I've just spent a year as a volunteer in Uganda. And it has made a big difference to my life. I had lived a very quiet life in England. I had never left the country, never been on a plane even. And suddenly there I was on a plane and landed at Entebbe Airport in 40℃. I was met by an old man, and then taken into the bush. It was quite an amazing change — not like anything I had ever met in England.
In fact, at the beginning I was very homesick and I just wanted to go back to England, to my friends and family and the life I knew so well. But very quickly I became very interested in what I was doing and by what I was able to offer. People had so little there, and I was able to help them in some ways. It completely changed my life.
The people I was with didn't have much money, but their lives were rich in other ways —family life was very important. But living in the bush was difficult; we were fifteen miles from the nearest post box and fifteen miles from the nearest road. The village was right on the banks of the Nile.
I worked as a doctor seeing about sixty people a day in a small village. The main problem was that there were almost no resources（资源）. That made the work very difficult. But there were good things too. I made some very good friends during my time in Uganda.
