Back from Ullo: Reed Duncan

Reed is a sophomore majoring in business management, global marketing, and international business, and he is our club’s recruitment chairman, as well as our shea project lead. While he was in Ullo this summer, he was in charge of the shea nut project, as well as taking photos on the trip and contributing to the clinic project. His favorite parts of Ullo were the food, the culture, and the people. Everybody there was extremely welcoming and inclusive to our travel team members. While he did love most of the food they ate in Ullo, his very low spice tolerance prevented him from loving all the food, such as the spicy ramen noodles. Reed was expecting to see a lot of malnutrition, clay and straw houses, and people crying for help. While he did see some of this, what he noticed more was how happy everybody was with what they had. They don’t need anything more; they just need what they have. Reed says he would gladly go back to Ullo without hesitation. He says the trip helped him fully understand EWB’s mission. Even with working at a national level with EWB-USA, he didn’t have a full understanding of EWB’s mission until after he went on the trip and saw the community he was helping with his own eyes. His biggest takeaway from the trip was how useless a materialistic culture like we have in America is, and how you can be content and happy, even with what little they had in Ullo. He’s also excited to try out some new recipes he picked up in Ullo. Even working at a national level, it was hard for Reed to understand all of the work he did for EWB. Now that he’s seen how much his work matters to the people of Ullo, his only hope is that he’ll be able to go back and help again.