Laura Leach ‘95 worked as a Peace Corps volunteer in Uganda for the past two years. She has been sending updates to KWConnect about her experiences in Africa — this is her last post. Click here to read her story from the beginning.
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Welcome Home!

O-F-Z-Q-P – I flew through the eye chart with my left eye. I was in the middle of my close-of-service physical exam, and it seemed impossible that my two years were already up, but here I was just two days from flying home.

When I switched to my right eye, everything looked blurry – really blurry. Since I’m the last remaining member of my family who is not yet sporting a pair of glasses or contacts, this made me nervous, but Karen, the Peace Corps Medical Officer, assured me my vision was fine.

What I was soon to discover when reaching home is that I was now going to see things clearer than I ever had before. That’s what happens when you spend two years in a foreign country and come home. You see things differently and notice details that have gone unnoticed for years.

Now I was going to see things clearer than I ever had before. That’s what happens when you spend two years in a foreign country and come home.

I left Uganda on April 28. There were walk-to-work demonstrations going on in Kampala that day, and I was a little bit nervous about getting from Kampala to Entebbe to catch my flight, but the Peace Corps driver got me safely there in plenty of time. My flight was from Uganda to Amsterdam, where I quickly devoured a lot of cheese during my layover, and then flew to Detroit.

In Detroit, my sister Kelly surprised me at the airport. It was my first time back in the U.S. for more than two years, and the first time I had seen anyone from my family during that same period of time. I was stunned (in a good way) that she flew from New York to meet me.

The two of us flew the last leg of the journey together and were met at the airport by my Dad, Mom and sister Lisa. As soon as I saw my mom, I started to cry. It had been a difficult week saying goodbye to the friends I had made, the work that gave me such a sense of fulfillment and the country I had grown to love, but now I was home!

What I Learned
The number one thing I’ve been asked about my experience with the Peace Corps is if I am glad I did it. The answer is a resounding YES! I learned so much from this experience. I learned how much I take for granted every single day while people on the other side of the world are so grateful for the very little bit that they have.

I was greeted with enthusiasm, acceptance and joy almost every single day while I was in Uganda, and I wouldn’t trade that for the world. Certainly things in Uganda were not perfect, but the things that bothered me while I was there seem so insignificant now that I am home, I can’t imagine why I let them bother me so much at the time.

I was greeted with enthusiasm, acceptance and joy almost every single day while I was in Uganda, and I wouldn’t trade that for the world.

I also learned a lot about the challenges that women face in other parts of the world – domestic violence, an inability to exercise their reproductive rights, unequal access to education and good jobs, and I could go on.

I learned about life for children in Uganda where many children are treated like property, or neglected, or sexually abused, or fail to receive an education, or are living in poverty, and yet they are so light hearted and full of joy. I became good friends with a little girl who was HIV+ and learned a little bit about the challenges people who are HIV+ face as well as their families and communities. I even learned a little bit about myself along the way, too.

What You Can Do
I have enjoyed sharing my story with the KWC community. The Peace Corps was a wonderful experience for me that I would recommend to any students finishing their academic career. You will learn about the world, about yourself, and develop important skills that will help you in your future careers no matter which path you chose. To learn more about serving in the Peace Corps, you can go to their website at www.peacecorps.gov or you can feel free to email me at lauraleach38@yahoo.com.

Thanks for reading!

Laura. Uganda. Kids. Perfect.

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Laura Leach ‘95 is working as a Peace Corps volunteer in Uganda. She is sending updates to KWConnect about her experiences in Africa. Click here to read her story from the beginning.
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A Big Move
Although I was excited that the VSLA was doing well, I was still feeling very isolated from my organization and underutilized. In December of 2009, I went and spoke to the director of MIFUMI about how I was feeling. He agreed that the physical distance between me and the office was serving as an obstacle, and they would look for a place in Tororo town for me to stay.

I was pleased by how our talk went, but I refused to get my hopes up because at one point there had been discussions of moving me to Nagongera, and that had fallen through. Most things tend to take quite awhile to organize and execute here, so I was really surprised when I was moved into my new apartment in Tororo town before the end of the year. Everything was about to change.

Laura's home in Tororo: "The middle doorway with the gate is mine, and it is a small front room that I use for my kitchen. The back part of the room is where my bed is, and I have a bathroom with a Western style toilet, shower (cold water only) and sink."

