Rachel in Africa

Hi everyone! Greetings from Jinja town! This is just a quick update to all my lovely friends about life here in Uganda - which I might add is feeling increasingly like home! After a fab break with Mum and Dad, I met up with all my fellow volunteers for a weeks worth of top up training before heading back on placement. It was great to see everyone again and find out how they were doing in their respective villages, and also somehow a comfort that the challenges we were facing were also being faced by others - so we really weren't alone and we are doing a good job!!!! So since we've back in Butagaya we have been working closely with our youth groups to try and draw alongside them and support them in not only issues of sexual and reproductive health but also with their income generating activities. One of our groups wants to build their poultry keeping - of which they have 20 chicks! We have also recently set up a drop in centre for the young people of our area in the village tra

So I can hardly believe that I am writing this post to mark the half way point in my placement! Time really is flying by! Currently, I am on a mid-placement holiday break and mummy and daddy Vickers have come to visit! It is amazing, if not a little strange, to have them here and to show them this country and its people that I love so much. So far we have spent Easter in Kumi, the community which I worked in last year and tomorrow will be heading to the banks of the Nile in Jinja for some much anticipated R and R! Although I'm hoping to squeeze in a small day trip to Butagaya so they can see my stomping ground. But what can I tell you about our programme since the last time I wrote?! So much as happened as usual and we are keeping busy but there are two things that I want to share which will hopefully keep you entertained! The first is a story about a boy called Eric. He lives in a village in our parish and for the last two months I had been teaching him in my P7 class at primary

Mwasuze Mutya basebo ne banyabo! Or for those of you who are clearly not as fluent in Lusoga (the local language) as I am 'Good Morning Everyone!' So hopefully that gives you a slight hint into the fact that I really am now settling well into the village and fully embracing my status as the only 'muzungu' or white person around! Our daily tasks like teaching in schools and working with the out of school youth groups are continuing to go well and I am particularly enjoying having sessions with our secondary school kids. With fewer students in a class and a better level of english I feel like I can really draw alongside them and offer them support as well as knowledge; as a mentor and peer rather than a teacher.  Now that our baseline survey is over for February, our work is getting a lot busier with more events and activities that are intended to reach out to the whole community. Just this week we have had community outreach talks about HIV and condom demonstrations in p