Monday, March 22, 2010

Resilience

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit the sub county of Awach. Erin, Lindsay and I were escorted by the War Affected Children’s Agency (WACA) to witness traditional dances and songs by a youth and orphanage group. Although we stayed longer than expected the experience was amazing.

Most if not all of these young people have been directly traumatized by the war.

The video would not upload, but the pictures explain themselves ….


































Sunday, March 21, 2010

Traveling the Span of Uganda in One Week: The Faculty Mentor Edition

Honestly, I think we traveled the span of the country in one week.

(from the south) Entebbe --> Kampala (to the north) --> Gulu (and then more north) --> Kitgum (which happens to be 40 miles from the border of Sudan!!

What’s the reason for all this traveling? … Well, I’m glad you asked!

Before my departure for Uganda, my faculty mentor Dr. Rosalind Hackett and Erin’s faculty mentor Dr. Tricia Hepner made plans to visit us during UT's spring break. Erin and I were pretty excited about their arrival.
Then as the weeks passed and we realized “Hey, our professors will be here in 2 days!” we began to panic. Had we done enough research/field work to receive their stamp of approval? Had we made significant progress in their eyes?? Did our data and efforts reflect what we reported to them through email??? ….

Then there was a little thing that I like to call “ The Hackett Effect” … Only few students have experienced it- the exhaustion, the non-stop moving, the begging to take a nap! All the things you become familiar with when you have the pleasure of spending time with Dr. Hackett in Africa. She’s amazing. She has more energy than any two people and she can keep going past the average person's limit … so, let’s just say the effect is real … and I’m a survivor ;)
We couldn’t have accomplished more in one week than if we had brought an official delegation of people from UT.

BUT moving on. The activities of the week: The girls and I made the trip down from Gulu to Kampala by bus. Thanks to the incredible planning skills of Lindsay, we arranged transport and hotel accommodations for our awesome professors, and then we picked them up from the airport on Friday night.

The following morning we spent the entire day in the comfort and homey environment of the hotel’s dinning and living room area. Many friends of Dr. Hackett’s and The Jazz for Justice Project (JfJ) stopped by, including the co-founder of the Northern Ugandan Girls Education Network (NUGEN), Betty Udongo. We managed to only leave the hotel at the day’s end to have dinner. And boy was that a TREAT! I think we must have found the BEST Mexican restaurant in all of Kampala “Lotus Cantina!" So that was our first day. Things only picked up from that point. In six days we managed to meet with representatives and staff from Refugee Law Project, Gulu University, the Institute of Peace and Strategic Studies and Gulu University’s chapter of the Rotary Club. Not to mention the great meeting we had with Gulu’s LCV Chairman and presidential candidate, Norbert Mao.

Next, in what I like to call HIGHLIGHTS of the week: All the different types of cuisine we enjoyed! If it wasn’t Mexican that first night, It was Turkish on Saturday, Indian on Monday, Traditional (Ugandan) food on Wednesday, Ethiopian on Thursday …but some of the best food of the trip was traditional, served to us at Bishop Ochola’s home in Kitgum.

Still with all of that, the most wonderful development of the week came out of a board meeting with Gulu University deans, faculty and staff. After three very lengthy meetings, a partnership was struck between GU and UT. The first installment of this partnership is an international service and study aboard program that would take place as early as next summer in Gulu! From there, we hope to open a formal exchange program between students and allow faculty from UT to come and do guest lecture series. Everything is still in its infancy, but the commitment is there from both parties.

As a student who came here independent of a study abroad program, I welcome the idea of more UT students participating in international service learning. I’m overjoyed to share the gift that is Uganda with others. And what an unbelievable gift it is.


P.S. All that worrying that Erin and I did was for nothing. They were very impressed (phew!) and everything worked out :)

Busy Week. Big Results. Great Memories

1st Picture: War Memorial in Kitgum
2nd Picture: A school that was destroyed and abandoned during the war. Took this picture on our way back from Kitgum- the school wall is riddled with bullet holes
3rd Picture: 3 lovely little girls coming home from school right next to the Pincer office
4th Picture: The Professors standing on the hill of a Catholic Church overlooking Kampala- Breathtaking view
5th Picture: Lindsay, Erin and I at the Miracle Center Church
























Saturday, March 20, 2010

Too Little Time … So Much To Do


Some updates on my research for all you academics out there! “Eh em” (Clears Throat)


There has been a slight change in plans BUT everything is still on track thanks to the “pow-wow” between a creative team of faculty mentor (Dr. Hackett), committee member and faculty advisor (Dr. Hepner) recent college scholars graduate (Lindsay), honors anthropology student (Erin) and northern music artist (Jeff Korando) …


I’ve gained a better focus and I am still operating under the program I designed for College Scholars: “Post-Conflict Education.” But for the purpose of my time here I will be studying Peace Education in Schools- specifically the implementation of “Peace Clubs” in primary schools and the integration of a peace education curriculum in the secondary schools


Peace Education is a broad term, but it is used to describe a range of activities including promoting peace and nonviolence, teaching conflict-management skills and encouraging tolerance in schools and the community.


My initial comparative study on NGO, local and foreign educational programs was a little too broad for the time that I’m here. The good thing is, is that I have a ton of background information for my focus and a large pool of connections to help me visit schools where there is a peace education curriculum. AND even greater, the agency that I volunteer for, The Pincer Group International Limited, is the group that established “peace clubs” in primary schools! Can you say divine appointment?!


So YES, research is going well … so well in fact that I might stay a little longer … till maybe around mid July …


A change in plane ticket may be on the way!

Atye Ka Kwano Leb Acholi


I am Learning Luo …

For the past week Erin, Lindsay and I have been taking Luo language lessons- one hour, every morning. Luo is the predominant language spoken in northern Uganda. For this region of the country there are three main dialects: Acholi, Langi and Nebbi, which happens to also be the name given to the people here. It gets a little confusing but Luo is of the Nilotic language family and it’s even spoken in parts of Sudan and Kenya!

It’s just more exciting to learn in this setting than to sit in a classroom following a generic curriculum.

I’ve always had trouble learning Spanish back home. I would learn a long list of vocabulary words and conjugations, picking up tricks here and there to help me remember … but the drive wasn’t there. Even having a Mexican-American best friend to talk with didn’t motivate me! My frustration with moving at the same pace as every other Spanish class fueled my desire to learn a different language. We were never allowed to slow down for a section that was giving us trouble or speed past those things that we already knew. If you weren’t on the same page as the other classes, you weren’t following the rules. My instructors didn’t have the freedom to use their own teaching styles which made me feel constrained … When and if they did deviate it was like a breath of fresh air, but most of the time if was like Charlie Brown’s teacher [insert sound effects here].

BUT I haven’t given up on Spanish, especially when Luo sounds so much like it (with a little French and Chinese twist) it’s so interesting!

Being immersed in the Acholi culture has given me a real advantage and a huge opportunity to learn more than I ever would in the classroom.

When I can get up every morning, a little past sunrise, and have the coolness of the day usher me to my lessons … When I can say “Wan Nen” to my friends instead of “See you later”… And when I can be set apart from all other foreigners because I’m simply trying to learn … It just feels right.

And it’s more fun!

I’ve found that truly learning a language creates laughter … and I’ve smiled more and more since starting my lessons :)


Image: Sunset in Gulu