July: Month Four

During the final month of my Co-Op, I focused on completing projects, tying up loose ends, and reflecting on my time with Buiga Sunrise. In what follows, I will elaborate on these activities.

General Administration:

During a staff meeting early in the month, I presented on the progress of the patient registration process for Grace Family Health Centre. At this meeting I took minutes which I forwarded to Sunrise’s Supervisor, who then forwarded them to the Director. During the month (as has been the case every month of my Co-Op), I kept up to date on daily communication between and among the Community Programs Coordinator, Supervisor and Director. This communication included emails containing feedback from the Director about existing projects, and information about upcoming and potential projects including budgets and site plans. At the end of the month, I completed and sent my final comments in the baseline for improvement the director established after her visit in April.

Filling in where needed:

Sunrise strives to provide the best services possible to its beneficiaries, with a special focus on empowering low income earners. In pursuit of these goals Sunrise encourages the feedback of its beneficiaries. Accordingly, this month I worked in consultation with the Community Programs Coordinator and Director to create a set of surveys for collecting the perspectives of community members on Sunrise’s services. Once the surveys are completed, the information gathered will be aggregated to provide Sunrise with a picture of anything that might be perceived as lacking in its programs.

As well, in the coming months, Grace Family Health Centre’s head nurse plans to start researching health issues facing the community. He hopes to display his results in pie charts and bar graphs, but until this past month he had no experience presenting data in these formats. I actually didn’t have experience with pie charts or bar graphs either, but he asked if I could provide him some instruction nonetheless. Thus, I found an online tutorial to help me learn.  After figuring out the basics, I passed the information I had gathered along to the head nurse. I also emailed him a copy of the tutorial I had found online for his future reference.

This month I continued spending time researching grants that Sunrise could potentially receive in the future. Also, I spent time downloading videos from Youtube for teachers to reference when planning activities for Circle Time in the future. Finally, the Director requested that I record some video footage to bring back home for her. So, I spent time recording Sunrise students engaged in various classroom activities, as well as an interview with a mother who had recently given birth at Grace Family Health Centre.

Head nurse Moses Oloput interviewing new mother.

Supervising Projects:

This month, my participation in the patient registration project for Buiga Sunrise’s Grace Family Health Centre wrapped up. Using the card templates I designed the previous month in Microsoft Word, I proceeded to transfer patients’ personal information and matching identification pictures into the card templates. Along the way I updated the spreadsheet I have been using to keep track of all the information we have gathered during the patient registration process. Once I had finished preparing all the cards on computer, I printed and cut each one out, then laminated them by hand with the help of other Sunrise staff.

Once all the cards had been made, I was able to show the Community Programs Coordinator the multi-step process I used to produce them. This was so that Sunrise will be able to update and/or produce more patient registration cards as necessary in the future.

Reflections:

Completing a Co-Op for Buiga Sunrise has been challenging and enlightening. In terms of work experience, volunteering for Sunrise has allowed me to explore and develop my administrative and management skills. For example, management is often thought of as the process of achieving results through other people. I gained experience doing just that when implementing the Circle Time/Choice Time project in the classrooms, and supervising the patient registration project for Grace Family Health Centre.

In the case of Circle Time/Choice Time, my first priority was to provide an example of how the Director eventually wanted the project run by the teachers. Then it was my job to transfer the responsibility of running the project to the teachers, with guidance to ensure that the intended results were achieved. In the case of the patient registration project, it was my job to develop process for completing the necessary tasks. Then it was my job to administer Sunrise staff and/or volunteers as they completed these tasks. In both cases I was responsible for the results my teammates were achieving, and I did my best to have the results meet the expectations of the Director.

During my involvement with these and other projects at Sunrise, I have also encountered workplace challenges I would not generally encounter in Canada. For example, in the Sunrise School administration office where I have done most of my work, electricity has not always been consistent and internet service has typically been slow and often interrupted. On days when my main priority was responding to emails, these challenges were sources of frustration. However, I usually had secondary work priorities to keep myself occupied.

