Our travel team returned from Ullo in early January after a successful trip! After this experience, we asked the travel team members to tell us about their time in Ullo.

We will be starting off with Jack Hanley, a senior majoring in civil engineering and minoring in Spanish and economics, and our Vice President of engineering. When he was in Ullo, he was the project leader, meaning he managed the work done, kept track of schedule, managed teams, and coordinated tasks to make sure all the work was done on time. He said that he had no standout best memory from the trip because everything was so amazing the whole time. He did, however, say something he’ll never forget was talking about our clubs’ mission to the community of the Ullo Tradition Area and seeing how excited they got. Something else that impacted him was how similar Africa was to the life he was used to. He was waiting for an “A hah!” moment where the big differences hit him, but it never came. He was expecting to focus on how different life was in Ullo, and instead focused on how life was the same. Some things he took away from the trip is how wasteful we are in America, and how excessive a lot of our material objects are. It was overwhelming for him coming home to a life where people have more than enough outfits for a week instead of just a few pairs of clothes. He’s also more appreciative of having clean, sanitized bathroom facilities everywhere, and he’s more mindful of his water use when doing something like showering and doing the dishes. Finally, he said he learned the best way to help people is by helping them help themselves. Ullo had a big impact on Jack, just as Jack and the work of our club has had a big impact on Ullo.