My Volunteer Experience

My Volunteer Experience:

Having worked with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) just before the start of my journey to volunteering, I had worked with volunteers who always came from the United States and Europe to come to our church and helped do different things related to business development, ICT, society enhancement, spiritual mentoring, education, orphanages and other such things.

This propelled my desire to one time give my skills without pay if only some organisation can enable me survive i.e. eat, have where I put my head (sleep), and once in a while communicate to my family, facilitate me give back something to the community. So this propelled me to use the internet to search for this organisation and this is when I landed on different volunteering organisations and one of them was VSO. My decision to volunteer with VSO was due to three reasons that made it different from other volunteer organisations above, and these were:

No subscription fees for volunteer placements
The placement assessments and selection process was detailed
The motivator was not money but the inner satisfaction that one gets when serving community.

So in searching through satellite offices and where VSO works I landed on VSO Jitolee which is the program and recruiting office of East Africa located in Nairobi, Kenya's capital but also had opened an office in Kampala in Muyenga near tank hill called VSO-Jitolee Uganda office.

I applied, was interviewed, screened, selected and well trained both in Uganda and Nairobi in Kenya where I was taken through Preparation for change, Wider role of a volunteer and other such life changing modules sharpening me to go there in the community and practice adoptability and flexibility in order not to succumb to cultural shocks and make sure I bring some tangible change and share my skills.

My Experience at my placement:

To cut everything short, it came the 29th of June 2009, very few days after celebrating my second daughter’s (Lyndsey Kisa. M) first birthday and I was flown to Tanzania where I was supposed to work in a Hospital South East of Tanzania near the Mozambique Border in order to help build capacity in HIV and Aids project financial management, and so St. Benedict’s Hospital Ndanda came into play.

For as long as it stayed from 1908, St. Benedict’s Hospital had never had a professional Accountant due to lack of funding to pay one and the lack of professional staff in Tanzania that want to work in remote areas like Ndanda as compared to up-north and Kilimanjaro areas and urban centres . It was the Administrator who handled Human resource management, Project fund raising, Welfare management, procurements and logistical management, Financial Accounting and attending both Administrative and Financial Workshops and seminars organised by both government and development partners.

This in any sense and by any measure would either make some one very tired if he/she tried to handle all of this or it would delay reporting and natural forgetfulness of some would-be important things to do, or inevitably an under performer however much he/she wanted to give his/her best.

After going through the In-Country and Swahili Language trainings in Dar Es Salaam and Morogoro respectively, being advanced two months allowance and given an equipment grant to make sure the financial part was addressed, the day came the 22nd of July and I was Flown to Mtwara down south to my placement. A Hospital car waited for us because we were four new Volunteers I, Andy Torres (Lab technologist from the phillipines), Rashi Chowdry (Social worker from India), Johanna Van Borgaard (Lab Technologist from the Netherlands). There were some VSO volunteers in the region and so company was assured. The likes of Diane Milan (UZIMA project coordinator a scortish from England -This a parish HIV and Aids community project), Dr. Neil Horlick (A gaenachologist from the United States), Dr. Francijn Van Eekelen (A Medical Doctor and the HIV and Aids Projects Coordinator for the Hospital from the Netherlands), Dr. Majid a Ugandan Doctor in Nyangao hospital, and many more.


Mr. Piet Hein Meckmann the Hospital Administrator whom I had communicated with while still in Uganda and with whom we were to share office, and responsibility was waiting for us that evening when we fell into things (dinner), organised by the already used-to-the place gallant VSO colleagues with facilitation from the Administrator. This was around 8pm in the night.

Every body’s house was organised, furnished and ready for the visitor, So was mine. A new house was given to me well furnished with a new fridge, Cooker, a Fixed telephone, warm water, very clean tapped water flowing from the Ndanda springs from the famous Makonde plateau of the 1990s, 24/7-Power supply, a laptop computer, beddings, flash toilet and Kitchen and dinning details.

Ndanda Tour:

In the morning we were driven around the village by the hospital Administrator in company of other VSO volunteers, where we were shown some prominent places like restaurants, Bars, markets, worship centres, post office, the bank, the lyprosy centre, the makonde plateau, the garage, furniture plant set up by the Germans, the Ndanda springs, Mwena bottling company which bottles the drinking water and all around the hospital.

Office:
Like you will note that 22nd July was Mid-week and so we rested, moved around and prepared for the first day in office on Monday. I was introduced to my colleagues in the administration office, management of the hospital and all that I needed to know.
I had a new computer, a very good office well connected to the internet and air-conditioned (what a thrill it was after thinking that I was going to work in a rural setting without electricity, computer and internet).

Since that time I have been offering what I think brought me to Tanzania and with the full support of the Administrator and the management of the Hospital, not-with-standing some challenges, I have seen things change for the better. Among the very tangible turning points are the following.

Like We Economists say, before you supply there should be some kind of demand and vice versa. I needed to know what the hospital had and after determine what it needed and how to get it and from where. So I started from Finances and so I knew all accounts and cash, I went to the Pharmacy and it was manned by a German pharmacist Suzan Held who showed me her drug dispensing demands and supplies, I went to assets including among others Fixed and current assets. Among the current assets was stock and we had four stores from where stock that flows to the hospital was sourced.

This was not in order. So this was my first assignment to make sure we put right the logistics, procurement and store management. In a nutshell we counted all stock (this took us four months-because this is a seven-in-one store in addition to other mini-stores. As I write this now, the management and staff of the hospital are proud of the stores and logistics management.

