Meet Our TeamUganda
As someone who enjoys traveling and learning languages, a volunteer position at IHELP was an exciting opportunity to blend those passions with my public health training. What drew me to IHELP in the first place was how hands-on and community-driven their projects are. Before I ever boarded a plane, I had already spent weeks interviewing Community Health Workers, helping refine the training handbook, and learning about the cultural and structural factors shaping health in Ugandan communities.
IHELP’s model—grounded in listening first, tailoring materials second, and implementing only after months of collaborative preparation—was exactly the kind of public health work I had hoped to do when I decided to pursue my MPH. During my MPH, I spent a lot of time reading about global health nonprofit work and the challenges associated with cross-continental collaborations. One of the biggest challenges is funding and resource limitations that constrain nonprofit work until it is no longer sustainable; so, IHELP’s mission to train Community Health Workers in the skills to serve their own communities was the exact kind of work I wanted to be a part of.
Because IHELP is centered around building strong relations and partnerships with our collaborating Community Health Workers, I prepped for the trip by attempting to learn Luganda, the most common language spoken in Uganda. To avoid an Emily in Paris faux pas, I looked for resources to help pick up the language. Unfortunately, beyond a few YouTube videos teaching greetings and introductions, there weren’t too many learning resources.
However, upon arriving in Uganda, every person was impressed by the effort to greet people in their language–and my interest in learning new words–that I didn’t need to be fluent to make meaningful connections. Every word I could pick out of a conversation, I made the effort to ask our Ugandan partners what it meant in English. I was worried about being annoying, but the health workers were always pleasantly surprised and usually followed up with “you’re basically fluent!” or “you could live here!”
So if you’re traveling to Uganda, the people are incredibly gracious and kind. Remember, the bar is blessedly low for foreigners. So, here are some words to help you make the effort:
- Wasuze otya — Good morning (to one person)
- Oli otya — How are you?
- Ndi bulungi — I’m good
- Ate ggwe — And you?
- Siiba bulungi — Have a nice day! (to one person)
- Sula bulungi — Good night!
Samantha Good, MPH Intern
