New Beds for Ugandan Orphans

Volunteer East received a generous donation of £500 from a private trust fund this August. It was agreed with the donor that the money would be spent on the Ugandan partnership project. 

In July, I discussed the donation with the project team in Uganda and we agreed that the money would be spend on new beds for orphans. The project now houses a number of new orphans due to landslides that keep taking place in the region and that keep leaving many children without parents and in need of a shelter to live under. Therefore, the project now has boarding facilities for orphans so that these children can receive an education and a brighter future. 

However, up until now, these orphans have had to live in crammed conditions, with many of them sharing a mattress as a bed. As a result, it has been easy for all kinds of illnesses and germs to spread and make the living conditions less than ideal. This is why new bunk beds are going to be purchased this week with the donation money. This way, the children will each have their own bed and more personal space. This is likely to result in less illness and better educational outcomes for the children. 

Photos of the new beds to follow soon. 

A huge thank you to the donor for choosing to support the project in Uganda! 

Volunteers and Child Sponsors needed for Ugandan partnership project

I have just come back from our partnership project in Uganda. I spent a month there, sorting out a donation for their library (we bought many new useful books) and for the new buildings that now function as dormitories for orphans who board at the school (we are planning to buy new beds and mattresses for them). 

Also a friend of mine came there with me and spent a month doing IT training with the teachers and pupils. She had successfully obtained funding for bringing two laptop tablets, solar lights and chargers for the project. All in all, this is a great new development for the project!

The project is going from strength and to strength and developing all the time. However, they are in need of volunteers who could go and stay there for a couple of months. They primarily need volunteers to come and look after the orphans that now live at the school. There was a landslide in March in a nearby village and the school now looks after some of the kids who were left orphan because of it. 

Volunteers are needed for:

* Daily caring for the orphans (cooking, cleaning, helping with homework etc..) 

* General help at the school (cover teaching, after-school clubs, assisting teachers etc.). 

The school is also looking for sponsors for the needy children who come from homes that can't afford their school fees. If the school gets more individual sponsors, all the orphans can keep studying at the school for free and thus receive the much needed education for their future. 

If you are interested in sponsoring a child with as little as £25 per term (there are 3 terms in a school year), please get in touch. You would be changing a child's life and also supporting the school to run and keep serving orphan and needy children. 

Summer 2012

Summer 2012 is full of happenings, including Euro'12 and the Olympics in Europe. But there is also much going on in our placements sites:

* A couple of new volunteers are heading out to our India partnership organisation where they are hoping to primarily work with the health unit as medical students.

* Our Ugandan partnership organisation has had a volunteer during June and myself and another volunteer are heading over next week for a month.

* In Nepal, the school has greatly benefitted from a long-term volunteer from Germany who trained their teachers there effectively and assisted in developing the organisation.

* Two generous donations for the Ugandan placement site will be handled during July and August.

* A clothes making business in partnership with a company in London has been kicked off and should materialise within the next couple of months. The designs for the clothes have been approved and a sample will be made next week.

.... And there is more to come! For now, I wish you all a pleasant summer and thank all the supporters for their on-going help and encouragement. 

Generous Donation to Bunabumali

A private family fund based in the UK has donated £500 to the Bunabumali project. The plan is for myself to explore and discuss with the project team in Uganda as to what this money could be used for when I am over there in July.
At the moment, strong candidates are mattresses for the children who sleep at the school and a solar panel. Anyone who has recently been to the project, please send me your ideas as well!
If the money is used wisely, there is a chance of more regular donations from this fund.

This is great news  -  the donation received earlier this year (£300) and this new donation will be of great benefit for the project! A big thank you to all the funders!  

Clothes selling business

Volunteer East has been asked to collaborate on a clothes selling business. The clothes will be made for commercial use, with Volunteer East volunteering to do some stalls and then a part of the profits will go to our charity. This will be a great fundraiser and also great publicity for Volunteer East! 


Now I need to help them design some tops and skirts for women. Their men's section is done already. Any fashion tips and advice would be much appreciated, you fashion gurus out there!

Book donation to Bunbumali partnership project

A company who wishes to remain anonymous has donated £300 to the Bunabumali project in Uganda. The money will be spent on buying new books for the school library.

Volunteer East team and the Bunabumali partners express their thanks to the donors!! 

Children's books for Volunteer East

Volunteer East is getting more profits from the sales of two children's books. The text for the books is by me and the illustration is by a school girl. Now available on the publisher's site and soon also on Amazon and other major retail outlets!

http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/Tiija