Real life volunteer experiences

My Experieces at a Local School in Lukay

Written by Andrew

I can’t say enough good things about this trip. The leadership and organization, compared to other organizations I have heard about was unparalleled. Project Manager David Bakeine and Assistant Project Manager George Kateregga are people I consider to be great friends now. They were model professionals, well educated, and very accommodating and hospitable. They made sure we felt very comfortable in Uganda, organized weekend trips around the country, were great intermediates to use when communicating with the local people while all along fostering our independence and appreciation of Ugandan culture. As for the Griswolds, they were more than helpful in giving us timelines for completing things such as booking flights and getting vaccinations as well as helping us complete each of these things, giving us detailed packing lists and information on Uganda and specifically Lukaya, and even hosted us the night before we left to give us a personal briefing on what to expect thus giving us insight as Americans who have traveled there.
We painted and did various handy-man jobs for the school buildings and taught lessons in science, maths, English, social studies, music, and physical education. We also provided many fun and interesting teaching techniques and activities to the teachers of the School, as well as teaching the Head Master guitar. We helped coach the football(soccer) team on Saturdays as well.
If anyone is also interested in doing any volunteering in a medical clinic setting, the Griswolds, using their extensive network in Lukaya, helped organize volunteering experience in two health clinics in and around Lukaya. Two of us are in pre-professional health programs in college and being able to go to two health clinics and get hands on experience giving vaccines and providing other health care was invaluable.

Overall this experience was very well structured while also allowing much freedom to get immersed in East African culture. After being there only a few days people in town were learning who we were and would come up to us just to greet us and thank us for coming as well as welcoming us into the town and their homes. After leaving we had a deep feeling of contribution to the community and have stayed in contact with many people we met. We all had a phenomenal summer in Uganda and would strongly encourage anyone to get in contact with this organisation if they are interested in volunteering in Uganda. If there is any more I can elaborate on or anything else at all I can provide to help Ecoteer and any volunteers I would be more than happy to comply. Also, you may share this information with anyone you feel it would benefit. Thank you.

About the placement

For more information, visit the placement page for Ugandan Model School Project.