I first met Peter Yeomans (“Beloved psychologist for veterans dies suddenly at 58,” Sept. 10) in 2003 when he led us to Bududa, Uganda, for a work camp to start a vocation school for children orphaned by AIDS in a small rural village in Eastern Uganda on the slopes of Mt. Elgon.
It was a Quaker-led journey, and Peter worked with David Zarembka and the Quaker organization, African Great Lakes Initiative (AGLI). Peter had been previously to Rwanda, working with AGLI helping with the victims of the genocide there. While in Rwanda, he had met a Quaker pastor, George Walumoli, and George …
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I first met Peter Yeomans (“Beloved psychologist for veterans dies suddenly at 58,” Sept. 10) in 2003 when he led us to Bududa, Uganda, for a work camp to start a vocation school for children orphaned by AIDS in a small rural village in Eastern Uganda on the slopes of Mt. Elgon.
It was a Quaker-led journey, and Peter worked with David Zarembka and the Quaker organization, African Great Lakes Initiative (AGLI). Peter had been previously to Rwanda, working with AGLI helping with the victims of the genocide there. While in Rwanda, he had met a Quaker pastor, George Walumoli, and George had requested that Peter come to his village and build a vocational school for the children.
It was July 2003 and there were six of us. For me, it was more than memorable. I had never been to Africa, never worked physically with Africans, and loved every minute. We learned so much about each other in this adventure. Most of the villagers we were working with had very little or no experience with white people, “muzungus,” and most of us had never been to Africa and certainly had not dug the foundations of a school with 35 strong young Ugandan men.
That was the beginning, and it was Peter who started it. I was captivated and have not stopped being involved with this project since Peter led us there in 2003. David Zarembka was a fine leader also who made us aware that this project was not a “one-way street.” We had to be aware of what we were getting out of this, and he wanted Ugandans to come to the west as well as Americans going to Uganda.
In 2026, we have a fine vocational school in Bududa, Uganda, teaching bricklaying, tailoring, nursery teacher training, carpentry, hairdressing, motor mechanics and agriculture to over 250 students. The school is registered with the ministry of education in Uganda and therefore has to teach English, Swahili, computer sciences and entrepreneurship. It all started with Peter, and since 2003, we have had over 150 visitors from all over the western world but mostly from the USA and Canada come to help and witness, and most of them have stayed involved in some way.
Thank you, Peter Yeomans.
Barbara Wybar
Chestnut Hill
