At Kitara Foundation We Host Volunteers from Abroad:
Embarking on a journey to offering yourself to serve free of charge can be quite a daunting experience. However, with the right mindset, tools and preparation, it can be an incredibly rewarding experience with many lessons along the way. That’s why Kitara Foundation has developed a comprehensive volunteer program so that volunteers have a safe, enjoyable, productive time that is helpful to the communities and rewarding to the volunteers.
We invite you to join us in changing people’s lives in this country. We are excited to see what people from abroad can do to stand up against social forces and injustices among the Ugandan communities, offer their skills, resources and valuable time to create lasting change in a poor community!
This volunteer program enshrines Kitara Foundation’s vision which encourages creativity and empowers all working teams to function synergistically, and enables them to be flexible in their work, create space for learning and reflection and be responsible to the changing realities of the poor and the poverty context in which we work.
This plan puts in place a handy guideline on how volunteers must be sensitively responsible to the vision, principles, values and the work culture of Kitara Foundation whose mission is to work with partners, the poor women, men, boys and girls, the local civil society and other development players in the quest to attain Physical and social well being of all people.
Our volunteers’ destinations are the community based institutions, groups and families that most need volunteers. This is where Volunteers from abroad can offer their support and help and at the same time where they can learn various lessons. Therefore, our Volunteers program is symbiotic in nature designed to benefit both the guests and their hosts.
Our Volunteer Destinations
- Schools (Kindergartens, Primary Schools and Secondary Schools
- Universities and other Tertiary Institutions
- Religious institutions (Churches and Mosques)
- Children’s day care centres
- Health Institutions such as hospitals and clinics
- Refugee settlements and Displaced person’s camps
- Community Based Organizations and groups
- Media and Broadcasting institutions
- Business Centres and Markets
- Agricultural and agro-processing centres
- Environment and Nature conservations centres
- Herbal Medicinal Processing centres
- Cultural and entertainment centres
Our Volunteers programme allows you to discover Western Uganda first-hand, since you will be living with a Ugandan host while serving as the family’s and community’s teacher and learner at the same time.
Volunteering in Western Uganda is a fantastic opportunity for students, high school graduates as well as professionals to reach for a world beyond their horizon. You will experience Uganda first hand and share the experiences life has taught you, while immersing into one of the world’s oldest and richest cultures. It is an adventure, a challenge, an investment in your future. Western Uganda Communities are focused on the future and you can be a part of it.
Working as a volunteer in Western Uganda will give you a wonderful new perspective of this incredible part of the country. You will be living with Ugandan hosts, an opportunity to learn while serving. You will make an important contribution, whatever your skills, by improving standards of living, offering skills and giving them the confidence that comes from being able to communicate with an international native.
You will leave a mark and a name in Uganda if you can reach out to the people in schools or in community and provide your practical skills for their future carriers.
Working with especially Women and Youths, you can teach them handcraft, computer, carpentry, cooking, tailoring, fabrication, metal works, mechanics and driving or gardening. These are the skills that Ugandan youths and women need most today.
In Uganda most business entrepreneurs look for great numbers of extra staff, and a lot of them are happy to accept volunteers from abroad. Work placement can range from hotels and catering, agro-processing, to business management. There are also positions available in childcare, conservation work, schools and health facility centres. Accommodation and food are always arranged by the institutions.
With her impressive castles, long-established pubs, great shopping, stunning landscape, extreme fashions and trendsetting music and theatre, Western Uganda is a great destination for young travelers. Nothing beats living and working in Western Uganda for an extended period of time to really get to know the country side from the inside. The region is small in size but nonetheless offers a wide selection of places in which to live and work.
By participating in this programme you will gain work experience and enjoy Uganda in an inviting environment that makes your stay during your period useful and unforgettable
Volunteer with Kitara Foundation
For those of you who want to make a difference in the world this is the right place to start. Lending your time and skills to people in rural communities is hugely rewarding. Our programs combine volunteer work with relaxing breaks so you can have a holiday that is rewarding, invigorating and fun. Isn’t that just what you want from your holiday? Western Uganda is gifted with Natural resources such as tropical forests of Kibale National Park with hundreds of Fauna and Flora species, Queen Elizabeth National Park, Rwenzori Mountains, Mughahinga National Park, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, the deepest Lake Bunyonyi, Lake Mburo National Park among others. This Makes Western Uganda a good place where Development work can be integrated with meaningful adventure.
