So, this is my first shot at blogging. We'll have to see how this goes. I am going to try to post once a week, but lack of internet and power outages are common in Jinja, so if I miss a week please do not get worried! This is going to be short and sweet because I need to get some sleep before we embark on our journey tomorrow. This past week in Chicago has been insane...mostly in a great way. Beginning last Friday, myself and give or take 70 other students have been taking classes for 12 hours a day. The two courses were International Development and Communications. Both of these courses have taught me an immense amount about the world, myself, and teamwork. I not only learned about Asset Based Community Development, but I also learned about team dynamics and working in a group. We were not afraid to challenge one another, and I am really excited to work with me team when we get to Uganda. Unfortunately, my Lusoga (dialect spoken in Jinja) is not quite as strong as the other skills that I developed this week.
Tomorrow at 4:15 pm myself and about 17 other students are boarding a flight to Amsterdam, and from there we will catch a flight that will be arriving in Entebbe, Uganda. The next 48 hours are going to be filled with exhaustion and anticipation (and reviewing many many phrases of Lusoga). I am trying to let go of my expectations that I have, but it is genuinely difficult to do that. All I know for sure is that I am about to begin an amazing journey, and I couldn't be happier. The NGO that I am interning with is called Busoga Trust and it's headquarters are in Jinja. It looks to be a great organization that does a lot of critical work with clean water in the rural areas of Uganda (http://www.busogatrust.co.uk/).
Also, I am going to be living with a family! My host "mom" is a grandmother, who from what I can tell, lives with her children and grandchildren. She has five grandchildren ranging in ages 8-20. I am so happy that there are going to be younger kids running around, but also kids my age who will be able to show me around. And they have a chicken coop which will be really interesting. I have no idea if they have electricity, plumbing, running water, etc., but I'll find out soon enough!
All in all, in this past week has been an extremely fun experience, and I know it will only get better from here. It has been refreshing to see 70 other students getting excited about the same things I get excited about, and every one of these 70 people have been some of the smartest, nicest, and most down to earth people I have ever met. I cannot wait to meet the people in Jinja, because I have been told that they are also extremely hospitable and friendly people.
That is all for now, and the next time I will be posting will be from Uganda!!!
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