Off we go to Uganda, the “Pearl of Africa”!
On Friday, February 2, the day finally came and not only me, but also 11 fellow SAP colleagues from all around the world (Canada, Brazil, US, Ireland, England, Germany, UAE, India, Japan) started travelling to Uganda. After a long application and selection phase this summer, and 7 weeks of pre-work we were ready to roll up our sleeves and commit our full time for the SAP Social Sabbatical Program. This time, SAP partnered up with VSO, an international development organization, to work on the so called SCOPE (Skills and Capacity for Organizational Productivity and Employment) project in Hoima, Uganda.
Uganda — A country somewhere in Africa
To be frank and open, before receiving the confirmation for my Social Sabbatical and the information about the location, I have never really heard anything about Uganda. But since then I have started to find out more about the country, its people, culture and economic situation. The more I browsed through the web, the more I fell in love with its countryside and its diverse wildlife. Even though Uganda is in the midst of Africa, the land is really green and they have a lot of agriculture. I already enjoyed loads of tasty bananas and pineapples J. If you don’t know what Uganda has to offer, I can highly recommend the following website: https://buzzkenya.com/facts-about-uganda/ . You will be surprised how diverse this country is!
High school excursion reloaded
I started my travels right at the end of a busy work week and was picked up directly from the office in Walldorf. In Frankfurt I already met two fellow SAP Social Sabbatical participants at the gate. In Dubai we met additional colleagues for our connecting flight to Entebbe. It seriously felt like a school excursion. All of us were so excited and thrilled for the days to come. Even though we rarely knew each other, it already felt like we had some sort of connection. Our driver was already waiting for us outside of the airport in Entebbe to drive us to Kampala, where we spent our first night before the whole group travelled to Hoima on the next day.
Let the Social Sabbatical begin
After our 4 hours drive to Hoima over several bumpy roads, we had our official orientation meeting and got to meet the long-term volunteers from VSO with whom we will be working closely over the next weeks. On Monday we finally met our “customers”: the three different Vocation Training Institutes to learn more about their expectations towards our role and tasks onsite. This was followed by onsite visits to all schools to get a better understanding of their infrastructure and courses.
Team Bonding
What I definitely shouldn’t leave out to mention is the great social outings we already had over the last couple of days. I have no clue how CSR did it, but I really have to applaud them for the diverse group they put together. I already had so many interesting discussions with my colleagues — not only during breakfast or the long bus drives, but also at night on our terrace J. I am really looking forward to the days ahead of us!
Stay tuned! More blogs will follow throughout the next 4 weeks!