VSLAs Expand
When I made the move to Tororo town, they switched my counterpart at MIFUMI as well. Now I was going to be working with Dinah Atim, who at the time was the head of organizational development, but soon was switched to the head of enterprise, and later was promoted to the programming officer for the organization. Dinah and I worked together to get VSLAs started within each women support group MIFUMI works with.

 When I came to MIFUMI there were only 10 advice centers, but during my first year here, they expanded their service so that there was an advice center in each sub-county. This meant there were 21 women’s groups that needed to start saving. I ended up doing most of the VSLA training because Dinah was busy working to transition the groups to community based organizations.

 Instead of my earlier fear coming true of not having enough members interested or able to save, the opposite actually occurred. By the time I got one group trained and underway, they would have the next 30 women lined up to start another group. This is a terrific problem to have because it meant the program was popular and spreading, but it also created a challenge for me because I couldn’t disengage from one center and move on to the next.

 So far I have made it to 14 sub-counties and am working with 37 VSLAs. One of the highlights of my service was when that first group in Nagongera completed their first savings cycle last September. I got a gomesi – the traditional dress worn by women of Uganda – made for the occasion. The women laughed and clapped when I arrived and stepped out of the vehicle in my gomesi. It was a fun day with a lot of laughter, hugs and a few tears of joy as well.

A Ugandan woman named Betty hugs Laura during the ceremony marking the successful conclusion of the first savings cycle of the Nagongera VSLA.

As I sat there and watched each woman receive her savings, I thought back to that first meeting I had in Nagongera and how overwhelmed I had felt that day by the weight of the women’s problems. I’m sure many of those problems still exist, but they weren’t there that day. I am so proud of the women of Nagongera mostly because their accomplishment was their own. They were not given the toolkit – they bought it. They were not given any money – all of the money saved and used for loans was their own. They just needed me to give them a little guidance, and I needed them to find my sense of purpose here in Uganda. In the end, we all walked away a little richer from the experience.
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Laura Leach ‘95 is working as a Peace Corps volunteer in Uganda. She is sending updates to KWConnect about her experiences in Africa. Click here to read her story from the beginning.
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VSLA
During our pre-service training, two volunteers came to talk to us about a program called VSLA which stands for Village Savings and Loan Association. This program is designed to give people who live in a rural area and do not have easy access to formal financial institutions the opportunity to save money and borrow money.

Here’s how it works: around 30 people get together, buy a metal box with three places to lock it, and meet regularly to save money and give out loans to group members from their savings. There is a separate fund that members contribute to weekly that exists for emergencies that pop up such as sickness or death in the family. Loans taken from this emergency fund are not charged interest. Members choose a base amount for savings, which we call their share value. Then at each meeting, members are supposed to save from one to five shares per meeting.

The good things about the program are that it encourages savings in a culture that typically does not save, it gives members access to loans that they can put into business ventures, the interest paid on loans stays within the group rather than going to a bank and it is self-managed. I was pretty much sold on the concept by the time the volunteers left our training session, so I was excited when the women of Nagongera mentioned that they wanted to learn how to save.

The Toolkit
Despite the good sales pitch by Josh and Eric, I was still nervous starting the VSLA. The last thing you want to do is start a project that flops, especially when you are dealing with someone’s hard-earned money. The toolkit consists of the metal box, three locks, 30 passbooks, two bowls, ink pens, a record keeper journal, an ink stamp pad, a bottle of ink, a stamp and a ruler. It all costs 90,000 shillings (about $45), so I was worried about the women having the money to get started.

A standard VSLA box kit

I quickly discovered that my worries were unfounded. These women were serious about saving. They had their money collected for the box kit and all of the members recruited and in place at our first meeting. The first few meetings you have, nobody saves, because you are training and setting up the VSLA. At each of those first few trainings, the members were so eager to start saving. They elected officers, and soon saving was underway. I came to all of the meetings I could make during the first few months, but soon the women needed very little guidance from me.

Next time: A big move … and VSLAs expand!

Laura Leach ‘95 is working as a Peace Corps volunteer in Uganda. She is sending updates to KWConnect about her experiences in Africa. Click here to read her story from the beginning.
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Another False Start
The second false start came when the women said they were interested in being trained in poultry keeping. There is an organization in Uganda called the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS); their sole purpose is to educate and support Ugandans regarding agricultural practices. I went to the Nagongera sub-county offices and met with the NAADS officers and asked them if they would conduct a training for the women in Nagongera on raising poultry as an income generating activity. The NAADS officers agreed and said they would make sure to spread the word that there would be a training.

