Home Away From Home

By: Laura Unfried

If I am perfectly honest, the one thing that I am absolutely horrible at dealing with is change. When I was a toddler, my parents could not move the furniture in our house around without me turning into an angry whirlwind of a three-year-old. Since I began school, I've struggled every fall to adjust to the new teachers--and now professors--, new students, and new curriculum. I was sure that adjusting to an entirely different country and culture would take me much longer than a mere eight days. I was still absolutely sure of this my first night in country, when I went to bed wondering if I had made the right decision to come here. To my surprise, Uganda has become a home away from home, with hundreds of brothers and sisters that I never dreamed I had.


A few members of this newfound family gave me a bit more insight into this beautiful country today. During our program to the young boys, a group of toddlers and girls had gathered around the group to hear what was being said. Being pretty young and a student myself, I've been having a difficult time standing in front of and teaching other students, some of whom are just four or five years younger than me. So, instead of sitting uncomfortably in front of the boys, I took a place on the ground next to a very young boy, around three or four, to wait until my turn to speak. I reached out my hand to shake his, and he just hid his face while the girls who were standing giggled. I have a bit of a hard time with new people myself (which goes back to that problem of dealing with change), I just smiled and turned back to my team.


It did not take long for the girls and younger boys to begin sitting down around me, at first giving me space, then slowly moving closer into a half circle. This time when I reached out my hand, it was grasped in return. There were a few minutes of hand shaking and sharing of names before our conversation turned in other directions. We talked about our respective countries and told stories about our cultures, but what inspired me was their excited answers to my question, "What is your favorite subject?" Their eyes shined as they replied with "mathematics," "English," "social studies," and, the answer that I adored because of my love of biology, "science."

It is amazing to me how much the kids here love school and their classes. I have spent my whole life in a society where the schools have so many opportunities, so much technology, and so many resource, and yet it is the norm for students to hate school, and hate the classes. I regret that I cannot exclude myself.


Despite my own aversion to change, four days in Uganda have already impacted my perception of education. These kids have taught me

 more than I could have hoped to teach them in a few short days, and I can only hope to bring their ideas back with me to share with our culture, and--despite my difficulty with it--begin to make a change.