Since I went to Ndanda, the reporting systems (not withstanding the fact that there are vertical approaches and different reporting formats and requirements of nearly all partners of the hospital) have improved and we report on-time and we have been commended by Clinton Foundation, Global Fund, Rapid Funding Envelope, AMREF, and EGPAF for a good work well done and since then, they have been sending us different people from other areas to learn from us and this has been water to our souls.

Systems development is key coupled with consistency and accountability if one wants to talk about organisational development. This wasn’t the case before. Now with the support of the management and most so my direct boss Mr. Piet we have been able to build sustainable financial systems, Logistics management systems, Time management and HRM systems and this has only but produced lasting fruits.

I have been part and still is part of the Human resource development in the hospital. As Economists say “As well as Finance resource is the blood, Time resource being the brain, Human resource is the back-borne of the Organisation…” I carried out a needs assessment in the hospital and very many things came up, but of the issues that came out was lack of trainings. So I have with the support of the management carried out trainings in Stock and stores management, financial practices and Computers.

After all the capacity that we are building, we have purchased a lincence of one of the best Hospital Financial accounting, payroll management, Stock and supplies management, patient cencus management software called VISION Accounting, which is developed by Exact Software. This is rolling out from the Administration, to the cash points and now we are building the pharmacy database with Help from our proffesional ICT personnel headed by a Swiss ICT specialist from INTERTEAM called Elias with help from Joseph Kidando our ICT staff, After which we are to roll it out to that stores and I can wait what will happen when all the hospital is "wired".

Personal developments:

Using my Allowances and grants I have been able to enrol for Masters program in Community Economic Development of Open University – which has a study centre in Mtwara. I planned and financially evaluated the degree and its payment terms and I saw that if I can save 100,000 Tshs, I have 1.2 Million a year and coupled with advances from my end of service and Mid service grants I can be able to pay for a master degree of 2.4 Million a year. It’s a sacrifice but remember what success any one get without sacrifice?

I have used my skills to create a blog online and talk about Tanzania, St. Benedict’s Hospital and my service to the community and this has been search engine optimised to the extent that when you google and type in St. benedict’s Hospital Tanzania, my blog will be No.1 on the first page.

I have built a website for the Hospital, Using the SWOT analysis, They say “ Use your strengths and Opportunities to Address your Weaknesses and Threats …” So having worked with the leading website company in Uganda in the early years of my career, a domain name is key to having online presence. And St. Benedict’s Hospital has http://www.ndanda.net/ from which we have our web mail, so I built a website which I submitted to management for scrutiny and then we shall upload it to our domain which is hosted in Canada.

During my stay I have organised pool table competitions to send a message of change to the youths in Ndanda. Here youth play pool table, eat oranges (4-per participant) , drink a soda, winners get 10,000 and a T-shirt with write ups like “Mpizani”
“Bingwa wa pool mwezi wa saba”, all T-shirts with VSO and HIV write ups.

I have drafted a youth sensitisation plan and this is through the sport I like called pool table. I am to send this to VSO for funding because the ribbon fund is available for such ventures so said the my country director and emphasised by Chris Batista my Program manager.

I experienced and Practiced detailed and complex project Accounting and management, Cost centre accounting, learnt two new accounting software called Banana Accounting and another one Vision Accounts created by Exact software.

Challenges:

In all this I have had challenges on my way: And among them are the following:

I miss my family in a way I have never thought possible. (It hurts if your very daughter calls you uncle when you go back to see them in Uganda). This has limited my opposite sex relations because people leaving hospital at 3pm in the afternoon till tomorrow morning they are just sitted and wanting to know whom Humphrey is hanging out with and where he goes after office.

The difference between the studied Swahili, the spoken and what is refered to as “kiswahili cha Mtaani-swahili of the street” so there is always a language and so a communication gap, now that nearly all my staff from government, management downwards, the mode of communication both in class, office and meetings is Kiswahili.

People not speaking the truth. Here people don’t want or have grown not knowing to speak the truth and other cultural shocks.

Over expectations from the people here including me funding their families, from feeding , clothing and paying school fees for their children.

No church of my denomination, its either catholic, Moslem or protestants.

The Slowness and the sluggish nature of people here. I have a thinking that they think they are here to stay and time is always available to do what they think

Lack of enough funding for the implementation of the health plan of the hospital even after being the best hospital in Southern Region, we still have no funding to help implement our plans.

The vertical approach and different reporting systems of the development partners Vs. the Horizontal approach of the hospital programs

Staff scarcity coupled with low education of the present ones, and lack of the reading and learning culture of my community.

What has helped me.

Have a positive thinking and open mind

Get busy but creating time for yourself

Effectively communicate: VSO to volunteer, volunteer to volunteer, you and the organisation.

Study the organisation and when suggesting changes, don’t force the organisation change and don’t fight a system, but identify your entry point by suggesting a change and suggesting an affordable way to achieve it.

Always be part of the solution and always be a person of your word and don’t wither.

Go to the community and don’t wait for the community to come to you. You should accept the community before it accepts you.

Isolation, bossy nature and money motivated lives don’t foster the spirit of volunteering-Something else like having brought about positive change should motivate you.

Run away from over spending, over borrowing and making promises that you can’t fulfil ranging from funding to scholarships and non-life giving relationships.


All in all with all the support from my family, VSO Uganda and Tanzania, coupled with Administration and management here, I survived and flown above the challenges. These have cushioned my fall whenever it happens and I hope to sour even more.

God Bless You all.
Humphrey Mutaasa
Financial Accountant
St. Benedict’s Hospital