What we expect from every visitor, volunteer and short-term helper.
Purple Rose welcomes support when it responds to a real need, respects the local team and protects the children. Volunteering is never a right to access children or an experience built around the visitor.
This handbook sets the minimum standards for people who visit, volunteer, provide professional support or otherwise assist Purple Rose Orphans.
Its purpose is to make sure that help is useful, respectful, accountable and safe for children. It applies whether support is provided on site in Mityana or remotely.
Being willing to help does not automatically create a volunteer placement or a right to spend time with children.
2
Needs-Led Volunteering
Purple Rose does not organise volunteer tourism or child-access experiences. A role is considered only when it responds to a genuine need identified by the organisation.
Skills and experience should match the actual task.
Local knowledge and local skills are respected and used wherever possible.
Remote professional support may be more useful than travelling to Uganda.
Long-term benefit and skills transfer are preferred over short-term activity for its own sake.
We match skills to real needs - not volunteers to experiences.
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Before a Role Is Agreed
Potential volunteers should use our contact form and select “Volunteering” so Purple Rose can understand their skills, availability and proposed contribution.
The organisation may ask for additional information, references or appropriate screening depending on the role.
The task, duration, supervision and practical expectations should be clear before work begins.
A proposed role may be changed, postponed or declined if it does not fit the current needs of the children or organisation.
Volunteers remain responsible for their own travel, entry requirements, insurance and personal health arrangements unless something different has been agreed in writing.
Volunteers are expected to behave respectfully and professionally around children, caregivers, staff, families and community members.
Treat everyone with dignity and without discrimination.
Follow instructions from the designated local supervisor.
Do not use humiliating language, threats, physical punishment or intimidation.
Do not attend child-related activities while impaired by alcohol or drugs.
Do not make promises to children or families that Purple Rose has not authorised and cannot guarantee.
Keep appropriate personal and professional boundaries at all times.
6
Photos, Stories and Social Media
Children's privacy and dignity come before a volunteer's wish to document or share an experience.
Do not photograph or record children without approval and the required safeguarding consent.
Do not publish private histories, medical information, exact locations or other identifying details.
Do not use children's images or stories for personal fundraising without Purple Rose approval.
Do not create private social-media contact with children.
Follow the organisation's instructions about what may or may not be posted publicly.
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Skills, Roles and Supervision
Volunteers should work only within the role that has been agreed and within their actual competence.
Professional qualifications do not remove the need to follow local arrangements and supervision.
Do not provide medical, legal, educational or other specialist services beyond the scope agreed with Purple Rose.
Caregivers and the local team remain responsible for the children's routines and daily care.
Where possible, share knowledge in a way that leaves useful skills or resources with the local team after the volunteer leaves.
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Working With the Local Team
Purple Rose is a local organisation in Mityana. Volunteers are guests within an existing care environment and should work with, not around, the people who know the children and community.
Respect school, meal, sleep, healthcare and household routines.
Do not disrupt children's routines for photographs, visits or activities.
Ask before changing an agreed plan or introducing new material, activities or donations.
Share observations or useful findings with the organisation so they can inform future needs and support.
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Reporting a Concern
If you see, hear or suspect something that may place a child at risk, report it promptly. You do not need to investigate the concern yourself before reporting it.
Do not confront a child publicly, investigate privately or post a safeguarding concern on social media.
If a child is in immediate danger, seek urgent help from the appropriate local authorities or responsible safeguarding lead instead of waiting for a form response.
