Making a Difference

I recently received an update from the charity I worked with in Uganda and thought I'd share it. I've been asked a couple of times whether I feel I made a difference or had an impact when volunteering, the email below may go some way to answering that (I hope).....

Dear Joanna,

This is to once again thank you very much for the work you did for WADUP. We were indeed very grateful. We have now started enjoying the fruits of your work. So far we have developed all the materials, i.e. for the Executive committee, Local council five and sub-county councilors. We have also a bronchure on the human rights project. We have already taken the Executive through the training by Uganda Human rights commission and are waiting for the right time to train the Lc five councilors and council for disability.

On another happy note, I take this opportunity to inform you that Dorothy is already in the country and is starting her work with us on Monday next week. Thank you for your good recommendation to WADUP. Thank you so so much. God bless you abundantly. Send my regards to Liem. I pray that you save some money and come back to Uganda to visit us, you will never go out of my mind.

Bye bye Joanna. Bibiana.

This also reminds me that maybe I didn't fully explain what I actually did during my work days in Uganda, so here goes.... I came to WADUP as a fundraising manager but finding an organisation with limited funds, an out of date strategy, no programs and only one paid member of staff there was more to do than fundraising. My main aim was to help them build some strong foundations. So I helped them network and build links with other organisations (see the mention of the Ugandan Human Rights Commission above), ran a strategy planning workshop with the volunteer committee and drafted a strategy for the organisation so they now have some plans for the next 3 years.

VSO is all about sharing skills so I worked with the Chairperson to help her understand the basics of fundraising and ran a fundraising traning day with the committee. I also helped them write quarterly reports, showed them how to put together an annual report and accounts and put in place a few office processes. We got some plans together for some projects and I got funds to run a human rights training program (help local council members and officials understand the rights of disabled people when putting forward policies) which is now underway.

Along with day to day work there was always the fact of actually working in Uganda to get used to. A work ethic that meant things happened very slowly (or sometimes not at all), seeing how disabled people were treated or coped with their disability (Nelson, who could only move about by sitting in a kind of yoga position and using his hands to move his non-functioning legs but also managed to run a village school) getting a work life balance (making sure the mobile was switched off at night so not to be woken at 5am by texts about work from the Chair) and trying not to make too many faux pas (telling my committee member that even though he'd never hugged a white person before I'd rather he just shook my hand).

I think I'll be reflecting on working in Uganda for a long time. It was a great experience and one that not only benefitted WADUP but also gave me a whole lot more.....