Adjusting to Life as a Volunteer

"Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation"

As with many adjustments in life, the Peace Corps warns that the adjustment to life as a volunteer will be challenging. We will experience many feelings – both good and bad- as we fulfill our 27-month service. Thus far, the Peace Corps has been filled with many laughs, a few tears and the occasional thought, “who would sign up for this?” Being in Uganda for almost three months has forever changed the way I look at the world and myself. I expect the next two years to be very challenging but look forward to the opportunity.

Now to catch you up on my life.. Since being in Uganda I have completed 10 weeks of training, passed a language proficiency exam in Luganda (the tribal language of the Bantu people of Uganda), and was sworn in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer. I just moved to the site where I will be living and working for the next two years. I am working for Global Community Initiative Association for the prevention of HIV/AIDS, Poverty, and Illiteracy in Uganda. Kyotera is the epicenter of HIV/AIDS in Uganda with 12% of the population being infected [double the national average]. I will be working with the local community to help stop the spread of HIV/AIDS through education of the youth and the prevention of mother to child transmission. I am an economic development volunteer that initially was supposed to work in micro-finance but was placed with an organization that operates in a sector I know nothing about – go figure.

I just moved to Kyotera, Uganda, which is a town about 3-4 hours from the capital. The town is small and lacks the basic amenities of the states.. running water, electricity, toilets, showers etc. My life is as rugged as you would expect. My toilet is now a pit latrine – imagine a bathroom room stall with a hole in the ground. It is about a 10-15 minute walk from my house – which as you can imagine is not exactly convenient, especially with frequent reoccurring bouts of dysentery. My shower is now a bucket bath with water gathered from the boar hole– I certainly will never complain about parasite-free cold water or lack of water pressure again.

The food in Uganda is pretty unbearable – the staples of the country are matooke and posho. One makes matooke by peeling unripe bananas placing them in a pot and cooking over high heat for hours. It is hard to describe the exact texture or taste but I would equate it to solidified Gerber banana baby food that has gone bad. Posho is made by mixing equal parts boiling water and millet flour and stirring until solid.. the end result looks like wax and the taste is not far off, I imagine it tastes exactly like a crayola crayon. The staple foods of Uganda are meant to fill your stomach and from what I gather not meant to make eating enjoyable. I avoid the staples at all costs, however Ugandans insist on cooking for me (because they believe American women are too skinny).. [Note: Ugandans in the village believe that the fatter you are the more desirable you are, weighing under 300 pounds is thus unacceptable] Therefore on too frequent basis I have to literally force myself to swallow the staple foods and at the same time prevent myself from getting sick.. Not an easy task. I have lived off a steady diet of ripened bananas, eggs, rice and beans. I recently received a care package from home and with the help of other volunteers polished off boxes and boxes of American food within minutes. When I am able to venture outside of the village and into the bigger cities there are plenty of other foreigners “muzungus” around and I am able to find some western staples like pizza, burgers and oreos.

Looking past the comforts I am used to having back home, Uganda is a beautiful country with wonderful people. Like clockwork the sun rises at 7am and sets at 7pm. The weather is 80 degrees year round and the sun is always shining. So while you are enjoying your toilet, shower, electricity, and edible food remember I am living in the tropics. I certainly do not miss Chicago’s weather. Until next time.