Location
  • Uganda
Length
2 to 12 weeks

Program Details

Age Min.
18
Age Max
65
Timeframe
Year Round
Housing
Host Family
Travel Type
Budget Family Older Travelers Solo Women

Pricing

Starting Price
855
Price Details
Please see our website for a full fee schedule.

Our program fees cover:
• online support while you prepare
• airport pickup from Entebbe International Airport
• first night hostel stay
• in-country orientation (how to settle in, connect a local phone, host organization background)
• transportation to your placement
• 3 meals of Ugandan food per day (vegetarians are welcome!)
• secure accommodation
• weekend volunteer guesthouse use
• 24 hr supervision, and
• a donation to your host organization.

Besides covering your basic expenses, our fees ensure our partners can do the work their communities request. They also allow us to monitor progress, guide and advise volunteers, and seek new volunteers for work in Uganda.
What's Included
Accommodation Activities Meals Transportation
What's Not Included
Airfare Travel Insurance Visa
Apr 18, 2023
Dec 18, 2023
10 travelers are looking at this program

About Program

The Real Uganda volunteers assist our partners with a variety of empowering activities. Choose a combination of these locally requested interventions:

Public health & clinical work: Volunteers work in rural clinics providing testing, treatment, counseling services, and prevention education. Nutrition and vegetable gardening, and community sanitation programs are also ongoing. Our aim is to support rural public health in Uganda.

Teaching: Volunteers work in classrooms, choosing what ages and topics to teach. Art and sport are the most popular. Traditional teaching in Uganda is rote learning and memorization. Our aim is to encourage team work, fun, creativity, literacy, and general knowledge in primary school students.

Agriculture: Volunteers work alongside women's groups in their communal gardens. Expect to prepare soil, plant seeds, spread mulch, weed, harvest, and chase birds and other pests. Our aim is to teach efficient land use, organic pest control, and nutrition.

Consider your impact: Volunteering abroad can be a rewarding experience for both volunteers and local communities, and at Go Overseas, we believe all volunteers should have the resources to make informed decisions about the type of volunteer project they want to partake in. However, despite best intentions, some organizations offering placements in orphanages may unknowingly place children in danger. You can read about the potential dangers of orphanage volunteering here. Learn more about how The Real Uganda is promoting ethical volunteering.

Video and Photos

Program Highlights

  • Everyday is new and fun. Engage in a variety of relevant activities.
  • See and do a lot in a short time. Work in classrooms, medical centers, and community gardens.
  • Deeply learn how locally-led community development actually works.
  • Spend your time with empowered people, fully immersed in Ugandan culture and way of life.
  • Spend weekends exploring Uganda. Choose from zip-lining in a rain forest, white water rafting the Nile, wildlife safari, and primate tracking.

Program Impact

International volunteers build relationships with local leaders and community members to support Ugandan solutions to Ugandan problems.

This is an important and ethical way to volunteer your time in a foreign country.

Related Programs

Program Reviews

4.95 Rating
based on 37 reviews
  • 5 rating 94.59%
  • 4 rating 5.41%
  • 3 rating 0%
  • 2 rating 0%
  • 1 rating 0%
  • Impact 4.9
  • Support 5
  • Fun 4.95
  • Value 4.95
  • Safety 4.85
Showing 1 - 8 of 37 reviews
Default avatar
Rhodes
4/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Mukono with the Real Uganda

Incredible experience. Super challenging. Leslie was a fantastic support through the whole program. Felt like I received a genuine Ugandan experience. Leslie connected me with a fantastic local organisation that is really in it's early stages of development. Spending time in the villages and meeting true locals and hearing their stories has changed me. Uganda is a beautiful country so spending a month it wasn't difficult to fill my time. Go into an experience like this with an open mind and heart.

What is your advice to future travelers on this program?
Go in with an open mind.
Pros
  • Culture
  • People
  • Music
Cons
  • Food
  • Difficult life in the villages
13 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Jasmine
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

An Amazing, Life-Changing Experience

I participated in The Real Uganda's Public Health Improvement program and spent most weekdays volunteering at a health center (which had an outpatient, antenatal, and antiretroviral therapy clinic). Sometimes, I also built mud stoves during the day and bonded with my host family in the evening.

Although I traveled to Uganda as a volunteer, I gained more from my experiences with the locals than I could have ever imagined. I formed such strong bonds with the people at my volunteer site and my host family -- we keep in contact to this day.

