First Week in Bwindi Impenatrable Forest

Hello, I am Der, yet another Canadian yuppie who just can't bear the thought of staying home. Which is why for the second year in a row I have decided to go work abroad. The first time around I was posted to the "not so war torn country afterall" location of Hanoi, Vietnam. Now I am writing from the misty mountain forests of Bwindi National Park in southwestern Uganda.

About my work?

I am a what the Canadian government calls a young professional, someone whose graduated from university and looking for work experience. The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) funds volunteer placements around the globe where young talented Canadians like your truly are dispatched. The Netcorp program sends young IT (information technology) dudes and gals to help NGOs in host countries establish their computer systems and train people on basic function. This is a mouse, double click to open an application. Upload pictures on to harddrive. This is the stuff the average Canadian kid takes for granted. In anycase, I am under the auspieces of VSO Canada (Voluntary Service Overseas) an NGO hell bend of providing human resources in the form of actual humans and their knowledge rather than material resources. So instead of getting 15 new laptop computers, a NGO in Uganda can expect 1 Canadian yuppie (me) to train their staff and lecture them on what antiviruses and USB sticks are.

I am Der....reporting from the edge of the Bwindi National Park near the Impenatrable forest..home to half the worlds gorilla population. In the coming months, I hope to share my experiences and views and pictures and anything else that can transmitted via satelite internet from the middle of a remote, isolate valley to you. I hope to enlighten people about Africa, share tips on managing a computer class in the middle of no where, and above all inspire people to go out and see the world. But at least, you should be made aware of what goes on in places not so close to your backyard. So damn right, your lucky that internet doesn't transmit STDs.