Global May Uganda Reflection

Jillian Newman

Education Abroad Signature Project

1. For my STEP Signature Project, I participated in the Global May Uganda Education Abroad Experience. I spent a month in Uganda studying human security. I heard lectures from respected professors and professionals, stayed with a host family, and travelled around the country.
2. To say that this experience was transformative is an understatement. From an academic standpoint, I learned so much. The world is so interconnected and every subject interlinks with each other. From this I learned that we are all truly global citizens and things we do affect people across the world. This kind of learning is unlike anything I have ever experienced. Seeing firsthand the effects of colonialism and meeting a group of individuals living with HIV and watching an elephant walk along the banks of the Nile River are things that can never even be adequately described in a classroom. I learned that humans are humans and we are so much more similar than we are different, no matter where we are from. Personally, I learned so much about myself. Being in a new country in new situations with people I didn’t know really forced me to look at myself and how I deal with being challenged. I feel like I know myself better because of this experience. I also made connections with people I would have never met, people who I know will hold a special place in my life for a very long time. This experience transformed my life in more ways than I can describe.
3. It’s hard to pinpoint the exact situations and people that made this experience transformative, because it was really the whole thing. The initial transformative experience was my reaction to being in Africa. In the US, we get a single story that Africa is a poverty stricken continent that is not modern or thriving. We also get the “Africa” narrative that it is all the same, even though it is a huge, diverse continent. As soon as we landed in Uganda, it was apparent that this is not the case. People live very similarly to us and have smartphones and drive nice cars and like to go to the mall with their friends. I felt guilty for being so ignorant about Uganda before I went there. It was interesting to deal with those feelings while learning so much there. It also saddens me that we have such a twisted view of what life is like in Africa and that it took me physically going to the continent to break that view.

   That being said, there are a lot of issues in Uganda. There is poverty. There is corruption. There is sickness. We visited a nutrition unit in a hospital and talked to nutritionists and mothers there about the children. It was very difficult to see, but most children leave the hospital fine and the mothers are taught how to prepare nutritious meals for their children. We also visited The AIDS Support Organization (TASO) and met with the director and nurses and a support group there. We are taught here about how debilitating HIV is. However, it is very possible to live a normal life with the free medication given to those living with HIV. We are taught about these issues in Africa, but rarely are we shown the positive sides like the mothers being taught to cook and the ability to live normally with HIV (because it rarely turns to AIDs with medication anymore). But, these are issues we have in the United States, too.

   The people I met while in Uganda are what really made this experience transformative. The staff we worked with from the School for International Training were amazing. They were there for us whenever we needed it, whether it was a trip to the doctor or helping us lug jugs of water when the water shut off. They went with us everywhere and did an amazing job of facilitating everything. Dr. Fouts, our professor from OSU, was imperative in making this experience what it was. She challenged us, told us what we needed to hear even when we didn’t want to, and genuinely listened to and cared for us. If it were not for her, I’m not sure this trip would have been half as transformative as it was. And last but not least, the people we met while in Uganda were amazing. Everyone was very friendly and willing to help. My host family was so lovely and made sure I had everything I needed and got where I needed to go. The people I met were really who transformed me.

    

4. This transformation is very valuable to me and will be for the rest of my life. I learned a lot about myself. I learned lessons that I will take with me forever. I experienced things I would never have been able to without this Education Abroad. On a professional note, I realized the issues that I really care about and would love to work with. I would love to work for a NGO and I got to see the work of NGOs firsthand and that changed the way I think about charity and people. I also want to travel and I got to meet a Foreign Service Officer from the US. I loved hearing about what she did and it made me feel even more strongly about my desire to travel and help people in my career.