Kuseka=to laugh. We definitely did a lot of that at the Camp
Kuseka! Let me tell ya about it.
PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) put on camps for different
groups of students during the school’s term breaks. This particular one focused
on special needs children in the western part of Uganda. It was a smaller sized
camp, only about 40 or so kids, but each camper had their own counselor and
every counselor had a max of two campers. That was nice for developing a really
good relationship during the week they were there.
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| Me and Sharon |
The kids ages ranged from 5-27. Some had physical
disabilities, some had mental, some a bit of both. They were broken up into 3
different groups with their counselors. I was in the Orange team and my camper
was super cute! She has a limp and is so so soooooo shy. She’s 12 years old and
understands a bit of English. It took her sometime to start talking, and even
then she still didn’t say much, but her smile! Oh my gosh! When she was happy,
she had the biggest smile and most adorable laugh. She liked to play and dance
a lot. When she first arrived she was very quiet and didn’t play with any of
the other campers. By the end of it, she was running around and participating
with the others. It was a really great thing to see!
Spending all day everyday for a week with a bunch of kids is
definitely tiring, but it was tons of fun! It was so nice to see these kids who
have such a hard time here because of their disability, light up and be seen as
themselves instead of “what’s wrong with them”.
Most counselors were PCVs but some of them were HCNs (host
country nationals. Aka: Ugandans). Even some of the directors were. They also
invited the parents to come for two of the days to attend sessions to learn
more about how to empower their child. Most kids with disabilities get beat or
neglected because of it. Seeing all the adults come together to stand up for
their children was really moving. They even had a Special Olympics winner come
as a guest speaker!
Camp is a lot of work. The days are hot, you always need to
be on, and sometimes your camper just doesn’t want to participate, but it was
all worth it in the end to touch the lives of these kids in some small way.
Change is a very slow process, but I can already see that Uganda is heading in
the right direction. I know that someday the stigma of disabilities will be
eradicated! It’s just gonna take some time and a lot of work. I’m thankful to
the people who do that :)
(Camp was from January
12-16th so it’s been over a week since I wrote everything above. Now
I want to say a short few words about more recent things.)
The week after camp, the new education group swore in as new
Peace Corps Volunteers. I went to their ceremony and it felt very, very strange
to reflect back on what I was feeling a year ago when I was in their shoes,
what I’ve done/learned in the year since, and where I am now. It was refreshing
to see their excitement, but also made me a little sad to think about the
hardships they’re going to face. But they’re a great group of people and I’m
very happy to have them here!
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| My poster for the gallery walk at MSC. It's been a good year! |
My cohort (group I came with) just got home from our MSC
(Mid-Service Conference). It was the first time we had been together as a
cohort without any other PCVs since our IST back last April. It’s truly amazing
to look at how far we’ve come as a group and as individuals. MSC felt so far
away this time last year when we had just arrived. Now it’s come and gone and
COS (Close of Service) Conference will be here before we know it. It made me a
little emotional to think about how quickly this second year will go and how
we’ll then have to say goodbye. These people have become my family and show a
huge support simply by being here and experiencing all this with me. You can
talk about it all you want to friends back home, but they’ll never fully
understand it like your fellow PCVs do. All of this hit me at MSC and I feel
very blessed to have such an amazing group of people to share these two years
with.
We’ve all been through a lot of ups and downs this past year
and we’ll continue to go through more. That’s just life. Tomorrow is the first
day of the new school year. I’m settled into my new house and now I get to
settle into my new school. Getting a site change was no fun, but from it, a new
motivation has grown in me and it feels amazing! I have lots of ideas I want to
try out and am SO ready to take on this year!
I’m thankful to all of the people who have shown me non-stop
love and support during these last few months when I was going through a
difficult time. I feel like I’m in a really good place now and I’m looking
forward to what lies ahead :)
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