So our one year mark in country just passed...woohoo!!! Everyone who has been serving before us told us that it is a huge milestone and things really feel differently after; I did not believe them but they certainly were right. It is so strange, the first few months dragged on day after day, but the last few months have flown by. As you can tell I have not been posting on this because I have been so busy, which has been wonderful.
Finished up Term 2 successfully by getting a few of my kiddos to read CVC words! It felt so great to have something tangible and in my sphere of control to work on. I got a grant for a fence around my school approved and started work on that. It was a super long ordeal, but I can officially say now that my school is safe and secure! That means no more pooping in the classrooms by people in the community, no more stealing of teacher resources, we can fix the water storage tanks, and start a ton more development projects next year. We even had a big PTA meeting about it and many parents came out and were so excited about our work. I just hope we can carry that excitement forward. I worked at camp again, where I had the greatest night of my life dealing with amoebas and parasites coming out both ends =). Decided that I loved camp so much that me and some of my best friends out here are going to direct a camp in my part of the country next May; I can't wait! Leadership is really the way to go in this country and we can do so much with the youth. I helped to organize the All Volunteer Conference this year, big success!
This past term I have been mostly involved in preparing for trainings and the incoming group of education volunteers. I am super excited to be doing more with PCVs and helping pass on some knowledge to new volunteers. I definitly have reached a point in my service where I feel very comfortable in my community and know what I can and cannot do, but I also still love working with volunteers. I have oodles of ideas for what to do next year at site and can't wait to carry them out. Peace Corps is totally a hot mess, but you really do learn about yourself and push your comfort levels, often learning how to live uncomfortably. It is not ideal and I still feel passionate about what I did at home rather than development work, but it is also a lot of fun. My lifestyle out here, traveling around and always doing something new, is not something I will have the time to have at home. I have made some amazing, life-long friendships out here and love the work we do when we get together. My goals for next year are to still work on reading and decoding with small groups, but also to build my own professional skills by working on some teacher development. I really have learned to love living in Uganda. There are still days when I just shake my head and wonder why I am here, but then someone I don't know will go completely out of his way to help me with something and give me the biggest smile ever and I remember why I am here. There is something beautiful that happens when two people from two totally different places can communicate, understand each other, and work together. Uganda has some real issues that really need to change, I am here to empower people to stand up and make those changes.
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