10/13/2019 0 Comments Summer Field ReflectionEvery past fellow I have talked to says that this is the most impactful and meaningful experience they have had in college. For me, I have been fortunate to have many impactful and formative experiences throughout my college career, but I do believe that this fellowship was the cumulation of all these experiences. I wouldn't say that I had that ah ha moment this summer or after I returned home where I thought this really changed me. I can see this in some of the other fellows I have talked to about their experience this summer, and it is obvious that they were really changed as a result of this fellowship. I would say that this fellowship changed me in ways that I was not expecting and I am thankful for this. When I compare this fellowship to my experience working at a shark research lab in the Bahamas; the Bahamas really changed me! I know this because I changed my life and my values after I returned pretty dramatically. Even though it has been two years now since I was in the Bahamas, I still talk about it all the time. That experience really changed me, the sharks were great and so were the people, but it was much more than that; I learned how to be a strong leader. Comparatively this experience was also a full year versus only two months in Uganda. I think because of these prior experiences however, I felt very prepared and comfortable living and conducting field work in Uganda.
In a conversation with another fellow in class yesterday, we discussed what we learned from this fellowship and how it changed us. She knew what my experience was like this summer and she knew that I learned how to be emotionally vulnerable. I was not really planning on sharing this in this essay but I feel it is fitting based off of my experience this summer. So here it goes! Growing up as the youngest of three siblings, I was forced to be tough and defend myself, both physically and emotionally. As I got older I would also view myself and tell other people that I was not very emotional and it was always hard for me to make emotional connections. I was never the crier at the movies, or the one holding my friends hand as they faced their fears. To be honest, I never really viewed this as a problem up until last summer. Part of this stems from the stereotypical male persona that is drilled into us when were younger. Men cannot show their emotions, or we need to be tough was pretty common to hear. This summer changed this in me, but not in the way you would think. I think for a lot of people, the thought of spending 2 months in Africa freaks them out. I will go more into the connotations behind this later but for me, I wasn't too worried. This summer, it was more about the people I interacted with than the place itself that made me more vulnerable. The mains reasons I became more emotionally in tune and vulnerable was because of my partners. We were literally with each other all day every day for 2 months. We ate every meal together, we worked together, we traveled together, and we partied together. It was really nice to get to know both of them so well. Part of what makes the fellowship unique is that you are paired with one other person (in our case 2) and you are stuck with them for the duration of the fellowship. I will never forget those long car rides together, cramped in the back of a pick up truck like sardines, sweating, dirt covered faces, knocking into one another on every bump. I don't think Ive ever laughed as hard or wanted to get out of a car as bad as I did in that Toyota Hilux truck. Africa Stereotype Upon leaving for Uganda and after I returned, everyone I talked with had an interesting view of how “Africa” will be. For starters, most people do not see Africa as very many different countries, all with unique geography, culture, politics, language; the majority just see one large continent that seems so far and foreign from what we are used to. Comments like, “wow that must have been hard,” or “what are you going to eat” were pretty typical. Before leaving, I too did not really know what to expect. Depictions of African countries are typically one of extreme poverty, famine, and civil unrest, with the occasional animal documentary to take everyone's attention off of what is actually happening. Contrary to popular belief, we did not live in mud huts or have no access to wifi, in fact, for most of the time in the field we were staying in Kampala, the capital city. We lived a mile from a large mall with KFC and every store you could possibly need, and although there were many differences in city transportation, culture, and building codes, it was a comfortable living environment. The people that inhabited the city were also just people, like you and me, trying to make a living and support a family. This was something that I think I carried with me over the long journey to Uganda from the US, a preconceived idea that people were going to be less educated and I was going to seem very privileged ( I am privileged), almost distant from Ugandans. I think I even felt this way about NUCAFE staff, not really knowing what to expect from the brief 10 minute skype call we shared before the internet cut out in the spring. This way of thinking stems from the white savior, Africans need help kind of way of thinking that is very dangerous. A toxic way of thinking that can really only be understood after spending time in Africa. When we arrived in Uganda, and after spending a couple of weeks with NUCAFE, interacting with coffee farmers; I quickly realized that I was out of my element and I felt incapable of adding value. As a research assistant working on a coffee project in Nicaragua and a coffee aficionado myself, I thought my somewhat decent background knowledge and understanding of coffee was going to be sufficient, I was wrong. Furthermore, as an environmental studies