Uganda

My placement was with a HIV and AIDS community based organisation in Kampala. The main focus of my placement was to establish an efficient community health programme that could spread information to local schools and communities about HIV and AIDS. I had been told that the existing educational programme at the organisation was largely ineffective. The volunteers running the training seemed to lack confidence in their approach and their teaching methods were not enjoyable. I visited many other local HIV and AIDS organisations to see what information and resources were available. One of these organisations had a very good reputation and I managed to negotiate a deal that meant a training course for some of our volunteers and the teachers of the local schools where we worked. The training was a huge success! Over twenty people attended the four-day workshop and the feedback was very positive. With the confidence gained from this training and the new co-operation between teachers, my organisation was able to hold a music, dance and drama competition for local schools. Each school had to present a song and a role-play showing the information that they had learnt from training sessions held with our volunteers; including how HIV is spread, caring for people living with HIV and AIDS and why discrimination is wrong.

Bangladesh

My partner organisation was called SARPV (Social Assistance and Rehabilitation for the Physically Vulnerable) and they mainly focus on advocacy work; trying to empower people with disabilities so that they can advocate for their rights. I was lucky enough to be involved in a project that marked the beginning of SARPV’s increased involvement with people with visual impairments. It was called ‘Seeing in the Dark,’ and it was an advocacy project that was trying to give people the opportunity to experience the world from the perspective of someone who is visually impaired. We used an exhibition gallery in complete darkness and recreated Dhaka using scenery, recorded sounds and actors. We hoped to show that Bangladesh is not an accessible place for people with disabilities, and that people with visual impairments need to be very skilled indeed to live in Bangladesh’s environment and society. Although the exhibition was aimed at the general public rather than SARPV staff, I think we were the ones who learned the most about the abilities of people with ‘disabilities’. On one occasion, I remember everyone was worried about where one of the groups of visually impaired people had gone without supervision. Answer: they’d gone out to buy some tea. And they came back. In one piece. They must have wondered what all the fuss was about! The exhibition ended in success, but we knew we had a lot of learning to do. I strongly believe that we learnt from our mistakes. There is still room for improvement of course, but I think the staff of SARPV are still keen to learn and will become more knowledgeable as more of these types of projects occur. 

Namibia

It was several months into my placement at the Oshakati Multi-Purpose Youth Resource Centre when my closest colleague came to me with a problem. Since 1998, the villagers of his home community in Okalombo had been endeavouring to provide a better pre-school service for the community’s children who received their basic education in a small straw hut under the shade of a tree. He wondered whether I had any ideas as to how things might be moved forward and interested in the idea I arranged to visit the village. Okalombo has no water or electricity supply and the ‘school’ was as he had described, a small straw hut with a corrugated iron door propped against it. I began to think about how it might be possible to assist with their project to build a school. We approached local constructors, but the prices quoted seemed exorbitant! My colleague was adamant that we could build a satisfactory structure for less than the prices we had been quoted, and that we could draw on the willing labour and resources of the villagers to reduce costs, so I decided that it looked viable enough on paper to raise some funds from friends and family at home. 

The response was overwhelming; friends, family and former work colleagues all contributed generously along with several organisations. As part of my Global Education project I had established a link with a local primary school in Northern Ireland. The school had a beetle drive and non-uniform day and donated the money collected. The amount that was ultimately raised meant that building a pre-school with a classroom, office for the teacher and storeroom was possible. The effort made by the community was enormous. Supporting local businesses was also a priority; the bricks were purchased from a local block supplier and a local welder expertly crafted all the tables and chairs. A school is obviously more than just a building, and the project’s sustainability was something that we wanted to be able to guarantee, so relevant stakeholders were involved in the process. The Directorate of Community Development has been made aware of the project and now teacher training has also been provided. Finally, a constitution for the pre-school has been written and a school board has been formalised and charged with making future decisions. With the official opening of the Ombango pre-school scheduled for two days before my placement ends, everything will hopefully fall into place on time.

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