“A long couple of flights and brief overnight stay near Kampala for UPA orientation later, the group packed into two minibuses together with 15 volunteers from around Uganda and headed north. The next two weeks held massive challenges of very basic living conditions (drop toilets, open fire cooking, water collected on foot from the village borehole); cultural integration (both within and between British and Ugandan groups – with various ethnic groups, religions and cultures represented within each); group living (sharing accommodation in 2 bare classrooms and catering for 30 on a campfire) and homesickness – not to mention the hugely physically, mentally and emotionally demanding work. An impressive slog of practical work was achieved in the short two weeks. Volunteers rose with the sun each day to dig up, hoe and plant crops around the school grounds; fields were harvested and beans dried and collected; volunteers willing and able to apply their hands at cement mixing, bricklaying and mortaring helped construct a new store room and complete a second storey on a large brick chicken shed; the school was repainted and cleaned; and students got involved with teaching at all levels in the school and playing with children during break times.”
Ben Moon, Uganda
Read Ben’s blog from Uganda.