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.