A Look at Life in… Peace Corps Uganda
by Katherine Peters, PCV Uganda
I am currently in the Peace Corps in Uganda in the district of Kayunga. I have been here for about a year and I
have a community health placement. I graduated with a
degree in Nutritional Sciences, but my main work relates
to HIV/AIDS. I run a youth center that offers HIV/AIDS
care and a youth STD clinic. In the area of nutrition, I
am working on a nutrition supplementation program for
HIV patients.
The area I live in is actually the main town of the district,
but it is still extremely rural. The entire district is surrounded by water, so very little makes it up here. There is
occasionally electricity in my town, maybe half the week,
but no running water. I get my water from a nearby borehole. Anytime I go anywhere, the people all yell muzungu, which means white person. People also tend to
want to touch my white skin or light hair and sometimes
little kids scream at me as if I am the devil. Most people
see very few white people and some have never seen any,
so I tend to be an object of extreme interest.
Before I came to Uganda, I read this book titled, In
Search of the Elusive Peace Corps Moment, by Douglas
Wells. It’s written by a man who served in the Peace
Corps in Estonia. Throughout the book, he describes how
he spent his time waiting for this moment to hit him when
he would realize that he was in the Peace Corps. I don’t
think he ever stumbled across the elusive moment, but I )??????????????????????????????????)$??????????!%X??????????????????????????????)???????????????????????????????????????????????)????????????!%X????????????????????????????)]??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Q??????????????????????)????????????????????????????????????????????????)??????$?????????1????
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