Q Drums in Uganda

The Q Drums that were generously donated by an anonymous donor continue to be useful in Uganda.  Click here to see an album of them being used.

The idea of the Q Drum originated in response to the needs of rural people in Southern Africa who struggle conveying adequate quantities of potable water from a reliable source. A task generally bestowed on the women and children of each community.

Many debilitating back, neck and spine injuries are a result of women carrying heavy loads on their heads. Generally, the load is limited at best to 15litres per container and therefore requires families to make more than one trip to fetch water each day.

Q Drum addresses the problem of reducing the load yet increasing volume by rolling water in a cylindrical vessel.

Meaningful Volunteer is on its way to Nepal to build another solar powered school.  No doubt the Q Drums will be useful there are well.  Should you wish to donate a Q Drum to the cause, please contact us. 

Goldilocks Vancouver Donates Sandals

Goldilocks Vancouver has generously donated funds to ensure that all children attending Meaningful Volunteer's solar powered school in Uganda have sandals.

See below for more photos of the sandals.

Sandals help prevent numerous foot infections for the children, including the nasty Chigoe Flea (or jigger) that can bury its way into the children's feet.

A big thanks to Goldilocks from everyone at Meaningful Volunteer! 

Heather Evans Joins the Meaningful Volunteer Staff

Meaningful Volunteer is happy to announce the Heather Evans is joining the Meaningful Volunteer staff.

Heather will be working hard on our upcoming programs in Nepal, most notable our soon-to-be-constructed solar powered school.

Heather was born in Minneapolis, and received her BA in Comparative Literature from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is now an MA candidate in the Human Security and Peacebuilding program at Royal Roads University in BC, Canada. 

Heather spent a combined 12 years in Europe and Asia before moving to Canada in 2011. For 9 years she worked in educational publishing in Seoul, South Korea, and served on the International Outreach Team for House of Sharing, residence and museum for survivors of Japanese military sexual slavery during WWII (“Comfort Women”), for 5 of those years. She also worked closely with other Korean NGOs dealing with women’s rights, migrant workers’ rights, and sex trafficking. In Canada, she continues to fight for the justice of survivors of sexual slavery by volunteering with BC ALPHA. 

Heather met Malcolm many years back while living in Korea, and has been involved with Meaningful Volunteer in a number of ways ever since. She’s now honored to be taking on the role of Program Coordinator for Meaningful Volunteer Nepal.

Lunchtime at the Solar Powered School

As part of our commitment to provide the best possible education for the kids attending our solar powered school, we provide a meal for every student at the start of class: A full stomach is one of the most important components of a good education.

Most of the food comes from our edible school yard and is prepared by the wonderful Mary.

See below for more pictures of lunchtime.

If you wish to sponsor one of the children at our school, then please click here. 

Construction of School Playground Complete

The Meaningful Volunteer school is situated on the side of Mt. Elgon in Eastern Uganda.  As a result, any type of outside activity can be very difficult for the children who attend the school.

Thanks to a community effort and funds from Meaningful Volunteer, the children now have a flat area of land to play on.

Check out some pictures of the playground below

A Grateful Pauline

Pauline Gift - a student in Buyaya, Uganda - recently got sponsored by an anonymous donor.  

Pauline was very grateful and insisted that Esther (Meaningful Volunteer's district manager) sent these photos through.

If you are interested in sponsoring a child in Uganda, please contact us

Meaningful Trek and a New School in Nepal

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Meaningful Volunteer is delighted to announce that a new solar powered school is scheduled to be built in Nepal in 2013.  The school will continue to legacy of Andy Manly who died tragically in a house explosion.

The money to build the school came from a generous grant to Meaningful Volunteer from the Manly family.  We are excited to be building the school, impacting the lives of underprivileged Nepalese, and remembering Andy Manly. 

In early November, Malcolm Trevena, representatives of the Manly family, and several other individuals will walk to the base camp of Mt. Everest to:

  • Raise Awareness of the plight of Nepalese people
  • Remember Andy Manly
  • Raise funds for the school

Anybody is welcome to come along for the trek. Please send requests to nepal@meaningfulvolunteer.org.

At the conclusion of the trek, Meaningful Volunteer staff will scout around areas of Nepal to find the ideal place for the school, much like we did in Uganda. See here and here for what we did in Uganda.

As usual we will be targeting an are with the following properties:

  • A safe and secure rural area
  • A safe place for volunteers to stay
  • Access to the Internet via a cellphone network
  • Support from local government
  • Easy access to a major town for supplies, especially building supplies
  • Electrical needs will be covered by the solar system at the school.

Meaningful Volunteer is excited to be expanding our network of solar powered schools and remembering Andy Manly.