Life Features: When Dubliner Orla McLoughlin finished her psychology degree in TCD in 2003, she travelled to Uganda to work as a volunteer for eight months, educating teenagers on reproductive health, with HIV and Aids awareness the main focus.
"My basic motivation was that I wanted to live in Africa for a while," says McLoughlin. "The altruistic element was choosing to work for a charity, so I wouldn't just be a spare part. Back then I didn't know of any centralised place to look for information on overseas volunteering, so it was tricky finding the right sending organisation. I was lucky that I fell into the right kind of work - it could've been hit and miss.
"I felt really welcomed into the Ugandan community, and though I enjoyed the work, I wasn't prepared for how hard it would be. There were big lows as well as big highs. It was frustrating sometimes wondering was I making any difference, and it was sad as well, knowing that some of the young people I was meeting wouldn't survive Aids.
"What I enjoyed most was the fact that two of our team of four were from Uganda. Their knowledge was vital - if we'd just been overseas volunteers we wouldn't have known which teaching methods would work in a rural Ugandan community.
"Getting to know people so well really changed my attitude to Africa. I realised that unconsciously I still subscribed a bit to the 'begging bowl' image of Africans, and my stay helped me to rethink that. I saw that Ugandans know better than we do about what they need. Also I saw the strength of the national charities run by Ugandans for Ugandans, which are actually doing better work than the outside ones.
"The most valuable thing I learnt was humility," adds McLoughlin. "It really is important that volunteers go as learners, not as teachers."
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