Buy-a-Net “Voluntour” Program

The “Voluntour” experience provides a once in a lifetime unique opportunity to participate in service learning, volunteerism and life saving programs in one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Departing from Toronto, Ontario, participants will travel to Entebbe, Uganda to connect with the people of Uganda. Participants will be greeted by the Buy-a-Net Ugandan team. Under the guidance of local and Canadian Buy-a-Net team leaders, participants will spend time volunteering in a variety of settings, including local schools, community health centres, hospitals and rural and isolated village settings. Volunteers will also spend time helping in practical ways to improve the local community, while interacting intensively with the people of Uganda.

There will be unique opportunities to interact with local doctors, nurses and teachers. This is intended to promote mutual collaboration between health and educational professionals for the benefit of all. Sharing experiences will likely involve discussions about process, knowledge about training, health care delivery or teaching models and strategies.

Participants will have an opportunity to assist with the process of community organization and program delivery. This could include the education and development of community health workers, basic health and disease (malaria) education, bed net distribution, and monitoring and evaluation activities.

We welcome all participants to assist with the project, and for those with special interests, let us know what they may be. We will do our best to make your experience a rewarding one, where you will feel that you’ve made a valuable, meaningful and worthwhile contribution to the health and wellbeing of families in Uganda. To receive more information, please send your resume to Gail Fones, Canadian Director of Ugandan Operations, gail@buyanet.ca, or call our office at (613)542-1264.

You may also download the program manual.

 

Costs

Buy-a-Net Voluntour Program 2012

$4,000 all-inclusive cost for spring/fall 2012 departure which includes:

• Two week round trip.
• 100% of return air travel from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to Entebbe, Uganda.
• 100% of program coordination including in-country living expenses, including accommodations in our comfortable and secure guest house, food, and transportation.
• Pre-departure manual and assistance.
• Cultural orientation and preparation pre-departure.
• Airport reception.
• Program orientation in-country.
• Full-time in-country support staff.
• A charitable donation receipt will be issued for the full cost.
• A two day safari is optional (additional costs will apply).

Terms:

$100 deposit and signed waiver are required upon application. Payment is non-refundable after final selection and applicant’s acceptance at 90 days prior to departure.

100% of balance due within the 10 day period after final selection/acceptancein writing is received.

No refunds will be issued after the 10 day period unless BAN cancels trip due to unforeseen circumstances.

Program costs are accurate at this time. Final cost is determined 90 days prior to departure due to any volatility affecting currency rate, fuel costs, etc., which are beyond Buy-a-Net’s control.

 

Testimonials

It was amazing to see how a little education can go a long way in keeping people healthy

“My time in Uganda in May 2009 really illustrated to me the important work of organizations like Buy-A-Net as well as the importance of education.  I travelled to Ggaba, Uganda for 25 days with three other Canadian students where we were set to work with the Buy-A-Net team there. For the duration of our stay in Uganda we worked out of Wentz Medical Centre working with Dr. Martin Nkundeki and Sarah Komugisha. Aside from volunteers, Dr. Martin and Sarah are the only two working with Buy-A-Net in Uganda. Throughout our trip we were fortunate enough to help give out nets, educate Ugandans about malaria and generally help out around the clinic.

The most eye-opening experience for me during the whole trip to Uganda was our visit to an island called Rulagwe. The island is in Lake Victoria and a two-hour boat ride from Gbaga. Having no idea where the island was located and sitting in a small wooden boat for two hours, we were excited when we finally reached our destination. We marched our way along a dirt path from our landing spot through trees to the main part of the island. Along the way, cows and vicious red ants met us. There were a few mud huts that we passed but most of the houses were close to the community building. We inferred that the building was used as a church, a school and for community meetings. By the time we finished handing out nets there were probably about 200 people packed into the small open-air building but when we first arrived there were only a few people.

Once we set up, myself along with the other volunteers, Sarah and Faith, a community health worker from Wentz, began our presentation about malaria. While Uganda’s official language is English most rural Ugandans do not know how to speak it so the presentation was done in the local Luganda. We helped out holding up the posters with images about malaria, prevention and care and we even performed a few skits to help reiterate the ideas.

The questions and comments that the Ugandans asked after the presentation were what shocked me the most and really displayed how important our work was. One father believed that if he used a cool cloth on his child to cool down a fever, as we taught, the water inside his child would be drawn out. Another women believed that if their child had a fever the best thing to do was to just hold them. While I knew that many people did not know much about malaria I was so surprised to see literally how uneducated they were and how important it was that they were receiving an education about malaria. Many NGO’s provide insecticide-treated bed nets to people in developing countries as a way to prevent malaria but many do not educate the people on malaria.  As important as it is to sleep with a bed net having the knowledge to prevent and care for malaria is just as important.

The trip to Rulagwe truly affirmed to me the important of the work done by Buy-A-Net. I had struggled with the idea of volunteering because whose job was it to impose Western values on those in developing countries yet the experience I had in Rulagwe showed me that in the case of malaria it is not about the imposition of Western values but about the importance of how a little education can go along in keeping people healthy.”

—Alex Turriff

For me, this has been a nursing experience of a career!

“ I was one of a group of 10 volunteers on this trip (Voluntour) and it was made even more special as I traveled with one of my daughters who was also part of this work. We worked with community leaders in areas identified by Buy-A-Net in the less fortunate areas of Kampala, a city of 1.5 million and also in a few villages in rural Uganda.  In the designated areas, our team along with local leaders registered homes one by one and assisted local trained Ugandans to provide group education sessions about Malaria, the etiology, signs, symptoms and prevention methods which include the medicated malaria net. We also monitored homes to ensure the nets were hung and being used by priority persons within the homes and community leaders evaluate the success of the Buy-A-Net projects. One net per home is distributed and yet every 45 seconds, a child dies in Uganda with Malaria.