I had notified my “counterpart” at MIFUMI to let her know when the training would take place, but somehow wires were crossed, and a domestic violence advisor training session was scheduled for the same time as the poultry training. This meant that the two women that I counted on to help me with translations would be gone, and Hellen, who was also very helpful, would have to be at the Advice Center and also could not attend the poultry training. I was disappointed by this but still felt optimistic about the training.

Food and Payment
The morning of the scheduled session, I went to the office. When the women began showing up for the training, they were asking where the food was. One of the local officials came and told me the women were hungry, and that I should provide some food. Well, there was a budget of zero for this event, but I hopped on my bike and rode down the street and bought a bag of chapattis for the women. They were quickly gone, and as more and more women arrived, the same official told me we needed more. I told her the food was only for people who showed up on time, and we needed to go ahead and start with the training.

It wasn’t that simple though. The two men from NAADS asked me for their money. Um, what money? It turned out they wanted me to pay a “facilitation fee.” This was news to me, since when I arranged for the training no one mentioned any sort of fee, and providing advice to their community members regarding agricultural practices was precisely what their job was suppose to be.

I was angry, frustrated, and near tears, but with over 100 women who had traveled quite far waiting for a training, I agreed to pay their fee. Being the nice guys that they were, they agreed to give me a “discount” since no one had mentioned the fee prior to the event.

What Did He Just Say?
I’d like to say the money was well spent, but the men seemed ill prepared. The training was in dhopadhola, so I didn’t know what was being said most of the time except for the brief summaries the men would say to me. I do know at one point the guys were talking about sex instead of poultry, so I think it is probably best that I couldn’t follow most of what was being said.

After they finished, the men asked me to pay them in the privacy of their office, which just made the whole encounter feel even creepier. They were all smiles and handshakes and told me to let them know if I needed them for any future training.

At this point, I was down, but not quite out. I had one more idea before I was going to throw in the towel … and this one was a winner!

Laura Leach ‘95 is working as a Peace Corps volunteer in Uganda. She is sending updates to KWConnect about her experiences in Africa. Click here to read her story from the beginning.
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Breakthrough
My breakthrough at my site came when I met a lady named Mary Asili. Mary was one of the domestic violence advisors in Nagongera and also worked with a group of women called the Nagongera Women’s Guild. Mary was the first person within the MIFUMI organization that I met who genuinely seemed interested in working with me, and I was definitely ready to grab at any opportunity that came along at this point.

We scheduled a meeting for me to go to Nagongera to meet the women Mary works with and talk to them to see if there was some project or goal that I could work with them on. The day of my meeting, Akoth Thereza, who is a volunteer at the Mifumi Village Advice Center, hopped on her bike to lead me to Nagongera. It was about a 45-minute bike ride.

When I got there I was greeted by Margret Rembo, the other domestic violence advisor at that site; Hellen, who is a volunteer at the center and also a young mother with a baby named Obama; and Betty who was one of the leaders within the Women’s Guild.  There were probably between 30-40 women there for that first meeting.

Nagongera Women's Guild

I introduced myself in dhopodhola and went as far as I could on my own before I sought help with translation. At first the women were quiet, but when I asked them to tell me about themselves, one by one, women raised their hands to tell me what challenges they were facing. One of the biggest concerns shared by most women was inability to pay school fees. Some women had been abandoned by their husbands who were now not contributing at all to provide basic needs for the women or their children. Some women had been chased by their husbands, after their husbands had married a second wife. Some were widows who didn’t have any help or any way to provide for themselves. Most of the women who spoke had experienced domestic violence in some form or another.

By the time the women were finished, I was completely overwhelmed. I remember trying to compose myself to say something coherent, but I also remember wondering what I could possibly do to help these women with their problems.

False Start
I have to admit I had a couple of false starts before I actually found the right project to work on with the women of Nagongera. First the women showed me a kitchen that they were given by the Catholic Church in Nagongera. The Nagongera Advice Center is located next to the church, and the Nagongera Women’s Guild started out as a prayer group for the women.

I need to clarify what I mean by “kitchen” It was an empty building – no electricity, no stove, no furniture…nothing. But it was a “kitchen” to the women, and they wanted to start a catering business from this kitchen. The first thing I asked the women to do was to make a list of everything they thought they would need for this business and the price that it would cost.