Far more interesting than challenges of this sort, however, has been the challenge provided by the significant and pervasive cultural divide I’ve experienced in volunteering for Buiga Sunrise. This divide has manifested itself in different ways, one of which being language. During my time in Uganda I have learned a few helpful words and phrases in the local language (Luganda) to use around the villages, but in the workplace I relied on English. Although each Sunrise staff member speaks English, the use of English in Uganda only overlaps the use of English in Canada – it does not mirror it. Additionally, the difference in accents between my co-workers and me has made it difficult for us to make out certain words when spoken by the other party. Thus, at times it has often taken several attempts for either me or any of my co-workers to successfully communicate an intended meaning or idea to the other person.   

Another example of the cultural divide I’ve experienced is a variance in the emphasis on time and punctuality in Uganda. While it is my preference to start and finish work projects as quickly as good quality allows, at Sunrise projects are sometimes slow to start and slower to finish. During my time with Sunrise, this was especially the case for projects that involved multiple parties like surveyors or contractors. I found it challenging to adjust to this type of schedule at first, but as time passed it became routine. Also, as was the case when electricity or the internet failed us, when projects took longer than expected I would focus my efforts on secondary work priorities.

In addition to the challenges it has provided, the cultural divide has also given me occasion to witness great examples of effective organizational behaviour. Buiga Sunrise is a community-based organization in Uganda, founded through a non-profit organization called Sunrise Centre in California, funded predominantly by donors across North America and Europe, and managed by teams whose members live in Canada, the United States and Uganda. This means that the stakeholders of Buiga Sunrise come from diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds, and that defining and achieving the goals of the organization requires an acutely sensitive and inclusive approach to project design and implementation.

On the one hand, the donors and management team in the West all use their knowledge, life experiences and personal values to continually formulate exactly what they want Buiga Sunrise to achieve in Uganda. On the other hand, the beneficiaries of Buiga Sunrise’s programs in Uganda all have their own knowledge, life experiences and values that contribute to their expectations for the programs Buiga Sunrise offers. This means that for Buiga Sunrise to achieve the most effective results, the perspectives of all of the organization’s stakeholders need to be considered. Meeting the agenda of only one group would ultimately be detrimental for everyone concerned.

During my time with Buiga Sunrise, I have observed that this balancing act has the potential to cause a tug-of-war situation in which debates could arise over whose interests are more important. However, I have also witnessed a sincere concern from the management team in the West for the interests of Buiga Sunrise’s beneficiaries. This has been evidenced by the degree to which the Director seeks feedback from beneficiaries, and encourages staff on the ground in Uganda to share their own knowledge and experience when programs are being planned and implemented.

As my Co-Op with Buiga Sunrise draws to a close, I look back on my time in the organization with gratitude. At Sunrise, I have been able to gain experience managing information, resources, projects and people, all in a variety of circumstances. This experience will be beneficial to me as I continue my studies as a management student, and when I eventually enter the job market and begin applying all that I have learned to the professional world!

June: Month Three

This month provided an interesting variety of work activities. Among other tasks, I was able to attend multiple meetings. These included meeting with Sunrise’s Supervisor and Community Programs Coordinator to discuss the ongoing patient registration project; meeting with Sunrise teachers to discuss the Circle Time and Choice Time project; and a meeting for which members of the community were invited to Sunrise School to receive updates on Sunrise's programs, projects and progress over the past few months. I have also been engaged with the following activities:

Filling in where needed:

Sunrise Director Nicole Van Seters has accumulated an extensive list of grants, but the organization will not be eligible to apply for all of them. Thus, this month I have spent time researching grants which Sunrise may be able to apply for, making note of which grants the organization is currently eligible for, which ones it may be eligible for in the future, and which it is not and will not eligible for.

Every six months, Nicole compiles a general update on progress at Sunrise to be posted on the organization’s website. During this month I transferred a handwritten report by Grace Family Health Centre’s Head Nurse containing complete information on all births since January 1 to Microsoft Word. The information contained in the document will be used in the six-month update.

During spare time this month, as per the teachers’ request, I also drew and coloured many pictures and painted a set of ‘sliders’, to be used in the classroom.