Mission Statement for our Volunteer Program
Kitara Foundation is a not-for-profit organization established to function as a means to rescue impoverishing communities of Western Uganda Uganda by implementing the most critical humanitarian and development programs. Such programs include health and human services, Devine Ministry and Family life, Health, Sanitation and Hygiene program, HIV/AIDS Prevention, Care and Support Program , Women Empowerment and Capacity Building Program, Agriculture/Food and nutrition, education and Environmental Protection Program.
What we have to do under the Volunteer Placement Program:
Kitara Foundation will receive and place volunteers into community development interventions that need them while at the same time make efforts to connect them to meaningful adventure places like Kibale National Park, Queen Elizabeth National Park, Lake Mburo National Park, Rwenzori Mountains, Mgahinga National Park, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Western Lift Valley escarpments etc.
Our goal for Volunteers:
We provide people an opportunity to help those less fortunate than themselves, without disturbing significantly their work and family responsibilities. Volunteering is probably the most rewarding experience available and our programs make it available to a wider audience.
Our Volunteer programs:
Each of our programs offers between 14-21 days volunteer work, followed by 4-7 days relaxation. The volunteer work is at carefully selected sites in Western Uganda.
Most participants are expected from Europe, Australia, Asia and America. And majority is expected to be University and college graduates, Interns, Professionals, and holiday makers. It is a great opportunity to make new friends and have fun while doing something meaningful and highly rewarding.
Kitara Foundation offers travel programs that comprise one part volunteer work at an approved charity-related project, and a second part a relaxing stay at any safari or adventure land. Generally this is a 4-week program with approximately 14-21 days volunteer work and the remainder at the adventure-land. The locations of the work and adventures are in different parts of the same district or region.
We offer some air fare options to the destinations, but booking flights is the responsibility of the volunteers themselves.
Volunteers will be given tasks – by the relevant program manager at Kitara Foundation, related to the Organizations projects – the day after their arrival. They will be accommodated at the Guest House or in a host family and provided three meals daily during their placement, but the standards may not be at international levels. Some volunteers prefer to be integrated into a host family which is also an added advantage to learn African culture and traditions.
Why Volunteers at Kitara Foundation?
In these changing times, many of us have a strong desire to help those less fortunate. But sometimes we cannot afford thousands of dollars, Euros and pounds asked by most volunteer programs.
So we have organized programs with trustworthy grassroots projects where volunteers can make a difference with the local people and support them rather than supporting the middle man. You can rest assured that your input has provided essential support in parts of the world that need help. You will sure to leave behind a mark of changed lives.
Follow your Interest:
Below are some examples of the wide range of causes and needs that the non-profit programs at Kitara Foundation support: Abused Animals, Arts, Abandoned Babies, Children, Cultural projects, Music, Dance, Drama, Disabled, Disease Advocacy/Research, Elderly, Environment, Health Care, Homeless, Hospitals, Immigrants, Libraries, Mental Health, , Nursing Homes, Prisons, Social Work, Special Projects, Sports, Teenagers, Theatres, Women’s Groups, Young Adults etc. You will tell us your interests in your booking.
We are volunteers too:
Kitara Foundation relies heavily on the services of over 20 Local volunteers. Other volunteers schedule appointments, compile statistics, raise funds, assist with benefit planning, conduct agency visits, and maintain agency relationships.
What the Foundation will do!
- We shall be able to ensure that Volunteers are fully deployed from the day after their arrival.
- We shall provide suitable accommodation with bathroom facilities. This can be dormitory-type but must have separate male and female quarters. V40RC is flexible on facilities provided – which will be inspected before the start of a program. Payment for these accommodation facilities will be made to the UVRC by the volunteers themselves upon arrival.
- We shall provide three meals daily. This can be provided in the same locations as provided for our full time volunteers. Western food may need not be provided, but local food shall be traditional and not exotic. Alcoholic beverages will not be provided. A facility that allows volunteers to augment their consumption at their own cost will be identified (such as access to a local store to buy Coca-Cola and cigarettes) but is not so a requirement.
