Professional | Volunteer Opportunity

Professional Volunteers

Looking to use your professional skills in a unique setting? Hope Speaks has openings for professional volunteers in the following categories:

Speech and Language Pathologist/Therapists
Medical Professionals
Physical Therapists
Occupational Therapists
Nutritionists
Social Workers
Media & Communications
Special Needs Educators
Administration

Reaching Communities and Individuals

Through the valuable work of skilled professional volunteers, Hope Speaks is able to increase our services to hard to reach communities and individuals.

To qualify for our skilled professional volunteer program:

Hold nationally-recognized accreditation/certification in your professional field
Provide 2 references from previous work or volunteer experiences
Be willing to commit to a minimum of 10 days in Uganda
Pass police checks and clearances
Complete a pre-trip course that includes cultural preparedness and child protection training
Sign and adhere to Hope Speaks’ Code of Conduct for the duration of your trip

Trip Details

The cost of each of the 3-week trips for 2026 will be $5,000 for May/June trips and $5,300 for July/August trips due to increased flight prices in peak summer months. If flight costs increase beyond our budgeted range due to short-notice bookings or other factors, the volunteer is responsible to cover the difference.

Cost includes: Airfare, lodging, 2 meals/day, ground transportation while in country (either Hope Speaks vehicle or public transportation with Hope Speaks staff), travel insurance inclusive of Medevac while in country, WiFi internet, laundry, utilities, a donation to Hope Speaks programming, and processing fees.

Not included in the cost: Immunizations prior to travel to Uganda, $50 Ugandan visa (online prior to trip), phone data, snacks and dining out, souvenirs, personal expenses, and excursions (safari and other optional outings). Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions.

Hope Speaks welcomes volunteers year round outside of these scheduled trip dates. If our scheduled summer trip dates do not work with your personal, work, or school schedule, we are very flexible and will try to make other arrangements so that you are able to serve with Hope Speaks when it works best for you.

For the following trips, the first date is the date you will arrive in Uganda. The last date is the date you would fly out of Uganda. For planning purposes, you will be leaving the day before the first date, and returning the day after the last date.

A non-refundable $100 deposit is required after your application is approved and before a background check is run to secure your trip reservation.

Following background check approval, you will need to have the amount indicated below in your fundraising account page in order for flights to be booked. The balance will be due 2 weeks before your departure.

2026 Trip Dates (In Country)	Deposit Due for Flight Booking	Trip Balance & Due Date
May 15 – June 5	$2,000	$3,000 – April 30
June 12 – July 3	$2,000	$3,000 – May 28
July 10 – July 31	$2,200	$3,100 – June 25
August 7-28	$2,200	$3,100 – July 23

For Undergraduate students YOU MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY an SLP or supervising professor in order to serve with us. They must travel with you to Uganda. No unaccompanied undergraduate students will be able to serve with us by themselves. (new policy from clinical committee)
Custom travel dates are available between September 2025 and May 2026
If our scheduled summer trip dates do not work with your personal, work, or school schedule, we are very flexible and will try to make other arrangements so that you are able to serve with Hope Speaks when it works best for you.
For professionals who can only volunteer for 2 weeks, the cost is $4300. Volunteers coming for 2-week trips ideally should be able to arrive on the arrival dates listed above so that team training and orientation activities are all done together with the team at the beginning.
If you would like to join us for longer than 3 weeks, the cost is $5000 for initial 3 weeks for the May/June trips or $5300 for the July/August trips + $90/day for every additional day beyond the 3 weeks.
If you stay longer than 3 months, the daily rate is reduced to $85/day, plus the cost of your flight and a donation to Hope Speaks for programming
If you would like to complete your CFY with us, please request additional information from our U.S. volunteer coordinator, Deb Bratt at deb@joinhopespeaks.org

Inquire About Volunteering

Send us any questions you have.

Become a Volunteer

Fill out an application to get started.

Check out what some of our volunteer have been up to on past trips

“I went to Kampala, Uganda for a month to serve with Hope Speaks this summer in July 2022. It was an amazing experience working with children and their families who come to the clinics for speech therapy services. It was rewarding to see how the families were grateful to receive treatment, and it was also challenging due to the very limited resources available to them. The word I felt that characterized the families that I met was resilient. They demonstrated resilience and hope in receiving treatment, and I was humbled and privileged to be able to serve in this wonderful ministry. I hope to return again soon!”

Lanette S. – Speech Language Pathologist, Fort Worth, TX

“I could not have imagined a more amazing, diverse, educational, and FUN! experience. Hope Speaks surrounded me with the most kind and passionate individuals, each of whom have the same goal: to improve the lives of others. Working together as a team in the communities was the most fulfilling experience and provided me with life long friendships, connections, and memories. I’m forever grateful for every second of this invaluable experience and the wonderful people I met and worked with for helping me grow as a clinician and person.”

Lizzy B. – Speech Language Therapist, Grand Rapids, MI

Where We Work

When the professionals at Hope Speaks realized that no one in Uganda, even those who can afford it, actually has consistent access to high quality speech and language therapy, they developed their innovative One for Two model. By expanding services to paying clients, Hope Speaks can reach more families and communities in Uganda.

The One for Two model, in which funds received by paying clients are used to provide speech therapy services for two children in poverty, helps sustain the mission of Hope Speaks: Inspiring hope and raising voices of people with disabilities through therapy, advocacy, and social services.

Where We Work

People in Uganda face many challenges: Lack of education, high rates of poverty and life threatening illnesses, unclean water, and much more. These factors have resulted in an increase in disabilities throughout the country. Volunteers work in seven locations, from the capital city of Kampala to remote villages, to provide services where they would otherwise not be offered.

These locations include:

Kampala School For The Physically Handicapped
International Schools
Dawn Childrens Centre
Mukisa Foundation
Mercy Childcare Ministry
Angels Center For Children With Special Needs
Katanga Slum

How to Contribute to Hope Speaks?

You can help in many ways. Volunteers work with parents to give them the tools they need to understand their child’s strengths and challenges. They work with teachers and caregivers on speech therapy interventions that they can use daily to foster speech and language development in the children they work with.

Volunteers also mentor Ugandan speech therapy interns as they gain the important clinical experience needed to become competent speech therapists in Uganda or elsewhere. If you are a certified speech therapist, please help us fulfill our mission by volunteering for Hope Speaks. If you are not a speech therapist, please consider volunteering in another capacity, such as photography or marketing, or make a donation, which will help us to further expand our outreach.