Meet the Newest USP Staff Members!

Gilbert Nuwagira

Gilbert, originally from Mbarara in southwestern Uganda, was a student at Uganda Christian University from 2012 to 2015. While beginning his studies in Economics and Management, he quickly became interested in UCU’s Honours College program, becoming a member in his second year. It was in the Honours College that Gilbert first got connected with USP, becoming good friends with USP students and facilitating opportunities for them to have a richer experience in the Ugandan culture. When he became President of the Honours College, Gilbert began working more closely with USP staff in planning events and continuing to facilitate the cross-cultural friendships happening around him.

Gilbert graduated from UCU in October of 2015. Realizing how much he liked working with people and understanding the value of rich cross-cultural relationships, he decided to continue his partnership with USP by becoming our newest Program Assistant! So far, he has found his first weeks on the job “exhilarating” and “informative," and he has settled very nicely into the everyday excitement of the USP office, where no two days are ever the same. Among the students, Gilbert has already built up a reputation of being exceptionally thoughtful and caring, as well as being a good go-to person for insights on Ugandan culture and cross-cultural interactions.

Gilbert and fellow PAs Prudence and Courtney making
packed lunches in preparation for rural homestays

Gilbert chats with social work student Kylie during the
USP/Honors College Retreat at Vision for Africa

John Kabugo

John has just joined the USP team as our newest driver! John was born and raised right here in Mukono, and he has been driving for Uganda Christian University for nearly seven years. Perhaps more than any other USP staff member, John gets to see the breadth of our program every day, driving students to their host families all over Mukono, their practicum sites around the district, and even class field trips in and around Kampala. John is enjoying working in a program that allows him to interact with many different people throughout the day.

John is doing a great job helping us get around and keeping our beloved USP van clean and in good mechanical condition. But really it’s his contagious smile and his willingness to be of help that have made him an important part of our students’ everyday lives. More than just being our driver, John is also an important resource for students when they have questions about Ugandan culture, food, plants, and other observations they may have.

John prepares to head out on one of his daily drive through Mukono

Our complex transportation schedule works smoothly, largely thanks
to the hard work and coordination of Lydia, John and Innocent 

Micah Hughes

One of the most exciting new developments at USP is the development of our new Global Health Emphasis, scheduled to begin in Fall 2016. Micah Hughes, our newest coordinator who will be over the Global Health Emphasis (GHE), joined us in the office at the beginning of January, and we are excited about what he brings to the team! A graduate of Wheaton College, Micah participated in Wheaton’s Human Needs and Global Resources program, doing a six-month internship in the West Nile region of Uganda. Micah went on to get his MS in Biotechnology from Rush University Medical Center and continued working and teaching in the medical field. Most recently he founded and directed the global health program at Denver School of Nursing, where he was an assistant professor. With this program he organized and led internships abroad for nursing students in multiple countries, including Uganda.

With years of experience teaching nursing and bringing students in the pre-health professions to Uganda, Micah now finds himself at USP, constructing the Global Health Emphasis. The GHE will provide USP students in the pre-health professions with opportunities to experience work in the global health field under the supervision of Ugandan clinicians. USP already has wonderful relationships with trusted organizations around Mukono, where we have been placing social work and cross-cultural practicum students for the past 12 years. Now Micah is working toward utilizing the leadership and expertise of the medical personnel at these organizations and others to provide new opportunities for Ugandan partners to mentor our students. 

The GHE is designed to be inclusive of the many professions that fall under the global health category, and it will be open to all students in the pre-health fields (Public Health, Nursing, Medicine, Kinesiology, Exercise Science, and others). Practicum sites will range from district hospitals where students will experience direct interventional care, to community health organizations focused on health education and systemic health issues in Uganda. GHE students will look at both preventative and interventional global health and how the two are related – in addition to the overall USP experience. Micah’s ultimate goal is to mentor students and build a program that serves as a tool to help students discern which aspects of global health they are most passionate about, while experiencing career and ministry opportunities for a future in global health. 

Micah teaches the Cross-Cultural Practicum class

Micah with students and PAs picking up
snacks for the Superbowl Monday party!

USP Program Assistants

A lot goes on behind-the-scenes at USP. It’s an exciting place to work, and every today is different from yesterday! In today’s blog we are highlighting our Program Assistants, lovingly referred to as our PAs. Every semester the three PAs – one Ugandan and two Americans – work closely with each other and the rest of the staff to keep things at USP running smoothly.

Martha (Ugandan PA 2015) and Courtney (current US PA)
hiking Sipi Falls during Rural Homestays debrief 

PAs do everything from organizing field trips to baking cookies, from restocking our med kits to having deep conversations with students about cross-cultural living. They work in the office planning events, sitting at the front desk, preparing sack lunches for road trips and drinking lots of tea! But not all their work is in the office – you can often find them running errands in Mukono, chatting with students over smoothies at one of the campus canteens, tagging along for a class field trip or visiting students at their homestays. Even outside formal work hours, they’re still on the job – living in the same dorms as our students, eating the same food, shopping at the same supermarkets and sharing plenty of laughs and stories and adventures with students.