Job Shadowing:

Sunrise is intending to purchase textbooks for some of its students from a publishing company called Macmillan. Thus, this month I travelled with Nicholas Agesa, Sunrise’s Adult Education Instructor, to the office of Macmillan in Uganda’s capital city, Kampala. There we spoke to a MacMillan representative who checked on the availability of each of the books Sunrise is interested in. If a title was no longer available, the rep suggested alternatives selections to be reviewed by the director. Nicholas and I then visited MacMillan’s accountant to get quotes for all of the books under consideration.

This month I was also able to travel to Kampala with Sunrise Supervisor, Ruth Apili, to observe two of her meetings with the organization’s accountant, Jacqueline Nassali.

Jacqueline Nassali, Sunrise Accountant, and Ruth Apili, Sunrise Supervisor.

Supervising Projects:

Circle Time:

Since the end of May, in the Director’s stead I have been managing the Circle Time project mentioned in my previous blog entry. From May 30^th until June 10^th I planned for and lead Circle Time in two classrooms for a total of half an hour each day. At the end of each work week, I then sent the Director reports on how the activity had been received by both Sunrise students and teachers.

Once I had introduced the concept of Circle Time to the teachers, I transferred responsibility for leading the activity to them. Between June 13^th and June 17^th I then observed the teachers in the classroom as they led Circle Time. At the end of that work week I sent another report to the director, who evaluated the progress and sent additional instructions and suggestions for leading Circle Time. I then discussed these instructions and suggestions with the teachers. It was soon agreed by the teachers and the Director that I would continue my observation in the classroom until Circle Time has developed into a routine that blends the Director’s expectations and the teachers’ local knowledge and experience.
Moreover, when I had been leading Circle Time, I had used my laptop in some of the activities I planned. The teachers were impressed by how a computer had drawn the attention of the students, and expressed a strong interest in also using a laptop for their own activities. Thus, I began instructing two of Sunrise’s teachers on computer and internet use so they will be able to incorporate computers into their Circle Time activities.

Me leading Circle Time in the 'Baby' Preschool Class.

Choice Time:

From the last days of May until June 10^th, I also spent time managing the Choice Time project mentioned in my last blog entry. For this I arranged a wide variety of workbaskets containing curriculum-related activities for three of Sunrise’s classrooms, observed how the activities were received in the classroom, and reported my observations to the Director. During this time I kept my own record of the supplies I was borrowing from the storage bins in the school office, but after two weeks I handed over the responsibility of arranging workbaskets to the teachers. To then ensure supplies used are returned and maintained, I designed and printed a set of ‘supplies sign-out sheets’ for the teachers to use in conjunction with the school’s librarian.

Primary 1 Class enjoying Choice Time activities.

Patient Registration:

My participation in the patient registration process for Buiga Sunrise’s Grace Family Health Centre is also still ongoing. For this project I have remained in charge of taking photos of registrants, supervising volunteers as they gather additional information from registrants, and recording all of the incoming data in the consolidated Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet I designed. This month I was also able to design templates for the identification cards we will be producing for use by low-income patients, to ensure they receive subsidized care. Although we have yet to get pictures of everyone who will be receiving a card, we intend to start producing the cards as early as next week using my templates.

May: Month Two

Early this month, new batteries were installed in the inverter at Sunrise School. This meant that power was more readily available than it had been during the previous month, and it made completing tasks quicker and easier. However, this month the staff and I remained challenged by a slow and sometimes intermittent internet connection. Occasionally this made connecting with fellow staff and the Director challenging, but I was still able to complete a variety of tasks:

Managing/Maintaining Projects Initiated During Director’s April Visit:

This month I finished the inventory process that I started with Director Nicole Van Seters when she was visiting Sunrise in April. After she left, I completed transferring my handwritten inventory record into categorized tables in Microsoft Word, then proceeded to double check this computerized inventory against what was sitting in plastic storage containers at the school office. After accounting for every item that was on the inventory list, I then accounted for any items that had been omitted by allocating them to appropriate containers and adding them to the inventory list. From there, again using Tables in Microsoft Word, I formatted inventory labels for each container according to its size and the items contained therein. I then printed, cut out, and affixed each label to its respective container. Finally, I made suggestions which were accepted by the Director on how the new inventory system we have developed can be maintained by Sunrise staff.

