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
Jan 15, 2025
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.

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Program Reviews

4.95 Rating
based on 39 reviews
  • 5 rating 94.87%
  • 4 rating 5.13%
  • 3 rating 0%
  • 2 rating 0%
  • 1 rating 0%
  • Impact 4.9
  • Support 5
  • Fun 4.95
  • Value 4.95
  • Safety 4.85
Showing 9 - 16 of 39 reviews
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.

97 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.
139 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Asia
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Great Way of Sharing Skills and Cultures

I am a partner organisation whose projects benefit from this wonderful program. Through this program, we have access to consistent volunteers who bring skills that enrich our projects. We have received some really fun, creative and passionate volunteers.

I like the model that The Real Uganda uses because through sharing skills, cultures and fun, our team and students learn the powerful value of collaboration.

The time that the volunteers spend with us is long enough to work on and accomplish projects together.

What is your advice to future travelers on this program?
Be free, be eager to learn about your new home and enjoy every moment!
143 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Sophia
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

It was an awesome experience!

It was a truly amazing experience all the volunteer work and cultural experiences were great. Everyone who I worked with was great about pointing me in the right directions for weekend fun too.
The real Uganda has the right name I felt like I totally got a great insight on the country and all because of the program. I set out to really enjoy the work I was doing and I really did. I felt like I really learned a lot about how to make your self useful and what situation are harmful (to that country) and how to really have fun. Would really recommend this!

141 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Gemma
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

The best decision of my life!

Travelling solo to a foreign sub-saharan country alone at age 17 was a daunting prospect. But Leslie from The Real Uganda (TRU) was so knowledgable and reassuring that I felt very safe making the commitment. This supportive hospitality paved the way for the best experience of my life - 6 weeks living and learning in the heart of a Ugandan rainforest. From playing football with the kids to planting trees with village farmers and dancing at church on Sundays, every moment was magical.
I was interested in TRU because I wanted a real grassroots experience... and that's exactly what I received. I loved my time there so much that I returned to the same house and family I lived with 2 years later and spent an additional 3 months soaking up Ugandan life. I have found a unique home in Uganda, and after travelling through 10 other African countries after Uganda, I can confirm that TRU is the best of the best. What are you waiting for?!

What would you improve about this program?
It is truly hard to fault. I honestly wouldn't change a thing.
135 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Anne
4/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Public Health Improvement Volunteering in Uganda

I wanted to gain some practical and hands-on experience while studying international public health, I always had a good time in East Africa; so, with some research, I found “The Real Uganda” (TRU): a local organisation run by Leslie. TRU arranges everything and provides you with all the information you need whilst on the program. TRU’s mission statement and values as well as the process was trustworthy, transparent and aligned with my objectives. Leslie is amazing and quite inspiring, she matched me with a suitable local NGO of which we participated daily activities, observed, organized and ran a combination of public health awareness workshops on community sanitation, nutrition, family planning, domestic violence, etc..

I spent a couple of weeks with FREDAfrica and It was such a mind-blowing experience, it is beautiful over there and you get to see and understand why Leslie loves Uganda and why her organisation exist. The director of TRU (Leslie) was engaged throughout, and we-volunteers also had some time to relax and explore in the weekends/ or in our free time. I would ABSOLUTELY recommend the organisation and I would encourage more people to apply especially those who have an interest in health, international relations, cultural exchange and everyone in general.

I can not fault them at all, they are authentic, the host organisation and their staff were pretty good, the volunteers were brilliant, and Ugandans were so welcoming!

I DEFINETELY want to go again.

If you did this all over again, what's one thing you would change?
I would definitely stay longer, and I would make sure that I take some technical materials for the seminars/workshops.
130 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Ellie
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Amazing project with strong, female leadership!

I can’t speak highly enough about Liz at Grace Orphanage School, and The Real Uganda director Leslie! Liz has an unmatched understanding of her community and its needs, and is so creative in her solutions to problems. Leslie/TRU engages thoughtfully and intentionally with Grace and the whole Nakifuma community, and you can tell how strong their partnership is. I can guarantee that working with Leslie, you’ll be supported and encouraged to think critically and challenge your beliefs about global development, community engagement, and your role. I have found lifelong friends-turned-family via TRU and encourage you to check them out if you’re looking for a sustainable, responsible way to contribute to an ongoing project in Uganda!

What was the most unfamiliar thing you ate?
I came to love Rolex — a veggie omelette rolled up in a fried chapati!
127 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Robert
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

TRU is the best

TRU is the best local community organization brilliant meaningful human connection services for empowerment to the benefit of local rural women and children as well as international travellers/volunteers. Thanks to director Leslie of TRU who labors all time to bridge the missing link between prospective volunteers and the partner groups. As Lugacraft Uganda, our ladies and the entire administration we recommend TRU and Leslie. Women have been empowered physically & socially. More blessings 2020!

What would you improve about this program?
I think it's all fine! We are really happy and honestly the women appreciate.
116 people found this review helpful.

Questions & Answers