LBA - University Programme

Volunteering at Little BIG Africa

Since 2005, Little Big Africa has teamed up with UK university volunteer groups to provide an annual 7 week summer-programme to university students. LBA has hosted over 100 volunteers from Bristol University Volunteers Abroad (BVDA), Oxford Development Abroad (ODA) and the University of Nottingham.

After a week of intensive training from LBA, volunteers spend 6 weeks living in a rural village undertaking different projects such as protecting a water source; constructing a water tank in a primary school; training community members to construct smokeless fuel-efficient stoves; and sensitising both pupils and adult community members on serious issues of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene.

The projects help to raise awareness of international development issues, as well as increase community interest in projects.

Volunteers’ Best Moments
1.	The kids all painting their hands on the tank
2.	The choir singing & teaching
3.	Seeing the tank finished after painting
4.	Being welcomed into people’s homes
5.	The support we had for our water source
6.	I absolutely loved the first day of school when the whole school was sat under a tree and we were clapped in and introduced. Pretty overwhelming but fantastic
7.	Dancing and eating under the stars
8.	The tank commissioning ceremony;
9.	How happy the community were about the water source after hearing about their problems trying to do it in the past;
10.	Seeing villagers faces when we returned from Mbale with netball and football posts;
11.	Playing with kids in school and in the evening outside our house;
12.	I couldn’t pick one;
13.	Arriving in the village;
14.	First time someone built a stove by themselves
15.	Being given a local name;

Advice to Future Volunteers from Past Volunteers
1.	Start teaching & after school activities early
2.	Hold a big water commissioning day
3.	Try and teach as much as possible (including adult lessons) as it is the most sustainable part of the project
4.	Expect delays. This is Uganda
5.	Get as involved with the kids and school as you can
6.	Get to know your neighbours really well;
7.	Once a couple of stoves have been demonstrated, encourage as many people as possible to build their own, with your supervision if they want it. Stoves are a good way to get to know people in the village
8.	Be respectful of other cultures;
9.	Don’t expect to feel clean
10.	Tell people from home to write to you
11.	Divide the group up and work out shift systems/different tasks within the project so as to use time more effectively. Don’t do everything as a whole
12.	Get stuck into the village as early as you can and in as many ways as possible - make the most of every day in the 6 weeks
13.	Drink lots of water
14.	Make an effort to make friends/talk to people in the village early on – it’s well worth it
15.	You need to be motivated. You get out of it what you put in