The newly organized supplies in Sunrise School's office.

After her visit in April, the Director also listed a variety of aspects of Sunrise operations that she determined could be improved. With this in mind, she compiled a list of observations and comments to be used as a baseline against which progress in the identified areas can be judged. The form the Director composed for this purpose contains tables she has asked the Supervisor and me to fill with monthly commentary on this progress. At the end of May, I reviewed the baseline data which the Director had recorded, and made comments on the progress that has been achieved based on my observations around Sunrise.

General Administration:

This month I have been kept in the loop regarding progress and developments at Sunrise by being included in emails sent between and among the Community Programs Coordinator, the Supervisor and the Director. Through such emails I reviewed prioritization of tasks lists, funding requests, budget sheets, program updates for the Director and Director’s comments. This was beneficial because it provided me with information about Sunrise operations and upcoming activities additional to that which I have gathered through observation and conversation with staff members.  It also gave me a broader and deeper understanding of the respective responsibilities of the Head Nurse, the Community Programs Coordinator, the Supervisor and the Director. I anticipate that I will be kept up to date through inclusion in such emails throughout my Co-op.  

Further, this month I was able to assist in the composition of one of the documents listed above: the Medication and Patient Tracking Form. This form compiles data summarizing operations at Sunrise’s clinic, Grace Family Health Centre. For me, this process involved transferring handwritten data to Microsoft Excel. It allowed me to augment my knowledge of Microsoft Excel and enhance my experience with the program. Through this, I was able to learn about the variety of conditions that are treated at Sunrise’s Grace Family Health Centre (they range from dehydration to hypertension, from typhoid fever to clinical malaria). I also learned the types of medications that can be used to treat such conditions.

Through email consultation with the Director, I was also able to work in Microsoft Excel designing new and improved forms for keeping track of currently used and additional data for Grace Family Health Centre. This data encompasses medications purchased and sold, patients’ medical histories, and ongoing general clinic use statistics. This activity allowed me to explore my knowledge of Excel and enhance my experience with the program. It also utilized my problem-solving skills as I considered different ways of recording all of the required information as clearly and effectively as possible. I wanted the new forms to be more comprehensive than the forms previously in use, and also to be easier to reference. This process took several days as it required detailed email consultation with the Director, as well as conferring with local Sunrise staff to ensure appropriate usability of the new forms.

Once the Director approved the final versions of the forms I designed, I forwarded them to Sunrise’s Adult Education Instructor. It will be his job to use the forms for recording all the pertinent information both now and after I have completed my official time with Sunrise. Once he began using the new forms I was able to consult with him about the purpose of their design and how to use them for entering data. He has since been using the forms.

This month I was also able to utilize my knowledge of Microsoft Word when I made revisions to a form initially compiled by the Community Programs Coordinator. The form was designed to present data regarding which parents of Sunrise students are paying, have paid, or are working for Sunrise in exchange for their child’s tuition fees. Upon instruction from the Director, I made changes to the document in order to have its information presented in a clear, consistent and tidy fashion. To do this I utilized my knowledge of the Tables function in Microsoft Word.

Workshop Attendance and Presentation

Buiga Sunrise facilitates several community social groups. These include a children’s troupe that focuses on drumming, singing, storytelling and drama; a music, dance and drama troupe for young adults; an artisan group; as well as football, volleyball and netball teams. Each group is led by a young adult volunteer from the local community, and this month Sunrise hosted a one-day workshop for these youth to enhance their leadership skills. I was able to attend this workshop, and was also asked by the Community Programs Coordinator to provide a presentation during it!

