Wednesday

Wow! Today was amazing. We arrived into Gulu late last night and got settled into our home. We live at a compound type place that has two buildings. In the main building there are rooms for the girls and common areas and then the guys are in a back building that just has bedrooms and a shower room. Short hall (going pee) is just done outside behind the house and long hall (going poop) is done in the pit latrine (literally a whole in the ground). I am realizing very quickly the great caliber of the individuals I will be working with this summer--both American participants and Ugandan natives. I am so happy and so lucky to be here. I know I say this each summer, but I really think this truly will be the greatest yet. I am learning so much about education, development, social justices, cultures, agriculture and myself. Today we went on a tour of the Invisible Children (IC) offices here in Gulu. I’ll be honest, since taking my non-profit and international development courses at the Bush, I have doubted that there is actually an NGO that really does everything right and is legitimate, but IC is pretty dang close. There are a few things that I’d like to learn more about, but all in all, IC is amazing. I was most impressed by the people we met. They all were absolutely genuine and dedicated individuals. There are over 90 employees in country and only four are American. Their human capacity is by far the driving force of this NGO. The mission of IC states it is an organization focused on helping war-affected Ugandans by improving their access to education and innovative economic opportunities. There are four main aspect

s of IC: Legacy Scholarship Program (LSP), Schools for Schools (S4S), The Teacher Exchange (TeX) and Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA).

LSP gives scholarships and mentoring to roughly 750 secondary and university student from Northern Uganda. What I love most about this program is the mentoring that is provided to the students. This psycho-social counseling helps students who are orphans, heads of their households, formerly abducted returnees, students infected with HIV/Aids or child mothers. LSP also provides extra-curricular activities--sports clubs, debate tournaments, academic seminars and essay competitions. I really like the idea of introducing the idea of SAE’s to the ag students. I know that I was directly benefited from this mentorship and encour

agement in my projects at home.

More to come on the others.

Thursday

Wow! Today was another amazing day learning more about Ugandan education. Our first discussion we were taught some basics of the Luo language by Alex (Keyo) and Little John. It was amazing to listen

to Alex. He had a perma grin from ear to ear and just a light in his eye. He was so happy and proud to teach us his native tongue. The official language in Uganda is English, but their local tribal language here in the Acholi region is Luo. The next session was about school systems in Northern Uganda. There were several take-aways. Their primary sch

ool is 7 years long (primary 1 - 7), their secondary school is for four years (senior 1-4) and then there are two years of advanced secondary school (senior 5-6). Students do not advance tot he next grade if they do not pass their third term. It is possible for siblings to pass each other and for ages to vary even between ten years all in the same grade. Primary schools are subsidized by the government and so there are more students including girls. Secondary schools are less supported-subsidized by the government and there are less and less students, especially girls (pyramidal shape). I am very intrigued and excited to get into the classroom and see it first hand. The last session after lunch was about teaching and living through the conflict. This session was presented by Calistas, Jennifer and Katy. In 1986, the conflict began in Gulu with the first LRA rebel forces. Calistas tells of being in the classroom when he

heard the first gun shots. Jennifer was with her two boys when they heard the first gun shots. She knew that there was a threat in her small village and so she was working to prepare food for their departure. When they heard the first gun shots they were not ready and just had to leave without their food. She grabbed her two boys by their hands and starting run into the bush. After running for a while, another woman grabbed one of the boys and they were both able to carry one and run faster.

They ran through the night and when they stopped the boys would not stop crying. Jennifer went out and dug up raw cassava for them to eat. Katy was only nine when she heard the first gun shots. She was staying with her aunty at the time. Her aunty gave her a pack to carry that had sword in it and they began to run. Not to far into the bush, they were captured by the rebel forces. They searched everyone and found the sword. As soon as they discovered it, her aunty disowned her. They threatened her that anyone with a sword as such would be a collaborator with the government and be killed. They demanded her to tell them who had given her the sword so that they could kill that person. She said she did not know who nor what she was carrying. They continued to demand of her that she tell them, but she would not. They lined up all the women in the group so that she could identify the person. She looked right past her aunty and cried that she did not know. They told her the only reason they did not kill her was that she was a young girl. All three of their stories were moving and intriguing. I just cannot believe that I am her working with these people who have recently lived though a war of conflict against rebel forces. It reminds me so much of visiting Cambodia and the reality of the devastating affects that come from bad men.

Friday

Today we started with a discussion on the ethics of aid. It was a pretty amazing dialogue about several of the issues I have thought about since several conversations this past year at the Bush School. We looked at a couple of articles together called To Hell with Good Intentions and Serving with Eyes Wide Open. Many people come here to Uganda with great intentions and even the resources to make a difference, but there are many also that do not take time to truly assess the needs of the people and provide a sustainable service. After our discussion I had a chance to visit a bit with Catherine (the TeX director) about the idea of providing so much service/charity/relief abroad when we have so many disparities in our own country. I really appreciated her response. In her opinion, people have differing passions and desires and their interests lie differently. There are people (like myself) that are interested in travel and learning about different cultures, some are interested in the work that can be done within their own country. I am not saying that I am not, because I am, but my I am definitely so intrigued and interested in seeing the world and learning from different cultures of people. She kinda described it as some people are interested helping humanity out as a whole and others have strong nationality, passions and desires to help out within their own borders. You can’t tell someone who really wants to be a doctor that they have to be a lawyer and just the same you cant be pretentious about people who desire and prefer to interact on a global level. I am supper grateful that I have desires to do both. All I know that is I

must do something and if I have the ability and opportunities to travel abroad now, I can’t let it pass me by.

So the African aroma... (Ashton you know what I mean). It is amazing how quickly I have grown used to it and don’t even notice it nearly as much as I did when I first arrived. 45 minutes on a boda boda each way each day to my school may change my mind :)

Tonight we got to meet our Ugandan partner teachers!!! I am so excited! I will be working with two teachers in Keyo. One is an older gentleman named Silvio (Muze). He has been teaching for 35 years and pretty much is ligit. The other guy is named Ojera Alex. He is younger and was Silvio’s student back in the day. They both are very excited to have me teach with them at Keyo. Keyo is an IDP camp that has turned into a village. It will take us about 30 - 45 minutes to get there each day on a boda boda. I plan to do a video blog one day going out! It is going to be amazing to work with these two teachers and also the students at Keyo!

Oh yeah and I think I have received my new Acholi name...Ocen (pronounced O-chen). It means second born of twins, but has to be confirmed by the students.

I read this quote last tonight and I don’t really understand it yet, but I am excited to think on it and my experiences here.

Leonardo Da Vinci “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

It came from a talk by President Uchtdorf talking about the the Lord’s plan for us...the path is narrow and straight, but it is designed for us. Whether I am American or Acholi, the Lord has a plan designed for me and it is simple. Their lives are very simple and I am a bit jealous!