Happy Where I Am

Tomorrow I will officially register as an LSE student. I am anxious to begin classes...although even the social encounters I have had the past few days have been eye opening. I have met students from around the world. Sifting through their accents, observing their cultural differences and reasserting what it means to be American for me personally has been challenging. I have never been in such an international place! I love the exposure. Tomorrow will also officially mark the end of a long and quiet mourning of the Fulbright scholarship that didn't happen. I don't think I ever came to terms with that rejection until a few days ago...

We've had a lot of downtime waiting for classes to begin. While surfing the web, I came across a BBC article that was chronicling developments in Northern Uganda. The Juba Peace Talks have devolved. The ICC indictments have rekindled violence and disrupted the tenuous cease-fire agreement. Kony’s leadership is once again recruiting children from neighboring DRC.

- BBC News In Pictures: Life for Uganda's war displaced

The BBC's photojournalism was haunting but it was a simple graphic that showed how each hut in one Acholi village has been affected by this civil war -- both parents dead, orphaned children, missing children-- that helped me to see that the Fulbright decision was a blessing in disguise. My project was ambitious. It was designed to remedy the existing “mismatch between the needs of the youth and the programs on offer” [1] in Gulu by working closely with war affected youth at Laroo Boarding School in two capacities: as a qualitative researcher and as the director of a reconciliatory tree planting initiative already under design.

My plan was to interview 50 of the school’s students (aged 6-17) to help determine whether the term “lost generation” accurately characterizes Northern Uganda’s youth. Since GUSCO and UNICEF were already compiling demographic information, I decided to focus on recording students’ attitudes towards reconciliation. I wanted to challenge them to outline the positive changes that they thought must still be made – politically, socially and environmentally – to achieve sustainable peace. 

I would have benefited immensely from the Fulbright experience, but I realize now that humanitarian work requires passion, commitment, and training. LSE is going to let me optimize my capabilities and expand my goals – it’s going to make me a more informed, prepared, and effective researcher. It's where I'm supposed to be.

BBC Articles Referenced:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7631038.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/629/629/6499065.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/07/africa_life_for_uganda0s_war_displaced/html/3.stm