St Paul KAASO

Accomodation & food costs:

All meals are provided. Volunteers may be expected to share a room with one or two other volunteers. The accommodation for volunteers is ready.

Who do we need?

We are looking for male and female volunteers of any ages. Couples are welcome, as well as small groups.
We need volunteers who are self motivated and passionate about improving wellbeing and quality of life. We need people who are willing to help individuals find their opportunities and grab hold of them. Plus any skills in the following are a bonus:
*community development
*teaching (taught in English) and development techniques
* Social work and counselling
* Administrative work
* nutrition and public health educators
* Grant writing and research
*IT and library skills to help manage the computer centre and the community library.

Your Job

Activities range from gardening to administrative work. Volunteers should prepare to assist with one or more of the following:
* Teaching kids in the after-school initiatives. I.e. any specialized area you are passionate about will defiantly be well received.
* Helping students with homework i.e. tutoring
* Work with students on extracurricular activities
* Administration work in our office
- Working to create the community library.
* Preparing progress reports for children who have sponsors and helping with correspondence
* Preparing monthly volunteer newsletters
* Construction work
* Presenting workshops on community development, human rights, malaria awareness and education, etc.
* Help with the organisation of seasonal events such as football cups or visitors day.
*Providing guidance and counselling to restore hope.

*ANY new initiative you would like to implement at KAASO!

Introduction

St. Paul KAASO (Kabira Adult Attention & School of Orphans) Project was started by the Community of Kabira Local Council in Rakai district, Uganda in 1999.

The project was first intended for orphans and adults who never had the opportunity to attend school or those who attended partially. It started as a self help project to answer the needs of the people in the area. The rural district of Rakai is said to be ‘The capital of the AIDS Highway’. This has formed the bases of many of the issues we tackle at KAASO. With thanks to the hard work of the KAASO team there is now an increasing number of parented children attending St Paul’s KAASO due to its constant increasing standard as a rural school. This has aided the growth of the school and has begun a focus on building a sustainable and confident community.

KAASO has since grown to have a wider purpose and is currently used as a base for many community empowerment and development projects i.e. Adult literacy programs, women empowerment groups, community library services… etc.

The ongoing goal for KAASO is to empower and equip the community as a whole to enable them to bring their children into a brighter future.

Our current community projects include:
• The Women’s Empowerment Group (Zibula Attude- translated to ’you cannot earn while sitting) - These women gather weekly for literacy classes, weaving sessions, and social support.
We aim to use these gathering times to educate and empower the women to become self-reliant.

• Adult literacy groups – (for adults between the age of 18-60 years) Are weekly classes covering areas such as improved horticultural practices, literacy, accounting, parenting, sustainable living, economics, health and first aid…etc. any area we can! This is aimed at whom ever will put their hand up in the community. It is a ‘must attend’ for any member receiving goods from the piggery and/or maize mill projects.

• The Maize mill project- Currently sees154 farmers supplied with seeds, fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides to grow their own crops of maize and cassava. Each farmer then sells the harvest back to KAASO for grinding in the mill where is it then either sold off or consumed by the school.

• The Piggery project- Is a breeding program for pigs to be supplied and sold to members of the above groups to promote community income and teach general business skills.

• Micro loans- a small loan system to local individuals to make needed improvements or repairs to personal small business to enable growth that may otherwise never be an option. This also teaches economics and basic accountability.

• The Community Library and computer lab- currently due to space issues it is being used as a dormitory, although the aim is to encourage self learning and motivation within the community. We are hopeful to one day have solar power to supply us with computer access. This will be an amazing leap forward for an otherwise complete rural community.

• Providing guidance and counselling to restore hope.

Project Manager

The project is run by Mr. Mukwaya Dominic. He is 36 years old, married with six children.

The volunteer coordinators are Kate Smallcombe and Casey Welch from Australia.

The Environment:

Our project is some distance from the main town, so volunteers need to take into account that they will need to catch public transport to go to and fro to access internet.

Rakai District isabout 5 hours south of Kampala, nearing the border with Tanzania.

Newsletter

Emma has started writing a monthly newsletter giving the updates at KAASO. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader installed to be able to read them:

March 2007 (15 KB)
April 2007 (15 KB)
June 2007 (48 KB)
May 2008 (328 KB) - Word document