The workshop’s main speaker was Norman Ssenfuma, a social worker who does social and community development work for a nearby non-governmental organization called Ease Foundation. During his presentation, he put the functions of Sunrise’s social groups into their larger context, noting that training these young adults to become better leaders was empowering them to emancipate their fellow community members from various types of poverty. He then described and gave examples of the many qualities a good leader should possess.
Following this session, I provided a presentation about how leaders can effectively manage their resources by utilizing the management concept of setting “SMART” goals (goals that are Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Time-Bound). During my presentation I was able to practice the presentation skills I gained in my Managerial Skill Development class last year. Afterward, I reflected on my presentation and considered ways in which I can further augment these skills. For example, I know that I can still speak more slowly, incorporate more pauses between sentences, and repeat important words for emphasis.
Following my session Norman presented again, this time on the management concept of a SWOT analysis (evaluating the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats present in a group or project). When Norman was presenting that day, I absorbed and was able to take notes on the leadership concepts he described.

Norman presenting on the qualities of good leader.

Me presenting the management concept SMART goals.

Me presenting the management concept SMART goals.

Supervising Projects 

As part of its mission, Buiga Sunrise aims to empower low income individuals and families (those living below the international poverty line of $1.00 per day). Accordingly, one of the mandates of Grace Family Health Centre is to provide subsidized consultation services and medication to individuals meeting this criterion. However, historically there has not been official documentation regarding which people in the clinic’s service area do meet this criterion. Thus, this month the Director assigned Sunrise staff, volunteers and me the task of venturing into the clinic’s service area (comprising the five villages of Nakayaga, Kyandaaza, Bugenderadala, Kirondo and Kitebe) to gather information from all of its residents. Eventually the information gathered will be used to produce identity cards for low-income clinic-users, which will help to ensure these users receive subsidized care. Additionally, information gathered about all clinic users will be used by Sunrise staff for logistics when planning community programs, and for building a patient database to be referenced and added to as time passes.

My involvement with this project has been multi-faceted thus far. First, I prepared a form in Microsoft Word to be used for gathering information from people in the service area. Once the form was ready for use, the Community Programs Coordinator who is overseeing the project assigned me the role of project supervisor. Thus, I began venturing into surrounding villages with five of Sunrise’s youth volunteers, answering their questions and ensuring they had the supplies necessary for recording data. This process took five days, during which I also started and finished transferring all of the handwritten data gathered into a Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet I designed to compile the data village by village.

Steve, a Sunrise volunteer gathering information from Grace Family Health Centre users.

Duncan and Justine, Sunrise volunteers gathering information from Grace Family Health Centre users.

Next I designed forms to gather additional information from clinic-users as, during the following week, they were all asked to visit Sunrise School to have their pictures taken for their files and/or identity cards. During that week, I supervised two youth volunteers as they gathered additional information from clinic-users. I also took pictures of each clinic-user and transferred the pictures to computer, naming each picture according to the clinic-user it showed. All the while I was also transferring the additional data being gathered by the volunteers to a final, consolidated Excel Spreadsheet.

Me transferring data!

The next phase of the project is determining which individuals or households with members utilizing the clinic are low-income. This will be determined by the Community Programs Coordinator as he travels through the five villages with their Local Council Leaders. My role in this phase of the project will be to distinguish low-income families from other families on the consolidated spreadsheet I have been working with. From there we will begin designing the identification cards.

Filling in Where Needed

This month I assisted some of Sunrise’s youth volunteers in repainting chairs from the classrooms at Sunrise School.

Me and Nicholas repainting chairs at Sunrise School.

Early in the month I also began planning for my participation in the classrooms. The Director requested that I temporarily lead a daily program called Circle Time in two of Sunrise’s three classrooms. The purpose of Circle Time is to get students involved in a fun group activity to help reinforce what they are learning in class. With the help of two books specifically designed for providing teachers with ideas for Circle Time, I started brainstorming ways I could engage Buiga Sunrise students. As time passed and I liaised between the Sunrise Director and its teachers, this project developed and my role in the classroom was clarified. I would in fact be leading Circle Time once per day in both the “Baby” and “Top” preschool classes, in accordance with their respective ongoing curricula.

