For my final blog entry, I will provide an overview of the work I did while in Uganda, discuss project sustainability and future plans, and share a few lessons learned from my Fulbright experience.
The Overview
One Hand Stand
The goal of my Fulbright project was learn how the Hip Hop Therapy Project (HHTP) could be strengthened to better serve the young people participating in it. In this effort, I conducted a needs assessment exercise with the aim of using the findings to inform the project’s growth and development.
After speaking with over 30 young people and meeting with other project stakeholders I decided to focus my efforts on:
Developing more training, performance, and competition opportunities for project
members
Increasing the number of youth benefiting from the project
Increasing access to age-appropriate HIV-, sexual-, and reproductive healthrelated
information for project members
Immediately after the official end of my Fulbright grant, I had the opportunity to coordinate a “Breakdance for Peace and Positive Social Change Campaign” with funding from the Northern Uganda Transition Initiative (NUTI). This involved organizing 11 school-based and 4 community-based breakdance performances in 4 districts of northern Uganda. The performances used dancing, acting, and music to communicate messages about peace and positive social change. Sixteen members (8 boys and 8 girls) of the Hip Hop Therapy Project (HHTP) were selected to participate in the campaign. The campaign included three performances from members of Breakdance Project Uganda (BPU) and three performances from members of the HHTP-one with only girls, one with only boys, and one with both boys and girls. Each performance was followed by an interactive session in which audience members got the opportunity to win prizes by sharing the lessons they learned from the performance. There were also dance competitions at each event during which audience members got a chance to show off their dance moves. › Continue reading
In addition to my focus on strengthening the Hip Hop Therapy Project, I was also interested in learning more about why young people in northern Uganda were drawn to Hip Hop music and culture. I informally interviewed approximately 20-25 youth participating in the Hip Hop Therapy Project. Most of the young people I spoke to were young men between the ages of 14 and 18. I asked each of them the following questions:
• What do you like about Hip Hop?
• What do you dislike about Hip Hop?
• How did you first hear about Hip Hop?
• Who is your favorite Hip Hop artist and why?
• What influence do you think Hip Hop has on young people in northern Uganda? › Continue reading
In a further attempt to share more about my daily life here in Uganda, here is another installation of “I Never Thought I Would”. Enjoy!
I never thought I would…
Enjoy a cold shower: I’m one of those people who always take scalding hot showers. I’m talking about the kind of hot showers that leave the air in the bathroom heavy with steam and leave you unable to see anything in the bathroom mirror. In Uganda, there is no hot water where I live. When I first arrived, I would diligently boil water in a kettle and use it to bathe. As the weather began to change however, so did I. I arrived here in November during the rainy season and the temperatures were relatively cool (low- to mid- 70s). January, however, is the beginning of the dry season and one of the hottest months of the year. One sweltering afternoon, the idea of bathing with hot water was unfathomable so I decided to try a cold shower. I felt so much better and refreshed after that cold shower that it has now become standard practice. Before coming to Uganda, the very thought of taking a cold shower would fill me with dread. I now enjoy and look forward to cold showers and that is something I never thought I would do!
Buy an empty water bottle: When I first arrived in Gulu I noticed that a lot of people, particularly children, were collecting and selling empty water bottles. I knew from previous travels to developing countries that empty water bottles can be very valuable to poorer families as they allow for the storage of various liquids and can also serve as cups. So, while I could understand why someone would collect empty water bottles, I didn’t understand why someone would buy one…until the day I did. There is no electricity where I live so I frequently rely on kerosene lamps to make my way around the house at night. One day, I went to the gas station to purchase kerosene and realized that I needed a container to carry the kerosene once I bought it. I looked around and saw that everyone else in line had an empty water bottle to put their kerosene in. I looked around some more and noticed that several children were hanging around the gas station selling empty water bottles. I purchased one for about 10 American cents, got my kerosene, and left. I frequently buy bottled water in Uganda and give the empty bottles away to children who sell them…buying an empty water bottle however, is something I never thought I would do!
I strongly believe that any time you enter a community with the goal of “helping”, you should work closely with that community in determining what issues need to be addressed and how to address them. › Continue reading
Up to four awards will be available to pursue projects around an aspect of international contemporary or popular music as a cultural force for expression. Preference will be given to creative projects that are conveyed in a dynamic fashion and are accompanied by a feasible plan. In addition to presenting unique projects on music as a global force for mutual understanding. Deadline to apply is March 1, 2012.