Agandi

It’s been about three weeks or so since I’ve left America, and I never imagined I could feel so welcome so quickly in a completely different place and culture—one I’ve never experienced before.  Before arriving, I figured it would take a while for me to warm up to people and for people to warm up to me.  After arriving, I realized how wrong I was.

Agandi—a greeting in Ishaka’s local language (Runyankole)—is what starts my day, every single day.  Every morning, I sit here, on our porch, have my morning tea, and read.  Every morning, I am greeted by passersby with “Agandi, how are you?”  Every morning, these kind faces brighten my day.

The people of Ishaka are some of the kindest and most genuine people I have had the absolute pleasure of being able to interact with.  I have never experienced the kind of welcoming acceptance as I have experienced here at our home in Ishaka.

The people here have such genuine interest in you and what you have to say; it is moving and has gotten me really excited about the rest of the summer here!  As we’ve begun inviting students and health workers to our workshops that will present barriers—researched by the MHIRT team of previous years—in cervical cancer screening and HPV vaccination in the area and discuss how health workers can better communicate information to community members, we’ve been received with much enthusiastic interest.  Just last week, we approached some medical students working in the female ward of Ishaka Adventist Hospital about the workshop, and their animated interest in participating made me excited to begin these workshops!  Just as those students, most of the others that we’ve approached about the workshop have received us with much interest very quickly.  The dedication, drive, and passion that I’ve seen here is truly inspiring, and I hope to adopt some of this fervor by the end of the summer!

I am constantly in awe of this place because of the beauty of its nature and the beauty of its people.  I am eager to be able to know more of this throughout the next 6 weeks, hopefully adopting some of the kind-hearted friendliness I’ve received.  A summer in Uganda is not long enough!