Volunteers Unite

Every year Peace Corps Uganda organizes an All Volunteer Conference where all current serving PCVs come together to share ideas, reconnect, and pave a way forward for projects.

You can imagine my surprise when I rolled up to the venue… The same place where I spent my first night in Uganda back in May 2012 with Sophie.  When we checked in they offered us the dorms or the “place down the hill.”  Since my favorite fellow Kitgum PCV Mark and I were staying together, we opted for the latter. 

Best decision of my service!

We were up on the third floor in a self-contained, tiled room, full sized beds, hot water, balcony, a television, and wait for it… A refrigerator!  My white wine was chilled, as were our apples, cheese, and chocolate.

Much like last year’s All Vol, this year’s format was open space, where us Volunteers designed the schedule based on what we wanted to teach to each other.  The idea is that we are on the ground level… We know what works and what doesn’t… We have ideas and we want ideas.  So why not facilitate our own sessions?

Topics ranged from On 2 Fronts, a new, educational malaria game developed by Mark to bleach tye-dying, a potential income-generating activity and something to do once the battery life on you electronics die in the village.  All sessions were led by my fellow peers and it was great to see them taking initiative and paving the way forward, as I remember them during their early stages of Pre-Service Training.

I was able to dispense some of my knowledge in three sessions that focused on the future of camps and working with community partners and creative facilitation.  These topics are some of the ones I have become most passionate about throughout my service, as I have seen how they positively contribute to our work in Uganda, especially with the youth.

After days full of sessions the evenings provided some fun, including a bonfire, family game night consisting of a poker tournament, cribbage, and cards, and the first ever Peace Corps Uganda Prom, complete with a snowman backdrop photo op.

Being one of the oldest Volunteers, in regard to time spent in country and completion of service, at All Vol had my mind stirring with thoughts.  The people all around me had a group with a majority of its Volunteers still in country. 

I had Jim and Caitlin and while I am beyond happy to have those two here until we close our service, it was a moment to think about all of those that have left.  It got me reflecting on my service and how incredible of experience it is and how important a part the other Volunteers play.

Needless to say, the exchanges made were successful and I know I left the conference rejuvenated to take on the remaining three months of service. 

Time to kick it into high gear!

Here are some highlights from the conference:

To open up the conference some Volunteers put together a pseudo-SNL skit.  Here is the Weekend Update with Stefon. 

Some of the newer PCVs decided to bring back Three Guys on a Boda, a song written and performed by 3 of the Volunteers in my group, Aaron Blanchard, Matt Gomes, and Craig McIntosh.