Short Term Volunteering Building Lasting Personal Connections and Context Between Communities in Global North and South VMM partner organisation RCRA (Rwenzori Centre for Research and Advocacy) run a number of community development, educational health projects in Kasese, a rapidly growing district in Western Uganda close to the Congolese border. RCRA…
Sally Graham went as a volunteer maternity nurse with VMM to Uganda, in 1986. For VMM’s 50th Anniversary celebration in Dublin last September, she wrote for the book ‘VMM Stories’ of her experiences in such trying circumstances; of the nerve, resolve and cool heads required when you arrive just as…
VMM Short Term Volunteering: A Memorable and Addictive Experience Noel and Eileen Ryall, a couple from Midleton in Cork, have returned from their short term volunteering placement with the Justice and Mercy Community in Oyugis, southern Kenya. One of VMM International’s partner organisations, over the last twenty-five years JAM has…
A Couple in a JAM Are Called on to Volunteer across Multiple SDGs The Justice and Mercy Community in Oyugis, southern Kenya, is a community development organisation which has grown from a small seed over the last twenty-five years to offer a range of health, education and livelihoods services and…
Volunteering: Fully Immersed in Your Role, As Well As Your Community In 2018 Melissa Scott was a long-term Volunteer in Chilanga, a small town outside of Lusaka, Zambia, in a community school for orphaned and vulnerable children. Her official title is ‘Teacher Mentor’ but this included covering classes, teaching computer lessons, providing…
Building Long Term Impacts in Communities across Uganda Sandra Villegas is a prime example of the VMM volunteer ethos, why we do what we do, and why we love it. She has been with VMM since 2012, volunteering her services as a Development Officer with our partner organisation, the Little…
In this, VMM’s 50th anniversary year, we will be serialising some of the personal insights and tales of adventure from volunteers over the years, which have been captured in the ‘VMM Stories’ book, launched at our commemorative, Gala dinner in Dublin last September. A second commemorative event is due in September this year, in Liverpool, with more information to follow. In the…
Margaret Fitzpatrick volunteered with VMM on our short term programme in late 2018 as a nursery nurse in Uganda. Here, in her own words, follows the story of how she came to join VMM and the experiences she had on her placement which guided her journey to committing to the…
