Gorilla Highlands volunteers building the organisation, improving cooking skills at Lake Bunyonyi, doing multimedia and teaching Batwa “Pygmies” English
Introduction
Wish to contribute your energy and skills to what Gorilla Highlands Experts do? Volunteer work is at the centre of our concept and everyone is welcome, from Uganda, Rwanda, Congo and abroad. Gorilla Highlands volunteering is about mixing international people and young East Africans, making small teams and learning from each other.
There are various volunteering options and volunteer jobs available:
Volunteering Options
• Guest volunteer: Do you feel like enjoying Uganda’s gorgeous Lake Bunyonyi and Rwanda’s gateway to mountain gorillas without any obligations? Don’t know if you can commit just yet? Simply stay at Edirisa on Lake Bunyonyi and/or in at a our homestay in Musanze Town as a paying customer, and we will see where you can chip in. You can request the status of a guest volunteer or a specialist later on. Oh, and you can also do Learn From Africa without any need to commit!
We offer affordable accommodation, priced the same at Lake Bunyonyi and in Musanze:
camping in own tent: USD 4
camping in our fully-equipped tent: USD 6
dorm bed: USD 8
single/double room: USD 24
• Core volunteer: You want to have a life outside of Gorilla Highlands volunteering? Believe that part-timing would be the best fit? No problem. As long as we can count on your help for a minimum of 6 hours a day, 5 days a week, we are happy to give you serious accommodation and food discounts. We do, however, expect you to go through 4 days of Learn From Africa first.
The longer your period of commitment, the more you will save. These are our daily discounted charges for accommodation and staff meals:
• Specialist volunteer: Wanna go the whole way and become our staff member? Ready to put in at least 50 hours a week in your field of expertise? As long as you have specialist skills or local knowledge that we need, we will be glad to accommodate you and feed you free of charge. We still highly recommend that you participate in the Learn From Africa program as it will let you maximise your experience and contribution, but that is not a must.
• Online volunteer: Can’t join us in Uganda or Rwanda? That’s unfortunate but it doesn’t mean that you can’t get involved! From social media marketing to graphic design to web development, a lot of essential work can be done from anywhere in the world. We would be thrilled to have you on (our Trello) board
Volunteer Jobs
This list of jobs is only intended to give you some idea of what is possible; it is not complete in any way. Ideas and personal projects are welcome but they need to be solid enough to assure sustainability even after the initiator has left.
Multimedia
– help make the SEE AFRICA BREATHE AFRICA podcast
– work on the next edition of the Gorilla Highlands Pocket Guide
– get involved with research and design of maps
– prepare content for social networks
– become our photographer/videographer
Promotion
– organise the next Silverchef cooking competition and other promotional events
– regularly meet existing and potential partners inside and outside the region
– train our partners in social media
– distribute the Gorilla Highlands Pocket Guide
Primary School Activities
– prepare school workshops for children (cultural exchange, hygiene, …)
– organise non-school events for children (including weekend ones)
– lead physical exercise activities
– develop children’s reading culture
– help with career guidance
Secondary/University School Activities
– give us a hand with Youth Spaces
Organisational
– train staff (first aid, cooking, IT, construction, …)
– help with accounting, budgeting and planning
– develop new business ideas
– set up a volunteer wiki database
Edirisa on Lake Bunyonyi
– develop and beautify the compound
– introduce new facilities (like a rope swing)
– plant herbs and vegetables
– create a recipe book that effectively uses local ingredients
– build a stone based water purifier
– start (cray)fish farming
– teach swimming
– build an artificial island
Apply
Please use or Contact Us page to begin the process.
photo: Marcus Westberg, Miha Logar, Anika Utke, David Esteban