My Volunteer Trip to Uganda, Africa

Hello, Namaste, and thank you for visiting my GoFundMe page.

As most of you already know, my volunteer work as an instructor in the prison systems here in America has opened my eyes to many sociopolitical issues, and they have moved me on a personal and professional level. Prison Studies has become a significant portion of my life's work, and I am dedicated to creating opportunities for equality in this country.   Interestingly enough, our Prison Systems benefit a particular class of people with positional power, and nothing more. Because of their social, economic and emotional tolls on our communities, especially our communities of vulnerable populations, we are eroding families, and this affects all of us in some way or another.

We must end the dehumanization of all peoples and take responsibility for the individuals that we have discarded. Be they foster care children, victims of poor public education, sex-trafficking, or wayward teens who have turned to gangs and drugs with no hope for a future.

Discarding them until our government can extract monetary value from their bodies and waste their potential in the horrendous shadow of our Prison Industrial Complex is unconscionable.  Our current model does not offer enough resources to rehabilitate our incarcerated population truly, and this needs to change. 

Earlier this year, my work earned me an incredible opportunity to visit Uganda, Africa this summer, to teach in Luzira Prison. One of my goals is to learn first-hand how our system here is failing in comparison. Currently, Uganda has a recidivism rate of around 32% while America has a rate that is closer to 80%. These statistics deserve investigating, and my hope is that my work as a researcher will serve as a greater contribution to the field of Bioethics and influence policies around our treatment of incarcerated people. I want to know what makes Ugandan prisons so successful. You must be well-informed, and arm with "lived experience" to affect change.

During my time in Uganda, if I am fortunate enough to raise enough money to make the entire trip possible, I will also be volunteering at a school for the disabled. 

I would appreciate any and all assistance in my need to travel to Uganda; whether it be the kind that pays or the kind that "prays." 

The total cost of the trip is $2500. I cannot afford the entire trip, and the plane ticket is expensive. I can cover around half of the expenses such as part of my flight, my passport, food and smaller travel costs, but some assistance with the flight ($1500), luggage($100), and visa($150) would be amazingly helpful. Teaching yoga for a living and being a modestly-paid researcher doesn't make a person rich overnight, but it does make the world a better place. So, your donation would be helping me to continue to grow as a person and to make a difference this lifetime. 
 
Thank you.

In Yoga,
Uma