The nets are made possible by Canadians’ donations to this effort. A net costs $7 which is not much to us but is about 14,000 Ugandan shillings and far from reach for many of the Ugandans we met.

We also had the opportunity to immunize children in one of the rural villages where Buy-A-Net has a presence, visit two schools, one a rural boarding school and one within the city of Kampala. These have made a lasting impression on me personally. They have so few to no resources for the children and with our kids being able to pick up the lists of things for their new school year, I think of these children again with near to nothing, not even a lunch for their 12-hour school day! We also visited Mulago Hospital which is a 2,000-bed facility within the city. Again, they seem able to achieve much with very very little. The ethical decisions that nurses and physicians face daily are so overwhelming.   Yet, in spite of many of these situations, I was awe struck by the overall spirit of happiness, warmth, and appreciation the Ugandan people shared with us. The kids are amazing and love to sing, play games with you or cuddle, just like all kids. That is the most lasting impression I will keep with me: the wonderful people and their spirit! … For me, this has been a nursing experience of a career! ”

—Kathy McPhail, Chief Executive Officer of The Regional Health Authority – Central Manitoba Inc.
August 2009

My life’s Purpose.

It’s been almost a year since my trip with BAN to Uganda October of 2008.  I should have written this long ago but my life seemed to take a flip after my return from Africa.
The experience was life changing and I will always cherish this first trip, of many I’m sure, as the tipping point in my life.
I traveled to Africa with my son who was 11 years old at the time. We got involved through a few different fundraising events held for Buy-A-Net.  I donated either my time or a painting to help raise awareness and money for bed nets.  From the first time I talked to Deb ( Debra Lefebvre, Founder) I had this feeling I would be going to Africa with her one day… well, that came  true!
We were introduced to so many aspects of Ugandan life in the  two weeks we were there.
I will be forever grateful to Gail Fones for allowing us to see how the children lived, and what the schools they attended were like – so unbelievably poor.  However, the spirit of the people did not reflect their surroundings.  They have a magic about them that is beyond our level of consciousness.  This is the gift I brought home with me.
We were given the opportunity to see the Ugandan Buy-A-Net staff educate the people on how to use the bed nets to prevent Malaria and other deadly diseases.  Through this education they are empowering communities to work together and making them realize they must be accountable for the continued use of their bed nets to ensure continued success.
To date, I have created 40 paintings based on my experience last fall. With help from Buy-A-Net and their support on Parliament Hill, I launched my Worlds Collide paintings series in the chambers of The Speaker of the House, the week prior to World Malaria Day.  To supplement the paintings, I published a book illustrating my experiences, which also gave insight as to how I created each piece, and how I felt during the process.  I have also been spending countless hours on a series of documentary short films focusing on Buy-A-Net and the charities and schools they support.
This experience has been so rewarding to my whole family that we have sold our house and are in the process of planning a trip back to Africa for 3 months in 2010.  We are filled with hopes to continue spreading awareness through film, paintings and music… what we know best.
We all have different skills and if we work together we can do anything.
I would like to sincerely thank Buy-A-Net for helping to shape my life’s purpose.

— Heather Haynes, International Artist

What a life lesson!

In October of 2008, my 13 year old daughter, Emma, and I had the unbelievable opportunity to travel to Uganda with the Buy-A-Net Malaria Prevention Group to witness, first-hand, the amazing work that they do there.
I knew that this trip would serve as a valuable “connection” between the volunteer work that I had been doing for Buy-A-Net in Canada and the realities of life in Uganda.
As the Volunteer Marketing/Public Relations Consultant for B.A.N., I longed to be able to speak from my heart on the impact of malaria, and not just from my head. I also hoped that my daughter’s efforts to raise funds before she left would demonstrate to her (and her school mates) the difference one person can make in the lives of their global brothers and sisters, thousands of miles away.
I was excited for Emma to be able to look into the faces of people who would be protected from the malaria-infected mosquitoes at night, only because she took the time out to care. What a life lesson!
For all of the research I had done on Uganda, I knew little about what was in store for us. The one thing I did know was that this adventure would change our lives and, at the very least, allow us to feel a new appreciation for our extremely comfortable lives in Canada.
The adventure did not disappoint.  Even as a relatively informed volunteer – I still don’t think that I had any real idea about both the extent and the importance of the work that they do.
For instance – I always knew that Buy-A-Net was unique in the field of malaria prevention in that, in addition to providing the life-saving bed nets, they not only educate Ugandans about malaria-related issues, but also monitor and evaluate the use of previously handed-out bed nets.
As it turns out – it is one thing to know this intellectually and write about it in communication pieces, but it is quite another to look into the faces of those who show up for the two-day long registration, education and distribution, strike up conversations with them and their children and be embraced by the warmth of their spirit.  These people are real.  This situation is dire. It is a fact that malaria kills one child every thirty seconds…over 3,000 every day. My daughter wondered every day whether any of the children we encountered on our trip would fall victim to malaria.  It would have been nice to say otherwise – but the only response I had was “probably”.  Luckily, we knew that if we furthered the work of Buy-A-Net, fewer and fewer children would die from this preventable and highly-treatable disease.
As hard as it was at times to face these and other harsh realities of everyday life in Uganda, I would not trade the experience for anything. I am deeply indebted to Debra Lefebvre and Gail Fones and all of the Buy-A-Net Uganda team for allowing us to be a part of something so important.

— Joanne Langlois,
Media & Public Relations Consultant, Board of Directors