As i mentioned previously, it is frustrating to tell people that you are going to some country that they have never heard of in the middle of Africa. I honestly love telling people I dont know just to get their reactions. But it is hard when your family and friends look at you like you are crazy. I had to argue with my parents for about three years before i could convince them that i was A) smart enough to make the decision on my own, and B) That i wouldnt die if i went.
It's like people (even many of my African born and raised friends) could not understand why i am going. It is hard when at family gatherings my grandmother rolls her eyes and shakes her head and asks what is wrong with me, and why couldnt i go somewhere "normal" like Italy??
I just want people that i know to respect my decision and believe me when i say that i don't have a death wish...ugh
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Monday, June 19, 2006
Frustrations
I would just like to inform everyone who doesn't know me, or much if anything about Africa that yes i do know what i am getting myself into. One thing i HATE about saying that i am going to Africa is that everyone gives me a slightly startled, quizzical look. Most people cannot point out Uganda on a map. Most people still believe Africa to be one homogenous country for petes sake. I did a lot of careful research and planning both in and out of class. I have no more chances of being shot in Uganda than in Chicago.
What makes me the angrist is when people ask me stuff like "do they have TVs there? How will you use the internet?" REALLY?!?! are you JOKING me?? i get so upset, that i dont even want to talk about it here...haha
This does not mean that i think that i will be in glorious heaven everyday and go skipping off doing whatever i want. But i have always been one of those girls who looks behind her whether in a group or alone, day or night. I realize i will have some of the best and worst experiances of my life while i am there, that it will be hard, and that i will learn a lot about myself, Uganda, others and the human spirit while i am there.
I am moving some posts over from my other blog, so that you can see how i have viewed my trip:
Currently i am in the process of typing up a 15-pager on the Congo Free State. If you ever want to get angry at the world, read Adam Hochschild's "King Leopold's Ghost" (haha, as if i needed any more reasons to hate the world...).I just love it when everyone blames shit on "tribal" or "ancient ethnic" tensions...BULLSHIT...why can't anyone say the word COLONIALISM?? I was reading Encarta Encyclopedia today about Patrice Lumumba who was murdered by US CIA agents in the 1960's...and of course they could say NOTHING about how America was involved...Some of my sources for my paper were written in the early 1900's...the racism inherent in them...oh man, it makes me want to be ill. Yes yes, i know it was a "different time" but jesus...
posted by Sharona at 3/15/2006 12:39:00 AM
Afrika
about 5 months till i go to Uganda. Is it bad that i am scared to death?? I have been so excited for so long...i dont have expectations...i dont know what it will be like there, so i dont feel like i have expectations...my fear stems more from...i have literally been in love with Africa since my sophomore year of high school...and trust me, i havent been in any relationship that long haha/ I have loved africa for so long that i am worried i will go there and hate it...and all of my life dreams/ goals/ ambitions will have been for naught. My parents make me feel like a loser for wanting to go in the first place, so if i hate it, i simply prove them correct.Which i simply refuse to do.I just wanna know that all my years of research and study weren't in vain!! oh! please don't have let it have been for nothing!
posted by Sharona at 4/04/2006 03:49:00 AM
What i Am scared of, as i mentioned before...is that i will get there and find that something i had been planning on and loving and longing for will show itself to be something that i should NOT have been excited about...more later!
What makes me the angrist is when people ask me stuff like "do they have TVs there? How will you use the internet?" REALLY?!?! are you JOKING me?? i get so upset, that i dont even want to talk about it here...haha
This does not mean that i think that i will be in glorious heaven everyday and go skipping off doing whatever i want. But i have always been one of those girls who looks behind her whether in a group or alone, day or night. I realize i will have some of the best and worst experiances of my life while i am there, that it will be hard, and that i will learn a lot about myself, Uganda, others and the human spirit while i am there.
