Aside from an overcast morning at the Uganda Marathon last Saturday, where swarms of foreigners flocked for a “benefit event” that is actually organized by a company from the UK, over the past few months living in Uganda I’ve encountered very few other white people — also known here in East Africa as Mzungus, which is the Swahili word for white person. Almost everywhere I go I stick out. I’ve been to mass on three separate occasions attending three different churches on important holidays that attract large crowds of worshippers: Easter Sunday, Mother’s Day, and Uganda Martyr’s Day. On my…

A few weeks ago, I was walking around the city in Masaka getting a few things done for the solar project I’m working on this summer in Uganda. While waiting in the mall for the Halleluiah Printery to finish making copies of our brochures and business cards, a man across the hall blasting some catchy music caught my attention. First of all, let me address the mall situation I’m talking about. Masaka’s main shopping center has everything you’d need. It’s not really a traditional mall you’d think of in Europe or North America, even South America for that matter. It’s…

To quote Polish author Ryszard Kapuściński, who wrote several books about his experiences from 40 years spent as a reporter in Africa: “The continent is too large to describe. It is a veritable ocean, a separate planet, a varied, immensely rich cosmos. In reality, except as a geographical appellation, “Africa” does not exist.”

Being African could mean you are white South African billionaire Elon Musk, or it could mean you’ve never seen a white person before (as has been the case with a lot of people I’ve encountered while living in rural Uganda). Saying a person is African is like…

Interconnected walkways link the vast dispersion of villages and townships scattered across Uganda’s ubiquitous countryside. Maps for this complicated system of paths exist only in the memories of the navigator, making it nearly impossible for an intruder like myself to find his way when meandering off one of the few main roads. Trails wind and curve their way up steep slopes, through dense vegetation, and sometimes cut directly across someone’s property to link up with another path hidden behind their home.

I live on the outskirts of a village called Lutetee. Deep in my village, very few people have running…

Yesterday was orientation; in many more ways than I could have ever imagined. Yes, it was my first formal training with ENVenture where I was introduced to the countless challenges that I will face throughout the course of my fellowship this summer — but perhaps more importantly yesterday marked the true beginning of my education in Ugandan food, culture, and life. The morning began with a round of goodbyes. …

Nearly 6 hours into an 8-hour flight from Brussels to Kigali, our pilot turned on the intercom to make an announcement. I don’t know about you, but when I’m flying, I like to keep an eye on the GPS and follow our plane along the route to see where we are on the map. You know, in case I want to stare out my window and daydream about what life is like 40,000 feet below. A few minutes prior to the pilot’s announcement, I noticed that we had abruptly veered off course somewhere over Egypt. We began angling towards Saudi…

Throughout the course of the past decade or so, I have volunteered regularly with numerous nonprofit organizations. I’ve worked with massive NGOs such as Habitat for Humanity and United Way, but have spent many hours supporting smaller local nonprofits as well — shout out to the team at Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food & Agriculture! After some volunteer events I walk away feeling incredibly energized, inspired, and more optimistic than ever. Other times I leave wondering if it was even worth my time.

According to a recently published report by the Corporation for National & Community Service, in 2018 volunteering…

While researching volunteer positions around the world —mostly throughout Asia, Africa, and South America — I reached out to over a dozen NGOs. To be honest, during this discovery phase, researching my options, I only had a vague idea of what I was looking for. For those of you who may not know, I have been a licensed CPA since 2015 and have spent the past several years working in the finance department of a B Corp that provides impact consulting services to foundations, corporations, and HNWIs. Accounting and finance are my areas of expertise, and my plan was to…