Your Ugandan Friend!
29 Jun 2010 2 Comments
Me! I got my invitation to serve in Uganda on Thursday of last week!
I’m going to be serving as an Economic Development volunteer in the CHED (Community Health and Economic Development) program of Uganda! Now, there will definitely be some health projects, but I’m really hoping they pair me up with a microfinance organization or something really business related. I’m sure they will train me well, and teach me what I need to learn, building my skills on top of what I already know. I will be leaving on August 9th!
So far, since I’ve told people where I’m going, several people told me to watch Blood Diamond (Amazing, but set in Sierra Leone), the Last King of Scotland (I have yet to watch), and that Ida Amin is going to be there (he is dead). The Ugandan civil war is over. BUT the Peace Corps will not allow us to travel to the north or west of the country. Which is disappointing but fine for our safety. However, I would like to be situated somewhat in the north near the big lake in the center (see map).
A little about Uganda:
The weather generally has a high of 82 and a low of 65/70 all year round.. which sounds just plain spectacular to me! It is one of the smaller countries of Africa and is landlocked, but shares a major portion of Lake Victoria (the second biggest lake in the world.. after Lake Superior). Kampala (see picture) is the capital and is situated nearby to Lake Victoria, and Entebbe is a nearby city that hosts the airport, which, when you come visit me you will be flying into. The country slopes downward as you go north from Lake Victoria. It rains for a good portion of the year in the south, but has more of a rainy season and dry season in the north. The southwest of the country has the ruwenzori mountains (see picture) and also, a number of rebels from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (leftover from the Congo wars and the Rwandan Civil War). The south is the big lake, capital and some hilly areas. The north is more of a plateau region and begins to get hotter as you head towards the Sahara desert. The east has the Great Rift Valley and Mount Elgon, which is gorgeous. Uganda is bordered by (clockwise from 1 o’clock) Kenya (east), Lake Victoria and Tanzania ( south), Rwanda (southwest), and Democratic Republic of the Congo (west). You bes’ believe I know my geography and African history because I know all of this by heart. I will name every country of the world with a blank map and 15 mins, with Southern Sudan the most likely contender to become the next independent country. Well, enough of that.
If you want to know about what’s going to be happening to me in the PC, please follow along to the next post. I’m going to keep the posts shorter because most of the people I know, including myself, don’t have the attention spans to read too much, plus it looks overwhelming.
Jul 04, 2010 @ 03:13:57
I would recommend *not* watching The Last King of Scotland. It was horrifying, disturbing, gut-wrenching…. I have to believe that our experiences will be nothing like Leo DiCaprio’s in that movie. (I say “our” because I’m about to serve in Namibia next month!) When do you go abroad?
Here’s to being future PCVs!
Jul 04, 2010 @ 23:01:01
Haha Yes.. I really hope that our experiences are nothing like what’s going on in these movies. The only reason I do want to watch it, is to understand what the people have gone through.. and possibly their initial mistrust for foreigners (re: Blood Diamond).
I’m leaving on August 9th for Uganda! I initially thought that I was going to be going to Namibia actually because I was told early August and I know that there’s a group of 5 Small Enterprise Development volunteers going then. But alas, Uganda it is (which I’m glad about because it’s a bit warmer in Uganda, though I would’ve loved to see the skeleton coast and Dead Vlei, Namib-Naukluft Park). Good luck!