major, I was hoping to bring useful insights into agroforestry and sustainable farming practices; I was also under gunned. This was hard to wrap our heads around at first, and we all felt like we were not going to be able to add value to NUCAFE’s current operations. As the field work began to heat up, I tried to forget about this and just focus on interacting with the farmers. We visited eight cooperatives in diverse regions around Central and Western Uganda. I really enjoyed the field work, traveling to different areas, meeting with cooperatives, learning the impact and NUCAFE’s role in bettering their lives. It was not until we visited a congregation of catholic sisters, the Gogonya Sisters, until I fully realized what I can add to the table. After we realized that observing trainings was not going to be an effective use of our time, we started to conduct focus groups with farmers. Although language barriers were tough, we persevered and started to collect interesting data to support our deliverables. I usually felt a little uncomfortable and vulnerable conducting this focus groups, often alone with 10-15 farmers. Once we were able to figure out translation and do a couple of icebreakers, the focus groups became very comfortable and valuable. It was in these group discussions where I experienced that greatest value exchange. Typical focus groups consisted of mostly older men, with the occasional young man or woman thrown into the mix. With the sisters, this was obviously different. It was a nice change of pace to interact with coffee farmers my own age, especially women! As I sat around a circle with eight novice sisters hoping to become coffee farmers, I couldn't help but think how strange this was. I was the one leading the focus group yet I seemed more nervous than everyone else. Part of what makes this fellowship special is the interesting places and positions you find yourself in. I believe that these experiences in Uganda have shown me another side of field research; an approach that is community centered and bottom up. Yes I was the researcher, but I felt like I was able to connect with the coffee farmers on an equal to equal level; human to human; unlike other research experiences I have had. These women were around my age, and I felt so inspired to be in their presence. They were some of the smartest and nicest people I have ever met, all of the sisters opened up their arms to us. As someone who grew up with no religious background or connection, I was hesitant at first to work with a religious group. You see, growing up on the East Coast of the United States, I viewed religion as somewhat foreign and distant. This could not have been farther from my experience in Uganda; from what I observed it was much less about the religious aspects, and more about the community. As for all of my experience with religion in Uganda, it was just different from what I have experienced in the US and I actually really enjoyed learning more and participating. After we finished discussing why the sisters wanted to farm coffee and hearing about their experiences with farming, I opened it up for comments and questions. They looked at each other giggling and nodding; I was confused and felt a little left out, was I the center of their joke? The youngest one, 21 years old, mustered up the courage to express how thankful they were for having the opportunity to talk with a young person from the US interested in coffee farming and agriculture. In this moment, I had my realization of why I was sitting around a circle with women coffee farmers in Uganda. We all just sat there looking at each other in shared inspiration; I will never forget that moment. As a started to reflect on the long bumpy truck ride home, I started to reflect on previous interactions with farmers. They were all so grateful and happy to work with us. In the first couple of weeks in the field we attended a traditional introduction or engagement ceremony (kinda like a wedding). I could write a whole reflection about this experience but long story short, everyone wanted to take pictures of us and they were all so happy we were there. I asked Charles why this was, and he said that it is such an honor to have white people travel all the way to their tiny community and attend an introduction and celebrate their cultural traditions. Part of me immediately thought of the whole white savior cliche, but I think it was much more than that; it was about cross cultural value exchange and honoring traditions. All Ugandans are proud of their culture, language, geography, food; and they love to share it with the outside world. Thinking back to those interactions with farmers, I think the same idea applies. For someone from the US or outside of Uganda, to show interest and care about smallholder coffee farmers makes them feel proud. I think this is why our training videos were so successful with farmers; it was special to see coffee farming on new sources of technology. I got a lot of comments about why do you have to travel all the way to Uganda to do research and consulting work. Don’t you think you could add value by working remotely? I thought long and hard about this question prior and during my time in Uganda. It wasn't until I experienced the country first hand: the barriers, the culture; the way business is conducted, the way NUCAFE operates, how the farmers are, the list could go on and on. I think this is why the fellowship is so unique and special for both undergraduates and social enterprises because at the end of the day most people would assume that college students can not add real value to the enterprises. I thank the Miller Center for believing in us and giving students the opportunity to prove time and again that this unique value exchange can be very beneficial.
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Summer Field Reflection |