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Josh Cohen '07, visited Uganda and Rwanda to study peace and conflict firsthand.
I spent the summer of 2006 studying peace and conflict and working in Uganda and Rwanda, and the previous spring preparing for the trip with an independent study on colonial East Africa. For me, the independent study was an essential precursor to the trip because I was able to learn a lot of the basic background information, theory, and historical context that I felt I needed before studying the modern manifestations of these conflicts. My assignment was essentially to read as much as I could and write about the connections I was drawing between readings. Having this basic foundation enabled me to actually make connections between my environment in East Africa and the reading I had done, which, in a small way, was empowering for me. The independent study also gave me a forum to discuss issues around studying abroad in general. We addressed the national rise in popularity of such programs, the purposes (and whose) they serve, who clearly gets excluded from "abroad" programs (a conversation about so-called higher education in general), whether studying abroad can ever be more than just academic tourism, questions of colonialism, and much more. I needed a space to really question whether what I was about to do was right for me and, in part, the independent study provided this. I was also able to grapple with specific ways in which I could make my learning more substantive even though I was invariably going to be a tourist. This, for me, was an equally important way of preparing for the trip. All of these things helped me to actually be present once I was in East Africa.
I studied for two months in Uganda, Rwanda, as well as the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania. My program was coordinated by the School for International Training and led by Dan Lumonya, a professor of development at Makerere University in Kampala. It's incredibly difficult to explain just what the overall experience was for me- no one can honestly answer questions like "how was your trip?" It was so many things- simultaneously the most positive and disturbing experience of my life. I have never been in so many warm, loving, hospitable environments in my entire life but the nature of what we were studying was simply terrifying, almost incomprehensible. I am still struggling to process so much of it.After the program ended I volunteered with Mulago center of The AIDS Support Organization (TASO) and lived with Peter Ssebbanja, one of the sixteen founding members of the organization. Once again, I can't begin to explain how meaningful of an experience this was; everything I begin to write sounds so trivial... let's just say I (and the whole world should be) in awe of what these individuals have accomplished. It is unprecedented... I am just constantly in awe. Everyone has taught me so much.
I guess I can just conclude by saying that it was many things working in conjunction with one another that made the over experience meaningful: Some things were out of my control like the compassion of all of the families who took me in and continue to be in touch, the dedication and honesty of my teachers, etc. Other things, like designing the independent study; trying to find volunteer work after the program ended; finding modes of expression to create something out of my trip once I was back at school (I just did a presentation and brought one speaker to Goucher but it makes a big difference for me... others have done poetry and incredible art work or have gotten involved in local organizations, etc); and even just constantly reevaluating myself to ensure I was really engaging while I was actually in East Africa, are all things I had a say in and made an enormous difference in making my experiences meaningful.