March saw the return of the annual Xavier Project staff retreat. This year’s retreat took the form of a ‘march in March’, a walk from Fort Portal, near the Ugandan boarder with the DRC to Rwamwanja refugee settlement. Staff from our Nairobi office travelled to Kampala to meet up with members of the Uganda team and together everyone travelled West to begin the march. Over the course of three days the team climbed hills, passed crater lakes and walked through rainforests on the way to Rwamwanja. Along the way there were opportunities not only to talk to members of the XP team but also to meet the residents of the villages we passed through. Upon arrival in Rwamwanja we were able to walk some of the way with our community partners Tomorrow Vijana (Tomorrow Youth) with the walk finishing at their hub in the middle of the settlement that was built in partnership with Xavier Project.
The retreat was an excellent opportunity for members of different offices and departments to get to know each other better, discuss their current projects and share ideas. All members of the team were also encouraged to reflect on the work that we do and why it was so important. The importance of our work was brought home to many as the team walked through Rwamwanja refugee settlement on the final morning of the journey accompanied by so many out—of-school.
The retreat was an incredible experience for all those involved. It provided us with some brilliant shared memories along with the chance for team building exercises that we hope will enable us to work better together in the year ahead to achieve our goals.
