It was only two short months ago I was sitting in Copenhagen airport on my way to Kampala to begin what turned into a beautiful love affair. Now I found myself sitting once again in an airport this time heading home to Dublin. I always knew the time would fly but I had no idea how fast. It has been an amazing experience where I met incredible people, saw incredible work and even managed an adventure or two (or three).
UNFPA does amazing work but has much to do!
I learnt a lot from my time in Uganda, but perhaps the most pertinent thing I learnt was Uganda has made much progress in the last 15 years with the MDGs but is falling behind in goal 4 and 5, the reproductive and children related ones. This is critical for the country to get right if they want to realise the demographic dividend and make the next step in social and economic progress. But they have so much going in their favour I am confident they can improve the conditions and achieve to wake the tiger.
My final thoughts on Uganda, and Africa as a whole
Africa is stunning. I have now been to four countries in Africa and each was stunning and diverse in landscape and wildlife. Yet this is not what people think of when they think of Africa. They think poverty, a starving child too weak to swat the flies crawling on their face. But I think it is about time we replace this image. It is time to acknowledge the stunning green and lush landscapes, the rugged mountains and rushing waterfalls. We need to recognise the vibrant, energetic and motivated people that embolden all the best of the African culture. We need to replace the poverty driven image of Africa with a new one – one of beauty and of a colorful culture.
People need to realise that while, Africa as a continent and certain countries within have a lot of poverty, has a lot of social and economic issues, it is not this pathetic place that needs it European or American saviour to come in and rescue it. It is a vibrant and dynamic place full of entrepreneurial people ready to take their country to the next stage of progress and want a hand up not a hand out.
These two months have been challenging, fun, hard and unforgettable. I am still in disbelief I even got this opportunity and I have a feeling it will continue to have an impact on my life.
So the only question is now, what, where and when is my next adventure?
And as for replacing the go to image of Africa, here are my favourite images from my time in Uganda!
I would just to say thank you to all those who followed me on this blog and sent me comments and questions. I will be ending this blog as I am no longer an intern but please keep following me on http://globalhealthstudents.blogs.ku.dk/ where my fellow class mates and I post varied articles on all things Global Health.
Inside the intern's life! 