-
All opinions expressed are solely those of Laura Bach and do not, in any way, reflect the viewpoints or opinions of Peace Corps and/or the United States’ Government.
-
Per Peace Corps’ recommendation, posts and pictures should obscure locations and names as much as possible to respect individuals’ privacy and protect my security.
-
Posts and pictures should work to promote a thoughtful, balanced, but generally positive understanding of Peace Corps, Uganda, and Africa.
-
Posts and pictures should remain professional in acknowledgment of my role as an employee of the United States’ Government.
If you feel that a post or comment does not adhere to these ground rules, I encourage you to let me know. I’m sure I will make mistakes, so please don’t feel hesitant to share your opinion!
Thank you for your help and understanding. Please enjoy the blog!
Mission & Ground Rules
Hello all!
Welcome to Bring Uganda Home, my humble blog created to:
-
Chronicle my Peace Corps service as an educator in Uganda from 2016 – 2019.
-
“Bring Uganda Home” and educate Americans about Uganda
-
Challenge the pervasive, often negative, perception of Africa.
In order to understand the posts in my blog and the ground rules, it is important to understand what this blog is meant to accomplish. The first goal seems fairly straightforward, so I begin with the second and third goals of my blog.
One of Peace Corps’ three goals is to “promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans”. I came into Uganda with little to no idea what Uganda would be like, and I have been so grateful to learn about and appreciate Uganda firsthand. I would like to give others the same opportunity. For this reason, I intend for this blog to not only be a place to record my thoughts regarding my time in Uganda, but also a forum to educate other Americans about Uganda and, in that way, “bring Uganda home”.
“Educating others” about Uganda is a tritely phrased goal given the amount resources already available with which an interested individual could educate themselves about Uganda. What I mean by educating about Uganda is better explained in the context of the third goal: challenging how many Americans perceive Africa (and by extension, Uganda).
I would like for this blog to address a common American narrative of Africa: The association of Africa (as a whole) with disease, poverty, and war. My time in Uganda has profoundly impacted my perception of this narrative and forced me to re-evaluate many of my own assumptions regarding Africa.
I want this blog to focus on the often overlooked and underrepresented narratives of Uganda and, by extension, Africa. For that reason, although yes, of course I have been exposed to varying extents to the stereotypical traits of an African country (they exist in every country), it runs contrary to the third goal of this blog to reinforce negative stereotypes already associated with Africa. Consequently, I will attempt to curtail, as much as possible, such subject matter.
Do I sacrifice accuracy with this mindset?
​
Perhaps.
​
Is that OK and maybe even beneficial?
In my opinion, yes.
First, I don’t necessarily believe posts that consciously focus on the positive are inaccurate. I think they account for the fact that many people disproportionately fixate on the negative. Trying to balance out that tendency may even give a more accurate picture of my experience here.
Second, given that many individuals (myself included), have for so long heard such a decidedly negative narrative of Africa, I think opting to focus on the underrepresented aspects of Uganda is useful in a macro sense: It helps re-balance the perception of Africa in a meaningful way; it adds a missing perspective. A perspective needed to elevate the conversation about African past caricature and stereotype to one of a continent and its story.
With this in mind, on to the ground rules!