FOSCOD Alumni Reviews

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What our Alumni Say

I found the internship program to be a very good reflection of what development work is like and a very good way to learn about Ugandan communities. For me, the best parts of this program were interacting with the students, learning about the Johnhill community, learning about Ugandan society, and seeing the project we planned get implemented (the stove). The project showed me how development is not actually that hard of a thing, so long as we try to focus on one thing at a time and focus on working with the community. The skills I’ve learnt at Johnhill are very transferable: both the skills of working through the difficulties in communication and coming to a resolution, and the entire assessment, planning, implementation, and ME&L process. These skills and ideas can be used not just in development work, but even back home, because development is something that can be done anywhere.

The Foscod Jinja in-person internship program is excellent. It is a very eye-opening and humbling experience for someone coming from America. I was never really taught much about Uganda or anywhere in Africa. Most of my ideas about Africa were stereotypes and not based on real facts. However, thanks to this program, I now have a deeper understanding of the struggles, culture, and norms of people in Uganda and Africa more generally. Traveling made the program fun, seeing all the beautiful, almost untouched nature was wonderful. I would say the other highlight of the experience was completing projects that make an impact, such as the JohnHill project and fixing a protected spring. I gained professional experience working with a team on a real client/community project, which allowed me to practice communication and project development. The practical & professional skills I learned while working at Johnhill will help me in my career as an engineer, and it allows me to tell future employers about my international development work experience. Much of the knowledge I have gained I can use elsewhere in my life. On a personal level, I have learned the privilege I have in America, which will help me be more grateful for my opportunities and put effort into what I do.

I have found my experience interning with FOSCOD at Johnhill Secondary School incredibly rewarding. I have appreciated being immersed in Ugandan culture and having the opportunity to acknowledge all of the cultural similarities and differences, through my host family, at Johnhill, and on our trips. At Johnhill, I found interacting with the students and teachers engaging, as we all had questions for each other. Our project, especially the community assessment phase, taught me the importance of working with, and understanding the structures, goals, and limitations of a community. Understanding the nuances of the relationships between stakeholders, community members, and decision makers was an incredibly challenging part of our project, and learning to navigate that will shape the way I approach working with different teams and organizations. Our decision to install a firewood stove, as opposed to a waste oil or solar stove, has shaped my perspective on what environmental sustainability, and the sustainability of development looks like. While one of those alternatives may have been more environmentally sustainable, they would not have been sustainable for the community to maintain and use. This will forever inform my perspective on sustainability, especially through environmental policy—environmental sustainability is nothing without social buy- in and sustainability.

Over the past seven weeks, the FOSCOD Jinja in-person internship has not only been eye- opening for me, but a realistic introduction to the world of global development. During my time at JohnHill, I was able to gain communication skills as well as understand the importance of a community assessment and how to assess, plan, organize, and implement a full project. I also learned that facing challenges is a part of the process, and the ability to adapt and problem-solve is a skill needed when these challenges present themselves .The opportunity to work alongside the teachers and interact with the students helped me gain new perspectives on the realities the community faces daily. As I reflect on my highlights of this experience, I will say, living with a host family takes the gold. The homestay allowed me to immerse myself in Ugandan culture by interacting with other family and community members, eating local to our region, and practicing Luganda. Overall, this program has helped me gain a newfound sense of gratitude and patience in both my personal and professional life. I strongly believe this experience has changed how I view life and what we as individuals choose is what’s important to us. And that is a lesson that will stick with me for life.

I’ve greatly enjoyed my time here as a FOSCOD/SustainMe intern and have found that it’s helped me develop creative solutions and humble approaches to dealing with issues. I work directly with the women in Kikwanya and often assist with childcare of the many little ones whose mothers attend our classes. Through this task, I’ve seen up close the struggles our women face while navigating motherhood and the solutions they already have in place to combat these things, which has inspired me to approach problems with the same ingenuity and value of existing materials. Forexample, one of the babies in our village has a bad burn and her family is unable to afford medical care, so I researched at-home healing options for this and assisted her mother in using the materials we had available to clean and wrap the wound. This was not my ideal solution, but since I do not have control of the family’s income level of subsequent budgeting, I had to use the materials and knowledge available to me at the moment. I anticipate having to use similar situational acceptance and creative solutions in my future career, as I’ll be working with vulnerable populations. This experience helped me practice the skill of putting aside my existing ideas about the ‘correct’ or ‘only’ options and instead focusing on utilizing the social and physical resources at my disposal to create even small amounts of positive change.

