One of the activities you can engage in while in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is to visit an orphanage centre. There are quite many orphanage centers around the Park giving hope of success to the orphaned children and the elderly. So, you can either visit the Bwindi Orphanage, Vulnerable Children Center, Hope Ministries International or Kichwamba Orphanage Foundation, which collaborate with the community to build these orphanage centers.
The Park is surrounded by different orphanages which are a non-governmental organizations. Their major aim is to elevate orphans, other vulnerable children, and the elderly. Most of the children lost their parents or guardians to wildlife attacks, anti-poaching ranger patrols, HIV/AIDS scourge, civil wars, and poverty. So, the Orphanage centers are aimed at improving and bettering their lives through care, education and empowerment.
Most of these orphanages started small but have now grown overwhelmingly to over 1,000 orphans of all ages, starting from 3 years and above. This is in addition to thousands of vulnerable children and the elderly whose parents and guardians can’t afford a single meal a day.
The goal of a visit to an orphanage center is to support the orphaned kids until they can support their lives independently. This is possible after attaining reasonable education, and acquiring decent jobs for their living and support to their community.
Some of the activities at an orphanage centre.
The Orphanage Centres offer different services to visitors, as a way of raising money to improve on the standard of living. So, being adjacent to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, you can support these Orphanage Centres after your gorilla trekking safari in Bwindi, in the following ways:-
Visit a craft shop
A walk to one of craft shops gives you chance to purchase one of the locally made crafts as your souvenir when you visit an orphanage centre around the Park. This helps in supporting the lives of the orphans, vulnerable children, and the elderly around the community. Souvenirs such as art and crafts are usually the best souvenirs to carry home with you so as to keep memories of your visit to Uganda.
Coffee tour when you visit an orphanage centre
A coffee tour is one of the experiences you cannot miss while in this community that is surrounded by coffee farmers. Many who have participated in it have praised how this activity is spectacular.
During the tour, you will get to learn the whole process of growing coffee seeds, production stages until the final stage of consumption or market stage. The process of making coffee is done manually and involve stages of production like growing, harvesting, sorting, cleaning, secondary sorting, roasting up to the packing stage.
Get an experiential moment by yourself and feel the taste of African coffee while supporting the lives of the orphans and other vulnerable children.
This coffee tour experience is mainly in Kichwamba, Rubirizi district, still in southwestern Uganda.
Local food tasting
Adventure into the African food taste while at one of the orphanage centres. You will enjoy local meals while hearing the mind-blowing stories of the orphans. There are professional local chefs who will also teach you how Ugandan food is grown, harvested, and prepared, to give the best taste.
Advance bookings however will be required to help in proper planning and preparation.
The most common recipes include Matooke – a staple made from green bananas, chicken ‘luwombo’ which is chicken wrapped and cooked in banana leaves, and smoked fish. Don’t miss the vegetables, roasted chicken, goat’s meat, millet bread, and peanut paste among others. These are all locally prepared to give you the best taste of Africa.
Culture dance experience at an orphanage centre
Uganda is home to the rich diversity of African cultures and subcultures. As a result, one way you can feel and experience this part is by participating in traditional cultural dances with the children in the orphanage centers.
When you visit an orphanage centre you always be thrilled by exhilarating cultural dances performed by the children. The performances and dances such as Kinyaruguru, Kiga, Kinyankore, and Kiganda cultural dances, are based on the nearby tribes.
Local beer brewing and testing
On your visit to one of the orphanage centres, don’t miss to explore the local beer brewing experience. The local beer-making process and tasting experience in the village will help you explore more about African drinks, lifestyles, and celebrations.
The community is the only one in the area that still makes local brew from green bananas in the whole region. So, the local guides will show you how local beer is processed and you may opt to have a taste (optional) of this historic beer locally known as ‘tonto’.