At first the list started off with the typical things you would associate with a catering business such as pots, pans, plates, bowls, cups, etc., but soon that list was several pages long and included jewels and gowns for their catering uniforms. I’m not sure where that list ended up, but I made it the responsibility of the group members to search out the prices of the items for the business, and I never saw that list again.

Next time: The Pay-Off takes place …

Laura Leach ‘95 is working as a Peace Corps volunteer in Uganda. She is sending regular updates to KWConnect about her experiences in Africa. Click here to read her story from the beginning.
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Work was another challenge for me out in the village.  I was supposed to be spending time learning about the work at the advice centers, but one counselor at the center was hardly ever around. She was from Tororo town, and apparently village life wasn’t for her either. The other counselor would leave me behind at the center while she went out on case handling. I read quite a few books those first few weeks out in the village.

Soon a solution presented itself. The school Greg was volunteering at didn’t have an English teacher and wanted to know if I would be interested. I went to James Ochola Memorial Secondary School  (JOMSS) the very next day, introduced myself, and informed them that I had never taught in my life, had absolutely no training, and would be delighted to try to teach the kids if they still wanted me. That first term, I taught all four grades, S1-S4.

It was a huge challenge to say the least. I’m not sure what the children learn regarding English in the primary schools, but it isn’t punctuation, parts of speech, grammar, writing or reading. I bought a local grammar book during a visit in Kampala to help me come up with lessons. There weren’t books for the students to use, so the only information they received was what I put on the board.

Another challenge I had besides not knowing what to teach was discipline. Caning children is supposed to be illegal here, but it definitely goes on. I think the children were excited to have two white teachers visiting them. JOMSS is a government school with very few resources, but it was definitely a status booster to have two teachers (and I use that term loosely regarding myself) from the U.S.

I think this excitement coupled with the fact that they knew neither of us would cane them, and also my own inexperience in the classroom, led to challenges with discipline. Classes were also huge, with over 60 kids each in the S1 and S2 classes. I survived the first term somehow and agreed to teach for a second term but only to S2 and S3.

At the end of the school year, S4 students have to take a national exam, and those scores determine whether they would go on to S5 or not. I felt like the S4 students needed a Ugandan who was familiar with the exam to prepare them. As far as S1 goes, there were just far too many students and they were far too undisciplined for me to continue teaching that class.

Something else was happening too…I finally found work with my host organization.

Laura Leach ‘95 is working as a Peace Corps volunteer in Uganda. She is sending regular updates to KWConnect about her experiences in Africa. Click here to read her story from the beginning.

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Charles Osinde, who does legal aid clinics out in the village, was the one who came in the Mifumi truck to pick Jude and me up. Charles was the exact opposite of Jude, and they cracked me up most of the drive back to Tororo. While Jude was happy and easy-going, Charles was impatient and grumpy, but still polite. It was kind of like watching the Odd Couple. The bed of the truck was filled with plastic containers with lids, so all of my belongings were squeezed in the backseat with me.

By the time we got to Tororo town, it was raining. We stopped in town, so I could get some kerosene for my lamp, a box of matches and a couple of basins. I also bought a set of silverware, one plate, one bowl and one coffee cup. From Tororo town, we drove on another hour to Mifumi village. I was going to be living in the staff quarters of the Mifumi Health Clinic. It was dark by the time we arrived, and there was no power. Sister Goretti, who manages the Mifumi Health Clinic, met us and let me into my new apartment. As soon as I was settled in, Charles and Jude took off.  I was exhausted. I found my sheets in my suitcase, and was soon tucked in under my mosquito net.

During our early days of training, we had meetings with our program managers to discuss what kind of site we wanted. One of the questions was if we wanted a rural or an urban site. I had said I wanted a rural site, and I don’t think you could get much more rural than this. The first weekend at my site I decided to go exploring in the “neighborhood.” I could either turn left or right out of the compound – I chose left and started walking. I walked past mud houses with thatched roofs. I walked past rice fields. I came to the first small trade center and asked them if they had rice. No rice.

I decided to search for the school that fellow volunteer Greg was going to be teaching at. We had passed it on the way to my site, but it was dark, and I couldn’t remember which direction it was or the name of the school. I asked some people at the trade center and a man decided to walk with me. We walked to an intersection, and rested there under a big mango tree. I had been away from my site for an hour now and didn’t bring any water with me. The man flagged down a motorcycle for me, and I tried to explain that I wasn’t allowed to ride motorcycles here. I thanked the gentleman for accompanying me that far and told him I would continue on my own.

