Before I came to Africa, I had this image that we, Europeans, see on
TV: sad kids, sitting alone outside with no home, no food... The image
I had about Africa was not correct at all. Of course there are some
kids who live like that. But where I lived, the kids made their own
playground and played like they were the happiest kids on earth.
In the beginning I was a little bit overwhelmed by the kids running to you, touching and hugging you and being called ‘Mzungu’, which means ‘white person’ or foreigner. From miles away they saw me coming and started shouting ‘Bye Mzungu!’. It felt like I was famous
sometimes.
In Uganda I lived in the MC house together with around 15 people, with a lot of different entities. That’s the good thing about AIESEC, getting to know a lot of different cultures, just by living together! The house was located in the slums, which was a good experience. You get to see how those people live. I have to admit that it was confronting to see people live in those conditions. A little culture shock was the result. Kampala, the capital city, was better developed than I expected. You can travel with public transport by mini bus (matatu) or motorcycle (boda-boda).
The matatu is actually for 14 passengers, but a lot of the times those taxi’s were overloaded. And they all drive like crazy! It made me realize how extremely well organized my own country is.
During the weekends I got the opportunity to discover Uganda. What a beautiful country. Waterfalls, National Parks with amazing birds and wild animals, boat trips, safaris, rafting... I also attended a national AIESEC conference with the slogan: ‘Believe, together we achieve!’
My project, the Hill Preparatory School, was a special school. There were ‘normal’ kids, but also kids with special needs. I thought I would have to deal with only ‘learning disabilities’, as written in the description. I found out their idea of ‘learning disabilities’ is a little different from ours. There were kids with Mental retardation (for example Down Syndrome) ADHD, Autism, and, indeed, Dyslexia (a ‘learning disability’ as I know it in my country). It was difficult in the beginning because they have different standards and ideas about the needs of those children. Schools are pretty unorganized in Uganda. Kids went out of class, were sleeping during class and I even saw some teachers
sleep during their class. My job was to teach the children with special needs. Teaching the alphabet, numbers, shapes and simple words using games. A challenge, but a good challenge. The first day I came to that school there was a boy who touched my arms to see if my skin color was real. The funny thing was, that he lifted my jeans leg to see if my legs were also white! They were also fascinated by my birthmarks. My school was pretty luxurious... They had their own swimming pool and a swimming teacher!
In the beginning I was a little bit overwhelmed by the kids running to you, touching and hugging you and being called ‘Mzungu’, which means ‘white person’ or foreigner. From miles away they saw me coming and started shouting ‘Bye Mzungu!’. It felt like I was famous
sometimes.
In Uganda I lived in the MC house together with around 15 people, with a lot of different entities. That’s the good thing about AIESEC, getting to know a lot of different cultures, just by living together! The house was located in the slums, which was a good experience. You get to see how those people live. I have to admit that it was confronting to see people live in those conditions. A little culture shock was the result. Kampala, the capital city, was better developed than I expected. You can travel with public transport by mini bus (matatu) or motorcycle (boda-boda).
The matatu is actually for 14 passengers, but a lot of the times those taxi’s were overloaded. And they all drive like crazy! It made me realize how extremely well organized my own country is.
During the weekends I got the opportunity to discover Uganda. What a beautiful country. Waterfalls, National Parks with amazing birds and wild animals, boat trips, safaris, rafting... I also attended a national AIESEC conference with the slogan: ‘Believe, together we achieve!’
My project, the Hill Preparatory School, was a special school. There were ‘normal’ kids, but also kids with special needs. I thought I would have to deal with only ‘learning disabilities’, as written in the description. I found out their idea of ‘learning disabilities’ is a little different from ours. There were kids with Mental retardation (for example Down Syndrome) ADHD, Autism, and, indeed, Dyslexia (a ‘learning disability’ as I know it in my country). It was difficult in the beginning because they have different standards and ideas about the needs of those children. Schools are pretty unorganized in Uganda. Kids went out of class, were sleeping during class and I even saw some teachers
sleep during their class. My job was to teach the children with special needs. Teaching the alphabet, numbers, shapes and simple words using games. A challenge, but a good challenge. The first day I came to that school there was a boy who touched my arms to see if my skin color was real. The funny thing was, that he lifted my jeans leg to see if my legs were also white! They were also fascinated by my birthmarks. My school was pretty luxurious... They had their own swimming pool and a swimming teacher!