I am moving some posts over from my other blog, so that you can see how i have viewed my trip:
Currently i am in the process of typing up a 15-pager on the Congo Free State. If you ever want to get angry at the world, read Adam Hochschild's "King Leopold's Ghost" (haha, as if i needed any more reasons to hate the world...).I just love it when everyone blames shit on "tribal" or "ancient ethnic" tensions...BULLSHIT...why can't anyone say the word COLONIALISM?? I was reading Encarta Encyclopedia today about Patrice Lumumba who was murdered by US CIA agents in the 1960's...and of course they could say NOTHING about how America was involved...Some of my sources for my paper were written in the early 1900's...the racism inherent in them...oh man, it makes me want to be ill. Yes yes, i know it was a "different time" but jesus...
posted by Sharona at 3/15/2006 12:39:00 AM
Afrika
about 5 months till i go to Uganda. Is it bad that i am scared to death?? I have been so excited for so long...i dont have expectations...i dont know what it will be like there, so i dont feel like i have expectations...my fear stems more from...i have literally been in love with Africa since my sophomore year of high school...and trust me, i havent been in any relationship that long haha/ I have loved africa for so long that i am worried i will go there and hate it...and all of my life dreams/ goals/ ambitions will have been for naught. My parents make me feel like a loser for wanting to go in the first place, so if i hate it, i simply prove them correct.Which i simply refuse to do.I just wanna know that all my years of research and study weren't in vain!! oh! please don't have let it have been for nothing!
posted by Sharona at 4/04/2006 03:49:00 AM
What i Am scared of, as i mentioned before...is that i will get there and find that something i had been planning on and loving and longing for will show itself to be something that i should NOT have been excited about...more later!
SIT
As previously mentioned, I chose Drake because it had many excellent study abroad options; i could go places like Tibet, China, Thailand, Nepal, Uganda, South Africa, Ghana, France, italy Spain (etc) and get college credit for it. The reason i chose to go through SIT is that they had programs with themes like "Development Studies" "Conflict resolution" "Peace Studies" in which case you use thw whole country as your school. Instead of just sitting in my classes in Iowa and learning about development, or going to another country and taking History 101 and never learning the fundamentals of where i am living, i get to do both.
The hard part is explaining what i am doing to while I am there. This is difficult because quite honestly I am not very certain. My programs course of study is international development. We look at the World Bank and IMF, the Graemeen Bank (which is awesome)...basically look at how Uganda can be become self sufficient without becoming a mini-America. I live with a host family for 6 weeks, which i am very scared of. I am afraid that i will have to keep my luggage locked due to prying eyes, and that they will be strict and not let me go out with my friends, and enjoy the complete spendor of my time there.
I will learn a tribal language, Luganda, but the main language spoken in Uganda is actually English, so communication shouldn't even be aproblem until my rural homestay. I will spend a week living out "in the bush" carting water and lighting lamps for light. While there I will spend some time in Rwanda. How long i am (of course) not certain, but i look forward to going to some genocide memorials (as much as one can truely look forward to something so brutal). I have read about Rwanda for a very long time now, so it will be good to see such things. I will most certainly cry like a little girl, but that is to be expected.
For the last month or so of my stay I was required to design a project that both interested me, and connected to the program topic. Knowing me and my love of refugees, i am certain that no one is truely surprised when i say that my topic is focusing on refugees. Sudan is directly to the North of Uganda, and Sudan, with the highest displaced population in the world, has citizens that spill over into Uganda seeking refuge. The norther part of Uganda has been home to an insurrection for a long while; Sudan sponsered rebels in northern Uganda (The Lords Resistance Army or LRA), which has created a horrible Human Rights catastrophe, because the LRA captures children (called night commuters--look that term up on the BBC world service, good info) drugs them up, forces boys to become soldiers and girls to become sex slaves. The drugs make it hard for people to escape, practically ensuring that the children do as they are told.
My project is to look at refugees from the perspective of a host country-Are the Sudanese welcome in Uganda, because they are most certainly not in Egypt (Sudans northern neighbor). Do refugees feel welcome in Uganda? that type of thing. During this time of my trip i will be allowed to get an apartment or other such domicile with friends from the program.
