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Living in a Culture of Violence

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Living in a Culture of Violence I often wonder what type of person I have become through the experiences I’ve had in Uganda. I am afraid I’ve become someone who is continually dubious of intentions, presumptuous of actions and judgmental of people. I have tried asking myself why I often find myself falling into these easy responses. Why it is that without cause I presume intentions and react defiantly. My easy answer is that violence in Uganda has led me to be more violent. This is false. Uganda is not more violent than the U.S. Ugandans are not more inclined to be violent, quite the opposite Ugandans are compassionate, king-hearted people who will first invite a stranger into their home to share a meal and tea before asking for their name or background. Why then, if the lifestyle and culture in Uganda is not more violent than the U.S. and other places in the world, do I and so many others feel more inclined to be reactive instead of reflective when interacting with other
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Let it be...

Don’t let it be I have let far too many things in this world just, “be…” On Tuesday one of my 1 st grade pupils died. I have another pupil who got a blister from a burn, kept picking at it and it turned into an infected blood wound. I live in a 6-bedroom house by myself while other teachers share similar 6 bedroom homes with two families of 5. My teachers are so afraid of being lynched for the truth that they are having to lie to make their innocence sound more believable. One of my pupils is deaf. His parents send him to dorm at school because they don’t know how to manage his special needs. He is known in the community as being a bad kid because he steals and gets in fights often. The school wants to kick him out, the only restriction being the knowledge that after this he will be living in the streets. I have a girl who comes to my house everyday to talk in hopes that I like her enough to invest in her schooling and sponsor her to get ahead in life. Nayonga died o
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Wakanda, Uganda

Peace Corps Blog 5 Safe Space Guidelines/ Acknowledgements: My blog, my reflections, my words are my own, informed by my experiences, perspectives and ideologies, they do not and should not be taken to represent peace corps, peace corps volunteers or Uganda and Ugandans. I am being vulnerable in sharing my reflections and experiences, however I would like to acknowledge that some of the things I write, and share can come from a place of judgement, privilege and ignorance. I ask you to take everything with a grain of salt and to give me compassionate and constructive feedback to help me understand and realize these things. I would also like to say this blog is not a place for me to lecture, educate or inform the world or a people from. This blog is truly a safe space for me to deconstruct and digest my peace corps experience, solely. Thank you, Wakanda, Uganda Ugandan proverb: “It takes a village to raise a child.” I think European, white colonialist would also agr
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Peace Corps Blog 1

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Safe Space Guidelines/ Acknowledgements: My blog, my reflections, my words are my own, informed by my experiences, perspectives and ideologies, they do not and should not be taken to represent Peace Corps, Peace Corps volunteers or Uganda and Ugandans. I am being vulnerable in sharing my reflections and experiences, however I would like to acknowledge that some of the things I write, and share can come from a place of judgement, privilege and ignorance. I ask you to take everything with a grain of salt and to give me compassionate and constructive feedback to help me understand and realize these things. I would also like to say this blog is not a place for me to lecture, educate or inform the world or a people from. This blog is truly a safe space for me to deconstruct and digest my peace corps experience, solely. Thank you. P.S. Peace Corps loves using acronyms so be weary, I shall try to define and use them as little as literature-ly possible. Post Apocalypse Reflectio
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Day one... actually more like pre-day one so -1? Uganda is already a fruitful experience filled with unimaginable highs, a negative (-1) is nonexistent. This is all for now, a video of our remake of a Taylor Swift song coming soon!!
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