Rugazi Parish

Placement organization

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

Student

Name of student: Mirthe Boerdijk

Specialist area: ITMC
Placement period: 2013-2014

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Parish
Organization’s activities: The main activity of the parish apart from celebrating mass is to supplement government efforts, for example in education and in health like providing hospitals. Furthermore the parish is now working on a development plan for the development of the area in the upcoming 30 years.
Target group of the organization: Inhabitants of the parish
Company culture: The culture of the company is informal. Together with another student we are working on the company assignments. We are not working in the organization so we do not deal with other colleagues or the normal activities of the organization.
Number of employees: 2
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? No

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? Project development
Brief description of your daily activities: – To make a feasibility study for educational trips for senior four students to Queen Elizabeth National Park.
– To make a feasibility study for tourist accommodation.
– We have to give tourism lessons on Unique High School. We teach to four classes, 2 senior one classes and 2 senior two classes. Every week we teach for six hours.

Brief description of your company assignment: The parish owns a piece of land in Queen Elizabeth National Park. They want to develop student accommodation on this land. Every high school has to go to the park once a year for geography field work. Untill now there is no place to accommodate these students yet. The company assignment is to make a feasibility study for school accommodation for educational trips. Furthermore as the land in the park is very big we also have to make a feasibility study for tourist accommodation.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: There is no (or very little) supervision by the organization. Together with another student I am working on the assignments but the company supervisors rarely ask about the project. If we ask them some questions they will answer them but that is all the supervision.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? flexible, independent, able to adapt to other cultures
Additional company requirements for this placement? MS Office
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Company
How did you go to work every day? It is the same place as where I sleep

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes, six months multiple entry visa(is easiest otherwise you have to go to Kampala, Congo or Rwanda to extent))
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents: Embassy
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? 3 working days
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes
How long in advance? Two months, but I didn’t need all of them anymore because I was already vaccinated for most of the vaccinations needed.

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): € 750,- euro
Accommodation (monthly): € 0,- euro
Local transport (monthly): € 25,- euro
General costs of living (monthly): € 180,- euro
Costs of visa: € 100,- euro
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? The company offers accommodation and transport from the airport to the area of the placement.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
As far as you can prepare for the Ugandan culture I prepared by: talking to people who had been to Uganda, I bought two books about Uganda and I read information on the internet.
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: mirthe10@msn.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: I would definitely plan some time after the placement to travel to other places in Uganda. During the placement it is difficult to travel around and visit other parts of Uganda.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: – Safari in Queen Elizabeth National park
– Chimp tracking Kalinzu Forest
– Local markets
– Village walks
– Swimming in pools of the lodges
– Visiting the cave

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link