This weekend has been the highlight of this trip for me. The group had the greatest opportunity to stay at the beautiful Mburo Safari Lodge. Our accommodations were in small and quaint huts/cabins that had individual porches. The porches gave us access to the view of the entire safari. A view that encompass lots of exotic vegetation, mountains, and other lodges.
Each cabin had its own individual bathroom that pumped water through solar power. Actually the whole Lodge was powered by solar power, which made me impressed by how environmentally conscious Ugandans can be.
At night we were soothed to sleep by the sounds of crickets, hyenas, zebras, and cows. We also encountered little critters, lizards and spiders, in our rooms, to the dismay of some fellow students, i.e. me. Did I mention I am a complete wuss when it comes to bugs? During the day we relaxed in the lobby of the lodge. The calming winds, butterflies dancing around us, and the host answering questions we had about the animals seen around the safari. The lodge provided 3 delicious course meals. They prepared cucumber, onion, and tomato soups to mention a few. I’m usually a picky eater but every meal they served never failed to quench my taste buds. The lodge and the safari were truly a sight to behold which made arriving back to Kampala that much more bittersweet.
Today we were given the opportunity to rest and work on our group projects. Most of us were super tired so we pretty much had a late start but, we pulled it together and got a lot of work done. My group began writing our final report on alcohol counter marketing to youth and managed to almost finish our paper. I can only imagine what other groups managed to get done.
Then we had two wonderful guest speakers deliver presentations. The first presentation was by Anne Gamurorwa the Executive Director of Communication for Development Foundation Uganda. She spoke to us about the Young Empowered and Healthy (Y.E.A.H.) initiative. It was a campaign that reached 15-24 year olds, and it aimed on preventing HIV, pregnancy, and school dropout. Within the initiative they had a campaign called “Something for Something Love”. This campaign aimed to stop transactional sex or engage in sex in exchange for favors, money, or material good. The second campaign was called “Be a Man”. This campaign challenged young men to embrace positive expressions of masculinity that reduce HIV prevalence. It focused on men being more faithful, non-violent, going to counseling and HIV testing, disclosing results, being more caring, and being more respectful. These two campaigns were a few of the many campaigns that were under Y.E.A.H. initiative. Dr. Gamurorwa’s presentation made me rethink ways in which I could approach health campaigns particularly aimed at youth. The second speaker was by Andrew Karemani the lead Creative Copy at SCANAD Uganda. SCANAD is an advertising agency that caters to many organizations like Coca-Cola, and Airtel to name a few. He taught us the importance of not approaching a campaign with scare tactics, but instead using positive and relatable messaging. All in all the day was very impactful.