'Tis the Season

           The idea of a Ugandan Christmas is something I’ve been trying to get used to since I knew my cohort was leaving in November. It's my first Christmas away from home and all of my loved ones. I have been putting this idea off in my mind because for a while it’s been a sad thought. Over the last month since I’ve been in Uganda, I’ve made some truly incredible friends. From the very beginning our trainers have been calling us a family. At first, this was just a nice idea and thing for them to say to us. A sentiment meant to make us feel whole together. However, in my mind, family is a bond that grows over time. It doesn’t just form instantly upon arriving at a hotel to begin the next chapter of our lives. Family is a home for your heart. Family is irreplaceable and completely unique. Yes, family can be broken, but it can also be put back together again.

           The latter is something I feel all 37 of the trainees and I (maybe just me—don’t want to generalize too much) have felt since arriving in Philadelphia for staging back in November. In small ways we have broken our families up as we committed to 27 months of service with the Peace Corps. As long as we are gone, our families are not whole. I have struggled with this since arriving in country. But, as the last month passed, our trainers’ notion that we are a family has become truer as each day passes. We’ve been labeled the “clingy” group (as every cohort has a label apparently). At first I hated that word, clingy. To me clingy is a bad thing, but in our cohort it really means supportive. Being shoved in close quarters with 37 strangers with some of the same end goals in mind, it’s hard not to be supportive. Though we are slowly realizing that our group as a whole is unique in this way (We are one of the first cohorts in a long time that, by this point in training, hasn’t lost someone who has chosen to go home for one reason or another). I feel blessed to be going through this experience with these talented and passionate people who I know will back me up every step of the way. I know it is not by accident that we were put here together, which is why, slowly but surely, our family has been forming.

           Our Peace Corps family, like our family at home, is *irreplaceable and completely unique, it is a bond that will continue to grow, not only over the next 26 months we have left in this beautiful country, but long after we’ve come back home as well. Our family that we are creating here together is becoming a home for our Peace Corps hearts. I hate to already be thinking about when this family will be broken apart. Yet it’s comforting to know that no matter how far apart I am from my family at home or my Peace Corps family, it is bonded again by the love and support that is shared by every individual involved.

          An example of this family bond was experienced by some of us last night. We have been staying at a Primary Teacher’s College in Kira (pronounced Cheera). The students here are tired and at the very end of their school year, but they still have a zest for learning and life that is unmatched by any students I know. After a long year, they still took the time to sing Christmas carols with a small group of us last night. I’d been sick all week long with some food borne illness, yet I felt so uplifted by this experience with the students. The holidays are a time for families to come together. This year, I have the opportunity to become closer to my Peace Corps family, while also sharing this connectedness and uniqueness with my family at home. 

I love you all, Happy Holidays :) Pictures and some videos to come!