May 11, 2009 12:57 pm US/Pacific
Zachary Tabb: Peace Corp Volunteer In Uganda
Dispatches from a Student Rising Above graduate who is now a Peace Corp Volunteer in Uganda
Zachary Tabb
MUKONO, Uganda (CBS 5) ―
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Zachary with students in the classroom.
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Childern in the community
Zachary Tabb is in Uganda serving with the Peacecorp, working on HIV/Aids education. This is a recent update:
I have been ever lost! It has been many weeks since my last update.
I've had a birthday since then. 24! b-day in Africa. That's never something I thought I would experience.
I've had a few success stories. The first is about a school visit I made one time. I like to walk everywhere in the community, so much so that locals will question why I'm silly (or crazy) enough to walk such distances with other means of transport exist.
So, there is a school I visit that is about 6km from my main trading center. So, one day I decide to do a lesson about child abuse and cross generational sex. These are two major issues here in Uganda.
The students are elementary school students. Nevertheless, they are at risk too. So I do the lesson and it goes well… Later, I was passing back along the school and a drunk man was stumbling down the village path carrying a stick of sugar cane (a treat loved by all, especially children). By his gestures it is evident he is trying to gather the children's attention (for who knows what motives, but probably distrustful ones). In fact, this was exactly an example we gave in our lesson (because drunk men offering children gifts in exchange for indecent acts is not uncommon). But then one of the children said, and this is what blew me away, "No! don't take that from him. Don't you remember what the teachers taught us today?" And the kids stopped, and hurried away; the drunk man stumbled off, mumbling to himself. Bam! just like that, lives changed. A modest example, but it effects me nonetheless.
The other example is from as recent as yesterday, and is a briefer story (and a little of a brag too). I knew before I came that learning the local language would be imperative to my integration and quality of work during my time here. Thats why I try to speak the language often and learn news words regularly. I've just returned from a three day visit to Damba island in Lake Victoria where we conducted a voluntary testing and counseling outreach for HIV…. This village was actually the most rural and undeveloped I've been to, as well as the most unsanitary. Lets just say that there was no boundary between the livestock world and the human world (let your imagination run with that one because its probably not far off). Of the nearly 60 people who showed up, only about 5 knew English (or some English words). I was able to conduct the questionaires, all in Luganda (the local language). Thats more of a person victory, but it felt good to see hard work pay off.
Bulamu
Ntambi
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