Making a difference: volunteering in Uganda

Katherine is a Health and Psychology teacher in Melbourne. We asked her to share her story of volunteering in Uganda.

2016 was not a particularly good year for most and definitely not for me. However 2017 has opened my eyes to a new world and is shaping up to be the best one yet and it’s only February! In September last year I made the decision to travel to Uganda during my January holidays and spend time training teachers. This turned out to be one of the best decisions I have ever made.

So how did this all come about?

I should clarify that this type of decision did not come easily for me, a homebody by nature and someone who previously let fear and anxiety rule most of my life choices. This trip was the last thing I expected of myself. I had reached the end of my third year of teaching and was starting to feel burnt out. I spent most of my time bemoaning things I didn’t have, which, in turn, made me miserable.

I made the decision that this needed to change, but I wasn’t entirely sure how to go about that change. One night, I was in bed casually scrolling through my Facebook feed and an advertisement looking for teachers to travel to disadvantaged communities popped up. With a background in health promotion the idea of this trip really appealed to me, but was I brave enough to travel to a new country, by myself with a group of complete strangers for twenty days? I doubted my decision throughout the entire process and deleted my application twice. In the end, I took a leap of faith and sent in the application and I was accepted.

The trip

Arriving at Entebbe airport, my first thought was what have I gotten myself into? This thought was even more prominent when nineteen of us piled onto a tiny un-airconditioned bus for a three hour journey through chaotic Kampala to Jinja. The poverty was evident from the get-go, but the colour and culture also shined through.

My fears where allayed once I started to talk to the other amazing people on the bus. Before this trip, I didn’t believe that nineteen teaching professionals could get along so well and talk so positively about teaching.  By the end of this first bus trip it felt like we were one big family (cliché I know).

The next day was spend almost dying (I mean white water rafting on the Nile). This trip for me was as much about facing my fears as it was about teaching and I was proud I was able to join in the activity. A quote from one of my team mates was ‘ I have never seen anyone look more terrified than you on that raft.’

After this adventure we made our way to what would be our home away from home for the next three weeks. The lodge, this rustic accommodation with idyllic views, was perfect even with the cold showers. Our group continued to bond at the lodge with trivia nights, games, drinking and the most amazing talent show. Well, if you put nineteen teachers together with no tv and internet and things are going to get creative.

It wasn’t until one of the final nights in a night club, when the John Legend song ‘All of me’ came on and we were all singing at the top of our lungs did we realise just how special this experience had been.

The teaching and my learning

The teaching component of the trip let me work with both Ugandan and Australian teachers and I think I gained as much as I gave. It was a humbling experience speaking with the Ugandans and trying to understand their context. What they do with so little and the passion that they have is inspiring. The lack of resources and daily struggles truly put teaching and my life in Australia in perspective.

I complain when the filtered water tap in the staff kitchen doesn’t work, where their school may not have easy access to water or sewage at all. This perspective is probably the greatest gain from this experience and something I hope will stay with me for life. In Australia we take so much for granted and we are so good at focusing on what we don’t have.

We are always striving for the next promotion, relationship, baby, or whatever and we don’t take the time to appreciate what we do have. So I guess what I’m getting at is if you do feel like you are focusing too much on the negative, push yourself beyond your comfort zone, put yourself in a new context and start to appreciate the great things you already have.

This trip taught me so much, but the top four were:

1. Let go of fear, and if you can’t do it anyway.
2. By helping others you help yourself, I’m now a firm believer that altruism does not exist.
3. That education really is the key to improving the lives of those in developing countries.
4. A newfound self-confidence and self-worth that I have never had before.

What can you do?

A volunteering holiday is certainly worthwhile and will give you greater insight and perspective into this world we live in. It will give you the opportunity to help those who truly need it and to help yourself too. However, it is important to find the right program. Too many programs send untrained Westerners into communities for a few weeks to teach, build, and train within the community. What’s important to remember when looking for programs is what are you leaving behind? If I had gone and taught children in a school for two weeks, what would I have left behind? The answer is nothing, an experience for me sure but the students that you leave behind have no gains.

Look for sustainable programs that have long lasting positive impacts. What I really appreciated about this particular opportunity was its focus on sustainability and responsible volunteering.  LRTT (Limited Resources Teacher Training) focus on teachers training teachers, this format is both sustainable and effective, because by improving teacher output you are improving overall student outcomes for generations. Working with both Australian and Ugandan teachers has improved my own practice and my passion for education has been reignited.

What am I doing next January? I will be completing another LRTT fellowship. Different country, different people, but same outcomes. A more positive outlook on life.

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