While in Uganda, I lived in a village with the sweetest and most caring family. There was so much love and happiness within their house, and we now consider each other family. Side note: Although I thought it would be difficult to get used to having no running water (which meant using outdoor pit latrines and taking cold bucket showers), I adapted to it pretty quickly and it was just fine! Please don't let this deter you.

This program allowed me to be fully immersed in Ugandan culture and I LOVED that. The Real Uganda is the absolute opposite of "voluntourism", and exactly what I was looking for. Ugandan culture emphasizes joy, gratefulness, community, and kindness to all. While living in Uganda, I learned and began to embody the country’s values. It was typical to remain leisurely and take the time to fully experience the surrounding people and environments. So if you decide to participate in this program, please allow yourself to enjoy this way of life.

Leslie (the program founder) was amazing and extremely helpful, from start to finish. As soon as I confirmed my program dates, Leslie began helping me prepare. In the months leading up to my arrival, she continued to walk me through each step of my international travel journey. While in Uganda, Leslie became my second mom. I always went to her with questions, funny stories, and any concerns, and she was always empathetic, honest, and transparent. I also think it's important to note that she conducts this program out of the kindness of her heart. Although she experiences small financial gain from it, Leslie understands the value of the experience she is able to provide to travelers/volunteers at an affordable price. Volunteering through The Real Uganda is 100% worth it, and I would do it a million more times if I could.

At the end of my fourth and final week in Uganda, I called my mother and told her I wanted to live in Uganda -- The Real Uganda fostered the love for this beautiful country that grew within me. Ugandan holds a big piece of my heart, and I plan to return within the next year and travel through The Real Uganda once again.

What is your advice to future travelers on this program?
When you arrive at your placement in Uganda, don’t hold back, try not to overthink the little things, and live in the moment. Take every opportunity to try new things, say hi to everyone around you, and speak the language as much as possible. The people are so friendly, and you will not regret interacting with them as much as possible.

Also, I would advise taking others’ comments with a grain of salt, prior to departure. My family was nervous about me traveling so far alone, and they continued to warn me of all that could go wrong. If I could do it again, I would instead arrive at my placement thinking of all the things that could go right, and everything that I might (and ultimately, did) gain from the experience.
Pros
  • Full cultural immersion
  • Opportunities for connection and relationship building
  • Real, meaningful and impactful volunteer work
14 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Pedro
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

The Real Uganda

The Real Uganda is an exceptional program. It's powerful in giving you the best experience possible and humble since it focuses on Uganda and nothing more. If you are eager to know the country or don't know at all the Sub-Saharan Africa this is the right place to start. I don't believe there is a more local program than this out there. Moreover, not every program in Africa offers you the opportunity to live a 100% African live such as with this program. More beautiful than the country itself were the relationships this program allowed me to form.

Cons
  • If you like to be surrounded by people of your culture this may not be the program for you, unless you bring friends.
25 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Heather
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

