Bug Bites

I have these bug bites on my feet, and they're incredibly annoying. I don't even know how they got there. Like I actually have 3 of them on the sole of my foot. How could a bug even get there to bite me! I don't have any bites anywhere else but like the most awkward place ever (well okay, there may be some worse spots, but I won't go there). Every time I wear close-toed shoes, my feet itch like crazy. And I can't scratch them! It is such a nuisance. I know this isn't the deepest of topics out there, but I want to world to know my frustration.

A few more details

So in this blog post I am going to try to describe my week so far. Man has life started picking up! On Thursday, I went with a man named Alfred to the district of Nakasongola (a two hour drive from Kampala) where Cornerstone’s main school area is. They call it the “Ranch”: it’s basically this large plot of land they own in rural Uganda where they have their boys’ leadership school and a few other facilities. These include a primary school, a secondary school, and a community center. When I got there, I helped teach a Promise Keepers lesson with Alfred, a surprise lesson plan I learned about the day before. After lunch we then toured the area, particularly the room for computers. It is basically confirmed now that I will be teaching computers use and math there. I am not sure the details of the former, but I believe it’s involves basic computer usage and literacy. We then left so that we could get back to the main offices by around five.

On Friday after seeing some more Youth Corp homes (a ministry for street children), I went to a party for Stephen, who just graduated from the university here in Kampala. I have a wedding to attend in an hour. It’s oddly right outside my room – I am watching the people set up right now. Then on Tuesday, I am going to a conference in Nairobi about youth leadership. I will soon be able to add Kenya to my belt of countries visited. After that, I plan to move to the Ranch and start working there.

That being said, there have definitely been times when I feel disoriented and confused culturally. I feel my knowledge is improving. It seems like I have been here for much longer than a week. I hope as I am here longer that time will start to move quicker.

I noticed when I looked at the other HNGR blogs that most of them officially explained what HNGR is. HNGR is a program offered by Wheaton College in which students do a 6-month internship somewhere in the Global South (if you’ve never heard “Global South” before, a simplified definition would be “Third World” – I prefer the term “Global South” but won’t explain why here.) They are individuated internships (I am the only other Wheaton student where I am and working with this organization). There are 21 of us, and we are literally all over the world: Uganda, Peru, Jordan, Philippines, you get the point.

Below is this year’s HNGR covenant, sort of cowritten by all of us HNGR interns:

Heavenly Father,
You are our refuge,
Our very present help in all things.
By Your grace we receive:
pardon for guilt,
freedom from shame,
hope for despair,
joy within sorrow,
courage for fear,
and peace for our anger.

Christ Jesus,
You are freedom for the oppressed
and dignity for the marginalized.
By Your grace, we ask
to join in Your redemptive work and
to carry Your death in our bodies
so that Your life is revealed in us.

Holy Spirit,
You are our strength,
the Sustainer of our Faith.
By Your grace, we affirm that you empower us:
to humbly receive transformation,
to stand alongside those who mourn,
to exalt you throughout the nations.

Holy Trinity,
in unity we confess our brokenness,
Knowing that we find wholeness in You.
Help us to be still and know that You are good.

Be with us now, Lord Jesus.

Amen

I may have some pictures soon. I haven’t really taken any, though at the wedding I am likely to.

First Week

I left for Uganda last Wednesday, so today officially marks the first week of my HNGR internship. I was going to wait to post until I visited what will probably be my field site (which I will do tomorrow), but as the one week anniversary, I feel obligated to write something. This post will be brief though. I am interning with an organization called Cornerstone. Right now I am staying in their headquarters in Kampala (the capital of Uganda), where they have guest rooms. This organization, through a lot of different programs, is geared towards developing leadership among youth in East Africa. They started two leadership academies advanced secondary schools, one for boys and the other for girls. (Advanced secondary schools are schools only for the last two years. This is a simplified explanation. I will probably make a post in the next few weeks just explaining the differences in educational systems, but I will wait until I understand it better myself.) These leadership schools in Uganda, as well as similar branches in Tanzania, Rwanda, and South Sudan, are one of Cornerstone’s most important activities. As of now, I will probably spend my internship at the boys leadership academy in Nakasongola, a rural district north of Kampala and in the center of Uganda.

I have spent most of this first week just seeing what Cornerstone does. On Monday I attended a few meetings. On Tuesday, I looked at several homes for street kids or other “at risk” children in Kampala. The homes are run by university students who act as mentors and are geared towards removing children from the street and giving them an education. This amounted to driving quite a bit of Kampala. I saw eight (out of ten) of these homes, usually spending at least a half hour to an hour in each. It quite the day indeed! Today I went to a meeting in the morning and had the rest of the day off. Tomorrow I will see both leadership academies and spend the day at the boys, another seven hour day. On Saturday I have been invited to a wedding, meaning it will be a full day as well. Come next week, if everything happens according to plan, Cornerstone and I will discuss what I will do for my HNGR internship. I will probably be staying here in the offices in Kampala until next week and then head out to wherever my field site is. I figured I’d post today given that I will be too busy to post again at least through Saturday. I plan to make another post once we figured out what I will be doing and to discuss life in Kampala in more detail. 

First Post

This is my first post. It's mostly a test to see if this website works. I am in Wheaton right now and will leave for Uganda in about a week. It's scary how easily one can just create blog online - how easily one can just ramble on about oneself online.

Anyways once in Uganda I will try to blog when I can. I have no idea how often that is.

It may be smart to explain what I will be doing in Uganda. I am hesitant because I really don't know. I will be working with an organization called Cornerstone Development at one of their leadership academies (secondary level). I won't go into any more details until I am there and have a hope of knowing what I am doing.

I know I didn't say much, but at least now you all know where to follow me. Actual blogs posts will be forthcoming once I get to Uganda.