Volunteer feedback

A volunteers view – Ankit Mohata

Myth is….Uganda is just another country in motherland Africa.

Fact is….. I had the awesomest (yes that’s a word in the dictionary) time of my life back there….more than on a Saturday night in London for the least and that could not have happened if it was JUST a country to exist.

My definition of service became even more clearly defined after I learnt what volunteering actually meant for the children in the school. A volunteer in the school is not just another person who is there for a short time out of empathy to help them come up in life or teach them something new, for them a volunteer is someone who instills things which matters otherwise from career in life.

Things like life, passion, happiness, the joy of sharing, belongingness and celebration of being alive which these children feel enriched with after every volunteer has left. That’s what they made me feel when I was there. Be it the people, the places to see, the things to experience, the extraordinary currency rates, the FOOD or the amazing hangout places, definitely will change your way of seeing things from a perspective I never knew existed as it did for me.

I still miss the place and most of all the people whom I worked and played with whilst my stay there. It was once in a lifetime opportunity for me considering 90% of my life is occupied with my struggles of early teen life in a university doing a business course and I thank god every time I hear of Africa for taking that step.

Not only did my experience in Uganda provide food for my mind, intellect, belly etc., but I believe provided food for my soul as well. So much to learn and so much to explore in that amazing place, wonder what it must be for people who are living there.

Given a chance again I would love to go back and refresh some of that stuff which I miss the most, the amazing friends I made, the life changing work I did, the love I felt, the service, the happiness and most of all….feeling alive and living.