Seminar of a Lifetime!

Have you even been to a seminar in America? They can be very informative and helpful but are not always the most exciting thing. They probably have everything planned out to a tee. The keynote speaker, the band (if there is one),  the individual who is going to dismiss everyone for lunch, what time lunch is, and chances are they will begin within ten minutes of the projected start time.

That’s not how it goes here. I just got back from the Child Protection and Safety Seminar and for all of you math majors out there, Uganda Seminars > American Seminars.

This seminar was full of dance, praise, laughter, genuine people, and issues both prominent and important to the community. I knew things were going well when we did a dancing train around the conference room as our post-lunch energizer.

It was a three day seminar, so the first day, it was decided who would do what. The group decided who the facilitator (or MC) would be each day, who would be the time keeper, the band, who would be the scribe and who would keep track of when tea and meals were ready. They didn’t stress about these things before hand but instead trusted that people would utilize the gifts God has given and just let it be, baby! It was really refreshing. I think when we slow down it becomes easier to appreciate the beauty in the people and places around us.

If you are a social work student studying abroad, this is basically a dream come true. As I mentioned in my last blog, St. Peters, (not St. Andrews haha) the sight I am working at is a branch of Compassion International. So this seminar was a group of about 70 Compassion workers from around our area who are currently working in Child Protection.

 I went with three other American USP students, and we were able to see the core issues of child abuse from the workers themselves. Whether it be lack of reporting in the community, trouble within the system or even just a lack of understanding from the parents, many of the issues were universal and things we deal with in the United States.

Some of the topics covered in the seminar were: the effects of child abuse, international instruments available to Uganda regarding the protection of children, biblical foundations of child protection, child protection from a police officer’s perspective, responding to abuse, preventing child abuse and the role of parenting in the prevention of child abuse.

The best part of the seminar was all of the great people who welcomed us. Today marks two weeks since I left the airport in America and since I have arrived I have been warmly welcomed by so many people!

My new friend Grace sat next to me on the first day and took me in. She is truly beautiful and has one of the greatest smiles. She would explain things to me when they were hard for me to understand, laugh with me and shared with me her passion for protecting children in the community. It was sad to say goodbye, but hopefully I can visit her Compassion sight sometime this semester! Thank you Grace for sharing tea, lunch and life with me!

The next two weeks I will be staying with a host family in Mukono. Its been great so far! Stay tuned J

Greetings from Uganda!

The air is fresh, the pineapple is sweet and the grass is greener than I could have ever imagined. I have arrived to Uganda safely and I feel honored to be able to make this place my home for the next four months.

My plane ride was good. I lost the motion sickness wrist bands my parents gave me I had so I tried to sleep a majority of the ride (don’t worry Mom and Dad I found them yesterday in my bag!) It was fun maneuvering the different airports knowing my final destination was Africa! It was long but the classiness of Brussels Airline really made up for any time lost.

For those of you who do not know, I am doing my senior social work internship through the Uganda Studies Program in the city of Mukono, Uganda. I will be here for the next four months trying to figure out the culture, making Ugandan friends and hopefully rocking out my internship! I am staying at Uganda Christian University living in the dorms, so I will get that legit Ugandan college experience everyone dreams of when they are young.

I have been here for four days and I really have been in awe the whole time. I have seen so many new things in the past four days, its quite amazing. The culture is different here and will take some adjusting to but the heart of Uganda is pure, genuine and warm.

Our first full day here we were in Entebbe staying at a nunnery. We decided to go exploring and see what local life was like. We walked around the village and saw kids, huts, cows, and beautiful people. Many of the locals waved to us after we waved first. The kids were not shy so they would yell “Muzungu!”  and wave to us. Muzungu has a few meanings; it could be just white person, rich white person, or dumb white person. Really, I have fit under all three categories at some point in time. We spent time with some of the kids for quite a while and when it was time to go we held hands with them and carried their water jugs back to their home. I loved them.

I found out my internship yesterday and I am beyond excited! I will be working with a site called St. Peters (I still have to get the full name haha) which is a branch of Compassion International. I will be working in the Child Survival branch in the before and after care of pregnant women in the community. My first day is tomorrow; I’m feeling excited/nervous/curious and straight up blessed to be working with this population.

It is mango season in Uganda!! I had never tried a TRULY fresh mango, so yesterday I went with a group of USP students to go looking for mangos after class. When we were standing by the mango tree probably looking lost and confused, trying to figure out what mangos we could eat. We met a local guy walking by who told us we were welcome to the mangos. He then asked the people who were shaking the branches to share their mangos, they did and they were delicious! So sweet, right off the tree and full of flavor. One of the students later told us that only the weird people on campus eat the mangos off the tree….so I probably will buy my mangos from the market from now on.

I can now see why people love Africa so much. I can understand why Alison talks about Uganda in 65-80% of her conversations. I can see the heartbreak, poverty, and hurt which is countered by the hope and inspiration of the people. Right now I understand so little, if anything about this country, but I am looking forward to what kind of adventures come my way.