Muddy streets. Tattered clothes. Brick shacks. Shoeless little feet. Beautiful young faces staring from behind a fence. A million tiny hands grabbing as a thousand darling smiles beam. Precious babies’ voices proudly singing. Mothers washing their babies in the street. Children dragging their only toy, a can on a string. This place is very far away, yet so close to my heart. This place is Uganda. I spent a month living among and learning from the Ugandans. It was one of the most formative times of my life.
The life lived in Uganda is a simple one, with days spent in a small, sheet metal-roofed shack. Some children, the fortunate few, attend school, but many play in the streets. The fact that others are less fortunate was not the lesson I learned from the Ugandans. That lesson was not a shock for me; I live near a ghetto where people are in similar situations. No, the lesson the Ugandans taught me was the importance of joy. True joy is what I saw on Ugandans’ faces. True joy is what they radiated through every word they spoke to me. True joy was ever present in that country.
“Find joy even if your life is not where you think it should be.” This is an extremely different paradigm than that seen in America. Although those who live in the ghetto find themselves in similar situations, they often lack the joy evident in the Ugandan society. Now every time I start to become discontent with my present place in life, I think back to my time in Uganda. I think of the joy I witnessed in situations of sorrow. I think of the wonder in a child’s eyes as I handed him a sticker. I think of the giggles I received over a funny pair of shoes. I remember the tangible sweetness in the room as a hundred tiny voices sang. I remember that I have so much for which to be thankful.
Seeing this type of joy in Uganda is what makes global awareness appealing to me. As a famous author once said,
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.
– Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)
Meeting the people in Uganda has changed my life and my perspective, causing me to live differently. Experiencing how other cultures live is vitally important. A college that offers many opportunities to see the world and features global awareness as one of its main characteristics is exactly the type of place I want to be. I’m so thankful for the many opportunities available through FSU to travel abroad. The study abroad program, Beyond Borders, Global Scholars, FSU Alternative Breaks, Moellership program—the opportunities are endless here! Please consider looking into any of these programs. Studying abroad will change your life; take it from me!