Our PAs are reeeeeally good at making PB&Js!

Present and former PAs agree that this is one of the most incredible job opportunities out there! It’s not everywhere that you get paid to build relationships and deepen your own faith and convictions through mentoring others in a cross-cultural experience. Plus, the PA position holds a lot of potential for professional development, regardless of what fields PAs enter post-USP. 

Former PAs Brenda, Innocent, Katie, Jones and Andi
at a PA reunion last weekend in Kampala

Here’s what some of USP’s PAs have to say about the job:

“I loved being able to share in the same life changes, difficulties, excitements, and emotions of students coming into this program… It was a huge blessing to be able to walk with them through that, to share with them so they felt heard and understood, as well as to spur them on in the midst of these experiences to keep serving the Lord for whatever he was calling them towards…” 

– Molly Summers, American PA 2010-2011

Current Ugandan PA Gilbert Nuwagira making a stop at the
Post Office while running errands in Mukono town

“When I think about USP, I think about the students. While working at USP both as PA and later on as permanent staff, my experiences with students confirmed my aspirations for this job. Since then, it is now often said that ‘at USP, the students are our joy’.” 

– Jones Ahabwe, Ugandan PA 2010-2011
  

"The best thing about being a PA is being back in Uganda (of course). The next best thing is being around the USP staff - they are truly fun, enjoyable, dedicated people who make the office atmosphere hospitable and friendly. I was always happy to go to work every day at USP... And the next best thing is being able to engage with students as they start to find their place at UCU and in Uganda. It is a great job all around... Through my experience at USP, I learned how interested I was in intercultural study abroad education, and I have shaped some of my work in my soon-to-be-finished master's program accordingly to allow me to better pursue this path. I also became more interested in teaching and more interested in understanding the process of forming students beyond the classroom."

- Jordan McGurran, American PA 2011-2012

Innocent (Ugandan PA 2013) at tea time with student Michaela

“I’ve always heard it said that you learn and understand concepts best through explaining them to others. I wanted to come back as a PA because I wanted to deepen my understanding of the values of simplicity and presence that I learned as a USP student. This job has given me so many opportunities to not only guide students but also to join them as learners while we observe and talk through the realities of the world we see around us.” 

– Prudence Gordon, current American PA

Prudence (current US PA) checking up on one of the med kits

“When I think of being a PA for the Uganda Studies Program I think of friendship. This position, over and above being fun and enjoyable (although it was definitely that) was an important position for me – in my thinking, in my being, in my loving and in my ever-growing. It is important for us to learn from people and places that are dissimilar to us – and not just learn from people, but find that we can also be truly friends with those that are different, and not-so-different-after-all than us.” 

– Hannah Groves, American PA 2013-2014

Martha and Prudence make sushi at Rachel's house during Christmas break

“The beauty of being a Program Assistant is that the experience is both meaningful and exciting, as well as an incredible opportunity to grow and develop as a professional. I have found myself over and over again being challenged in leadership, organization, character development, and cross-cultural engagement. USP is the perfect place to develop professional skills in a safe and supportive environment, all while engaging in the lives of those around you and building truly valuable relationships.” 

– Courtney Beiler, current American PA 

The application and complete job description for our 2016-2017 PAs are now available on our website! http://www.bestsemester.com/locations-and-programs/uganda/alumni

Mukono Homestays

Every USP student does a homestay with a Ugandan family here in Mukono, whether that is for a short two-week stay or for the entire semester. Living in a home with Ugandan family members is often one of the most valuable experiences of the semester. 'Ugandans' become family members, brothers, sisters and parents. It brings Ugandan culture off the pages of our books, giving shape and life – and sometimes challenges – to concepts about Christianity and culture we can only attempt to diagram on the classroom blackboard.   

Our host families in Mukono are as diverse as the families our students come from back home, so each student has a unique homestay experience. Here are a few of the lessons our students are processing after spending a couple weeks with their host families:

Presence: Many of our students are realizing that, in their Ugandan homes, ones presence is more important than their accomplishments. Waiting several hours for supper to cook is a daily evening activity in many Ugandan homes, since cooking and waiting together are as important to family life as getting food on the table. Sometimes the majority of the weekend is spent sitting on the couch with the family, watching music videos or soap operas, not really doing much but simply being together. While this can be a shock to our time-conscious Western mindsets, the magic really happens when our students start making the choice to sit with their family members – not necessarily to talk or to help prepare dinner, but simply for the sake of practicing presence.

