After an 18-day adventure
of living out of a hiking backpack in a school dormitory, hostels, and hotels,
I am back just in time to leave again for the holidays. Oh December!
Prepare yourself… This is
a long one! Okay? Go!
From November 30th
to December 8th I was working at National Camp GLOW (Girl’s Leading
Our World) as a counselor. Up until this
point, I felt like my work in Uganda has been minimal and quite frankly, not
all that practical and sustainable.
Peace Corps reminds us that change takes time and to remain patient but
when you work day in and day out to educate Ugandans on healthy practices, all
you want to see is a cluster of school-aged children around a borehole washing
their hands with soap or mothers breastfeeding their newborns rather than
giving them a Coke. (Yes. This does occur). Well, camp changed my attitude.
During the two-day
counselor training I found out that I would be working with Eunice, my Ugandan
co-counselor, and that together we would be responsible for the rhinos. Each counselor pair was assigned an animal
group and upon finding out what we had Eunice came to me and said, “Ah! Tara!
I have been asking around and researching what sound a rhino makes. I do not know! Are they silent?! What will we do?” For those that may be curious as to why this
is important is because camp is full of chants, cheers, and songs. I said, “Eunice, do not fear. What kinda, sorta rhymes with rhino? GLOW!
And we are at Camp GLOW so for the meantime we will chant, ‘Who GLOWS? Rhinos!’”
This was a hit and after the girl’s arrived, we came up with plenty of
more chants, cheers, and songs.
Camp started on the 2nd
with the arrival of 180 girls from all around the country. We welcomed them with t-shirts, games,
posters, manuals, and icebreakers galore.
It was a flashback to move-in day when I was a Resident Advisor. I reminisced.
Eunice and I were blessed to work with 11 rhinos, who started off shy,
timid, and still inside their bubbles.
By day two of camp, Eunice and I couldn’t convince them with anything to
get back inside their bubbles.
Camp was filled with
sessions surrounding topics of teamwork, life skills, income generating
activities, and healthy living. We
talked about gender roles, nutrition, how to make pita bread, female health,
malaria, assertiveness, in addition to many others. The topics we talked about are not always
conveyed to these young girls in the village so we were able to educate and
empower them to go back home with this new information.
I led a session on
self-esteem, which was very empowering to witness. Many Ugandan girls are told that they cannot
accomplish their dreams and that their destiny is to marry young and become
mothers. To witness the girls in my
session write positive words about themselves, to visualize their dreams and to
know that they can do it was beyond inspirational. I also had them write down on a piece of
paper something they were told by someone else that they could not do or something
they fear doing. That night at dinner I
gave a mini speech and together, we threw the fears into a fire. This symbolization of their fears turning
into smoke and ash meant that nothing was holding them back and they could do
anything.
The week continued with
activities, guest speakers, movies, a talent show, nighttime capture the flag,
and a dance party. We also had a field
day with the boys from Camp BUILD (Boys In Uganda In Leadership Development),
which included the limbo, volleyball, an obstacle course, in addition to
others.
At the closing ceremony,
this is what I left my rhinos with.
“After being in this country for almost seven months, I started to
question my purpose. Well, I no longer
have to after spending a week with all of you.
Throughout camp I have seen you all come out of your shells, help
others, and become the leaders you were born to become. Each and every one of you have inspired me to
continue work back in my village. Each
and every one of you have made a lasting impact on my life. Each and every one of you are special
individuals who have the capacity to continue what you have learned here at camp
back home. I look forward to hearing
from you and seeing you grow into a GLOW girl!”
It was also decided at
camp who would be the directors of National Camp GLOW 2013. Well, it looks like I will be a busy bee
because yours truly along with two other fabulous Volunteers will be heading up
those positions. I am very excited to
once again be involved in an event that in my mind is one of the best things
that we do as Peace Corps Volunteers.
Well that concludes the
first 10-days of my adventure. After
this I traveled to Entebbe, quite possibly my favorite “city” in Uganda. We celebrated the joint birthday of two
Volunteers with pizza and cold beer. We
then moved on to Kampala, where many people were getting their mid-service
medical exams but I had a VAC meeting with Administration. After taking in a movie in an air-conditioned
theater, I began my two-day meeting (Sunday and Monday), with Peace Corps. I then had all day Tuesday to explore the ins
and outs of the country’s capital with my friend Kat. We started the morning off with café lattes,
then found a 2-for-1-pizza deal for lunch, and ended the day with soft serve
ice cream. In between our Taste of
Kampala tour we shopped for Christmas presents, which resulted in a Santa suit
for her and a yoga mat for me.
On Wednesday I was
presenting a session to the new group of trainees on living with a Ugandan
family during their time at homestay. I
only got to meet half the group as the education sector facilitates their
training differently. What I can say is
that the group of individuals I met were awesome and to see their energy and
excitement about Peace Corps and Uganda rejuvenated me. After that training session, four of the
Volunteers still in town and I took in The Little Donkey. AKA Mexican food. Delicious Mexican food. We are talking quesadillas, burritos,
tortilla chips, fish tacos, chimichangas, and margaritas with salt on the glass
rim. If you visit, we will go here and
it’ll give Mi Pueblo a run for its money!
After my trip in Kampala I
then journeyed back to the Southwest down to Rukungiri District (where I may be
moving, more on that later though), where I helped with a belayed World AIDS
Day Event on December 15. World AIDS Day
is on December 1 but with a majority of us at Camp, we decided to postpone. We applied for a grant and received
$500USD. This allowed us to purchase
tents, rent space from a church in town, and get all of our necessary materials. Two days before the event, Candy, Kendra, and
I were on the radio where we used our Runyankore language skills to talk about
the event. The following day as we
shopped in town for fabric, glue, paper, rope, rubber rings, soda, and stakes,
everyone recognized us by our voices and started to refer to us by our
Runyankore names. People in shops we
didn’t even go in to, vendors at the market, men driving by in the back of a
pick-up truck would shout, “Eh Kyomuhendo and Businge! I heard you on Rukungiri Radio! You were great!”
The day started out with a
damper as the skies darkened with rain clouds.
With the creativity of PCV’s, we were able to accommodate and adjust,
making the necessary changes to have a wonderful event that would accommodate
approximately 300 people of all ages. We
chose to focus our event on general health, with an AIDS focus of course. We had educational sessions on malaria,
WATSAN (water and sanitation), nutrition, and HIV/AIDS. After each session, we then had carnival
games set up that the participants could engage in, as long as they correctly
answered questions about the subject matter.
The prize? Sweeties. Candy.
We also had free testing and counseling, drama from a local village
group and TASO (The AIDS Support Organization), speeches, and a raffle.
On the trip back to site
after the event, I made one short stop along the way to visit the new trainees
who would be joining us down in the Southwest, as they were beginning their
regional satellite language training. We
met at a local restaurant and over drinks we were able to learn more about the
group of nine. They are awesome and I am
excited to have them join what I think is one of the best regions in the
country… Not like I am biased or anything.
We were able to answer questions, ease fears, and plan for
Christmas.
I left the restaurant excited
for what the future holds… A new group of Volunteers, directing a National
Camp, a possible new site, a new year, fresh beginnings, and a rejuvenated sense
of self.
Unfortunately this came to
a quick halt when I got my first experience of being sick in Uganda. Nothing that a bowl of chicken noodle soup, throat
lozenges, and liters upon liters of water couldn’t fix.
P.S. If you ever have
questions about life in Uganda, want more details, or have ideas on a post,
please feel free to comment or email me!
