An Unexpected Journey

I puked.   Not what you were expecting to hear, eh?   It somehow feels like I have successfully completed some sort of right of passage ceremony and now belong to an official club of travelers.   It was not the vomit itself that was the worst part of the experience, though.   I did not want to puke alone.   It sounds strange because most people would want to be alone during such a lowly moment, but I longed for the comfort of someone to be present with me during my feelings of agony.   I wanted someone to care for me.   Instead, I was alone…in the dark…outside with my waste bin and had to pull myself together enough to care for my own well-being.   But was I really alone ? On the way home from my practicum site that same day, I was talking with Jesus.   In the midst of my prayers, I heard Jesus say to me, “Emilia, I will take care of you.   Trust me.”   Though I did not know what it would mean, I decided to trust Jesus to m...

Poverty is a daily reality in my workplace.   However, I would like to go further than the American belief that poverty is a lack of material items.   There is another reason why poverty is so prevalent at my practicum site and its root is much deeper than mere things.   One of the most important aspects to understanding poverty is recognizing the fact that poverty is very cultural.   There are overarching commonalities of poverty within the world, but, as a whole, the way someone should approach poverty is by looking at the cultural context of the poor.   While I will not pretend to be an expert of poverty, I am starting to develop a firm grasp on what poverty means in my work community.   A major cause of poverty within the lives of my clients, who are women, is their gender and the gender roles that are widely held and practiced by Ugandans. The structure of Ugandan culture is tailored to favor men.   Women are often expected to cook, clean...

He came up to me and excitedly greeted me.   He continued to say how happy he was that I could make it to their early morning fellowship followed by another statement that had at first left me confused.   “I have not seen you for three days.”   My initial response is to think, “Oh great, here is another Ugandan man who is attempting to make a move on me.   Why, and how, has he noticed that I have not been around campus very much, let alone for three days?!”   But I chose to suspend my judgment, as we say in my social work seminar class, and take a moment to think about this statement because I was sure he was not trying to passively show his romantic interest.   My neurons made a connection and I realized what this gentleman was saying.   It was his way of recognizing my presence. Ugandan culture seems to be one of presence.   “The core of Africa’s wisdom is that she knows the difference between existence and presence,” writes John Taylor...

The view from the front porch. “This is it.   If I take one more step, it’ll be the farthest away from home I’ve ever been,” says Samwise to Frodo as they venture towards an unfamiliar land.   I love this part in the LOTR fellowship movie because it reveals Sam’s willingness to go beyond the borders of the Shire to remain faithful to his calling.   I am sharing this quote with you because I had a moment similar to Samwise:   Yesterday marked the longest time period I have ever lived outside of the country.   It is a strange feeling knowing that this is only the beginning of my journey, yet it is already one of the biggest journeys I have ever taken away from home. I have successfully completed two weeks of living with my first home stay family in Mukono.   This home stay experience is usually referred to as our “urban” experience, but you would be wrong to think that my “neighborhood” looked like an American suburb.   The location of my ho...

The darkness of early morning greets me as I wake up in order to prepare for the day at my internship site.   I have a long day ahead of me and I am anxious with excitement for what tasks the day will hold.   The drive to my site is bumpy, ( very ) dusty, and, at times, pulse-raising.   Although I have been driving on these roads for a couple weeks, I still am in awe at how individuals are able to drive in such conditions.   Coworker after coworker piles into our vehicle along the way and soon the small space is full of conversation.   There really is no “typical” work day for me, but my mornings have become pretty consistent and familiar. It has been a challenge to figure out “my place” at my internship site.   I was expecting challenges, as with any internship, but the difficulties that I am having here are not at all what I had in mind.   One of the most difficult obstacles to overcome at my internship site is the language barrier between m...

I have been in Uganda for slightly over one week now.   Slowly but surely (the mantra of my life) I am adjusting to the country that will keep me until the end of April.   My first few days were filled with orientation.   Orientation days are exciting and comforting because they remind me of starting college at home and allow me to become more acclimated to Uganda Christian University (UCU).   I have yet to maintain a consistent schedule, especially starting my first home-stay this past Saturday, but I have faith that by the end of the month my life will seem a little bit more normal. It is bizarre to think that anything in this unfamiliar territory will become normal to me in such a short time frame.   In a sense, I have no other way to survive and make the most of my time here than to adapt.   I am terrible at making huge life changes; hence, I am predicting it is going to take me longer than some of my fellow sojourners to become acclimated to U...

You may have noticed that I mentioned the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship at the end of my last blog.   If you did, then congratulations and thank you because you made it all the way through my first post!   This is going to be a tag-line at the end of each blog post, so I thought it would be helpful to give you more of an explanation. The Benjamin A. Gilman scholarship is named after a man named Benjamin A. Gilman, who served in Congress for 30 years.   Gilman was very involved with international affairs and believed that college students should have the ability to study abroad.   As a result of his legacy, the scholarship is funded by Congress and is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The Gilman scholarship is tailored to meet the financial needs of those who would not be able to afford to go abroad without financial assistance.   I would call it a blessing, as I have personally benef...