Rugazi Parish

Placement organization

Name of organization: Rugazi Parish
Town/city: Rugazi
Country: Uganda
Website:

Student

Name of student: Esmeralda Saez Rosell

Specialist area: ITMC
Placement period: 2013-2014

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Church community
Organization’s activities: The parish does all types of activities with a main goal to develop the local communities. They do activities in several categories for which they have committees such as planning, education, land, social services, youth, health and vocations.
Target group of the organization: Local catholic community
Company culture: As it is a church community the company culture of Rugazi Parish has a hierarchy according to the rules of the church. At the top of the parish is the parish priest with the three priests that help him after that. The parish furthermore has a parish council which is divided into the several committees. The culture is quite formal regarding how they handle each other as they have to be an example for the whole community. The students that work at the parish however are not really working within the organization so regarding those the company culture is quite informal.
Number of employees: 50
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? In the planning department but as mentioned before the students are not really working within the organisation. Working together with one other student.
Brief description of your daily activities: Research the possibilities that exist for tourism in Rubirizi, which is on the border with the Queen Elizabeth National Park. Try to make connections between the development of tourism and the local community. Research the nature of the lodge, necessary facilities such as power, gas, water, etc. Create awareness for tourism by teaching on a local high school.
Brief description of your company assignment: Research the possibilities to start a lodge in the future that is community based together with the development of cheap accommodation for students that travel to the Queen Elizabeth area for educational purposes. Do this on the basis of a feasibility study and set a competitive analysis.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: The organization has set two supervisors, the Ugandan parish priest and a Dutch seminarian. The supervision however is minimal and it is expected that the students are able to work independently.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Independent, flexible, sociable, representable, innovative, problem-solving.
Additional company requirements for this placement? MS Word, SPSS.
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane, car.

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Company, live at the parish
How did you go to work every day? Foot (same building)

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes, tourist visa
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents: Embassy of Uganda in Brussels
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? 1 month
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes
How long in advance? 1 month

Language course

Did you take a language course before you started your placement? No
Would you recommend to have a language course prior to this placement? No

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 980
Accommodation (monthly): € 0
Local transport (monthly): € 25
General costs of living (monthly): € 150
Costs of visa: € 100
Costs of work permit: € 0
What did the company pay for/to you? Meals are provided if you are willing to eat the local food, furthermore accommodation is provided as you sleep in the parish house where the priests live.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
Did some research on what to expect and especially on the do’s and dont’s. I talked with some people who have stayed here a longer period of time and about their experiences and I had some knowledge already as I knew some people from Uganda when I was younger.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? Yes

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: 113275@edu.nhtv.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Always be polite to the locals, they appreciate it very much if you smile, wave and great them, especially when you are able to do that in the local language Runyankore. Prepare yourself properly regarding arrangements such as visa, bank issues, vaccinations etc. Be aware that you dress properly, the culture is very different and even though not all locals are dressed properly, it is expected that you cover your shoulders and wear clothing that does not reach above the knees. It is recommended that on arrival you arrange telephone simcards from Uganda as calling with these are way cheaper than the ones from home and also buy a internet usb stick with data as you are in Uganda and there is no WiFi (except for the occasional restaurant in the bigger cities). It is furthermore recommended that if you want to travel around, especially with local transport, you do that together with other(s) as it still is a code orange country.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: There are definately some leisure possibilities in the surroundings as the Queen Elizabeth National Park is a 15 minute drive which means possibilities of game drives, boat tours and even chimp tracking in the surrounding forests. However be aware that these activities are quite costly. Regarding night life there is not really anything to do, there are some local bars (four wooden boards and a pool table) but it is not advisable to go there at night. For night life you have to travel to Kampala (8 hours drive). There are some other leisure possibilities such as hiking, community trails and of course with the many accommodations surrounding and within the park there are diner possibilities and even access to their pool at a small fee ofcourse.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link