Reports, experiences, testimonies of former volunteers

I still have nearly a week here in Uganda at “Vision for Africa Intl.”, and then I sadly have to say good-bye. If I review on this time, I just can say, it was exactly the right decision for me to come here for half a year (almost) after my final exams! I am once again astonished how good and perfect God’s plans are for us.

However, first of all, back to the beginning...

Before I came here to Uganda, I was - like most of the volunteers coming to “Land of Hope” - for about one month in Imst at the „House of Life” and offered my manpower there. Even this time was overwhelming for me for I was allowed to gain many great experiences. I had to grapple with several things of my faith and also of my own personality and therefore I can only say, that it is a wonderful idea to make the volunteers to spend some time there first!!! Of course, we already got to know some aspects of the work of VfA here in Uganda so that my anticipation for this time here increased... and you even get to know some of the other volunteers you will meet again in Uganda, which is awesome for you can already make very good friends and deepen this friendships afterwards in Uganda (right, Anne and Dana :-) !).

After that, I was once again at home for a few weeks to finish the latest arrangements before I finally went to the Pearl of Africa :-). Well, and everything following was 6 wonderful months here in “Land of Hope”... Uganda by itself is beautiful; I could drive through the landscape for hours or take a thousand of pictures. Wherever you look at, its greening and flowering and combined with the red earth it is simply very special. Another thing I love especially is the sky, both at night and day. I have never ever seen such great number of stars like here and also the sunrise is sometimes significant. Another thing, I’m going to miss at home are the fruits, which you can buy for less money at the market... mangos, pineapples, oranges, passion fruit, papaya,...!

Most of the people are very open hearted here, friendly and affectionate. We as Europeans, however, need to first adapt to the fact, that everybody you meet will speak to you (“Hello, how are you?”). Again and again, I was surprised - especially in Kampala - how easily you can have a really good talk to people you don’t know at all. One time, for example, we went to a photo-shop and it turned out in our talk that the seller is also “born again”... When I go back to Germany now, I think, I will quite recognize how impersonal and sometimes even how cold-hearted a good portion of the people are. Another thing, I was allowed to experience and which impressed me very much, is the hospitality and the attendance to share.

Beside these very positive experiences, there are, of course, some things you first have to adapt to and which are sometimes not easily to accept. One thing, I had to be patient again and again was the attitude towards time and liability. The sentence “The Europeans have the watches, the Africans the time” is true, namely, and I sadly had to experience several times, that people postpone you or arrive some hours later as arranged and altogether don’t  really care about set  appointments. But I think this experience was not too bad for me, because this way I could learn patience and spontaneity :-)! Furthermore I didn't find it easy to handle it, when people ask you for things, especially for money, because it woke up the impression in me that you're not there for being a friend to someone but for being for use. On the one hand you want to help and give but you also have to be aware of people who make use of your good nature...

Altogether I had the possibility to grow and learn in many areas, such as working in the household ( for example washing with hands :-) ), how to handle the children, living together with the other volunteers and the Africans, in speaking English and also learning about my own personality!
What I also really liked was the diversity of the work. Most of the time I worked in the children homes, but even the work in the homes is very diverse because we always rotate in the houses. In the beginning of my time here it was like this that each volunteer had “his own” house. Also that was really good because each one of us had a special relationship to one of the houses, but the work there was usually quite one sided. Therefore and also to get to know all mothers and children, I think rotating in the houses is a good thing. Working in the houses is much fun, of course the children can also be arduous and get on one's nerves, but all in all you just have to love them :-)! Apart from the houses I could also work in the Sponsorship Office, in the Store of Inge, in the garden and in the main kitchen, and there was always a good variety of work in the children homes.

On your off-days you can make nice ventures, like going to Kampala, Jinja (girls, you have to go for shopping on the clothes market :-) ), Mukono or just go for a walk in the bush. Especially I liked the volunteer days, when we all went together to the beach in Entebbe (and got a sunburn :-) ), spent time in the botanical gardens or visited the falls of the river Nile.
Apart from that we also had a great variation concerning our living situation. In the six months I spent here I have lived in three different places. First the five girls of us lived together in one room, next to the 18 students of the hotel school, what was a real blessing for us because we could really live together with Africans and share the lives there. Later we spent one moth living in an orphanage, in which there were no children at this time, and actually it was really luxurious, since we had double bedrooms, a warm shower, a fridge and a living room. After living there we shifted back in our old room in the hotel, until one week later it was decided that we move to the old volunteer’s house, to be closer to the children homes....so now we live here for about two months. I really can't say which home I liked most, the variety was just perfect!

I think I could continue telling about my time here and fill many more pages about what is in my mind and what I take back home of my time here, but because of space I come to an end :-) . Just come here on your own and take a look!!!