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Life in a new place is always a bit of an adventure because of all the unexpected things that happen, so I’ve come to accept that I should only be surprised if there is ever a day when there is nothing unexpected that comes my way. Here’s a bit of a snapshot of some thingsContinue reading “The Unexpected is to be Expected”

Learning your way around in a new country is hard, so enjoy some of the laughable situations I’ve encountered along the way… After calling my coworker “Godwin” for three weeks, I found out his name is actually “Gordon”. But in the Rukiga accent I’m still convinced it sounds like everyone is saying Godwin. The firstContinue reading “Blunders and Mishaps”

This was really hard at first. My first few weeks were unbearably lonely because no one could understand my accent, I could barely understand theirs, and communication was just so difficult and exhausting. I could barely greet someone without being misunderstood, so forget about trying to vent more complicated concerns, questions, or frustrations. It’s amazingContinue reading “Making Friends”

Outside of my internship, I’ve been keeping pretty busy! Some of the things I’ve been up to… Church Activities: I attend a small church plant on Sunday mornings (PAG Rwakaraba) where a lot of my coworkers attend. The rest of them go to the main church (PAG Central), located near the office. On Wednesday nightsContinue reading “Life Update”

An update of my first month: The internship got off to a slow start (by American standards), which I was told to expect, so most of what I did included sitting in on various meetings to try to learn more about the CDD (Community Development Department), and go on field visits to get a glimpseContinue reading “Internship Update”

I’ve realized that I keep mentioning Ghana in talking about Uganda because it is my closest reference point, so I figured I would dedicate a post to some comparison of the two. I’ll likely continue to add to this post as I keep learning more. Keep in mind that most of my experience in GhanaContinue reading “Kabale vs. Accra”

I had the honor of attending a Giveaway last week at the church. To the best of my understanding, it is part 2 of 3 of the marriage process. Step 1 is the Introduction, where the families of the bride and groom meet together and negotiate the bride price. The bride price is not aContinue reading “Giveaway”

I decided to study International Development at Calvin University to prepare me to be more useful in my mission work. I didn’t want to just show up with no skills and no plan and be more of a burden than anything. I’ve learned and grown so much at Calvin through my classes and interactions withContinue reading “Why I’m Here”

This is a longer post, but enjoy some of my first impressions from my first week in Uganda: Driving on the left side of the road. Most of the time it’s fine, but every once in awhile when the car is making a turn I freak out for a second because I think they’re goingContinue reading “First Impressions”