Make an impact and experience an extremely hospitable and beautiful country!

I can only join company with the former reviewers and absolutely recommend this program! Your experience will be unique for the following reasons:

1.) You will make an impact: you will work in whatever field you chose (in my case Micro-Finance) at a small village close to Fort Portal. You will immediately realize that you can structure your project in the way you want and that you are granted huge responsibility in working with the locals. This is great as it is YOU who people will listen to! At the same time, you can always talk to ASTCF representatives if there are any questions (they have a lot of very helpful experience)
2.) People actually want to learn from you: This should not be taken for granted. Especially at the beginning, people were very sceptical of anyone coming into the village. By promoting the living conditions of people, ASTCF has made sure that people will welcome you with open arms, listen to you and try to learn as much as possible. They will ask critical questions, but that only shows that they really listen to you!
3.) Extremely structured program and great people: ASTCF representatives are extremely well structured, on time and always happy to help you with whatever issue there may be. Apart from that, you can have great conversations about any topic (culture, religion, beliefs, etc.) with them! You will laugh a lot with them!!! In general, it is extremely pleasant to stay with them (they give you time to relax, but talk to you any time you want) and they are incredibly hospitable. I believe that this is a huge advantage of this program as you really don't have to worry about anything at any time!
4.) You can use the weekends to explore Uganda and its sights: There is a lot of nature to see! You can take the time to visit any place - this may not be very cheap, but definitely worth it.

By now, it should be obvious that I really enjoyed my time in Uganda. I strongly believe that I really got to know the country and made an impact at Kahangi Village - thanks to ASTCF!

Of course, it is still important to keep some things in the back of your mind.
1.) Accommodation is (for European standards) obviously simple, but you will have water and electricity MOST of the time! The rooms are extremely clean and you will not have to worry about insects, dangerous animals or whatsoever.
2.) People in the village may seem to disrespect you initially since they are not on time, very slow and may seem not to focus at times. This is something, which was - at the beginning - very frustrating to me! After three weeks, however, I could ask them questions and realized they have understood and listened to me most of the time! Not all of them, but the vast majority! People are really thankful for your time and will eventually do whatever you recommend (if only you convince them)!
3.) Finally, be open to this experience! What I think is great is that you have the whole day to experience Uganda and help a rural community! At night, you can backtrack, process your experiences, just have some time for yourself, go out or do whatever you want!

I can only thank everyone at ASTCF for giving me the opportunity to make an impact and being so hospitable at all times! If you have any questions or if there are any uncertainties regarding this program, you can also contact me any time. I was obviously also concerned about some things before coming to Uganda, but it turned out that I did not have to worry about anything!