Undergraduate students will partake in a service learning trip to Uganda this summer.

Eight students were selected to live and work in the Kamuli District of Uganda for six weeks, with their main focus on improving the lives of residents in rural Africa.

The trip is headed by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Associate professor Tom Brumm, professor Gail Nonnecke, professor Richard Schultz and lecturer Dorothy Masinde will be accompanying the students to Uganda.

Nonnecke said Ugandan beneficiaries of the ISU projects would include five schools with about 3,000 students and 25 teachers.

Becca Clay, sophomore in agronomy, is one of the students selected to participate in this service learning project.

Clay first heard of the opportunity during a lecture about the work previous students had done in Uganda.

“I was there to learn about their projects and more about what was going on for development in other countries,” Clay said. “They started talking about the actual service project and I decided that would be interesting if I could do that.”

This annual program started in 2005.

“It also just sounded like a really fun experience,” Clay said. “Everyone I have spoken to that went last year said that it’s an amazing experience, and they are completely different people because of it.”

Hannah Darr, a sophomore in global resource systems and another student participating in the trip, explained that she learned of the opportunity through an email sent to her by her advisor.

“I’ve always just kind of had a passion for Africa, and I’ve always wanted to go,” Darr said.

There are many activities for student volunteers to complete, along with students from Makerere University in Uganda, to benefit the residents of the Kamuli District.

One of the projects is helping at a community garden to grow food for the local residents, Darr said.

Clay explained that while the main focus will be creating a school garden, there will also be other side projects including beekeeping, working with health and sanitation, and agroforestry.

The volunteers will also teach at a school that serves students in grades one through seven.

“We’ll teach some typical academic courses and then also some sanitary courses,” Darr said. “And a little bit of first aid that they can take home to their families.”

Clay said math, science, reading and agriculture will be some of the subjects taught at the school.

Both Clay and Darr said they have a passion for helping others.

“I want to study soils and find the best way to maximize the benefits for small farmers so that they can support their families,” Darr said.

Clay explained that the work she will be doing in Uganda is similar to work she wants to do in her future career.

“It sounds cheesy,” Clay said, “but I would like to help the world out in some way. I feel like this would be a great way to get my foot in the door with traveling abroad and working in development, specifically the sustainability part of the development there.”

Students traveling to Uganda this summer had to meet certain criteria for selection.

Clay explained that for the application, she wrote answers to various essay questions, including one about how she would adapt culturally.

Participants in the service learning project expect to encounter unfamiliar living conditions, like limited access to running water and electricity.

“Sure, I have reservations,” Clay said, “but I’m mostly just really excited.”

Darr said she is also excited about being immersed in a different culture.

“I think it will open up a lot of different views on the world that I haven’t seen before,” Darr said. “And going from Ames, Iowa to Uganda is quite a change.”