Who am I and what on earth am I doing here?

Hi all!

For readers who don't know me, I’m Vici. Vici from Estonia, who somehow got an idea to go spend some 6 months away from her close ones and move to Africa. To be precise - Uganda. A country of which I’m afraid I didn’t know to be existing until I saw Mondo’s project proposal in my university’s FB group. A university where I hadn’t really learned much about humanitarian aid. To be honest, I think out of all the volunteers presenting Mondo, I’m probably least acquainted with the humanitarian world. After graduating uni, I didn’t have plans like this at all. In fact, I found myself in totally opposite direction - working as a marketing manager of a fintech company that I really enjoyed. So, how come I still found my way here, to Gulu, a Northern Ugandan town, writing a blog post in a laptop powered by solar panels, because electricity has been gone for a week now. 

The thing is, I truly liked the company I was working for but some of that routine made me too comfortable. I knew that comfort zone is something not for me and I started to wonder if corporate life ever was. But funny thing is that once I had admitted that to myself, admitted that I needed a change, I stumbled upon that very same project proposal from Mondo. “Looking for a volunteer with marketing or entrepreneurial experience to challenge her/himself in Uganda from upcoming January to July.” I know it sounds cheesy - if you ask something from the universe, it will give it to you. At this moment it really looked like it, yes. I saw that as a sign and said, “What the heck, let’s try this.” Few days later I had Skype call with Janika from Mondo and Sam from UPA - our hosting organisation here in Uganda.

I remember when she asked, “Do you even understand what you are signing up for?” and I said, “To be honest, I have no clue.”

Although, back then I did not know what do the terms Resilience and Capacity Building stand for, I knew that this project was exactly for me. I loved the thought of making an impact by supporting 4 different beneficiary groups to perform better and more sustainably thanks to my professional skills.

After this everything went fast. I informed my employers and they were awesome enough to encourage me on my decision. With the next 4 months I finished my responsibilities at work, spent lots of time with my loved ones, got vaccinated (and suffered the craziest side effects) and attended 2 trainings for this deployment - The EU Aid Volunteers training in Italy & Mondo’s training in Estonia - which were both amazing! The time flew by quickly and it was time to hop on that plane. It was only then when sitting in that airplane alone, I started to understand what I am about to do.

First days were tough. Not because my luggage got left behind in Amsterdam, haha. I think it was because I have never been so out of my comfort zone. The facilities are not as comfortable as they are back home, the food is not really for my taste buds, diseases are scary and the noise, yes noise, is crazy here. But most of all, I was and still am afraid about my own safety. During the orientation week in Uganda, I got terrified by all the stories that have happened to Mzungus (white people). In the first week I was sure that I will never leave the guesthouse. That was the only place I could feel safe. However, all the volunteers were saying this culture shock will get better and I’ll probably get used to most of it after a week or two. They were right. People do get used to things quicker than I expected. The most important thing is to remember to be conscious of the risks and be smart about them. And I learned that most of the people here are super friendly and nice. In addition to that, I realised that in order to make the most out of this experience, I shall not compare the living conditions here with the ones back home - that will not help me in any case. But hey, as they say, "Life begins at the end of your comfort zone," right?

That is it for the intro. Soon I will write more about the projects that I’m involved with; life of Uganda; why is it called “The Pearl of Africa” and funny stories that are part of an expression called "TIA" - "This is Africa."

Cheers