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