Goodbyes As A PCV

This past weekend as a friend left to go back to head back home, I got thinking about friendships, relationships, and goodbyes.

Goodbyes are not always fun and most of the time they just plain outright suck but they tend to suck more when you are a long term volunteer serving in a foreign country. After roughly about ten months here in Uganda, I can say that because I have seen a lot of short-term volunteers come and go in a matter just ten months and I guess you could say it is a challenging aspect of being a Peace Corps Volunteer. Most volunteers come and go here in Fort Portal every three, six, or 12 months, they come to Uganda from all over the world for various reasons: touring, internships, research, working, filling a gap year, serving as a doctor or nurse, being invited by a friend, getting over a divorce or life issue, or just volunteering their time. There are so many different reasons and so many interesting people with so many different backgrounds, skills, and identities.

Ex-pats (people who are not Ugandan by birth) tend to stick together, we build relationships or friendships, we hang out together, host dinners or BBQs, we play Frisbee, or just chill drinking a milkshake. We become friends. It is very difficult to be an outsider or Ex-pat in an African country and no doubt other countries as well that you need these relationships to help keep you stable as the months go on.  We have good laughs, deep conversations, and a lot of joy is exchange but all most come to an end and they return to their lives...everyone but me. I am here for 27 months maybe even more as I am currently thinking of staying longer in Uganda and I am starting to realize how it might feel to be a Ugandan seeing so many people come and go over the years and most Ex-pats will never return to Uganda after they finish their time here. Most Ugandans will never have the chance like I do to see many of these volunteers again in the near future. What it must be like year after year to see people come and go while you stay put?... What a world volunteerism is…. This weekend also made me realize for the first time in my service here how hard it might/could/possibly be to say goodbye in 17 months (I am tearing up right now even thinking about that day when I leave and everyone I will have to say goodbye to). When you think a goodbye is going to be easy it ends up being one of the hardest thing you ever do.

But there is a bright side to all these depressing thoughts… There is Facebook and email!!! Many of the younger Ugandans are starting to get the hang of the technology world and are starting to keep more and more in touch with Ex-pats (I will say they have not mastered web etiquette yet but we will let that slide for now). This is such a beautiful thing, which I am very grateful for because I am not sure what it would be like if I was not able to call home, email a friend, or stay in contact with people I know.

I am so grateful to have met so many wonderful people from across Asia, America, Europe, and especially here in Uganda. No matter how hard it will be over the next months to say goodbye and greet the new group of Ex-pat volunteers and say goodbye to them and repeat it all over and over again until I leave, I will continue to make friends no matter how short they are here for because you never know who might impact your life.