    Internet access

  • 

    Limited internet access

  • 

    We have pets

  • 

    We are smokers

  • 

    Can host families

• 

  Can host digital nomads

  This host has indicated that they love having digital nomads stay.

• 

  Space for parking camper vans

  This host can provide space for campervans.

• 

  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

• 

  Hours expected

  Maximum 5 hours a day, 5 days a week

• 

  This host charges a fee

  read more

  Why does workaway.info allow listings of hosts who charge money?

  In developing countries (Where most hosts are involved in charity work or community development) some of our hosts may ask for a small donation to help the host family or charity (often less then 5 dollars per day) Workaway will allow this listing when the donation goes directly to the family or charity and is just to cover the cost of the volunteer‘s stay.  (This will be clearly marked on the host listing).
  We will strictly not allow listings posted by agents, “middle men” or projects who we feel are looking to profit from a volunteers stay.
   

   

   

  15,000 Ugandan shillings per person per night (approx $4 USD) which includes accommodation, three meals a day.

Feedback (41)