Staffer: Katie Mossman

www.i-to-i.com/campfire/mozzarella

Hi everyone, I’m Katie and I’m the Customer Support Manager at i-to-i!

I’ve worked here for three and a half years now, but before I worked here I was an i-to-i customer and I travelled to Uganda to teach English for one month in a tiny village with no electricity or running water.

I got the chance to go to Uganda through my University (long live Leeds Met University!) who helped to sponsor me to be part of a Channel 4 documentary that was being filmed in conjunction with my i-to-i project work over in Uganda. Not all of our trips include the chance to star in a prime time documentary but mine did! I jumped at the chance and flew over with four other fellow students from my University.

It was all booked so last minute that I didn’t get a chance to read up about Uganda, three weeks later and there we were, landing in Entebbe airport and being met by our local coordinator, Miha, who was waiting for us and holding up an i-to-i sign. Honestly, all the worries and nerves I had about my trip disappeared when I saw that i-to-i sign and knew I was going to be in good hands!

The four weeks in Uganda whizzed by and I just loved it, I’d never done anything like this before and it was so liberating to wake up to the sounds of drums calling the locals to work, cows mooing outside my window and the most beautiful panoramic scenery – I had the idea that Uganda would be barren and dusty, but I was in a green and stunning part of the world!

Leaving the village and all the friends we made in that time was the hardest thing I’ve had to do and I didn’t think I’d be able to stop crying! Leaving the village and heading to the city of Kampala was strange as we’d gone from feeling part of a community to being a face in the crowd. I felt safer than I’d ever felt living in a remote village as everyone looks out for you and wants to keep you safe, the only threat we had were the cows in the field outside our bedrooms!

When I got back from Uganda I found it really hard to settle back in to life back in the UK. I didn’t realise how much culture shock I’d get from returning back home – I nearly shouted at a toddler in the supermarket for crying when he had everything he would ever want or need! Whoops!

My degree was in early childhood education, but having spent time in rural Uganda and teaching the children who walked barefoot to get to school, desperate for an education, I didn’t feel the motivation to enter the UK education and childcare system.

I did an i-to-i open day to tell other prospective volunteers about how my trip went, and the Managing Director happened to be at the open day and we got chatting and she told me there was a job going at the time! So I started in an admin role in September 2007 and have clawed my way to a customer support manager role! I love talking to you all about your trips and it also gives me a new audience to talk to about my trips I’ve been on, as my family and friends are bored stiff of all the stories I’ve told them!

Since working at i-to-i I’ve been lucky enough to visit Mombasa in Kenya and Honduras in Latin America on i-to-i trips! I’ve built houses, taught English, cooked for 60 children, painted walls, washed clothes, made my own bricks and introduced an English style sports day during my time overseas. I still love a sunbathing holiday but I love the idea of travelling off the beaten track and giving something back to the community I’m staying in! I do think there is a trip out there for everyone to give it a try!

• job
• honduras
• Kenya
• Uganda