I hope that answers peoples questions about what the heck i am doing there!
The hard part is explaining what i am doing to while I am there. This is difficult because quite honestly I am not very certain. My programs course of study is international development. We look at the World Bank and IMF, the Graemeen Bank (which is awesome)...basically look at how Uganda can be become self sufficient without becoming a mini-America. I live with a host family for 6 weeks, which i am very scared of. I am afraid that i will have to keep my luggage locked due to prying eyes, and that they will be strict and not let me go out with my friends, and enjoy the complete spendor of my time there.
I will learn a tribal language, Luganda, but the main language spoken in Uganda is actually English, so communication shouldn't even be aproblem until my rural homestay. I will spend a week living out "in the bush" carting water and lighting lamps for light. While there I will spend some time in Rwanda. How long i am (of course) not certain, but i look forward to going to some genocide memorials (as much as one can truely look forward to something so brutal). I have read about Rwanda for a very long time now, so it will be good to see such things. I will most certainly cry like a little girl, but that is to be expected.
For the last month or so of my stay I was required to design a project that both interested me, and connected to the program topic. Knowing me and my love of refugees, i am certain that no one is truely surprised when i say that my topic is focusing on refugees. Sudan is directly to the North of Uganda, and Sudan, with the highest displaced population in the world, has citizens that spill over into Uganda seeking refuge. The norther part of Uganda has been home to an insurrection for a long while; Sudan sponsered rebels in northern Uganda (The Lords Resistance Army or LRA), which has created a horrible Human Rights catastrophe, because the LRA captures children (called night commuters--look that term up on the BBC world service, good info) drugs them up, forces boys to become soldiers and girls to become sex slaves. The drugs make it hard for people to escape, practically ensuring that the children do as they are told.
My project is to look at refugees from the perspective of a host country-Are the Sudanese welcome in Uganda, because they are most certainly not in Egypt (Sudans northern neighbor). Do refugees feel welcome in Uganda? that type of thing. During this time of my trip i will be allowed to get an apartment or other such domicile with friends from the program.
I hope that answers peoples questions about what the heck i am doing there!
Thursday, June 15, 2006
A bit
Here's a little on how i got here:
When i was a sophomore in high school...well actually the summer prior to my sophomore year...i heard Desmond Tutu speak. I thought he was a cool enough person that it affected my whole life. In a history class in my sophomore year (2000-2001) of high school, a teacher assigned the class a project designed to get us to read the paper.
Essentially we each took a section of the world and had to get newspaper clipping on that section. I, deciding that i liked Desmond Tutu, and knowing only vaguely about "AIDS issues" chose sub-saharan Africa. Suffice it to say, as you may have guessed, that ONE assignment changed my life. (Corny? Yes, i know)
My senior year, i took a class called Human Geography AP. it was a very exciting course (read Jared Diamond's Guns Germs and Steel), and my teacher Mr. Ian Duell (who now teaches in Indonesia; he is a fantastic educator, and his blog is AMAZING, click here: http://www.indobaja.blogspot.com/) both helped me learn a lot more on the subject of Africa in a non-dreary manner unlike the media, and suggested that I intern at World Relief.
World relief is a not-for-profit Christian organization that helps resettle refugees. I did some basic data entry for them, and helped at an after school program with refugee children. I worked with a young girl from Bosnia. I didn't like the church quite honestly; i didnt feel that Refugees needed to worry about a bunch of crazy white people evangelizing at them. But it was a good experiance all in all.
I picked Drake because when i had my first visit i stayed overnight with a girl, and we hung out with a guy from Zimbabwe and som other international students, and i knew that i wanted a lot of diversity. That isn't quite what i got, but ah-well. I also picked Drake because they had GREAT study abroad programs.
At Drake (in college for those who have no idea what "Drake" means), i started taking political science courses focusing on the international scene. i took what Africa courses i could, in addition to courses like "International Development and its Alternatives" and "Grassroots Globalism." Somewhere in there i also "threw-in" a history major.
