Welcome to Uganda!!!

I have arrived safely in Uganda on Monday morning. I was greeted by my host counselor Ronald at Entebbe. It wasn't hard to spot him with his Paul Harris Fellow pin and Peace Through Service pin on his suit jacket lapel. My dad had travelled with me to see what all the hype over Uganda was all about, so the three of us travelled to my host home until I find a flat of my own. Florence, another Rotarian, was kind enough to open her home to me and my dad. We greatly appreciated it since we had a long layover in London.  We were able to see the marathon and even saw Uganda win it's first gold medal in years (talk about making history)! We had no idea as we were watching the event that it was history in the making or even that the man leading the group was Ugandan! He was running quite fast at the 40 kilometers mark. In fact, Ronald was the one to deliver the news that the Ugandan Marathoner had won gold. Such an exciting moment for the country.

After resting for a few hours, I was soon off to meet my host rotary club and the District Governor (DG) Geeta. She is called the Alpha and Omega because she is the first female DG for the 9200 district and will be the last DG for the district because starting next Rotary New Year (July 1, 2013) the district will be split into two. My host Rotary club didn't waste anytime with a service project. I was instantly taken to a water pump that had been installed and was to be officially open to the children at the school once the DG blessed it. What a way to kick off my scholarship year, Aye? The DG is such an encouraging woman and I can tell that she is a huge inspiration to many female rotarians in the district and rotaractors.

The next morning, my dad and I accompanied Florence to Kabale. Florence works for a nonprofit organization that helps young school girls go to school.  She works directly with the girls but more so with the teachers and volunteers that try to solve issues of girls education.  Right up my alley! so I decided to join her for her travels for work every now and to assist my research on gender equality and culture.  This is also a great opportunity to see the country side and the entire country.

In one of the towns, I was able to sit in on the trainings and listen to some of the issues presented to the females.  These issues are so interesting yet sad!  The most basic physical barriers or cultural barriers (which aren't simple most of the time) can cause a female student to not attend school.  From listening to Florence and the teachers/volunteers, I have been thinking that this would make a good service project.  But I'm going to think about it more and see how feasible it is with one the local rotary clubs.

The gender issues are so evident in Uganda.  I had almost forgotten the major differences that the genders have in the rural areas.  Traveling outside of Kampala has been a great experience and I look forward to travelling to the rest of East Africa in the district as well. My dad had the opportunity to see the many people of Uganda - from the city to the rural areas. He left on Friday morning and says he will be back. I'm glad he enjoyed himself and seeing the Pearl of Africa has inspired him to do some great humanitarian work. I hope that my experience in East Africa opens many people diversity of the world and inspire them to help those in need.

This first week has been so eventful, I can only imagine what the next 10 months will be like.