The Kabubbu trip: helping others and changing our perspective on the world
Maezie Lane discusses the school's latest trip to Uganda, describing how she helped the villagers in Kabubbu build homes, learn English and prepare land, and explaining what the experience has taught her
Many times I’ve heard people tell stories of their travels around the world; they would describe them as inspiring, thought-provoking and life-changing. Whilst I’ve always tried to imagine how they feel, I’ve never really quite understood what they meant, until now.
On 12 February, 24 students and five members of staff from the college headed off on an adventure of a lifetime, to a rural village called Kabubbu in Uganda, with the Quicken Trust. Our journey began with 12 hours of flying, taking us east to Turkey and then south, via Rwanda, to Uganda on the equator. I don’t think any of us realised quite how much our lives were going to change in the next ten days, beginning from the moment the wheels of the plane touched down on the runway, at Entebbe airport. On the morning of 13 February we landed in Uganda and were fully embraced by the love and community spirit of the village of Kabubbu.
Throughout our stay, we participated in many projects supporting the development of the village, which included building a house for a family who were previously living in a mud hut, engaging in literacy sessions with the children at the primary school, learning to prepare land and farm maize, preparing daily assemblies each morning for the children at the primary school, and working with a family to improve their standard of living. These incredible projects allowed us to meet so many wonderful people with kind hearts, stories to tell and such a resilient work ethic.
Not only were we immersed in the development of the village during our stay, we were also engaged in a very different culture compared to ours at home; we rode on boda bodas (which are like motorbikes) around the village; we watched and learnt traditional African dances; and we danced inside the community church. Even though I am not religious myself, seeing and experiencing the strength of the faith in the community was incredibly inspiring.
From my own experiences, returning home from any trip abroad is never easy, but I’ve never longed to be back anywhere so much as I did when I returned home from Uganda. Something that has struck me so much is the culture shock and entering back into a world that is superficially built upon consumerism and materialistic possessions. I think that everyday we are exposed to so much pressure to look a certain way and have certain things that we forget the true essence and love of simply being human beings.
Some of the memories from the trip that will always remain in my mind are the conversations and engagement we had with children and adults from the community. Personally, they taught me a lot about cultural differences and about how sometimes people are perceived differently based upon the way they look, like having a different skin colour for example. However, at the end of the day, human kindness and love transcends physical appearances and I believe we should all embrace our differences, because they are beautiful. After all, wouldn’t the world be such a boring place if we were all the same?
Travelling to Uganda has been an adventure of a lifetime. The trip was filled with beautiful highs, surrounded by amazing people but also held some lows too, as the hard-hitting reality of the poverty and inequality in the world was quite overwhelming to see. If you ever get the opportunity to travel and to make a difference whilst exploring the world, I urge you to do so. There is something so wonderful and heart-warming about experiencing a new culture and meeting new people. It really is inspiring, thought-provoking and life-changing.
Maezie Lane, year 12
Many times I’ve heard people tell stories of their travels around the world; they would describe them as inspiring, thought-provoking and life-changing. Whilst I’ve always tried to imagine how they feel, I’ve never really quite understood what they meant, until now.
On 12 February, 24 students and five members of staff from the college headed off on an adventure of a lifetime, to a rural village called Kabubbu in Uganda, with the Quicken Trust. Our journey began with 12 hours of flying, taking us east to Turkey and then south, via Rwanda, to Uganda on the equator. I don’t think any of us realised quite how much our lives were going to change in the next ten days, beginning from the moment the wheels of the plane touched down on the runway, at Entebbe airport. On the morning of 13 February we landed in Uganda and were fully embraced by the love and community spirit of the village of Kabubbu.
Throughout our stay, we participated in many projects supporting the development of the village, which included building a house for a family who were previously living in a mud hut, engaging in literacy sessions with the children at the primary school, learning to prepare land and farm maize, preparing daily assemblies each morning for the children at the primary school, and working with a family to improve their standard of living. These incredible projects allowed us to meet so many wonderful people with kind hearts, stories to tell and such a resilient work ethic.
Not only were we immersed in the development of the village during our stay, we were also engaged in a very different culture compared to ours at home; we rode on boda bodas (which are like motorbikes) around the village; we watched and learnt traditional African dances; and we danced inside the community church. Even though I am not religious myself, seeing and experiencing the strength of the faith in the community was incredibly inspiring.
From my own experiences, returning home from any trip abroad is never easy, but I’ve never longed to be back anywhere so much as I did when I returned home from Uganda. Something that has struck me so much is the culture shock and entering back into a world that is superficially built upon consumerism and materialistic possessions. I think that everyday we are exposed to so much pressure to look a certain way and have certain things that we forget the true essence and love of simply being human beings.
Some of the memories from the trip that will always remain in my mind are the conversations and engagement we had with children and adults from the community. Personally, they taught me a lot about cultural differences and about how sometimes people are perceived differently based upon the way they look, like having a different skin colour for example. However, at the end of the day, human kindness and love transcends physical appearances and I believe we should all embrace our differences, because they are beautiful. After all, wouldn’t the world be such a boring place if we were all the same?
Travelling to Uganda has been an adventure of a lifetime. The trip was filled with beautiful highs, surrounded by amazing people but also held some lows too, as the hard-hitting reality of the poverty and inequality in the world was quite overwhelming to see. If you ever get the opportunity to travel and to make a difference whilst exploring the world, I urge you to do so. There is something so wonderful and heart-warming about experiencing a new culture and meeting new people. It really is inspiring, thought-provoking and life-changing.
Maezie Lane, year 12