Kitega Community Centre Team

Anne Ames, Dinnah Santos, Lisa Biasillo, Robert Gerstein Tiffany Shaw-Diaz, Vy Nguyen

Sharing their diverse expertise, six online volunteers helped advance the Kitega Community Centre’s (KCC) project of establishing a health care centre in the village of Kitega, Uganda, to provide low-cost medical services to the rural community.

The online volunteers provided advice on best practices for providing sustainable health care to rural populations and strategies to raise awareness and build networks, and communicate with potential donors. Their research resulted in a list of over 70 new funding sources, and the comprehensive project document they developed now facilitates the preparation of targeted funding requests. “We are already receiving promising responses from these organizations, something we had never expected,” says David Clemy, the community centre’s public relations manager.

Online volunteers also helped plan and prepare the Kitega community marathon, an event to raise funds for the construction, staffing and equipment for the health care centre. Sharing their fundraising experiences, the volunteers developed a funding proposal, designed fundraising forms and provided suggestions for the event’s administration.

“We developed a long-term relationship with the volunteers, who continue to contribute in different ways. Our exchange with these volunteers has inspired us and brought us many new ideas to serve the community”, concludes David Clemy.

Dinnah Santos, native of Philippines / living in Canada: “Now, even if I have done my part to write up the funding proposal for Kitega’s marathon, I continue to actively scout for medical missions and prospective donors and sponsors that would help realize the health centre.”

Vy Nguyen, native of Vietnam, living in U.S.A.: “In helping the centre communicate its goals and activities with the global community, I saw how important it was to ensure that poor people are empowered and that their voices are actually heard.”

Robert Gerstein, native of U.S.A. / living in South Korea: “David’s commitment to ending poverty and social exclusion, and his ongoing encouragement to stay engaged have been inspiring. In fact, he and I have recently established an international student correspondence programme with students at the KCC and my students here in Korea. The programme has heightened the sense of pride students feel for themselves and their countries, as well as developed broader cross-cultural understandings.”

Tiffany Shaw-Diaz, U.S.A.: “I have often felt that I knew so little of the struggles that world citizens face. I felt that it was my duty to help people of the world who struggle on a day-to-day basis. Since I became an online volunteer in 2007, I have tried to complete one assignment every six months. I often tell my friends, family, and co-workers about the joys of online volunteering. I always tell them that even if they have just an hour or two to give each week, they can make a measurable difference in this world.”