Name: Nicola Cameron
Location: Uganda
Report Title: Initial Report
Report Date: 24/08/2008
Initial Report - The Final Count Down!
On 5th September, I’ll be flying out with 15 other volunteers to Uganda with the charity Project Trust. I’m sharing the initially daunting task of teaching at Bulenga Modern Primary School, located just outside the Ugandan capital of Kampala, with my project partner Steph. I’ll also be running extra-curricular clubs for the kids after school, possibly including sport, arts and craft and drama, depending on whatever the community is lacking and what they ask me to do. I feel incredibly honoured to have the chance to do this.
My typical week day will involve teaching Maths, Science and English to P1 - P4 from 7.30am till 5.30pm (much longer school day than us!) and then helping out with after school activities - so I’ll certainly be kept busy!
At the weekends I’m hoping to involve myself in the community and get to know the local people by joining in with social events and exploring my new surroundings and hopefully after not too long I’ll become educated and totally integrated into their way of life.
I always intended on taking a gap year after 6th year, unlike most of the students in my year I didn’t intend to go straight to university to get started on shaping my academic career, although this is something I will definitely be doing once I return.
I’m a people person and have always had an adventurous personality but I didn’t want to purchase a round-the-world ticket going from backpackers hostel to backpackers hostel, although this would have been great fun I wanted to do something more meaningful that would make a difference. So after a Project Trust representative came to my school and gave a very interesting and convincing talk about the charity, the whole aspect of what it is about really grasped me and I remember thinking ‘Why not?’ and arranged to attend their next selection course.
From that point I’ve never looked back… throwing my efforts into raising the £4,480 for Project Trust has been a huge challenge but I feel as though I’ve embraced it and I’m ready for all the new challenges that my year in Uganda will bring!
And now as my days here at home in Dunblane are limited and while I put my final preparations into place, everything is becoming so real and I’m realising how difficult it’s going to be, in two weeks time, to say goodbye to all my close friends and family for a whole year and knowing that my friends are moving onto university without me. However, I also know that what I will hopefully achieve this year and the unique experience I’ll gain is something so extraordinary that I wouldn’t have it any other way!
It’s inevitable that I will experience emotional lows during my time away, when I miss home and find the massive change hard to deal with but I’m sure the sense of achievement after a good day’s work and the life-long friends I’m bound to make will make any struggles along the way worthwhile… I can’t wait to get started!
Nicola x