An experience I’ll never forget

I first stumbled across this incredible program doing an assignment about malaria for my undergraduate degree, and quickly was drawn in by everything it stood for. An organization dedicated to sharing culture, embracing the uncomfortable, helping communities without damaging, and doing away with what I loved hearing Leslie call “Poverty Porn”. Now, between me finding this organization, and working out going, a little thing called Covid 19 hit and there really was no in and out. Leslie kept in contact with me for the 2 years that I was interested, and when boarders opened up and things felt safe for travel, she was so supportive in helping me make sure I was going to be able to come over safely with all the precautions I would need so that I wouldn’t bring any illness with me. This was a first for both of us, me, a 24 year old, traveling by herself for the first time, to the other side of the globe no less, and for Leslie, I was her first volunteer to come after borders opened up with covid. Leslie checked in with me all throughout my flight, arranged a ride for me to her home from the airport, and welcomed me into her home with a hot meal, a big hug, and a very much needed bed. I always think about sitting at her table, laughing and sharing food with her and Esther’s kids, and going through what to expect for the next 11 days I was there, and what I would be doing in the different districts. The next morning, things quickly changed when I got a notice from the Ugandan Government that my Covid test came back positive. I had taken every precaution before coming, with every vaccination, booster, and even 5 negative tests before flying. It was scary, confusing, and I was wracked with guilt- I came here to put my Public Health degree to use and instead I’m this plague rat who traveled during a pandemic and brought it with me. Leslie, while also panicked for her family, helped me stay calm, and figure out what to do. She worked with her friend (and soon to be mine as well) Jonathan to find me a home to quarantine in, and kept checking in on me every single day that I needed to stay quarantined. Jonathan was an incredibly kind man to a confused & so painfully American stranger, coming to check on me every day to make sure I took walks and got to talk to someone. Leslie and Jonathan helped show me the beauty of Entebbe (masked & socially distant) and the incredible heart and hospitality of Ugandan people. Once I tested negative, Jonathan took me out into the city with his wife & kids, and I got to see, taste, and experience more of Uganda. Leslie talked me through (and laughed ) my first boda boda experience, and although it’s been a little over a year since I went (Jan 2022), this was truly the experience of a lifetime that I will never, ever forget. 38 hours of travel time, lost luggage, Covid Positive, across the globe, and I never once felt alone. I am hoping to go back again, hopefully for a few months at a time and not bring a virus with me. I learned so much, and this truly was an experience I will never forget. Plus, I did not realize how badly I would crave a cold cup of mango juice, cassava & rice. This is an incredibly long review, but a quick version if you’re debating this volunteer experience: do it. You’ll be so supported, cherished, and have an experience unlike any other.

41 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Alyssa
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

A Meaningful Adventure

My time spent with The Real Uganda was and still remains one of the highlights of my young adult life. Supportive in every way from application to departure and beyond was Leslie’s and Esther’s strength. I felt protected, cared for and listened to during my few months in UG. It may have been some years ago but I find myself still going back as often as my life allows me just to visit and reconnect with the folks I met when I was there. To live amongst every day Ugandan people learning from their ways, and approaches to modern days’ challenges was pivotal to the way I navigated the world after. Even today. I’m able to critically assess organizations and projects based on a lot of the knowledge Ugandan folks taught me. The way TRU and their partners communicate and bring you into their home is like nothing else I’ve ever experienced. You may arrive as a visitor, with an outsiders POV, but you will absolutely leave with a family and with insight that you will gain in very few other exchange experiences. Don’t hesitate! Go now! -Alyssa

Pros
  • Community support
  • Comfy living
  • So fun
Cons
  • You’ll never stay long enough!
44 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Greg
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

The Real Uganda

I volunteered for 2 weeks with The Real Uganda in 2017, which was my first exposure to this beautiful country. Leslie could not have provided better information, details and support from the time I signed up to volunteer, and we actually are still in contact! I would not hesitate to recommend TRU to anyone, and highly encourage the “Agriculture and Conservation” project. You will not regret meeting Leslie and her team, and you CERTAINLY will love all that Uganda has to offer!

I loved it so much I’ve now been back 3 more times, with a 4th trip scheduled :D

Pros
  • Organization knowledge and support
  • Stunning country
  • Beautiful people
Cons
  • Stay hydrated and listen to Leslie!
46 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Eddie
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

2 amazing volunteering experiences!!

I volunteered on 2 occasions with The Real Uganda - the first time in a local Mukono school, the second time with a local NGO partner. I can't say how transformative that Leslie and the team had on me personally. I could see the impact of my work every single day. I cannot recommend The Real Uganda enough. From early conversations with Leslie, the safety and thought that goes into the experience, and then the credible partners you get to work with -- its incredible. I've been back a 3rd time already on a holiday and plan to re-visit again in the not-too-distant future.

45 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Erin
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

A trip that will stay with you for a lifetime

I volunteered with the Real Uganda (TRU) for a mere 5-months, but the memories and relationships I formed there will last with me for a life-time.

What is fantastic about TRU is its ethos, it is like a proud parent that wants to share with everyone just how amazing Uganda is - it is a proper authentic grassroots organisation, allowing you to get a real experience of what Uganda has to offer you (opposed to just what you think you can offer it.) You will learn so much about this wonderful country and about the people who are lucky enough to call it home.

You will be fully supported from the moment you sign up to volunteer with TRU, including preparing for your visit, from those first tentative few steps you take at Entebbe airport and throughout the entirety of the programme.

What is your advice to future travelers on this program?
Don't go to Uganda expecting to change it, go to Uganda expecting it to change you.
90 people found this review helpful.

Questions & Answers