Prom Circa 1980

There’s nothing like the excitement of prom.  The hair, makeup, flowers, and of course dancing.  Now make that prom 80’s theme and life just got that much better will shoulder pads, tulle, blue eye shadow, and songs sung by Whitney Houston, Van Halen, and The Police. 

This past weekend 65 PCV’s from all over the country journeyed to Mbarara to welcome the newest group of Volunteers on their swearing-in and official start to service. 

The theme?  80’s Prom.  

The rules?  Clothes had to be purchased locally from the markets.  Now Uganda’s fashion is about twenty years delayed than fashion in America so we were truly rocking 80’s wear.  For once, we somehow blended in… Or at least our wardrobes did.

As one of the National Camp GLOW Directors, we decided to hold a small bake sale to help raise money.  With the help of some fellow Volunteer’s toaster ovens we sold cookies with M&M’s and faux cinnamon rolls, aka cinnamon/sugar tortillas with frosting.  We managed to rank in about 40,000UGX, or $15.06.  We will continue to sell baked goods at the upcoming trainings and I know that slowly we will be able to raise more to help with the unexpected costs that the camps have.  For example, sanitary pads.  Lots and lots of sanitary pads.  And please don’t worry my dedicated readers; you too will have a chance to donate as the time gets closer. 

Everyone seemed to have an awesome time and it was a nice to visit, catch up, and swap stories with people that you don’t get to see on a regular basis.  There are Volunteers starting to leave in a month so as much as this was a welcoming weekend filled with excitement, it was bittersweet knowing that some of these people I won’t see again for a long, long time. 

As Semisonic sings in Closing Time, “With every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.”