I decided to turn right at the intersection. I walked for about 30 minutes, during which time I had a mental conversation with myself about how I was in the middle of nowhere and was likely to starve to death before I found food.

Eventually I came to a bigger trade center. I didn’t know where I was, and I didn’t see too many women around. It was mostly men, and I felt very intimidated. I found a shop that sold rice and beans, bought half a kilo of each, and enjoyed a soda before heading back. I gave up finding Greg that day, but at least I had gotten out and looked around. My new top priority was getting myself a bicycle to get to the local villages and explore more. There was still a lot left to see!

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The most exciting day of training was the day that we were given our work assignments. A week or two before, a gentleman named Dipak came to our training. He is from an organization called Raising Voices, which works to prevent violence against women and children in Uganda. Dipak spoke mostly about caning in the schools and alternative forms of discipline, but he also touched on child abuse at home, sexual abuse, and violence against women. The statistics he shared were startling and the stories heartbreaking.

After his visit, I went to the internet café in town, and looked up the Raising Voices website. I decided that no matter what my primary work assignment was, working against domestic violence was definitely something worthwhile for me to take on as a secondary project. The website listed one partner organization in the Tororo area that was linked with Raising Voices – Mifumi.

Each of us were later given an envelope with information about where we would be living and the organization we would be working with. When I opened my envelope and read the word Mifumi on my paper, you would have thought I won the lottery. All of the volunteers were running up to each other asking, “What did you get, what did you get?”  It was really amazing because it seemed like all of the economic volunteers got placements perfectly suited for them. We were all so pleased and felt like our program manager Jolie had really listened to us during our discussions about what we wanted. 

We were soon on our way to Kampala. We each met either our counterpart or our supervisor for the first time. My counterpart was supposed to be Janet Otte, but she was unable to make the trip to Kampala; instead, Jude Oboth came to meet me. Jude is about the happiest guy I’ve ever met. He had a huge smile on his face when we met, and he made me feel very welcomed from the very beginning. Jude worked as a lawyer at Mifumi. He went over some organizational basics with me to explain about the work that Mifumi does, but as far as getting specifics on what my role would be, I was going to have to wait.

While we were in Kampala, we were given time for a quick shopping trip. I had no idea what to buy because I had no idea what my place would already have. Fellow volunteer Hunter said he was getting a loaf of bread, peanut butter and jelly. That sounded good to me, and I followed his lead. It turned out to be a good move – that’s what I lived off of my first few days at site. 

The next day we had our swearing-in ceremony. I was very emotional during that ceremony and kept crying. Afterwards, we had a group photo taken, enjoyed a meal together and then were on our way. It felt so sudden to be saying goodbye to all of the volunteers I had just gone through training with, but it was also exciting to be on our way to my new home.

Next time: first days at Mifumi …

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Peace Corps volunteers Mike, Laura, Christine and Hunter with a fellow volunteer's counterpart in the Palissa District.

The big event during pre-service training was our volunteer visit. Usually trainees get a visit with a current volunteer at his or her site to see what life after training is like AND a site visit, but due to budget cuts, we only got the volunteer site visit.

The volunteer I visited lived in Palissa district. She came on board as an education volunteer, but it didn’t take her long at her site to realize she wasn’t really needed where she was assigned to work. Instead she found a new counterpart and organization to work with, and her major project was helping to get a demonstration pig farm built. It was still under construction during our visit, but you could tell it was going to be a very nice facility, and you could see how the community would benefit from it.

The idea was that someone who was HIV+ would receive two pigs and produce a litter. They would return two of the piglets to the piggery to replenish the ones they took, and could raise and sell the rest for income. Because it is a demonstration farm, those receiving pigs could come in and be trained on raising pigs before receiving their piglets. Local area youth could also come and learn about raising pigs. I also got to visit with another volunteer in Palissa who was working with women’s groups.

Our visit with current volunteers was great because it showed us what our living conditions might be like, what kind of activities we would be doing out in the community, and it gave us a break from the routine we had been in for several weeks at the training center. It was also the first time we had traveled anywhere on our own, so it showed us that things weren’t quite as scary in Uganda as the safety trainer had made it sound. It was fun coming back together at Wakiso and hearing about the other volunteer visits. The only downside to the volunteer visit was that it gave us all a little taste of freedom and suddenly made us anxious to be done with training.

