Pre-Departure

I am fresh off of a Bowdoin Pre-Orientation trip and honestly couldn't have asked for a more perfect send off from Bowdoin, Maine, and life in the states. I met nine amazing new freshmen all of whom will be great assets to Bowdoin and I cannot wait to get back to school to see how they fare in their first semester. We biked the Maine coast and had a really great time ( a great achievement because no one had actually signed up to go on this trip). The trip was Pirate themed and we had a Transformers piñata, I'd say a recipe for fun.

The Coastal Biking B Crew

We also spent a lot of time at the beach. Pretty good stuff all things considered.

Exciting Beach Fun

But all good things come to an end and soon my Pre-O children were off getting oriented at Bowdoin while I hung around for a few days and said my goodbyes to friends, professors and campus.

My past few nights of sleep have been restless, my excitement/ nervousness/ anxiety for the trip ahead is taking over. Uganda and Rwanda await.

I have been fortunate enough to travel to the great continent of Africa twice already in my life. Once as a child when I was living in England, my family and I trekked to South Africa and Zimbabwe (Before the latter descended into chaos) and had a great visit complete with Safaris. My second visit was through my high school on exchange to the Michaelhouse school in South Africa, a predominantly white school. Both of these visits were to countries that at the time were totally stable nations. Cape Town and Durban, certainly cities with distinct cultures of their own, were comparable to European cities.

My journey now brings me to a whole new environment. Uganda and Rwanda are two countries with histories of conflict and struggle. Their current selves are defined by this struggle, I mean how many people do you know who think of Rwanda and not of the genocide? And many high school and college kids, due to the awareness raised by organizations like Invisible Children, link Uganda with the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), Joseph Kony and child soldiers. These nations still struggle with issues of post-conflict reconciliation and development. Only recently the news was filled with reports of the bombings in Kampala during the 2010 FIFA World Cup and even more recently with the reports of the highly questionable election of Paul Kagame in Rwanda.

But these countries futures, uncertain as they may be, still hold vast amounts of potential. Uganda is experimenting with a new kind of democracy, a "no-party" democracy, that could change the face of African politics if it does indeed succeed. Rwanda faces an interesting future with the genocide still playing a large role in its domestic politics and policies.

I am undoubtedly venturing into a new world, and I can only hope that I can increase my understanding of these beautiful and intriguing countries. My 27 new best friends and I can expect to emerge as changed peoples with a better understanding of the way conflict affects the world and its citizens and how we one day might help  societies affected by conflict transform and come into their own on the global stage.

I hope to use this blog to keep in touch with friends and family, both home and abroad, and to share my experience in Africa.

-Muzungu currently in New Hampshire