Thursday, 6 December 2018

FA18 Farewell Dinner! Celebrating 15 years

Last night we celebrated the Fall 2018 semester Farewell Dinner with our host families, practicum site supervisors and coworkers, lecturers, drivers, staff and of course students. We are so proud of this group of students and their hard work this semester!

As is customary, among the many speeches of the evening, we have a staff speech. This year we shared collectively, speaking to the many things we are thankful for, and particularly God's faithfulness these 15 years. 


You can watch our full staff speech-- all 30 minutes, full of kids, cats, fading sunlight, cell phones and of course your USP staff, OR if you're interested you can flip to the various highlights:

Our Beginnings and Our students! (start) 
USP Director, Rachel Robinson 
The beautiful country of Uganda (3:33) 
USP Office Attendant, Lydia Koma
15 years of partnership with UCU (4:57) 
USP Program Administrator, Lydia Wankuma
Host Families! (6:52)
Homestay Coordinator, Eddie Tokpa
Honors College Partnership (9:04)
USP Program Assistant, Becky Nairuba
Practicum Sites and Supervisors (11:50)
USP Social Work Coordinator, Lisa Tokpa
Academics, our lecturers (15:20) 
Global Health Emphasis Coordinator, Micah Hughes
Safety! (18:23) 
USP Driver, John Kabugo
Rwanda (19:42) 
Program Assistant, Louise Clark 
Alumni (21:05) 
Program Assistant, Jessica Mount
The Gift of Life (24:14) 
USP nurse Avrey Hughes
God's faithfulness (25:52) 
USP Administrative Assistant, Innocent Atimango


Just a few images of an evening full of goodness:













"Presence. Actively seeking to be present in each moment of each day is difficult, but so rewarding. I've struggled with perfectionism and anxiety for so long, and practicing presence is the best way for me to seek the Lord in the most overwhelming moments. I'm so thankful for the way that Uganda and USP softened my heart and gave me the gift of  living life a little slower That's what it's all about, right? Living life together with faith, hope and love."
~USP Alum, Katelyn Springer (SP'11)