Author: kwhite

During one of the those first days that we spent in Uganda, we had an opportunity to process, while riding on the bus, a visit we had made to local community where one of our partners  Chandia Kato Charles is the Director of the Twekembe Slum Project. By American standards this community in the Makindye district of Kampala would be a community in need of lots of basic necessities (By American Standards), and not surprisingly this  invokes feelings of needing to do something for this community. Before leaving on this trip our students read an article called “How Not To Save The World” by Lisa V. Adams, published in the Washington Post on March 22. In short the op-ed piece encouraged US students who were studying abroad to reel in their innate desires to do good, to change peoples lives and instead be good listeners, and understand the work and sacrifice that community partners put in to preparing for their visit. The Op-Ed piece was a great read and was the focal point for processing how the students came away from the experience wanting to do something. I started talking about how we could restructure this visit in the future to just spend TIME in the community, assist with things that they identify as a need and for us to practice a concept of “accompaniment” meaning to just be alongside someone, to experience their lives with them. Monica Swahn, my colleague and co-director (and the whole reason we were even able to plan this trip), reminded the students that as public health professionals they could use their education, their expertise, their TALENT, to provided the much needed data and research that would compel more long-standing systemic policy and social change in the community. My mother, Evangelyn Ramsey, then chimed in that making a FINANCIAL DONATION to the organization would of course help the Twekembe Slum Project to continue building capacity and infrastructure in their quest to have an impact on sanitation, education, the protection of children’s rights and developing of life skills. This very organic, non-scripted discussion reminded me of a tenet of my christian beliefs that we can all serve, we all have something to give whether it be our Time, Talent or Tenth (tithe).

As a study abroad director, I have had the opportunity to witness first hand what a life changing experience studying and learning in a different country can have on students and on myself. This trip to Uganda was no exception. Having traveled to South America, Europe and Asia I was accustomed to being focused on learning about a culture of people uniquely and distinctly different from my own, but going to Africa was different. I was going to visit the continent from which my ancestors derived, and I was a scared and apprehensive about what this experience would be like. It is hard to explain, but when I travel to other places, I do not expect to make a connection to where my cultural context comes from, but here..here I felt like maybe I would understand a little better about what my African Heritage was. Maybe I was asking or expecting to much, clearly you cannot make up for over three centuries of lost culture and history in three weeks. Nonetheless there was that longing, that longing to understand to be connected. The trip met some of my expectations about connectedness to Mother Africa, but there are still more questions to be answered. Ubuntu.. for clarification read Samantha Martin’s Post. Weebale (Thank You) “Pearl of Africa”