All Good Things Come To An End – It’s Time To Say Good Bye

The big day has come quicker than expected: on April 17^th it was for everyone the last day at school. All the 10 projects have been handed in 2 days before and were presented on the final day. It was very interesting to see how our fellow students spent the previous 2 weeks and what their brains were occupied with. The presentations included all kinds of information: ranging from research topics, theories applied, to challenges faced in the field and of course the findings – but most importantly, there was enough space to have some good laughter’s based on the different groups experiences. CBS students, MUBS students and professors and facilitators from both institutions ended the day together at a local restaurant where we had a dinner in the dark followed by some fun dancing.

Working in an intercultural team was a great new experience for all of us, especially because we managed to be the first group consisting of 5 people in the history of the MUBS-CBS collaboration (Rita, Tonka, Pamela, Pat & Kädi). Following the motto: “the more the merrier” we spent our days driving trough town, trying not do get into an accident, conducting interviews with local artists, diving into the world of the rich and famous and most importantly spending time together sharing stories, going out, laughing (a loooooot), and building a friendship. Our intercultural teamwork experienced it’s peak when teaching the Ugandan students the Austrian “Schere, Stein, Papier” (scissors, paper, stone) game in order to determine who has is the “lucky” one asking the questions during the interviews. Hearing Ugandans speak German ended in tears of laughter for everyone involved (which is pretty much how we would describe a normal working day in our group).

After experiencing the crazy, busy life in Kampala for 3 weeks we were eager to explore a bit more of Uganda and chose to end this field study with some relaxing (and adventurous) days in Jinja. There we decided to do some rafting in the river Nile, and pumped with adrenalin, some of us were then even brave enough to dare their first bungee jump ever. Our Easter gift this year was Rita, coming all the way from Kampala to Jinja, to see her Mzungu friends again and to say Good Bye once more. We will leave Uganda with a lot of amazing impressions, awesome memories and new friends that we will definitely stay in touch with. Participating in this field trip was a once in a lifetime experience and we enjoyed every single bit of it.

Now we have to get some tissues…Good Bye Uganda!

Farewell Message

Ohhhhh dear friends, the time is at the corner when we almost have to say fare thee well, but in this small walk, i learnt that; the glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile, it’s like a gift that is not easily gained. It roots from the heart and involves memories that stay not for a moment, not a day but forever.

It’s been just about 18 days....... but i can’t remember not knowing you guys, not hearing that hard crack of joy in your laughter’s.

Shoulder pads may come and go, but friendship is forever. Because if one day i decide to go to Denmark, i won’t think i don’t know where am headed, coz it helps to know am not alone. I rather have a family there to crush at. We may have wronged some people unintended in this past few days, but remember no one has all the answers and sometimes the best we can do is just apologise and let the past be the past.

I learnt that as in any journey, who you travel with can be more important than your destination, you can never know someone until you walk a mile in their shoes, and in this short walk, i believe a lot of you learnt about Ugandan people beyond what the others perceive.

A lot of you had to go through transitions and some as simple as adjusting to the weather, and the beauty will come when you get back home, sit and reflect on all the small moments that made you smile and u’ll see how far u’ve come and smile at yourself.

As most of us know, life is not made up of big moments, it’s made of the small moments that made us laugh so hard we couldn’t hear ourselves.......(lil white pea).

People think blood is thicker than water, but it’s not only blood bonds that make us family, to me it’s the people who take time to know and understand us and still love us with all our flaws so we can finally be ourselves.

 Every road comes to an end, but as this research project has ended, this end feels like the beginning of long lasting friendship bonds because even when some think we’ve come a long way, i think it was no coincidence, it’s the fruit of our labour to understand each other.

Just because we won’t be together all times doesn’t mean the love will stop, because we cannot choose who we love, but we can definitely choose how we love them. Friendship at times is like a business deal, and when we are lucky, we get trust as the bonus. Embracing all our imperfections make us remind ourselves of how good it feels to be loved.

With all this said, it would be very corrupt of me not to wish you all the best of luck in every walk of your lives and carry on the love we MUBS students showed you and remember, our doors will always be open when you want to visit.

From me and my Ugandan team, KWAHERI!!!!!   

Blogpost Sak, Johan, Bob and Diana

I would hereby like to announce that our group has succumbed to the dual pressure that is the project presentation and the Ugandan heat, and we have had a casualty. On the eve of April 15 Johan Casspe, barely 26 years of age, communicated that he felt unusually cold. As per standard procedure, no one paid attention. The next day, five minutes before our scheduled group work (and only chance to prepare for our presentation) he had developed a high fever and it was made clear that a malaria test was necessary; chaos ensued. 

While our group work disintegrated, Johan was to everyone’s relief declared Malaria free and put to bed-rest at the hostel, which luckily was hosting a philharmonic extravaganza in the common room beneath our’s, the likes of which none of the shy CBS students had experienced before. Though it has not yet been confirmed, there is a widespread belief that it was in fact the sweet lyrics “Yesu, Yesu” relentlessly working its way through the thick concrete walls that made Johan feel slightly better as the evening progressed. 

While I was equally impressed by the euphonious affair at St. John’s, I knew that even the best gospel could not produce the WiFi access I was craving; and so I prepared for the perilous journey to Silver Springs Hotel. After surviving multiple charging Boda Bodas, a scorching sun, and ppm 800, I arrived just in time for the sound check of what would be the most fine-tuned, accurate, and deafening cover band experience of my life. At the time of writing this blog post I was listening to a rendition of Toto’s “Africa”, played for me from the highly appropriate distance of two meters, and my soul calmed at the realization that tonight would be a emic musical experience, regardless of my choice of shelter. 

I am equally calm at the prospect of presenting our project unprepared tomorrow, together with an unspecified number of group members. Although I due to logistical reasons had to write this piece without the input of my group, I know I speak for everyone when I say we have had a truly mutual learning experience, and that we will all be very relieved to wrap up the project tomorrow. My battery life is now at 3%, the cover band is coming nearer, and the mosquitos are swarming. Should anyone find a place of undisturbed solitude in Kampala, please confirm and revert back to me as soon as possible.