Serving as a CorpsAfrica Volunteer in one’s home country is thrilling, but serving in another country away from home is an indispensable opportunity. Having accomplished my service in Uganda, I embarked on another journey of growth and self-discovery to serve as an Exchange Volunteer in the land of 1000 hills. The instant impact of this challenge was an adventure because it wasn’t so long before I saw myself flying in a plane, 15th/07/2024 is when I boarded a plane, smiling big as I enjoyed the moment through the clouds to Kigali International Airport in Rwanda, a short and joyous journey that offered me a unique experience. Upon my arrival, I was warmly welcomed by the Training Officer at CorpsAfrica/Rwanda before I joined my fellow Exchange Volunteers in the Southern province, Huye district for the Kinyarwanda language and culture training. Meeting fellow Exchange Volunteers from Malawi, Kenya, Morocco, Senegal, and Ghana, all brought together under the umbrella of driving impact in the rural Rwandan communities made me recognize that Africa is one. I could visualize the entire African continent around me and I couldn’t get better excited when we shared stories amongst ourselves about our home countries.

After one month, we joined the native Volunteers at Amakuza Grace Resort Hotel for the Pre-Service Training, Oh God!! It was my first time seeing as many Volunteers as 114, this was a very big group compared to our cohort in Uganda which had 18 Volunteers only. It was a bit challenging at first to connect as everyone seemed reserved and didn’t want to open up so much. However, when groups for different co-curricular activities were created, it was easier for trainees with the same hobbies and passion to connect, I thank whoever invented this idea. I decided to join the group for morning sports and Karate because besides keeping my body fit, it’s a stress reliever for me. It’s from these groups that I started knowing fellow Volunteers at a much deeper level as I slowly expanded my circle of friends. PST was full of fun and learning about CorpsAfrica approaches, soft skills, and the significant insights shared by several development partners. Site selection was done toward the end of PST, so Volunteers chose the different sites where they were to serve. 

After a colorful Swearing-In ceremony on 25th/09/2024, the next day was Deployment Day, the grace period was over and now it was time to go and live the moment, that day might have started well for others but on my side, it appeared dull right from the morning, physically separating with a family that I was immersed in for more than one month couldn’t leave me the same. I knew that we had to separate but it was hard to face the reality, nevertheless we packed our luggage and set off to the sites. There was a lot of silence in the car where I sat, as we saw it traverse various hills to take us to our homes for the next 1 year. At midday, we reached Mukoto village, Bushoki sector in Rulindo district which is my site of service. 

I was warmly welcomed by my host family, a happy family that spent part of their life in Uganda. My host mother told me to feel at home because she knew how to treat Ugandan people, a statement that enhanced my psychological and emotional safety in the host family. She pointed out the likes of Ugandans according to her experience, “Ugandans like to eat bananas (Matooke) as well as showering warm water”, Ohh!!, this sounded funny and sarcastic to me. I thought she was cracking jokes but I was surprised when my host brother provided me with warm water in the evening to go and shower, not only that but also bananas were part of our menu on a daily. Though I am not a fan of showering with warm water, the effort put in by my host family to make me feel comfortable was overwhelming, I experienced typical unconditional love for the first time while away from my family in Uganda.   

I began on the journey of integrating with my new community, starting with local leaders, and the community at large. I started learning about my community through working and living together with people. On a Saturday morning of my first week in the community, I was so surprised, to see a group of more than 200 people holding hand hoes, forked hoes, mattocks, and pangas. The looks on their faces indicated passion and determination to defeat the enemy under target. Fortunately, enough, the enemy was a feeder road in the hills of Buvumo village which they expanded to ease the movement of people and their agricultural produce. This was a day for community work “Umuganda”.

As an Exchange Volunteer from Uganda, this experience didn’t leave me the same, I started reflecting on my village of origin with the profound challenge of lack of social cohesion among the people. I started imagining and asking myself, what if we had an arrangement like “Umuganda” or even other social gatherings other than burial ceremonies and parties, where people could meet, discuss, and address issues affecting the community? As I continue to integrate, I am learning about the key drivers of the coherent social bonds in the Mukoto community, in addition, I am challenged on how I can become an influencer to bring these ideas to the attention of my local leaders in Uganda, if they happen to work there, maybe the policymakers will adopt them too.   

Thanks for reading.