In addition, I would be temporarily facilitating a program called Choice Time in the “Baby” and “Top” preschool classes, as well as the Primary-1 (Grade 1) class. The purpose of this latter program is to allow students to explore learning through various activities. These include visiting the existing Reading and Science Corners or Art Table, or grabbing a workbasket to explore independently or with teacher assistance. My role in facilitating Choice Time was to consist of putting together the workbaskets.
Once the teachers had planned their daily schedules for the new semester which started on May 23, we decided that my involvement in the classrooms would begin once the regular class schedule commence on May 30. We made a preliminary plan for my first day, and from there I designed Circle the Time and Choice Time activities we would be introducing. The first two days of Circle Time and Choice Time went as well as I could have expected, and I am looking forward to participating in these activities and then passing them wholly over to the teachers within the coming weeks.

April: Month One

During my first few weeks volunteering for Buiga Sunrise I have been able to familiarize myself with the organization’s home base, Uganda’s Banda Kyandazza Village. I have also been learning the local language, Luganda, and have now met and spent time with all of Buiga Sunrise’s volunteers and staff. During the first month, regular operations were disrupted for about three weeks as Director Nicole Van Seters and Chief Financial Officer Michael Mugerwa were visiting from California. Sunrise staff and volunteers were busy meeting and making arrangements with Nicole and Michael. As a result, staff and volunteers schedules have been irregular, so mine has been so also!

I have also been challenged in developing a regular work routine by Buiga Sunrise’s limited access to electricity. During the first four weeks of my time with Buiga Sunrise, the only source for power has been at the Sunrise School, which is about a fifteen minute walk from the Grace Family Health Centre grounds where I reside. Even at the school power comes and goes, and it may be out for hours or days at a time due to load sharing or other functional complications with the power supply. However, new batteries are being purchased for the inverter at the school, which should allow us to use stored electricity more effectively. Also, one of the projects initiated during Nicole and Michael’s visit involves the installation of an electrical scheme that combines solar and grid power so electricity will be more readily available at the clinic grounds. This should enhance my ability to participate in the administrative tasks I expect to be involved with over the coming months.

Despite the challenges thus far, in my first month I was able to meet with Nicole on several occasions. We spent time discussing her thoughts on, plans for and ideas about the present and future of Buiga Sunrise. These conversations were enlightening, providing me with information on how an international Community-Based Organization such as Buiga Sunrise can operate efficiently and effectively while cooperating with and considering the needs and desires of the local staff, volunteers, and community members. In addition, I have been able to participate in the following work activities:

Observing in classrooms: 

During my first week I was able to observe the teaching methods in each of the three classes at Buiga Sunrise – Kindergarten, Preschool (Top Class), and Primary One (Grade One). I witnessed as the children learned reading and writing skills in English, and participated in Physical Education and Art classes. In the coming weeks Nicole has asked me to augment the learning taking place by facilitating “Circle Time,” a time for students in each class to gather and participate in fun group learning activities.

Preschool Classroom

Kindergarten Classroom

Primary 1 Classroom

Filling in where needed: 

Buiga Sunrise students are sometimes assisted in learning to read English by matching words with corresponding pictures. To assist in this process, I drew many pictures of household items, such as cutlery and electronics, as well as of a host of domestic and wild animals. The teachers at the school will label the pictures and attach them cardboard so they can be used for reading.

For parents with students attending Buiga Sunrise School who cannot afford tuition fees, there is the option of working in the school garden in exchange for some or all of these fees. Food grown in the garden is used to feed students two healthy meals per day, and 75% of what students eat is currently grown in the garden (Nicole hopes to increase this to 100% in 2011). Parents are invited to work in the garden at specific times each month; because the school was temporarily out of printing ink, this month I was able to copy invitations to several dozen parents by hand. The children then took the invitations home and many parents came to work in the garden the next day.

