Juliet (2015)
Juliet
Lots of Ugandans must like Ugandan bread or they wouldn't make it that way, but it's too much like candy floss and cotton wool for European tastes. On the other hand, you don't get too many Ugandans with red hair, so Juliet's is definitely a highlight
Juliet works mainly in NOTDEC Uganda's office, undertaking a wide range of clerical and administrative tasks A lot of her work is on computer and sometimes routine, but giving plenty of opportunities to develop her skills with Excel, Word etc. She also gets involved in some the practical aspects of running NOTDEC Uganda, during my visit helping assess each house's stock of clothing to decide what was too old and tattered and really should be thrown out. Juliet worked well with the house-mothers, and also spoke excellent English, which was fortunate for me!
Inevitably a large orphanage like NOTDEC Uganda also generates lots of humdrum tasks that it would be surprising if anyone actually wanted to do! Juliet is in her first job, so she gets given more than her fair share of them. Canon Andrew Dow's 5-day course King of Kings, for example, ran out of workbooks, so it was scanned in and dozens of extra copies were printed, collated and stapled. Juliet did a lot of the work. Worse still, each day of the course included a break for a biscuit and a "soda". It being dry season, the crates of soda were very dusty and dirty, so all the bottles needed to be washed. And you guessed it ...
Juliet gets a real mixture of tasks, some stretching, some interesting and involving, and some pretty boring. At the start of her career, she is very willing to learn and enjoy where she can, and perhaps also to look forward to better opportunities in the future!