The good news was that training wouldn’t last much longer. It was amazing how quickly the last few weeks went by. Most of our attention was focused on language as we geared up for the “test” we would have to pass. We had two simulations where there were different language stations set up, and Ugandans who speak our language were brought in to practice with us. One language station was a supermarket with fresh fruit, cookies, candy, etc. I’m not sure how I did it, but I negotiated the purchase of chocolate biscuits in the local language. If I could procure chocolate on my own, I felt that I might just be okay!

Three people who were friends of our language trainer came for the simulations. One lady I could kind of understand and communicate with and so my confidence was building, but then at the very next station, the lady spoke with such speed, I didn’t understand anything. Leading up to our language test, Esther told us that the man Chombo who would be coming to test us was a very, very big man, so we wouldn’t be surprised and nervous when we met him. I had spent a lot of time studying my flash cards. Esther gave us a whole list of potential questions that Chombo would ask us, and I wrote out answers and practiced them.

When the big day came, I was so nervous. I sat and watched other volunteers go in and come out, some confident they passed and others not so confident. My turn finally came, and when I went in I was so nervous I was shaking. I made it through some general conversation with Chombo, and then he asked me a question, and I couldn’t remember the translation for one of the words he said. I struggled a minute or two trying to come up with a response, but never quite recovered. I left feeling very defeated and certain that I did not achieve the intermediate low score necessary to pass the language requirement.

Those who don’t pass the test are given a second chance at in-service training about three months after you’ve been at site. So it wasn’t the end of the world if I didn’t pass, but I had put a lot of effort into it and had hoped I would pass. The testing took a long time, and after we each finished, our trainer and our tester had to go back and listen to each of our tapes and discuss our scores, which meant we wouldn’t find out our results that day. When Esther finally did give me my results, and I found out I passed (due to some lenient grading on the part of Chombo, who noticed my shaking hands), I started crying out of joy and relief and gave Esther the biggest hug I’m sure any language trainer has ever received!

I had made it past my biggest obstacle, and in a couple days I would be sworn in and heading to site … the next leg of my adventure.

Peace Cops volunteer Wesley with some of the Ugandan children he works with.

 Laura Leach ‘95 is working as a Peace Corps volunteer in Uganda. She will be sending regular updates to KWConnect about her experiences in Africa. Click here to read her story from the beginning.

(Tororo is on the right, just above the box.)

One of the toughest emotional challenges during Peace Corps is losing members of your training class. After that first weekend with our host families, a married couple that we came over with decided to go back to the United States. They had dreamed of being in the Peace Corps back in the early years of the Peace Corps, but they had been discouraged by their parents. All of their kids are now grown, and they had recently retired, and decided to pursue their dream. The wife was an education volunteer, and the husband was an economic development volunteer, and both brought with them a wealth of knowledge and experience.

After that first weekend, they decided they had made a mistake and could not spend two years away from their children and grandchildren. With a bat of an eye, they were gone and there was nothing for the rest of us to do but move forward.

Snacks and Weddings
Things were looking pretty sunny for me at my home stay. I had chosen carrots and cucumbers for my first night snack, and this turned out to be a good move. Ugandans are very warm and welcoming people. They go out of their way for their guests, and as soon as Jane found out I enjoyed carrots and cucumbers, they become a regular part of my diet throughout my stay.

My first weekend at home stay, Jane had a wedding reception she was catering, and I got to tag along. I can’t imagine crashing a wedding reception in the United States and the wedding party being okay with that, but there I was at a wedding reception where I didn’t know anyone and no one knew me, and I was greeted and told that I was “most welcomed.”

I was the only white person there, which means I got a lot of attention, especially from the children. This wedding was a western style wedding being held in Kampala. The main difference between an American wedding reception and this one was that there were many more speeches given at the Ugandan reception, and then the cake was served to the guests by the bridesmaids and groomsmen. I thought that was a nice touch.

Heading East
Pre-service training is all leading to you getting your own site where you will live and work. Although we had to wait until our last week of training to find out the exact community where we would be located, we got a big hint when we were divided into our language groups. I was put in the dhopadhola  group with Mary Beth, Greg and Racheal. Only one district in Uganda speaks dhopadhola, and that is Tororo. I would be heading east.

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