Safe Joruney

It started and ended with a take off.

In Uganda, a common phrase or farewell greeting is "Safe Journey." As I sat in the airport waiting to board one of the flights that would lead me home, I began to think about the journey I have been on. And the journey that everyone else around me was on and has been on.

At the end of the day, we're all on journeys that we hope will lead to some final destination. Whether that destination is literally making it somewhere like home, or that destination is one of fulfillment; a sense of accomplishment, a measure of success, or a filling of the heart. And as we all have these many unique, individual, and sometimes undefinable destinations, we take countless and different paths to get there. And along these paths, we simultaneously influence and impact the journey of the people in which we encounter.

So, what was the final destination of this trip? What was my path to get there, and what made this time a distinct moment in the larger journey of my life? Furthermore, who was I to impact or change the course of the many journeys of others that I found along the way?

I think for me, my final destination might be one that is still undefinable. But, there are a few things I did gather along the way.

1. I believe beauty can be found anywhere as long as you search for it.

There are a lot of skeptics and critics of Africa, more specifically around the aid given to Africa. But, I think what is lacking from the worldview of this continent is our collective inability to look for the good and beauty that is there. There is such a focus on the unspeakable and unfathomable conditions of its countries, which are absolutely present, but there are also beautiful people, landscapes, and countless opportunities that are waiting to be noticed and heard. Yet never spoken of or captured. Yet never cultivated or strengthened.

Whenever we were going somewhere, we were always packed likes sardines in our car, taxi, or boda boda (motorcycle). We were so bunched up that one could really only see one side of the road. You could only look through one window or turn one way because the circumstances blocked your view of exploring and searching elsewhere. Yet, whenever we did get those opportunities to see the full view, I could always find something new and exciting. Something beautiful and revealing. Something that came from the effort of a simple search.

If we took the time to truly search for those pieces of Africa and Uganda that can be put together to create something beautiful, and not just look out one window, I believe the country and continent would flourish. And it's not just people from the outside, but also it's residents. If there was more of an effort to appreciate and notice what can be done and what is already present to do, I could only hope there would be a positive change.

2. No matter how much we sometimes don't want to believe it, there is always an explanation.

I will admit, there were a lot of really crappy things that happened on this trip. Like I have mentioned many times, I met some of the most beautiful people, but I also met some of the ugliest. The director of Childline and basically all of the Board members of Childline did some very terrible things. Some agencies and leaders were misguided and abusing their positions.

But, I know for some reason, all of these bad things had to happen. Whether getting John (the director) fired meant other volunteers would not be scammed and the students would actually start getting their school fees, or it meant John himself would finally realize the misguided mission he was running under, we had to be the ones to discover it. We had to be the ones to experience and realize the ugliness that does often exist.

Furthermore, not that there is anything excusable about such actions, but I don't know the backgrounds, lives, and journeys of these people. I can only hope there was something in their past or present that had such a strong influence that made them act in a certain way. I'll never know, but I can always remind myself of the greater influence that always exists around us and in our environment.

3. We have an incredible ability to influence the lives of each and every person we encounter in everything we do.

This thought has always been one of my life-guiding mantras, but I was reminded of it on this trip nonetheless. As I was preparing to come to Uganda, everyone always said I was going to impact so many lives and make such a difference with what I was doing. And that's pretty much the basic theme underlying international volunteering.

But, do I think I changed the world and made a huge difference? No.

What I do think is that I was able to provide care, love, and an encouraging environment to a wonderful group of students. That I was able to teach in a school that literally had no teachers. That for two months, I at least was able to make someone who was completely different from me, someone who came from an opposite background and life, smile. Laugh. Even just get excited that they could say that they saw a muzungu (white person).

So when I believe that we have the ability to influence the lives and journeys of others, it is because every simple lesson, P.E. class, game, and simple moment does provide those little moments in life that we all need. And that is where we can provide sustainability. In guiding ourselves in a way that seeks to bring light to others in the little things we do. Every day.

You don't need to fully change something to say you did something good. But you can provide all that you have, even for a short amount of time, to provide that positivity for even just a moment. Because two months in the grand scheme of life is just one moment.



Before I land, I hope to take these understandings with me wherever I go next.

I hope to take the memories of crazy Childline Board meetings, Luganda lessons with Joan, hilarious stories from Denis, the best meals with Emma and Joyce, speaking the only Luganda words we knew to make Chance and Phiona laugh, SOVHEN bonfires, P.E classes, my P5 little nuggets, the entire primary school, and so many other things with me.

I hope to hear about P7 passing their exams, Joan, Phiona, and Chance surviving and living a healthy life with HIV, hear that more teachers were hired at the primary school, how the Trio students still play our games, and hear that the maternity clinic is finally finished.



It's hard to capture so many things that happened in such a short amount of time, but that always seems to be how life goes, isn't it?

It's a shock for me to actually be home, to travel for 24 hours and instantly be dropped back into my life. I am so amazed to have a life filled with so much love the moment I arrived, and I could not express more thanks.

As I move on to another moment, journey, and destination, I will carry Uganda with me. Through the good and the bad. The happy and sad. And everywhere in between.