I have gained so much more depth and understanding about the context within which I live. Working at SME gave me the opportunity to engage with communities that lead lives I could not have ever even imagined prior to this internship. This internship program has taught me that development work is extremely challenging, but not in a professional way. The strategies and requirements of development that I have had to employ or wish I had employed throughout this internship have posed hurdles the likes of which I could have never conceptualized without this experience, and for that I am forever grateful. It has given me an innovative approach to thinking and problem solving that I don’t think I could’ve gotten in any other way. My understanding of privilege and my place in the world is completely different than how it was at the beginning of this summer, and I am humbled by the perspectives that I have gained because of FOSCOD and SME.

My experience at FOSCOD and SustainMe has been a valuable experience thus far, which has shaped and influenced my worldview. The program was very immersive as we had the opportunity to be in the community as actors and interact with its members as opposed to simply being observers. I’ve learned about the processes and work that goes on behind what we typically see as development work. There are many factors and challenges that development workers face and must account for, and development looks very different within the different contexts it appears in. The best part of my experience has been hearing the stories of the different women and members of the Kikwanya Community that our project with SME is in. This experience has helped with my personal and project management greatly. I haven’t had much experience working on projects at this large of a scale beyond academics. This was our project and it was completely up to us to manage, so I was able to refine my skills in that area. This experience taught me a lot about what its like to work with grassroots organizations in ways that I’ve never done before.

I got essentially everything I could hope for out of this program. I gained a drastically new perspective, stepped outside of my comfort zone, and gained experience in a new, career-oriented setting. The best parts of my experience revolved around the community and the culture. For example, I appreciated going to the field and helping to build the springs with the members, as well as talking to other people. I could feel my perspective widening as I learned more about other communities and ways of life. This program helped me understand how I function best in a group setting, and how to balance independence with being social. This was my first real internship experience, so the program also substantially helped me to sort through what I would like in a future job: primarily, opportunities to work outside of an office. Overall, this experience will help me to appreciate more things in America while recognizing that certain aspects of society that seem so rigid are much different in other parts of the world. I am extremely grateful to have had this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

I found this program very challenging, but also deeply rewarding. I’ve become acutely aware of the difficulties of coordinating activities across multiple groups, managing a schedule in the presence of many conflicts, and managing myself in an entirely new environment. I learned a lot from dealing with these challenges, and also enjoyed getting to know the internal workings of a productive NGO like KORD. As someone who wants to do good in the world, it was very valuable to see what that work actually looks like on the ground. It’s also been a lesson in independence and community. Being in an unfamiliar place, where I do not speak the language or know anyone, made me deeply dependent on others in a way that I have not been in a while. It forced me to learn how to accept help- something I usually struggle with - and made me aware of just how important other people are in my life, and how community can make us stronger. I believe that this experience will make me a more open-minded and adaptable person - by putting me in challenging situations, it’s helped me to build resilience and flexibility. I have greatly enjoyed my experience on this program.

Spending the summer with FOSCOD in Uganda has been one of the most transformative experiences of my life, both personally and professionally. Navigating the ups and downs of life in Jinja—with my host family and at my host organization, KORD—offered some of the most valuable experiential learning I have ever encountered. Whether in the office or at home, the challenges, of which there were many, reminded me of the importance of asking for help and collaborating. While communal support seems to be second nature in Ugandan culture, I struggled to embrace it at first due to my tendency to withdraw, which ironically, but understandably, often worsened difficulties. Conversely, Uganda also taught me to embrace joy without guilt. As with many former FOSCOD interns, coming from the competitive environment of Northwestern University, I have internalized pressure to stay productive even if to my detriment. Whether it was enjoying the thrills Sipi Falls had to offer, the majesty of Murchison’s wildlife, or the vibrant nightlife scene in Kampala, I felt at liberty to let loose and be present in those experiences with my wonderfully accepting cohort of GESI students. Spending weekends exploring Uganda this summer drove home how vital it is to celebrate life’s highs—for both the self-discovery that accompanies them and the restorative power found in their joy. Professionally, I am incredibly grateful for my time in Uganda. I gained the hands-on nonprofit experience I sought and developed a newfound interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR), as modeled by Kakira Sugar Ltd. I hope to return to Uganda for longer-term research in this area—something I have never felt so energized about pursuing.

FOSCOD Alumni Reviews

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