This is an excellent program for getting students engaged in a different community and culture. The students have an opportunity to serve their fellow students in Uganda and have their minds challenged and stretched as they experience a new culture and hopefully gain fresh perspectives on life and education.
Arrive in Uganda at Entebbe International Airport
You will have an orientation in the morning to get you acquainted with your program. Thereafter you will head to the mall to exchange money and have lunch before taking a two- hour drive to Jinja.
You will spend 2 days renovating a classroom block for one of the public schools in Jinja. You will be supporting Soft Power Education, a non-profit whose mission is to improve the quality of education in Uganda. They support publics schools because they are usually under-funded and lack basic school equipment.
You will work with Soft Power Education pre-school teachers to carry out an afternoon school program for preschoolers. This will involve setting up games, sports, arts and crafts sessions.
You will visit Abide family center, a non-profit that works to keep families together and children out of orphanages. This day will be spent visiting some of the families Abide work with. You will be split into groups of twos or threes and each group will spend the day at a host family. You will get to have lunch in the home and get to be involved in their lives for a day.
After 3 days of community work, you will take a break and head to the Mabira rainforest for a zip-lining adventure. Thereafter you will also get a chance of taking a boat ride on Lake Victoria and visit the source of the Nile, the point at which the River Nile begins its journey to the Mediterranean Sea in Egypt. After this experience you will head back to Kampala for your overnight stay.
You will start your morning by taking a 90 minutes walking tour of Kampala including visiting a local market, a historic mosque and a fort built in colonial times. After lunch, you will visit a slum, and work with a local partner that seeks to rescue kids off the street. You will have the opportunity to serve food to the street kids.
Set off early the next day, 5 hours North of Kampala to Murchison Falls national park for your Safari adventure. You will return in time for lunch. After lunch you will take a game drive to explore the various African wildlife found in the park.
Get up before sunrise and take a shot at another game driving experience. Early morning game drives offer the best time to encounter wildlife active in the wild. In the afternoon, you will take a boat tour on the Nile and get up-close to countless schools of hippos and crocodiles.
After this magnificent experience head back south towards Kampala. You will make it back in the afternoon. You will have the rest of the day to relax at your hotel
In the morning you have the chance to shop for some souvenirs. Thereafter pack-up and head to the airport for your return flight back
