What do you get when you collect 47 young professionals from the corners of the African continent (and one who was there in spirit but is currently in California), 4 spirited PiAf alumni, 2 enthusiastic PiAf staff, and 1 founder and board member? The Princeton in Africa mid-year retreat, of course! Last week, PiAf spent 5 glorious days basking in good company and Nile-side sunshine in Jinja, Uganda. We shared the good stories and the bad, the frustrating and the uplifting. Though we'd only ever all been together at our orientation in early June, it felt like an instant homecoming seeing familiar faces and relaxing into the only 46 other people that can truly understand what this fellowship year has been for me. This year's fellows are placed in over a dozen countries and working on issues ranging from shea and cashew production in Ghana to food distribution with the World Food Programme in Uganda, South Africa, Rwanda, and Malawi to teaching students in Botswana to administering care to patients in Tanzania, Lesotho, and Botswana. Fellows deal in Excel sheets, video equipment, poop, and high-level meetings. I am in awe of these men and women, their strength, compassion and constant desire to deliver their absolute best, no matter the circumstance or challenge. The retreat was the rest I didn't know I needed and the step back that's allowed me to step into these last 6 months with a gusto.
The picture above shows (starting top left, clockwise):a bus-full of fellows heading to Lake Victoria for the day; me and Christina being goofy seat buddies on our way in from the airport; a 'Rolex', a Ugandan specialty with egg, onion, and tomato wrapped in a chapati (Rebecca and I brought this delicacy back to Denis the Menace); a busload of fellows on their way to Jinja from the airport; and Lake Victoria, in all its splendid, watery glory.
