Hi, I'm Elly. I volunteered in Nakalama from January to April 2015. I celebrated my 22nd Birthday when I was out there. I was in Nakalama with Ella from the UK. Joe and Juliet lived with us too. Our team leaders - Tara and Peter - lived in a gorgeous home stay in the same village.
Now onto the ICS experience:
The answer to that question is YES!
You will learn a lot about yourself and be taught a lot about the world on your trip. In no way is this a one-way educational experience. You won't even realise what you have learnt until you get back to the UK and one of your friends comments on their weight, hair or latest iPhone. At that moment you are likely to lean over to your phone and Wattsapp an ICS buddy to say "Remember that time..."
Whatever you are running from or hoping to find - you will find something completely different from what you were expecting. "Africa" isn't really what you expect - every time you go round a corner it will surprise you. It's not the basic, starving population you read about - people have iPhones, facebook, instagram. In the towns, they wear Billabong, listen to One Direction and have Cadburys. But in the village you will see people without shoes or children brought up without money - the most important thing is not to pity them - they don't want it.
Now, when you are in the village the accommodation will be basic. Not straw or mud hut basic but no running water, maybe no electricity, and wildlife haven basic. My 'house' (concrete room) was at the bottom of the accommodation scale. We didn't have electricity, our squat toilet was full, we didn't have windows in some rooms, we had over £200 worth of stuff stolen and we had 'flesh-nipping' ants and 500 bats to contend with. But despite that you learn to not care, or just get used to it pretty quickly. Honestly I really miss my bucket showers - they were way better for the hair, used less water and were a lot more refreshing. *Note: most volunteers had beds, windows, electricity, food and nothing stolen - ours was the exception not the rule*
In the village you will at first be a celebrity then you will become a friend. You are treated with the utmost kindness and respect, there isn't a moment I worried about my safety. Whether that was walking down a deserted dust track at 10pm or going to talk to 25 laddy and slightly intimidating boys. The one time I was slightly worried a boy ran out his house and offered to walk me home. They truly want you to be safe and care about you the same as all their neighbours.
They also trust you and that is one of your greatest resources. Our neighbours trusted us to look after their six-month-old baby on regular occasions and in return they vouched for us and advertised our events. You need people to trust and respect you - the reason behind many features of the 'code of conduct'.
That is not to say that you will not have difficulties with the culture. For us these came in the charity HQ or with our Ugandan counterparts but they are quickly overcome and you learn to defend what you believe in. This actually was a pretty good learning curve for me - if you believe something is wrong tell them and they are likely to listen.
Now down to what you will spend your days doing. You will be in school teaching about health, business or agriculture, you will be travelling to rural youth groups and teaching a pretty similar syllabus and you will be organising events. But this is just a very small amount of your time. A vast amount of your time is spent planning these things, building up long-term alliances with politicians and new schools, and just getting out into the community and spreading the word.
After your first month you will want to take initiative and get out a bit more. By my third month I spent my weekend off travelling around different charities in the area and seeing what they did and how I could help, this resulted in me running a health class in an orphanage, doing social media for a women's charity and helping two footballers from my village get a job with a sports charity in the nearby town. My English counterpart learnt how to make recyclable sanitary pads and then taught the girls in our community how to do that so they could stay in school. You have the opportunity to make even more of a difference if you just jump out and do it.
My main tips for your ICS experience are:
1) Pack all the toiletries you will need for three months - you will need to bring them. Especially sun cream, insect repellent and pads/tampons. Try out the lush shampoo and conditioner bars.
2) Write a list of what you want to achieve every month and then go and try and achieve them.
3) Don't see anything as a barrier. If you want to do it then find a way to do it. I am talking charity and work wise here - your insurance will not cover somethings for a reason :)
4) If you are home sick at the start - I was seriously bad for over a month - hang in there. Use your support network at home and find somewhere more you in the community - eventually you will find your niche. For me the football teams, for others the local cafe. People out there aren't that different so if you can find your niche in the UK, theres one for you there too. Even if you don't find your niche in the UK, you are very likely to find it there.
5) Finally immerse yourself in the culture. If you treat this as a holiday or a trip, that is what it will be. The moment you start making friends with the locals and just hanging out with them you will see the real problems they contend with. It is more inspiring and informing and makes you a lot less homesick.
6) Practice your twerk - dancing is a way of life in Uganda and be prepared to laugh at yourself. We don't have the natural junk in the trunk if you get what I am saying.
It is an amazing experience in a beautiful country and will change how you look at things forever. I hope you have an amazing time and if you want any more advice let me know x
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