Short-term volunteering at Site for Community Services Programme SCOSP

Category : Volunteers | Sub Category : Get involved in Uganda Posted on 2023-11-03 19:12:32

From Saturday, 22.07.23 to Tuesday, 25.07.23 Magdalena Muller and Matthias Roosli got the chance to volunteer at SCOSP for some days. During these days the crew at SCOSP took us to visit their office as well as 1 Kindergarden, 2 primary schools and 1 secondary school, all situated in or near Kabale Town. The goal was to meet children with albinism that are supported by SCOSP, check their personal well-being and success and the assistance their respective school provides them with. Additionally, SCOSP would provide them with materials they need to successfully pass their (school-)day like books, pens or soap. During the visits Magdalena and Matthias could get in contact with the supported children, learn about the challenges that come with their condition and how they and their families can cope with the situation they find themselves in.

Following is a short description of the passed days with SCOSP where we briefly elaborate how we passed the time volunteering day by day and some thoughts which might provide some help for future volunteering programs.

First insights in schools and live with albinism

We met the SCOSP Crew at the office in Kabale from where we took a boda boda (around 20min) to the first school. Here we met the headteacher and 3 supported children. We learnt about the 2 different types of albinism (OCA and OA) in people and the various challenges they face during their day. The Crew interrogated the headmaster about their school and the assistance he can provide to compensate the special needs the students with albinism need. It is a big primary school with around 190 students of whom many also live in or around the school building most of the time.

We got to take a look at some exams that the kids took and it was very interesting to get some insights in the school system and the types of exams the Ugandan students face. Then we used some time to get to know the supported children better as we played and drew with them as SCOSP provided them with new scholastic materials.

Finally the head teacher gave us a tour around his school to inspect the facilities. It was impressive for us to see, how children live in their daily world – to live for example with several other children in one room, where every child has his or her own bed with a metal box. In this box they lock their books, pens, clothes and personal things they own. It is fascinating to see how every child did his or her own bed and keeps it in order.

We returned to Kabale for a Lunchbreak and then visited a secondary school where we met 2 supported children, or teenager should we say. They were very talkative and grateful to have the Crew and us as visitors. We had the feeling that they feel confident with Violah and Evelyne from SCOSP, this warm contact seems lovely and honest for us. It was nice to hear of their plans and dreams for the future. For those two boys to speak about their albinism did not seem like they were suffering from a taboo in this round. We did not get a view of the school and its facilities so we could not compare the two schools of this day to each other, but since one was on primary level and the other on secondary it maybe would not have made sense anyway. We concluded the day by providing soap so that the students can clean their school uniforms. It felt very coherent for us to support in this way, as it is a direct help and we got a specific insight into for who and for what a donation may be used.

Second day, new schools with new faces

The day began again with a short visit at the office from where we departed to a Kindergarten in Kabale Town with the crew. We hoped to meet a supported child here but learnt from the headteacher that her mother took her from class last Friday to sort some things in the village from where she had not come back yet. He tried to reach her on the phone but could not get through though he reassured that all is fine and he will give SCOSP a notice when the student is back in Kindergarten. Still it was interesting for us, also moving, that there is a stick to punish children when their behavior is not at teachers wish to or their exams are not good enough, since our laws do not allow this kind of education. For the mentioned reason the visit here was a short one and we continued our day on a boda boda to get to the border with Rwanda and again we were impressed with the negiotiation skills of Violah and Evelyne, who kept a cold head in the middle of a hot discussions with countless boda drivers. We visited another big primary school here. It was different to the school on our first day for there were no students that actually lived here but they can all go home to their families when school is over.

 That is why the school looked smaller to us compared to the other one, even though it teaches a greater number of students. Here we visited two supported siblings and their mother, so we had the chance to get a whole image from a family which fights with special needs for their children and with discrimination from children with albinism in a village. While we could enjoy the behavior of those two sunny kids, the mother told us about the difficulties she faces, about violence at home and reduced harvest due to increasing droughts.

After the exchange we went to a football field – all together, the two supported children, their mother, SCOSP and even other children played soccer and we had a lot of fun.

For a short break we had to put on sunscreen on our skin, we shared with one of the kids, she laughed when she realized that we need sunscreen lotion and protection glasses too! It felt really nice to connect with the supported children through similar needs and habits even if our Worlds differ in many regards.

When we returned to the school the lunch (Beans, Cabbage and Pocho) was ready to be served to the students and we left the school, heading back to Kabale to finish the day.

In our free time we found out that there are some rare sunscreens in the supermarkets in Kabale, though quite expensive and as SCOSP informed us unfortunately hardly affordable. We wish that the children always have enough of them and we enjoy the direct insight provided by SCOSP, who take us along with them.