Institute for Field Research Expeditions - IFRE

This is the first time that I have volunteered with a program abroad but it is not the first time I have travelled to a third world country.

The American support was fine. They received my payments and processed them appropriately. I was travelling with two friends and we had requested to live and work together and those requests were granted.

It seemed a bit expensive for 4 weeks of volunteering with room and board since I discovered that meals were usually equivalent to $1 a meal and a hostel (which was better than the residence we stayed in) was the equivalent to $13 a day. The cultural week we paid for was also not completely paid for which we learned as we went along. I enjoyed the week learning about the culture but I had not expected that it would be so expensive to attend all of these tourist sights. My budget was way over the limit by the end of the week. During our weekends off from volunteering we would go explore other parts of Uganda and therefore were not using any utilities or eating any food from the house. Because of our volunteer schedule we ended up only being there for a little over half the time but the price was still the same making the experience even more expensive per day. I know it was our choice to leave and explore but we should have received better food when we were there since we ate only half the time.

The residence was in a safe, well-off suburb of Kampala and there were shops to buy snacks and internet close by. It was easy to take the bus into town and run errands. We were told that we would have linens and mosquito nets provided but were not; I had to buy them when I arrived. I am not upset at having to buy them but not being properly informed was an issue since I was on a tight budget. We were also told we would have running water at our residence but this was not true. Once again, it would not have been a problem had we been informed but I brought toiletries involving water that I could have planned better for had I known ahead of time. It seemed very strange to me that every neighbor around us had running water (even the poorer ones) but we did not. We were also fed well at lunch and dinner (when we were there) but breakfast sometimes only consisted of bread and imitation butter, sometimes not even tea. We were told we would have to buy extra food that was not provided and then when we did the family would eat it unless we hoarded it in our rooms. The electricity was very sporadic which was very common for Kampala but my light bulb was burned out for 3 of the 4 weeks I was there despite constant requests so I had to function by headlamp unless it was light out. The family cooked and cleaned for us regularly. They hauled water for us but it became a constant issue when we ran out of water to ask for more. We were using our dirty wash water to flush the toilets without enough water to flush every time which is unsanitary and as a result the three of us sharing the bathroom got each other sick. I was in a room by myself and shared a bathroom attached to another bedroom with my two friends which was fine. We were told we would be provided with boiled water for drinking but then wew ere told we would have to buy bottled water. Because we couldn't cook for ourselves we did not have many options and we were against buying bottled water because of the unrecycleable waste. We ended up treating our water with a water purifier until one of the family members realized what we were doing and took pity on us and started boiling water for us. Toward the end of our stay we were eventually hit up by almost all of the family for money. We had thought since they had lived with us and housed other western volunteers that they would understand our financial situation better than the ignorant local townspeople but apparently this wasn't the case. We were asked to sponsor the family to come to America, pay for college, and asked to tip everyone for their services. This was a huge turn off. I did not bond with the host family at all. They mostly kept to themselves which was fine but they did not say anything more than a hello or good morning unless they asked us for money. They stayed up late watching tv or listening to music even though they knew we were all trying to sleep and one night they had a party which we were not invited to.

The day we were leaving we were trying to organize transportation to the airport and Herman told us he would drive us. We said that would be great and we told him we would pay for his gas. The next morning we loaded our luggage into the car and set off and he wanted to stop for gas. So we filled up and he said he was expecting us to pay the equivalent of $40! This was attrocious because he was driving a total of 110 km and gas was not that expensive. After doing the math in my head over and over he was charging at least 2 times as much as what it would cost him and he was more expensive than a special taxi! After living with this man and his family for over a month we thought we could trust him but we felt completely taken advantage of and disgusted that he would assume he could overcharge us after seeming so innocent.

The volunteer program was not what I had expected either. Overall I realized that this clinic ran regardless of volunteer man-power so they had a full staff fully capable of running things. We would not be the white, educated volunteers swooping in to save the day. Unfortunately there was some miscommunication as to what kind of skills the clinic required versus what we could offer. The website indicated that EMT's would be allowed to volunteer but when we arrived at the clinic we were completely embarrassed in front of the entire staff and other volunteers when the doctor found out we could not start IV's. Their main patient type was malaria infections and everyone received IV's so we were pretty much worthless except to clean the clinic. Herman had mentioned that we could work in an orphanage but that is not what we signed up for and if we were not qualified we should have been notified before flying to Uganda. Because the three of us were all working the same schedule we were tripping over each other every day we worked. We asked about different schedules but they insisted we should work together. Eventually we learned by trial and error and could be helpful enough that we were not cursed by the staff everyday but there was no point in our being there except to make things harder on the nurses. By the end I felt like they tolerated us because I brought medical supplies for them. I was also disappointed to find out that the clinic was privately run and that patients had to buy supplies to be treated even if the supplies had been brought in by me. The doctor was simply looking at my donations as more money for his clinic. I ended up separating my supplies out so that I gave supplies to the clinic that they wouldn't monetarily benefit from and the rest of the supplies I donated to the government hospital. I knew the condition of the clinic would be a big change than US conditions but our specialty is trauma and the doctor would not let us treat patients with trauma. Instead they were using dirty, unsterilized instruments and people were treated like they were a nuisiance to the staff and treated and kicked out. Wounds were not cleaned affectively and they would not take our advice about how to treat appropriately. The nurses were rude and unhelpful. We did not learn much of anything except what not to do.

There was also an issue with another volunteer that was living with us. Apparently she was originally assigned to the clinic we volunteered at but was bumped so we could work together. This was decided by our host Herman. She was unhappy with her new clinic and was a nightmare to live with because she was angry at us for displacing her. We eventually found out why she was so upset and offered that she could work half the week at our clinic and we worked the other half. This meant that we only worked 3 days a week. And the staff would ask us why we only worked 3 days and demanded more supplies. By the end of the experience they gave us a fake send off party in which hardly any of the nurses attended and we were asked to give them more money as we walked out the door. I know that African culture involves people asking for things if they know you may have something they want but it was overwhelming with the amount of times people would consistently ask for money. Also, Herman should have told them what the situation was so that they did not assume we were all rich. There should not have been any issues by the time we arrived in Kampala about whether we were qualified to work at the clinic, whether other volunteers were displaced, and there should have been some cultural immersion for the host family so that we were treated with respect because we had just paid a huge sum of money for an experience.

I do not know how my fee was distributed but it was obvious after my experience that Herman is very well off compared to other Ugandans. He was using the money he was given and living well and not giving all of what we paid to feed and house his volunteers. It also seemed like the people we visited during cultural week, the clinic we volunteered at, and even the taxis we took were all friends that he was helping out and somehow being compensated for by recommending them. He was very worried about what we would say in our reviews knowing we were not happy with our experience. I don't know how your program monitors the host families but he seemed corrupt and abusing his place.

Overall, I am glad to have had the experience but I do not think I will use IFRE again unless I can have more assurance that the host family will actually be helpful adn my money will be going towards my experience. I work hard for my money and I think I could have found some better living arrangements and volunteer experiences on my own.