"Be the change you wish to see in the world." -Mahatma Gandhi
My sorority sisters could tell you that I'm literally obsessed with this quote; I have been since my freshman year of high school. I am not a writer nor blogger by any means, but I feel that starting this blog is necessary. It's necessary for my friends, family, and boyfriend that they can easily keep tabs on my experiences and adventures.. and to hopefully calm their nerves a little. It's necessary for myself because I have found that I have a terrible recall memory and seriously should have started writing things down years ago. More importantly, I hope that this blog will inspire others. I hope that it will somehow help erase the stigma and discrimination related to HIV & AIDS and raise awareness about poverty, illiteracy, hunger, heath issues and overall struggles millions of people live with everyday. This coming January, 2015, I will be traveling solo to the beautiful country of Uganda for 4-5 months to teach and provide child care & psychosocial support in an orphanage. I have to start somewhere right?
Let me just tell you a little more about myself. I am 21 years old, 22 this August, and a sister of Delta Phi Epsilon Sorority- Gamma Epsilon chapter. I am from Massachusetts, USA and attended college at the University of New Haven for Clinical Psychology. I was lucky enough to study abroad for a semester at one of the best schools in the world- Trinity College Dublin. Along with seeing a lot of Ireland, I was able to travel with my best friend to Amsterdam, Barcelona, Paris, and London. I am truly blessed and learned a lot from this trip.
When I graduated college in May, 2014, I made one of the biggest decisions of my life: to hold off on grad school and to chase my dream.. to go to Africa. Eight years ago, I was shown the documentary "Invisible Children" bringing to light the horrible acts of the Lord Resistance Army in Central Africa and the thousands of children they captured and forced to become rebel soldiers. This documentary took place in Uganda. I don't know what it was, but I knew immediately after viewing this documentary that one day, I would go there and help any way that I could. I spent the next few years as vice president then president of my school's chapter of STAND- an anti-genocide coalition for students. I learned so much about Africa and other countries that are struggling with war related conflicts. Luckily, Uganda is at a much more peaceful place now. However, it is still one of poorest countries in the world. It is a landlocked country in East-Central Africa surrounded by Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Rwanda.
Uganda's AIDS rate is so high that it marks it at 6th in the world. The struggles of its poverty, diseases, and violent history has caused many children to become orphaned (CIA, 2014). Don't let these facts discourage you! From all of the volunteers that I have talked to, the people of Uganda are among the most welcoming, kind, caring, religious and gracious people they know! Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa"- the most beautiful of all the countries. Tourism within the past few years has gone up substantially! This is truly going to be an amazing experience full of adventure, happiness, and some heartbreak.
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