Concordia Volunteer Abroad Program

Committed to Bringing Renewed Hope to the People of Uganda

In the eyes of many, Peter Schiefke and Awel Uwihanganye practically accomplished the impossible when they set up the Concordia Volunteer Abroad Program (CVAP). Not only did they create a humanitarian organization to help the Ugandan population, they also made sure it would be perpetuated. The initiative came as a true blessing for a country ravaged by more than 20 years of civil war and a serious HIV/AIDS epidemic that has orphaned thousands of children and resulted in the fact that half the population are now under the age of 15.

The construction of two houses for families, a career orientation program, a lecture on leadership, an artistic performance promoting drug abuse prevention, the computerization of records at the medical centre, creative workshops for youngsters, the setting up of a community garden, an HIV/AIDS testing clinic and awareness campaign, a sports competition, and the list goes on. Since spring 2007, the actions carried out by CVAP in the Gulu region of northern Uganda are wide-ranging and manifold. And yet…

In December 2004, after meeting the two Concordia students, Karl Wipfler, president of the Ugandan organization SOS Children’s Villages, was sceptical. He found their project very ambitious. However, because of their incredible determination, he offered his support by agreeing to establish a partnership between his organization and CVAP. And he has never regretted it.

“For us, it is very important to work in collaboration with local teams so as to ensure that our mission continues even when there is no-one from CVAP on site,” says Cassandra Elizabeth Porter, a member of CVAP’s board of directors. “When I heard about the project, I didn’t have much faith. In a country where a war has only just ended, a volunteer program founded by students, financed by students and that recruits students was simply unheard of,” asserts Peter Stoett, Chair of the Department of Political Science at Concordia University.

In any event, during the referendum held at Concordia in November 2005, the CVAP obtained recurrent funding; the students at the university agreed to pay $0.50 per credit directly from their student fees to support the organization’s operations.

In February 2007, after following a training session, the first CVAP volunteers arrived in Gulu to lend their support to the SOS Children’s Villages team who were already there. Since then, more than 120 CVAP members have helped improve living conditions in Uganda.

“As a general rule, our actions are aimed at youngsters. We want to provide them with inspiring real life examples, as they have very few models of success,” says Cassandra.

“The members of CVAP are true revolutionaries. We don’t receive a great deal of aid in our part of the world. We have experienced one of the worst humanitarian crises but have been forgotten by the rest of the world. The help we have received from these young people is simply priceless,” marvels Mr. Wipfler.

“A Ugandan said to me one day that, thanks to us, he now knew what peace was like,” said Cassandra in conclusion.

Concordia Volunteer Abroad Program