Description

The small rural parish of Buyaya in Eastern Uganda is in desperate need of quality education.

Practically all children under the age of nine cannot read a single letter. Check out our detailed census of Buyaya for more information about the crisis in literacy.

To help address this issue, Meaningful Volunteer has built a solar powered school in Buyaya.

A Job Not Yet Done
We're very excited to have finished the first stage of our school, but there is still more work to be done!

* A rain fed water system
Uganda has a rainy season and a wet season. During the dry season, drinking water is a valuable commodity. The rain fed water system will collect water from the roof, funnel it into guttering, and then into a large storage tank.

* Additional buildings
We plan to add two additional buildings to the site. One will be used as a volunteer dormitory, and the other as an additional classroom for vocational courses.

* Livestock enclosures
We will shortly be adding livestock to the school land. This livestock - together with our edible school yard - provides school meals for our students.

Highlights

Described as the "Pearl of Africa" by Winston Churchill, Uganda is a marvel to behold. It hosts the source of the River Nile, spectacular wildlife and beautiful lakes.

Volunteers in the Ugandan program will be accommodated in the guest house in the parish of Buyaya in the district of Sironko. The guest house contains a boys' room, a girls' room, a room for Meaningful Volunteer staff, a lounge, a store room for food, a garage, and an inside shower room. The toilets are outside and are of the long-drop variety.

* The guest house has no electricity, but has a solar powered light system. Laptops, cellphones etc can be charged at our solar powered school.

* Internet is available in the guest house via a small USB device that connects to a computer.

* Three meals a day are prepared for the volunteers.

Qualifications

Be over 18 years old.

Languages

• English

Cost in US$:

starts at USD 850 per month

Program Fees Include:

Meaningful Volunteer is committed to be as open and honest as we can with all our volunteers. This extends from detailed explanations of free resources for all our projects, right down to the day-to-day costs of running the organization.

This extends to the fees that we charge for our volunteer placements. Our fees are broken down item-by-item. Fees also differ depending on whether it is the first or subsequent months of your placement.

Entebbe Airport Pickup - USD 100.00

We will arrange an airport pickup for you. All your costs to get to the placement location is covered by us.

School Building Donation - USD 250.00

All of our volunteer fees have a donation component built into them. This helps us cover the costs of the project.

For the School Building project, your donation goes towards building supplies for the school.

Ugandan Accommodation - USD 250.00

All our Ugandan volunteers stay at the guesthouse in Buyaya.

The accommodation portion of your fee covers your board as well as 3 meals a day prepared by our staff.

Ugandan Admin - USD 200.00

Meaningful Volunteer is a 100% non-profit organization. Any profits we do make are reinvested back into the communities we work in.

Much of our admin money goes towards keeping the organization running on a day-to-day basis.

A large portion of the money goes to keep out wonderful local staff employed. Meaningful Volunteer is committed to empowering local people in local communities.

Uganda Training - USD 50.00

Volunteers will be given full training upon arrival at the guest house in Buyaya

You will be taken through our Volunteer Manual

* Note also that there is a USD 100 application fee that applies to all projects.

Experience Required

no

Volunteer Types

This Program is open to

Worldwide Participants. This Program is also open to Families, Couples and Individuals.

Typical Living Arrangements

• Guest House

Participants Travel

Independently

Typically Participants Work

in Groups of 2-3

Application Process Involves

• Online Application plus Application Assessment

Typically The Application Process Time is

less than 3 days

Meaningful Volunteer's Mission Statement

Meaningfulness: Every project that Meaningful Volunteer undertakes must be meaningful. Accurate records must be kept to ensure that a project continues to be meaningful. Financial: Meaningful Volunteer is first and foremost an organization that enables volunteers to have a meaningful impact on developing communities. It is not a charity and will not be run as such. MeaningfulVolunteer will be run like a for-profit business. However, any profits that Meaningful Volunteer does make will be reinvested back into the communities it is trying to help in the forms of educational supplies, medical supplies and so on. Meaningful Volunteer finances will be 100% transparent. All financial statements and a breakdown of volunteer fees will be available on-line. Local Investment: Meaningful Volunteer believes that people in developing countries are an untapped goldmine of talent! As a result, Meaningful Volunteer will only employ local staff and pay them 200% of market rate. Local folk must also invest in some way to the projects they are participants in. Nothing in Meaningful Volunteer is free! An investment in a project means a project is much more likely to succeed. Sustainable Solutions: Any income generating projects that Meaningful Volunteer engages in must be self-sustaining. Meaningful Volunteer may provide some start-up capital, but the project must self-sustain without financial input from additional financial input. All projects must submit budgets and a business plan as a minimum. Corruption: Corruption is a large problem in developing communities. Meaningful Volunteer has a policy of: * No corruption means no corruption no corruption. * We will not deal with any corrupt organization and any staff member found to be accepting bribes will be summarily dismissed

Year Founded

2008