Impact your World

Volunteer Workers in Uganda -Their Stories

Two women from totally different backgrounds-but with a heart of compassion for the Children and Women in Uganda

Abigail Sempele:  She was a young student at Day Star University studying for her degree in Development, she was running out of funds to continue her studies but did not wring her hands in despair.  Instead as she surfed the web she came the "Out of Africa-Too" site and read about the children of Uganda.  Her heart was touched and she wrote to me regarding doing something here in Uganda that would benefit those children in need.

No passport, no travel money, there seemed no way, but the idea, the dream within was greater than all the obstacles she face and Abigail Sempele persisted.  Somehow the monetary needs were met in a miraculous way, her travel documents were issued and after saying goodbye to her mother and father in Narok, Abigail Sempele embarked on the 14 hour bus ride from Nairobi, Kenya to Kampala Uganda arriving late at night at the Akamba Bus Terminal here.

The next day Abigail's volunteer work in Uganda began working in a school with children from four to fourteen.  Abigail is like a thermostat that changes the temperature in a room. When she enters a room,  she brings in her vibrancy of spirit, her loving manner along and changes every frown into a smile.  Her vibrancy and her being in touch with life, her confidence just permeate the place and people that are within it.  In her case it was children from all backgrounds and Abigail quickly won their hearts and bonded with them.

For the next 5 months she toiled without complaining, living in a dormitory with the children, being their surrogate mother, their teacher, their advisor and counselor, consoling, giving them hope and teaching and tutoring them.

She became part of a team that helped shape a traditional music and dance troupe made up of the students in the school.  She encouraged them in becoming the best that the children could be in a tireless fashion leaving an imprint of who she was on every child she worked with and none of them will every forget Abigail Sempele, who after five months in Kampala departed one early morning on the Akamba Bus back to Nairobi leaving behind some children with whom she had bonded and grown fond of.  There was a sense of sadness but overshadowed by the feeling that she had been able to bring about a change for the better, because Abigail Sempele is truly a thermostat, a change agent, empowering others.

Sara Armstrong:  She wanted something different, something out of the ordinary, and yet she did not quite know what until she came to Uganda and invested six weeks of her time, some monetary resources to discover another world she had never known before.  Uganda won its way into her heart.  The children of Uganda touched this mother of three in lasting manner.  She went into hospitals, baby orphanages where many of the children were afflicted with aids, schools for children from slums, she spent time in the north of Uganda where she saw the scars both inner and outer that  a twenty year long conflict had inflicted upon a people, she visited Rwanda and saw the evidence of a genocide that resulted with 800,000 some people losing their lives.

Sara Armstrong adapted to Africa, she did not impose her values and judgments upon the people she encountered, she did not come with a Bwana knows best attitude, but she came as a student willing to learn, to accept and allow that acceptance to provide a place where people felt at home with her and she felt at home in Africa, in Uganda.

Today she is back home in San Francisco, at home with her family, with her work, but inside there is something that remains and no time elapsed can erase what she has seen, touched, smelled and heard, Africa is with her. 

Africa is a place that you either love or hate, there is no in-between, Sara Armstrong loves Africa and when she departed back home, she let everyone know in an almost McArthur like statement, "I shall return."

Who Qualifies as a Volunteer Team?

The answer is simple.  One person alone with a heart that is open makes a team.  We get many individuals from all over the world including from Africa that come to Uganda and give of themselves to those who lack so much.  On the other hand we get teams from churches who are interested in short term mission projects from a vacation Bible School to a group of friends who come teach children and adults how to read. 

It simply takes a heart, a will to do something, and some financial investment.  No special skills are required in most cases, except the desire to impact someone's life and leaving them richer within because of your investment of yourself and your time, the rewards are immeasurable and you will find yourself changed.

Two different women, coming from two different continents but a heart that is similar, one of compassion that translates into action.  Both are change agents, impacting the world around them. Neither of them with vastness of resources, but an inner vision.  Both were inspired by what they found on the internet and both responded to the inner urgings to do something about what they had seen and read.  They came, gave of themselves and in themselves were deeply transformed, taking some of Uganda with them.  They found the pearl of Africa as Uganda is called in its people.

Write to me regarding a Volunteer Work Trip to Uganda.  A variety of opportunities are presently available, from building some buildings in a school, building of latrines in a slum in Kampala to working in a school, a medical facility, etc.  If you and or a team are thinking of impacting your world, feel free to write to me regarding your particulars and I can help you arrange a life changing volunteer trip to Uganda Call me from overseas 256 - (0) 774785852, Fax USA-567-429-5259. Work Trip Break Safari:  Coming to Uganda regarding a volunteer work trip, here are some ways you can include a safari.

 

 

 

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