Challenges and Successes in the world's hottest room...

Today was our first day of delivery and chance to get fully stuck in. After meeting everyone yesterday it felt as though we had to live up to everyone’s’ obvious expectations (more than a little daunting!), coupled with the fact that it was by far the hottest and most humid day yet, the day had definite potential to be a challenge.

We gave two separate workshops to the departmental heads, a group of around 12 people and of course the ever-present Chris and Dr Sam.

The morning was the turn of Brad, talking through Leadership and I spoke through Project management in the afternoon. The experience was superb - after some initial shyness from the heads (and the challenge of the world’s hottest room), there were some fantastic ideas coming through - particularly when we broke out into smaller groups. I was left quite surprised by the sophistication of their existing knowledge, although seeing the amount that they’ve achieved at KHC, perhaps I shouldn’t have been.

Leadership workshop led by Brad

Feedback after the from the heads after the sessions was amazing, although owing to the cultural differences in how feedback is delivered, this was probably skewed somewhat! Whilst going well, in my heart of hearts I’m not sure that we lived up to the 100% scoring that we received – still, you never know.

The day was also broken up nicely by that international language that is football (something that is possibly more of an obsession here than it is back home). Some of the clients visiting KHC for treatment brought along their children, as soon as the footballs were out, all language barriers were removed. It was a great interim, with everyone enjoying themselves.

By Amy Daw, Project Leader

The Days in Pictures - volunteers leading workshops

Daniel making beads at home with his family

Leadership work in small groups

Pig breeding project

Project management group work

Project management workshop led by Alex

Day 1 - Volunteers in Uganda meet Founder Dr Sam

This was our first real day in Uganda (post the traumatic flight!) and we spent the morning at KHC. After all the preparation, it was great to finally see how KHC functions and the great work carried out by everyone that works here.

We met with founder Dr Sam and Operations Director Chris and they gave us a tour of the facilities – it is astonishing to see what a breadth of work can be carried out in such a small space – medical attention, counselling, training, retail and childcare to name but a few of the activities we saw within an hour of arriving. There is a real sense of professionalism about the KHC staff – they look smart, they think smart and they are very focused on their work.

In the afternoon we went out in to the community to see some of business projects KHC have supported, including a necklace beader, market stall vendor and pig breeder. These projects are all run by clients of KHC – that is people receiving medical care from KHC (living with HIV / AIDS / TB / cancer). It is inspirational to see their drive, positive outlook and genuine courtesy to us visitors. One gentleman beader we visited was making beautiful necklaces in his living room – surrounded by his 10 children, the majority of whom were also HIV +. The support from KHC to set himself up as a beader means he can be at home, looking after his wife and children and still be generating an income.

Amy, project leader, arrives in Uganda!

Amy will be helping to facilitate a tailored project for Barclays staff volunteering in Kampala, Uganda on a HIV/AIDS Outreach and Home-care Initiative.

Whilst waiting for the volunteers to arrive Amy is sitting in on a meeting w/ beaders...

"Yesterday I spent the afternoon at our Expert Partner, Kawempe Home Care (KHC), and I sat in on a meeting of the beaders - they are the people who make beads from recycled paper and sell them to KHC. It is called the Beads for Education project because it helps the beaders put their children through scool, and KHC then sell the beads on at a profit. Last year, the beads contributed 17% of KHC's total income, but they have adopted lots of the recommendations made by last year's Barclays/TGG group, and in Q1 2010, the beads contributed 31% of KHC's total income which is amazing!

I have attached a photo because when I was there yesterday, a gentleman from the bank was there opening bank accounts for each of the beaders to encourage them to manage their income and start small savings."

Volunteer Spotlight: Alvaro Perez

In July 2009 The Great Generation took a group of nine students from ESCP Europe Business School to Uganda for two weeks on a capacity building project. Alvaro Perez, one of the volunteers, talks about his experience and why he found it so rewarding.

I got to know The Great Generation towards the end of 2008 when they came to our London campus to talk about their upcoming volunteering projects. To bring this exciting opportunity to life, they gave feedback on the successful collaboration project which our students delivered in Kampala the previous summer. Many students attended their presentation and I walked away with a sense of how fundraising and volunteering is a unique opportunity to get involved with an international partnership abroad, which was something I had been thinking about for some years.

I can honestly say that my decision to participate on this project was one of the best I’ve made! I enjoyed every single minute that I committed to fundraising and planning for the project. I cannot think about any other time in my life where I have gotten so much in such a short amount of time. We had the opportunity to develop and share some of the business skills that we had learnt at ESCP. We did this through teaching, brainstorming and preparing documentation for the expert partner in Uganda to help them leverage their skills and grow as an organisation. We also had the opportunity to get to know them more deeply and learn from their stories of success. It was an all-around overwhelming experience, one worth repeating.

I would like to steal some space here to give a special mention to the management we received from the The Great Generation team: Rose Latham, Erin Beer, Amy Daw and especially Emily Jundi who followed us to Uganda and kept everything under control. We felt safe and we had a continuous reference point to ask questions and share worries, and a brilliant project manager who was always willing to give advice and propose ideas over the different parts of the project we were involved in. Their support definitely had an amazing impact on making the experience so successful. Thank you.

More than half a year has now passed and I am still in touch with both the The Great Generation and the expert partner in Kampala. In fact, this afternoon whilst I was in the office, I received a call from one of the guys in Uganda. I truly hope that I will have the chance to collaborate in future projects with The Great Generation and the expert partner in Uganda. 


What more can I say? I really would say more, but I don’t have any more space left! I encourage everyone reading this to take that final step and commit to that project that they have been thinking about & deeply wishing to undertake. Really. Do it!