Uganda 2020: Laura Hutchins
Favorite thing (or things) about Uganda:
- Positivity and hard work are first, always. There are signs all around the school about how to be active, do hard work, be successful. You see the motivation in the students, the teachers and the whole community towards improvement.
- Everyone’s handwriting seems perfectly straight and super legible! I am a total nerd for these little things; I was so impressed!
- Bright smiling faces everywhere you go!
What surprised me most about Uganda:
- Service Oriented community. This is an economy of people-pleasers. Everyone takes doing their jobs well very seriously and it shows up in excellent service and a genuine caring.
- We were reading stories in the students’ writing class; it became so clear in their stories how horrifically the AIDS epidemic hit this area. Many students wrote about a missing parent, missing aunt, uncle, brother, sister. It was devastating to realize on a very personal level how devastating this was. On the opposite side of this coin, many stories were about how these difficult and sad circumstances motivated them to stay in school and pursue being doctors and nurses.
Looking forward to most for the 2020 trip:
- I can’t wait to see more about the new animal husbandry program and how it’s doing. The first goat (pictured above!) was donated to the school when were there three years ago and we saw what a big deal just one goat was (she was transported by Nelson on a moped to the school!). The fact that it has turned into a whole program is just awesome!
– Laura Hutchins
