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5 Things I Learned While Volunteering Abroad
For the past 2.5 years, I have been travelling to a number of countries as a volunteer. After coming to Morocco for the first time in 2017, then travelling to Uganda in 2018, I started reminiscing the trips I had done in the past. I wondered, what is it exactly that I gained from these? What have I taken back home with me from each country? What are the things that I learned while volunteering? I realised that I cannot help everyone When you are surrounded by poverty, you can feel powerless. Imagine being in a Ugandan slum seeing children sniff gasoline out of plastic bottles to get their high. Imagine teaching women English and French, but knowing you cannot stay longer than a month because you have responsibilities back home, even though you would want to stay for years. Imagine having to keep politely saying no to those who ask for a bit of money, because if…
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Investigating the Social Factors Involved in the HIV/AIDS Pandemic in Ugandan Fishing Villages
After spending a month in Uganda and being prompted to explore the Social Factors Impacting the Prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Uganda for the class “Desire, Work and Love II” taught by Dana Cudney, I developed a passion for this topic. Afterwards, having gained a lot of knowledge on this topic, I wanted to investigate it further. This second research was conducted in April 2018, during my second undergraduate year, for the course “Research and Data Analysis” taught by Moira Ferguson at Laurentian University. The final report explores the statistical background of HIV in fishing communities in Uganda and, furthermore, discusses the reasons behind high HIV rates in certain communities from a sociological aspect. To read the research report, click here.
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Uganda cultural background
This is an extract of the research paper “HIV/AIDS in Uganda: The Power of History, Religion, Social Class and Gender” which I wrote in April 2018. The research report will be available online soon. Uganda has an incredible culture, and religion remains extremely important today, an aspect of Uganda that was brought to Africa by British colonists in the late 1800s. Following the colonization in 1877, members of the British Missionary Society arrived in Buganda, a kingdom within Uganda. Two years later, members of the French Roman Catholic White Fathers travelled to the nation with missionary goals. In 1894, after granting Britain the rights to Buganda (which was later on going to fuze with Uganda), it became a British protectorate. At the beginning of the 20th century, Britain gave Buganda its autonomy, when it officially became controlled by Protestant chiefs. A half of a century later, Uganda was given an internal self-government, to then become a republic four years later.…
