We believe that every volunteer can have a positive impact on the community, no matter where your skills and interests lie. All you need is passion for any area of interest, not necessarily a professional background. Any skill or knowledge you have can contribute greatly to our amazing projects.
Are you a builder, teacher, tailor, writer, medic, videographer, baker, farmer, artist, story teller, freestyler….. or anything else in between? We welcome you all, with open arms, when you volunteer with us at Suubi Secondary School or Suubi Community Health Clinic in Lubanda Village or at Smiling Hearts in Masaka City.
As we are aiming for each volunteer to have a unique and rewarding experience we do not run a ‘fixed’ volunteer program. We encourage you to get involved in whatever activities you are passionate about. Of course the Suubi and Smiling Heart’s teams will always be there to assist you with organising things but ultimately the type of experience you have is your own hands.
Remember that the actual ‘work’ you do is only a very small part of volunteering. Immersing yourself in the local culture, walking side by side with the local people, playing with the kids, laughing with adults and building friendships are as important as any structure or skill you leave behind. Check out some examples below for inspiration of how you can help out and then take the leap to a life changing experience.
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Gardening/Farming Â
Students at Suubi Secondary School are engaged in permaculture/agro-ecology; sustainable crop and animal production practices, whilst Smiling Hearts has a thriving farm. Please come and share your gardening/farming skills with the us or even learn some Ugandan agricultural methods. You don’t need to have farming experience to work side by side with the students and have a positive impact. Some of the actives you can get involved in include: designing gardens, organising workshops with the students, planting or harvesting tree and veggies, caring for and feeding animals etc.
Music and Performing Arts
Do you have a love of music, song writing, singing, dancing or drama that you can share? Many of our students at Suubi SS are involved in learning to play musical instruments. If you can play the keyboard, guitar, trumpet, or any other instrument, we would love you to spend time passing on your skills. We also have recording equipment for any of you who would love to help our budding performers get their music out to the world.
Sewing, Knitting and Fashion Design
 We would love you to share your tailoring or knitting skills with our students at Suubi SS or Smiling Hearts. Helping to design fashionable clothing or craft items that can be created by students and marketed for sale is a creative way to interact with the students and hugely benificial. Creating ways for our projects to become self sustainable is a high priority for us. Or maybe you’re a whiz at fixing machines and you can teach the students how to maintain our valuable equipment.
Baking
Smiling Hearts students are involved in the baking of bread, muffins and cakes. They make these items and sell them as a way of raising funds to support all the vocational skill they have on offer at the centre. Why not join them in baking and perhaps even teach them your own special recipes.
Academics Including Computer Training
Suubi SS students are thirsty for knowledge and anyone with skills to pass on, in any of our academic subjects, would be welcomed. With a well equiped computer lab and access to the internet they would also benefit greatly from anyone who has IT knowledge. Activities to get involved with here may include: classroom subjects, general computer skills, web designing, computer maintenance, computer software/app development and software updates etc.
Video Editing / Photography
Do you know how to take good quality photos and videos that you edit in to clips to share? With so many wonderful projects happening at both Suubi SS and Smiling Hearts, we would love for our students to learn these skills so we can share them with the outside world. Or who knows, maybe we have a budding performing artists among us that can use these video editing skills to promote their talents.
Woodwork / Building
Woodwork and building are part of our vocational skills training at Suubi SS. You can be involved by sharing knowledge and skills with carpentry students at different levels; building classroom furniture, cupboards right through to a major structure…. or perhaps you have some project ideas of your own? Or you might like to spend time laying local mud bricks with the students and share different bricklaying knowledge from back home.
Metalwork / Welding
Metalwork is also one of the vocational skills training at Suubi SS. We would love you to spend time with or welding students and budding engineers. Students are involved in building chairs, beds, windows and door for the school and surrounding communties. You might like to help out with this or come up with another structure that would be beneficial for the school.
Sports
Sports is an integral part of what we do at Suubi SS. This cuts across all sorts of sporting activities, such as football, netballl, volleyball, basketball, rugby etc. Volunteers can be involved as coaches, educators/facilitators, or simply take on the students in a fun filled match. You may even like to fundraise for sporting equipment to bring with you.
Suubi Community Health Clinic
Whether you are medical practitioner or not we would be happy for you to spend time at Suubi Community Health Clinic. For those of you in the medical field we are sure you can pass on your knowledge and we can learn from each other. Others might like to run health related workshops, assist in the administration area, or simply wish to spend time with the staff and/or patients.
Having been inspired by any or all of the above projects, we would love for you to feel free to donate towards them or any other ideas you may come up with. Having said that, once you spend time at Suubi or Smiling Hearts, many people feel a real connection to a particular family, person or project which they may wish to support in some way. We are very grateful for this type of assistance but it is extremely important that you discuss ALL ideas that you have with David and Hellen/or the staff. They have the local knowledge required to know if what you are suggesting will in fact have the positive impact you think it will.
We wish to co-ordinate ALL projects/connections through Suubi and Smiling Hearts in an attempt to minimise the belief that mzungus are the solution to all problems; have more knowledge/money etc. It is far more important to empower the local people than for mzungus to individually get a warm fuzzy feeling.
Where To Stay While Volunteering
Many development projects around the world charge a particular fee for volunteers to participate in their activities, however at Suubi Centre and Smiling Hearts we believe that the precious time you spend with us is the most important resource you can provide us with. Having said that, we also aim to have our project sustaining themselves, rather than relying on ongoing funds from overseas aid. With this in mind you will be required to cover your living cost whilst you are volunteering with us.
In Masaka Town you will be based at Elite Backpakers, staying in an eco-friendly environment, that offers everything that you need; including access to free wi-fi, the swimming pool and delicious meals. From here you may choose to spend time with our precious special needs family at Smiling Hearts or you can travel daily to various Suubi projects in Lubanda Village. ( you will be required to cover fuel cost to do this)
On the other hand, you may wish to experince what life is really like for rural Ugandans! Jump in to reality and spend time staying in the Bandas at Suubi Centre. Whilst there is electricity at the Suubi Secondary School and Clinic, there is none available in the rooms you will be sleeping in. (small solar lamps are provided). Water is accessed via the tanks and underground wells so bathing is done via a small basin and jerrycan. This also means no flushing toilets so pit latrines are the norm in all areas in the village. The lack of western mod cons definitely gives you a deeper understanding of the challenges that rural Ugandans face every day.
These are two very different experinces; one may suit you better than the other or maybe you’d like to share your time between the two?
Costs stay at Suubi Centre in Lubanda Village
        Banda with wash area………………               Per single bed per night *            .                                 …………..25,000 UGX
        Banda without wash area………..               Per single bunk per night *                                           ……………20,000 UGX
        Meals prepared by local ladies..               Supplies to be provided by volunteers                              ……………….5,000UGX
        Clothes washed by hand………….                Per bag (please wash your own underwear)                        …………….10,000UGX
        Transport…………………………………..                From Elite Backpackers to Lubanda Village                        …………….50,000UGX
        Internet Access……………………….                 Available at Suubi Secondary School                               ………………………….Free
        *Stays at Suubi of longer than one month can be discounted
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