A group of Ugandan women were shouting "nnyenya akabina" at me while they tried to teach me to dance to the beat of an Africa bass drum. It was the first night of a four-week volunteer placement in Uganda with the A-Z Children's Charity and I learned my first Ugandan words; "nnyenya akabina", a very important phrase which means "shake your bum".
Our host family in Nansana (12km outside the capital Kampala) welcomed us volunteers with an impromptu dance around their walled garden. The family consisted of five women of different generations who were all 'sisters' and several boys and girls, many of whom were fostered into the family. None of them were taking no for an answer from us volunteers who were a little awkward on our first night there.
Volunteer travel has risen in popularity over the last few years. It is no longer reserved for the clergy and medical personnel. Now there are several companies and charities that specialise in providing short and long-term placements.
The UK company, i-to-i, set up an Irish office eight years ago and since then has seen a rise in the numbers of volunteers travelling from 32 to 450 last year.
The market is clearly there for a more meaningful way to travel and grassroots organisations like the A-Z Children's Charity provide this. While other organisations have a lot of administration costs, A-Z has very few, with only one full-time employee and two part-time employees in Ireland.
Each volunteer has to raise €2,000 which goes directly to the charity and last year they raised €120,000. Every volunteer pays for their own travel, food and accommodation. The latter two are at the local price of €100 in total for the duration of your stay. Not only are they very affordable rates, but having to finance our own shelter and sustenance was a great way to feel a part of supporting the local community.
It is thought that there are 110,000 HIV-infected children in Uganda and only 2% of these are getting anti-retroviral medication which is necessary to keep them alive. The A-Z Children's Charity specializes in helping orphans and children infected with HIV/AIDS.
Each summer A-Z provides placements for teachers, nurses and people with general skills. The requirement for a 'generally skilled' volunteer is to have the enthusiasm to get involved. These volunteers work with the kids in local schools and the library; they build a house or work on the horticultural project.
As my previous career was in nursing, I chose the nursing placement with A-Z. My day was varied and involved working in a health clinic, home visits for people on anti-retroviral medication and teaching sex education and first aid in schools. The health clinic had no electricity, running water or basic equipment that we take for granted in Ireland. Staff shortages meant massive waiting times for patients and many would have walked up to 20km to get to the clinic.
All volunteers live with a host family. The meals are tasty local dishes which are usually accompanied by the national dish matoke (a green fruit that looks like a banana). The sleeping accommodation is basic, with just a bed and mosquito net. In my house there was only one tap with running water so the squat toilets and cold 'jerrycan' showers were the hardest thing to get used to. But to stay in accommodation any more glamorous wouldn't have felt right after witnessing the poverty in the local area. The children in the houses beside ours were poorly dressed and looked undernourished but they beamed with a happiness that you don't see so readily at home.
Each day a gang of about 10 kids waited outside our house to escort us up and down the boreen. They got very excited to see us and fought over who would hold our hand. They were amazed by our pale skin and would rub our arms and even try and pick our freckles off! It surprised me how they never grew tired of doing this several times a day for four weeks. The warmth and positivity of the Ugandan people more than made up for the difficulties we faced working in a country so poor.
That first night of dancing and "nnyenya akabina" in the garden set the scene for a fun and positive experience. I learned a lot and managed to give a little, and that's not something that can often be said about two weeks lying in the sun.
How to Volunteer
The A-Z Children's Charity is running the following work placements in 2010:
1st Placement: 2-23 July 2010 - eight nurses, 25 primary school teachers and five individuals with general skills.
2nd Placement: 23 July-14 August 2010 - eight nurses, 25 primary school teachers and five individuals with general skills.
The placements are filled on a first-come, first-served basis, subject to the suitability of a candidate.
Please note that you must be at least 20-years-old to volunteer with the A-Z Children's Charity.
For more information, contact Miriam Lewis, the Volunteer Coordinator, on (01) 542 4178, 087 644 5617 or email: miriam@azkids.ie. For information on the charity and to download an application form visit: www.azkids.ie.
Deirdre Mullins
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