After my internship in Uganda, I went to Ghana for my next internship. This
internship didn’t start so well. There was some trouble with the visa. I spent 5
hours at the airport! Fortunately the people from AIESEC were very nice to me
the first days and made me feel like home. The first few days I spent in Accra
and Cape Coast, both pretty big cities. My project, on the other hand, was in a
village called Moree. When I started there I had a real culture shock. I thought I
had made the wrong decision by choosing this project and wished I was home. A
village is very different from a city. It was very primitive. Back to basic. I did
have some electricity but no running water, which means no normal toilet and
shower. The toilet was a latrine: a hole in the ground. But I was ‘lucky’ because
our latrine was ‘tiled’. The ‘bathroom’ was an empty, small wooden room with
spiders and some reptiles... I had to bring a bucket with water from my room to the ‘bathroom’ and shower with a cup. After a week I was ‘used’ to the smell of the toilet, showering with a bucket and the bad hygiene.
The second week we travelled around the country. I did a ‘Canopy Walk’, visited Nzulezo (a town on water), saw waterfalls, visited the biggest market of West Africa and enjoyed the beautiful landscape. We also went to a National Park to see elephants. All we saw were some kobs and
monkeys/baboons. In West Africa are not that
many wild animals as in East Africa. Luckily I
already saw a lot of wild animals in Uganda! What Ghana has and Uganda hasn’t, is a sea, with beautiful beaches. Since the temperatures in Ghana are pretty high, a breeze from the sea was very welcome.
I started the first two and a half weeks with another intern. She taught me a lot about the life in the village. Where to get food,
how to go to the city, things about the culture etc. In Uganda I was called a Mzungu. Here I was an Obroni. After she left I was the only white person in the village. Pretty weird, being stared at every time you set foot out of the door. The kids even came to my room to see the Obroni. They had never heard about privacy I guess...
My project was called the FreeSpirit
Foundation, a library. After school the kids came to the library to read books, make homework and learn more English and maths. It was difficult sometimes, because some of the kids could only speak their local language, Fante. The kids who came to the library were in a ‘culture group’. They danced! I was fortunate to see a performance of them. Every week they practiced. It was beautiful to see how those kids enjoyed their dancing. Especially because Moree, the village where I lived in, is a very poor and bad developed village. There are no roads and inhabitants buy water from several wells and spots where water pipelines are led. There is electric power supply, but most houses are not connected. Because of the poverty, a lot of the kids in this village don’t go to school: they
have to help at home or take care of younger siblings. Washing and cooking is mostly done outside. Big families live in houses/huts that are too small and very bad developed.
Doing these internships definitely developed my personality. Meeting a lot of new people, dealing with culture differences, having good conversations with people, bargaining about prices, talking in front of people, taking action, doing something for society, seeing the beauty of Africa, give love and receive love etc. It makes me appreciate more what I have and that I shouldn’t just take everything for granted. Life is what you make it...
spiders and some reptiles... I had to bring a bucket with water from my room to the ‘bathroom’ and shower with a cup. After a week I was ‘used’ to the smell of the toilet, showering with a bucket and the bad hygiene.
The second week we travelled around the country. I did a ‘Canopy Walk’, visited Nzulezo (a town on water), saw waterfalls, visited the biggest market of West Africa and enjoyed the beautiful landscape. We also went to a National Park to see elephants. All we saw were some kobs and
monkeys/baboons. In West Africa are not that
many wild animals as in East Africa. Luckily I
already saw a lot of wild animals in Uganda! What Ghana has and Uganda hasn’t, is a sea, with beautiful beaches. Since the temperatures in Ghana are pretty high, a breeze from the sea was very welcome.
I started the first two and a half weeks with another intern. She taught me a lot about the life in the village. Where to get food,
how to go to the city, things about the culture etc. In Uganda I was called a Mzungu. Here I was an Obroni. After she left I was the only white person in the village. Pretty weird, being stared at every time you set foot out of the door. The kids even came to my room to see the Obroni. They had never heard about privacy I guess...
My project was called the FreeSpirit
Foundation, a library. After school the kids came to the library to read books, make homework and learn more English and maths. It was difficult sometimes, because some of the kids could only speak their local language, Fante. The kids who came to the library were in a ‘culture group’. They danced! I was fortunate to see a performance of them. Every week they practiced. It was beautiful to see how those kids enjoyed their dancing. Especially because Moree, the village where I lived in, is a very poor and bad developed village. There are no roads and inhabitants buy water from several wells and spots where water pipelines are led. There is electric power supply, but most houses are not connected. Because of the poverty, a lot of the kids in this village don’t go to school: they
have to help at home or take care of younger siblings. Washing and cooking is mostly done outside. Big families live in houses/huts that are too small and very bad developed.
Doing these internships definitely developed my personality. Meeting a lot of new people, dealing with culture differences, having good conversations with people, bargaining about prices, talking in front of people, taking action, doing something for society, seeing the beauty of Africa, give love and receive love etc. It makes me appreciate more what I have and that I shouldn’t just take everything for granted. Life is what you make it...
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