Way (way) back over here I laid the seeds for was what to become Meaningful Volunteer. It’s now been about a year since Meaningful Volunteer has got down in dirty in both the Philippines and Uganda.
During that year, the successes have been amazing. Meaningful Volunteers
* have made a real and lasting impact in developing communities. I started listed all that we have accomplished, but the list was becoming too large and unwieldy! This is surely a good sign!
But now, it is time for me – Malcolm Trevena founder of Meaningful Volunteer – to let go and move on. At least for a little while. I am going to be moving back to South Korea with a view to returning to Uganda in the not-too-distant-future.
Why would I do this having had so much success with Meaningful Volunteer?
Well, firstly both the Filipino and Uganda operations are in the immensely capable hands of
Eden Navia and
Scarlet Nabwire Waduwa respectively. These two ladies are awesome! They are proof that there are amazingly capable females in developing countries just waiting to excel giving the opportunity. I have no doubt that Meaningful Volunteer will flourish in their hands.
Secondly, while Meaningful Volunteer had flourished in terms of a meaningful impact, it has not flourished financially. It is a constant source of frustration to me that Meaningful Volunteer has – without doubt in my opinion – the best volunteer programs going around. Couple this with its non-profit status and it is a wonder that volunteers have not flooded in.
But – alas – they haven’t flooded in and I don’t know why. Marketing seems to be Meaningful Volunteer’s Achilles heel. And this – incidentally – is where you can help. Very soon we are going to work on some high quality flyers that you can distribute around your campuses, schools, churches, mosques, or wherever it is you like to hang out. Watch this space for more info.
South Korea will allow me to engage in some serious fundraising for the organization. This is where I can be of most use at present.
And lastly, it is time for me to step back and take a breath. I love this work. It is my passion. Alas, the work does not love me quite as much and it has taken a serious mental toll on me. In my recent past, I suffered horribly under the burden of poor mental health. It once prevented me from working for the best part of a year – including a five month stay in a psychiatric hospital. Yikes! Scary stuff!
I am now in a position of recognizing the signs that could lead me into that dark hole again. I haven’t taking great care of myself mentally. I spent the past year constantly throwing myself against the brick wall of extreme poverty and it is no surprise that I have come out bloodied.
I gave much thought about how to survive mentally before I embarked on this journey and – quite frankly – ignored all my own good advice. Some valuable lessons learned no doubt.
What other lessons have been learnt?
One way to do this kind of thing is to partner with local NGOs and let them be responsible for taking care of volunteers and running the programs. This method is wrought with problems: Corruption and incompetence being at the forefront. This is what I saw time and time again in Africa especially and it was one the main reasons why I set up Meaningful Volunteer in the first place.
A much better way to do it – in my opinion – is to set up your own NGOs, establish easy to replicate systems, and appoint competent people to be in charge of them. This is – of course – what I did. The problem with this is that it takes time (and therefore capital) to get it established. You need to establish a track record before the volunteers will arrive.
This is what happened in the Philippines. Meaningful Volunteer did (and is doing) great things in the Philippines and the volunteers have come as a result. Due to a whole raft of reasons – not the least being without power for seven weeks now, this has not quite happened in Uganda.
So the lesson learnt is that setting an organization takes time. A lot of time. And you need to expect to burn money as it establishes itself.
Why am I telling you all this?
Meaningful Volunteer has always been based on honesty and openness. I hope that by sharing my experiences, others can learn from it. Heck, maybe you wanna do what I do and set up your own volunteer organization. Send me an email. I’d be happy to share all that I have learned with you in the hope that more people can be dragged out of extreme poverty.
What’s next for Meaningful Volunteer?
Well, that question is best directed to Eden and Scarlet. But to whet your appetite, here are some upcoming future projects:
- Meaningful Coffee
A fair-trade coffee product from Uganda.
- Meaningful Fashion
Meaningful Volunteer gets its own fashion label
- A comprehensive HIV program in Uganda
- A school for the Philippines and an orphanage for Uganda
Both green-powered!
Watch this space! Exciting times ahead for Meaningful Volunteer!
*I love that phrase! Not just plain old boring volunteers, but Meaningful Volunteers