My sophomore year at Drake i started working with Lutheran Services of Iowa. I was hired (which, as my first titled position, was AWESOME) to be the Program Assisstant in charge of childcare. I ran a room for 3 semesters that was topsy turvey with languages (Primarily Arabic, but Dinka, Nuer, Muhbahn etc), and both Christian and Muslim students. That same year i focused on Sudan in my "UN/ Global Power course" and wrote a 20 page paper on Sudan's history. Dr. McKnight also allowed me the great honor of lecturing to one of his classes my junior year, which got me really excited to share my passion with others. many of the students (I hope) thought the presentation was decent at least, and many asked questions. I now want to be a professor haha.
I had planned to go to Uganda through SIT Study Abroad the spring Semester of my Junior year (2006). Unfortunately or luckily, depending on how you look at it, SIT is very popular and the program was filled several months before the deadline. So I embark now.
When i was a sophomore in high school...well actually the summer prior to my sophomore year...i heard Desmond Tutu speak. I thought he was a cool enough person that it affected my whole life. In a history class in my sophomore year (2000-2001) of high school, a teacher assigned the class a project designed to get us to read the paper.
Essentially we each took a section of the world and had to get newspaper clipping on that section. I, deciding that i liked Desmond Tutu, and knowing only vaguely about "AIDS issues" chose sub-saharan Africa. Suffice it to say, as you may have guessed, that ONE assignment changed my life. (Corny? Yes, i know)
My senior year, i took a class called Human Geography AP. it was a very exciting course (read Jared Diamond's Guns Germs and Steel), and my teacher Mr. Ian Duell (who now teaches in Indonesia; he is a fantastic educator, and his blog is AMAZING, click here: http://www.indobaja.blogspot.com/) both helped me learn a lot more on the subject of Africa in a non-dreary manner unlike the media, and suggested that I intern at World Relief.
World relief is a not-for-profit Christian organization that helps resettle refugees. I did some basic data entry for them, and helped at an after school program with refugee children. I worked with a young girl from Bosnia. I didn't like the church quite honestly; i didnt feel that Refugees needed to worry about a bunch of crazy white people evangelizing at them. But it was a good experiance all in all.
I picked Drake because when i had my first visit i stayed overnight with a girl, and we hung out with a guy from Zimbabwe and som other international students, and i knew that i wanted a lot of diversity. That isn't quite what i got, but ah-well. I also picked Drake because they had GREAT study abroad programs.
At Drake (in college for those who have no idea what "Drake" means), i started taking political science courses focusing on the international scene. i took what Africa courses i could, in addition to courses like "International Development and its Alternatives" and "Grassroots Globalism." Somewhere in there i also "threw-in" a history major.
My sophomore year at Drake i started working with Lutheran Services of Iowa. I was hired (which, as my first titled position, was AWESOME) to be the Program Assisstant in charge of childcare. I ran a room for 3 semesters that was topsy turvey with languages (Primarily Arabic, but Dinka, Nuer, Muhbahn etc), and both Christian and Muslim students. That same year i focused on Sudan in my "UN/ Global Power course" and wrote a 20 page paper on Sudan's history. Dr. McKnight also allowed me the great honor of lecturing to one of his classes my junior year, which got me really excited to share my passion with others. many of the students (I hope) thought the presentation was decent at least, and many asked questions. I now want to be a professor haha.
I had planned to go to Uganda through SIT Study Abroad the spring Semester of my Junior year (2006). Unfortunately or luckily, depending on how you look at it, SIT is very popular and the program was filled several months before the deadline. So I embark now.
Hello!
Hey there, my name is Sharon.
I am a senior at a Univerity in Iowa, the USA. I have decided to spend my last semester of college abroad. But i chose Uganda. Heres my trials and tribulations, along with my most excellent adventures!
I am a senior at a Univerity in Iowa, the USA. I have decided to spend my last semester of college abroad. But i chose Uganda. Heres my trials and tribulations, along with my most excellent adventures!
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