Gap Year opportunities in Western Uganda
Gap year trips for school & university leavers to volunteer at our schools & health projects in rural Africa. Join Uganda Vision Resource Centre in Western Uganda on your gap year to:
- Take part in a unique, life-changing experience
- Make a real difference to peoples’ lives in rural Western Uganda
- Learn new skills that future employers will value
- Join safaris & expeditions you will remember forever
- and have fun with new like-minded friends
Volunteering is open to all. Don’t worry if you feel you haven’t got the right experience, our team is here to help you before you come and while you are in Kamwenge to give you the support and training you need.
What makes this Volunteers program unique?
Kitara Foundation is a development focused organization with deep roots in here, working tightly with several community development projects. The organization was founded by Ugandan Social workers who understand very well where your experience and skills are needed.
We run different Community Projects in Western Uganda where volunteers stay at a Guest Home, live in comfortable home stay environment while they play several valuable roles in alleviating poverty in the surrounding area. Volunteers will be allocated roles teaching and supporting teachers at local schools where they will teach mainly English, IT and Physical Education. They will also be involved in HIV prevention projects in the area, generally community development projects and so many other projects as earlier indicated.
What is the Home like?
At home, food is provided by Ugandans who cook a combination of local and western dishes. Breakfast and dinner are eaten at home and lunch is either eaten from project sites or is a packed lunch. Water is either mineral water or filtered on site for drinking. The home keeps soft drinks that people can buy cheaply. When we aren’t away on field project activities, we shall have big barbecues on the weekends. Community leaders, Teachers and Church leaders sometimes invite our volunteers for dinner.
Program Dates:This program runs all throughout the year. Program orientation will take place the second day of your arrival.
Program Duration: Volunteers can choose to volunteer for a period of 1 week to 6 months.
Our Home Stay
If you’re going to live in Uganda for whatever period on internship, research, volunteering, holidaying or just on tour, staying with a host family will offer the best experience. We start with the firmest cliché in the homestays industry…a home away from home.
- Ugandan Homestays…Real Homes away from Home
Ugandans are generally warm and welcoming so your stay is bound to be great. But all the same, bouts of home sickness are normal during this period hence living with a group of people who keep you company and treat you as part of their family helps to kiss the blues away.
Add the small things like having to use public transportation to get home or sitting around a tally with good company as you laugh at the gags in the local comedy shows…nothing beats this atmosphere.
- Learn Ugandan languages
You should definitely learn greetings and common terms on civilities as Ugandans are generally welcoming and respectful but some terms can be easily learned from a language book or with Google’s help. In a homestay, the learning environment is conducive as guests are exposed to the language banter of their host family and at the same time have willing partners who won’t laugh at your weird accents…unless it’s a really funny one.
- Prepare and enjoy locally cooked scrumptious meals with your host
This is usually one of the top activities when you visit a new location as it helps one familiarize themselves with the local cuisine. The host family members like it to see you learn a new skill but above all when they eat something that has been cooked with participation of “muzungu”.
In all honesty, it’s a complete waste if you switch continents or countries and still eat the same mediocre grub that is present everywhere. Be a little adventurous and try a dish with a peculiar name like “kikomando”…and if you do not like it, take heart since that is what trying out new foods is all about.
- Explore Uganda in Homestays
Your host family are a wealth of information which you can tap into to know more about other aspects of the Ugandan culture, tradition and psyche; stuff which you can’t Google but better yet local unique sights away from the main tourist routes. Should you travel upcountry, this is an excellent chance to experience the diversity of Ugandan tribes and food.
Bonus benefit, you have willing participants to include in your photos and there’s no need to tap strangers to help snap a photo of yourself next to the giraffes.
If you plan to make your own travel arrangements, skim through these transportation options in Uganda and make an informed decision.
- Make friends who will last for a lifetime
And after your stay is complete, your bags are packed and you’re seated at the table after tucking in another delicious dish, this is the time to deliver your heartfelt thanks to your surrogate family, extend an invitation to also visit you when they have the time and promise to visit them when you’re in Uganda again…all in the local language. I believe, they won’t forget you too.
- Learn the traditional dance
Nothing will give you joy like finding yourself breaking the rib with the local traditional dance. So entertaining, full of love and passion, and above all, so much educative; If you can pick the art of dancing, be sure you will be friend to everyone.
If you are looking up to volunteering in Uganda do not hesitate to contact us. send us an email at kitara.ktcnet@gmail.com or v2040rc@gmail.com, Chat with us on whatsaap at +256392156562
Kitara Foundation for Regional Tourism 