Starting this April, Buiga Sunrise’s Grace Family Health Centre is undergoing construction. The existing clinic building consists of three rooms: one room for a small pharmacy; one for birthing mothers and expecting mothers requiring examination; one for mothers who have given birth or for any other individual needing medical attention. A new addition is now being constructed, and is to consist of two new rooms: one room for an office, and one to be exclusively for mothers who have just delivered. With the installation of this latter new room, the existing room designated for new mothers and other patients will be used exclusively for other patients. This will allow for mothers with newborn babies to rest in the healthiest environment. During the early stages of construction on this new building, I assisted in laying the foundation by transporting and placing building materials by hand. Through providing this assistance and by observing the construction that has followed, I have learned how buildings are constructed on a conservative budget in a developing country.

Me and Adibo hauling bricks.

Upon her visit to Banda Kyandazza this April Nicole determined that the teacher’s office/supply room at Sunrise School would benefit from a different organizational scheme. In light of this, I was able to work with the Director in categorizing and taking inventory of all of the school’s supplies. This included reorganizing office stationery as well as math, art, science, music and language arts supplies into newly designated storage containers. I have since compiled an exhaustive list of these supplies on Microsoft Word, and will be making labels for each storage container so that items can be signed in a out of each container according to each teacher's weekly lesson plan. I have also been given the responsibility of working cooperatively with Buiga Sunrise Supervisor Ruth Apili to ensure that the supply inventory stays accurate and up to date.

Job Shadowing with Roger Sserunjogi, Community Programs Coordinator: 

This year, Buiga Sunrise intends to plant one and a half acres of tea bushes and two acres of coffee trees. There is a local tea producer which purchases leaves, and a coffee cooperative in Banda Kyandazza where beans can be sold at a fair price. Parents with children attending Buiga Sunrise School have volunteered to work in these plantations in exchange for their children’s tuition. All profits generated will be directed back into the school to help purchase school supplies and pay teacher salaries. This will allow Buiga Sunrise to gain independence from its historical reliance on charitable donations. Roger Sserunjogi, Community Programs Coordinator, is in charge of supervising the tea and coffee plantations. This month I travelled with Roger to farms within the community to document successful tea and coffee plantations. This documentation will be used as a benchmark against which Buiga Sunrise’s plantations will be measured as its tea bushes and coffee trees grow. For this project, I also assisted in clearing part of the land where the coffee trees have now been planted.

Roger also supervises Buiga Sunrise’s goat program. Parents with children attending Buiga Sunrise School are able to acquire on condition that they pay a “goat maintenance fee.” This fee covers the cost of de-worming, spraying for ticks and veterinary inspection, and is reasonable compared to the profit a goat sold at market can earn. Profits from the maintenance fee will be used to purchase a second male goat for breeding, and any remaining funds will be directed back into community programs. This month I also travelled with Roger to visit many of the families supporting goats in order to examine the health of the goats, inspect the condition of the goat shelters, and determine whether the goat is expecting and/or if the goat has delivered.

Roger inspecting goats in surrounding villages.

Waiting...

I’m now waiting for my flight from Calgary to London to board. I’m going to take this opportunity to provide a list of some of the things I might be doing while I’m overseas at Buiga Sunrise…

The list of tasks I will potentially be involved with includes networking with organizations in Uganda to help Buiga Sunrise form friendships and working partnerships; assisting the Program Coordinator with grant applications to help secure local funding and support; organizing clinic records and creating new financial forms to improve accountability of the Buiga Sunrise healthcare program; working with the systems for keeping records at the Sunrise Clinic and School; converting paper files to computer to reduce the need for printing; designing and implementing a survey with the Sunrise Program Coordinator to learn from the community how Sunrise can improve its services and reach the lowest income earners; providing leadership training and basic entrepreneurial training for the Buiga Sunrise Youth Group and Women’s Empowerment Group; assisting the Buiga Sunrise Artisan Group and Tailoring Group to help them expand their markets; and working with the Buiga Sunrise Program Coordinator to set up “Artisan Workshops” that cater to tourists as a local income-generating initiative.

Wow, that all actually seems like a pretty tall order!
Check out Buiga Sunrise online:
http://web.mac.com/bsunrise/Site/Home.html

Getting Ready to Go

This afternoon marks six days until my departure. On March 26th I will be flying to Uganda to spend four months volunteering for a humanitarian organization called Buiga Sunrise.