    

Hospitality: In many Ugandan homes, familial relationships are much more fluid than they are in the West. Household members include many people outside the immediate family. Grandparents, nieces and nephews, aunts and uncles and oftentimes people not even related to the family are in and out of the house. Sometimes they stay a few hours and sometimes they stay for months at a time. These families are beautiful models of hospitality, always inviting guests in and insisting they stay at least long enough to take tea!

Expecting the unexpected: As is always the case when you’re in a new place with new people, there are plenty of surprises when living with a Ugandan family. A lot of flexibility and a strong sense of humor help in cultivating an expectation for the unexpected! You never know when you might find a chicken trying to lay an egg on your bed, or when you might discover your family has a fish farm on the property behind their house, or when your host mama will dress you up in a gomesi and whisk you off to a family friend’s wedding!

As our on-campus students move back to their rooms in the UCU dorms, they have a lot to ponder from the last two weeks, and they’ll continue to add to their observations through sharing life with Ugandan university students. In the meantime, our semester-long homestay students will build deeper relationships as they continue to live with their families for the next three months. 

Introducing... Spring 2016!

Happy New Year!

Things have been quite lively at USP! Just a week and a half ago we welcomed our new group of twenty-two fabulous students…

Eddie and the PAs get ready to pick up students from the airport

Students hike up Monkey Hill while waiting for the others to arrive

They're all here!

We dropped off our four semester-long homestay students at their new homes, where they were welcomed with big smiles and beautiful Ugandan hospitality.

Homestay students with their trunks and basins - ready to head home!

Anna meets her mama

Rachel with her new mama

Danielle gets a big hug from her new mama

Kennedy's mama so excited about her new daughter

Over the three days of orientation sessions, we got acquainted with the K-3 classroom, explored the UCU campus, ate plenty of rice and beans, and walked around town for the Mukono scavenger hunt!

All 22 in the K-3 classroom

Last Monday we dove straight into Faith and Action class with a lively seminar discussion on John Taylor’s The Primal Vision. We spent the rest of the week settling into classes, visiting social work practicum sites for the first time, sharing plenty of comic stories as we adjust to Ugandan culture, and taking a trip to the Mukono market for a shopping spree! On Friday we all piled in the coaster for our Faith and Action retreat at Vision for Africa, where we had more great discussion and quality bonding time over card games and coffee. 

Carly and Jenni rocking their braids at Vision for Africa

Adrian, Stacey, Prudence and Amy enjoying some coffee and good conversation

Anna, Gilbert, Emilie and Kennedy playing a lively game of Dutch Blitz

When the weekend rolled around, all of our off-campus students got dropped off with their respective families in Mukono for their two-week homestays!

On-campus students ready for their Mukono homestays!

Bethany gets a warm welcome to her new home

Stacey and her mama

Ella meets her many siblings

The semester is off to a great start, already full of deep discussions, funny stories, close friendships and lots of learning – a beautiful way to start 2016! 

Re-entry: An update from Mark and Abby Bartels

A year and a half ago, after founding and directing the Uganda Studies Program for ten years, Mark and Abby Bartels moved back to the US with their kids. As we just completed our fall 2015 semester's Debrief and Re-entry Seminar, we asked Mark and Abby to share a bit about what their re-entry process has been like. How have they have endeavored to integrate their experiences, beliefs and convictions into a way of life and being in the US? 

Daniel, Mark, Abby, Mary and Rachel Bartels At Grayson Highlands State Park in Virginia.

1. What and why? Mark: vocation--- why we moved back, a desire to serve and invest in UCU as an institution and desire to create space/opportunity for Abby and I to share workload and have time and opportunity to be part of the formation of our children as they go through adolescence.

The decision to leave USP and Uganda was a difficult one. There were so many things we liked about our work and life in Uganda. In the end, there were three significant factors. The first is that we felt, for a variety of reasons, that we wanted our kids to experience some of their growing up years in their home culture. A big part of that was the fact finding a good schooling option for our kids was becoming increasingly difficult in Uganda. The second factor leading to our moving from Uganda was, ironically, the opportunity to continue to work with Uganda Christian University (UCU). We felt that this continued connection to UCU was an important part of our “integration” as we moved back. What better way to continue to process and think about our life in Uganda than to have a continued formal connection? The third factor was the reality that although Abby was involved with USP, being in Uganda did not allow her to explore her professional and personal development goals in the same way being in the U.S. would.

In some ways, we can look back at our transition and see each of these three factors playing a key role in our (relatively) positive re-entry. While we aren’t living in exactly the type of community we may have envisioned upon leaving Uganda, we are in a place that is working well for the kids. From school to activities to friends, the kids are all engaging their new/home culture in positive ways. The work with Uganda Christian University Partners is providing us a key connection to UCU and connecting our current life stage with our previous one. Not only has Abby been able to consider and explore more professional options since we have been back, but her current focus is on coordinating communications for Uganda Christian University Partners—something that utilizes her strengths and keeps her engaged with our time in Uganda.

2. How? Abby speaking for both of us from here on out!

I think about our USP alumni and community all the time as we continue to “debrief” our “re-entry” with ourselves, with you, with friends who were in Uganda with us and with others who face transition and an earnest desire to be pilgrims!

Photo of Mark 'debriefing' the kids: I think they love it as much as you all did!

We are doing our best to try to wade through all the commitments of our lives with the orientation of “patience/presence” because it is the piece from our time in Uganda that is most universally challenging to our American culture and most life-giving to us as people and to our family life.

I’m adding a link to an OnBeing podcast of a poet, John O'Donohue, who has a Celtic view of life and the inner landscape. He beautifully describes a quality of life and “presence” that we can cultivate in our inner beings regardless of our place, our culture, our circumstances. I find it comforting and inspiring.    

I recently read that C.S. Lewis said all great truths are a paradox. I do think there probably is a paradox involved with the competing cultural values—productivity/efficiency/stewardship versus presence, patience, kairos time (kairos being the quality of time, chronos being the quantity of time).  It is a paradox that most Americans and Westerners face while being in Uganda; it is a paradox worth embracing!

Almost a year and a half into our move back, I’m compelled by developing routines and rituals that would encourage us to be present/patient, because I don’t trust the worlds’ patterns or my natural emotions (as aided by technology and consumer culture!) to seek and submit to patience/presence. 

By the end of our time in Uganda, Mark started reading books by James K.A. Smith and I think he has another way of asking, “What is forming you?” He talks about liturgy (for you non-Anglicans; remember learning about liturgy while studying at an Anglican University in Africa?) in a bigger picture sense exploring the ways we have many “liturgies” in culture, in our routines, in our way of life that are training us to love the wrong things. Here is a Christianity Today article reviewing his work.

While I’ve been somewhat general in the motivations and the measures of how we are seeking to be present, I would say it really does affect many of our decisions and schedules.  From our finances (choosing to live with my folks), to schooling for the kids, to what activities they do, to how we do church, to how we make time for our marriage, to carving out personal space and goals, to investing in friendships (near and far), to food choices (a work in progress), to our consumerism, to our time at work and our time off, etc.  

One example that I’m still mulling over—Sabbath. For the last several months, I have been compelled by the thought of doing Sabbath well. I haven’t worked out what that means yet, but it is percolating in my mind and spirit as a way to counter our culture and embrace a presence that is abiding and deep and good for our souls!

So, if you are wondering if the Bartels have transitioned well… I think I can mostly say, “we’re working on it!” And we’re grateful for all the years of being immersed in a very present culture that has enabled us to imagine another way, enabled us to pause and consider our patterns and “liturgies of life”!

Marks parents visiting us in Pittsburgh where we live with Abby's parents. 

The attic space is our living room— that is a batting net for wiffle ball, my office desk,
a very heavy TV, etc.  Sometimes, the close quarters get intense for the introvert mother of the family!

Outdoor time is good for the soul, and the swings remind the kids of Uganda!

Living with my folks is overall good; but sometimes we need our own time and space:
 a weekend in a cabin!

If you want to follow the goings on at UCU and the work that Mark and Abby are doing through Uganda Partners' (UCU's US-based support agency) you can join the mailing list to receive newsletters about Uganda Christian University. You can also *like* the UCU Partners Facebook page! 

Giving Thanks

This past Thursday was a day of thankfulness for many reasons including worship, friends, sports, and plenty of food. All this made for a special USP Thanksgiving.

We started the day by leading Community Worship with Honors College. Every semester we are given this opportunity and this semester it just happened to fall on Thanksgiving. Songs were sung, testimonies were shared, scripture was read and a beautiful and inspiring message was preached by our own USP staff member, Lydia Wankuma.

USP and Honors College students leading Community Worship together.

Lydia Wankuma being introduced by her husband and the
Honors College Director, Abel Wankuma

USP student, Katie reads scripture.

USP student Zach shares a testimony.

Later in the day we headed down to the old pitch; it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without some American football! Here we have our students and USP friends working up an appetite, playing a friendly game of football.

Thanksgiving football game!

Students, staff, friends, family and USP alumni gathered for our annual Thanksgiving dinner at the USP House. We started our time with connecting and introducing, enjoyed a classic Thanksgiving dinner, indulged in the desserts that students had prepared and ended the evening with an outdoor screening of Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving.

Pre-dinner mingling! 

Loading on the gravy!

USP Alumni and students sharing a meal.

So many people, places and things to be thankful for. 

Happy Thanksgiving from the Uganda Studies Program!