Category: Uganda

  • 15 things I have learned since I moved to Uganda–15 years ago today

      On September 17, 2000, I boarded a plane in Phoenix, Arizona. I was headed for my new home in Uganda, East Africa, and my mission was to create AidChild.   (Thanks to the love, compassion and expertise of so many, AidChild has now touched thousands of lives, won countless awards, and Read more […]

  • “We Are Not Mahogany” (FREE chapter)

    “We Are Not Mahogany” (FREE chapter)

    Chapter 1: Kampala, Uganda, East Africa My name is Thursday.  They call me that because I was born on a Thursday.  I hate my name.  The year is 2001, and I am 15 years old.  I grew up in a classroom.  My mother was very young when I was born.  Until I Read more […]

  • The Queen of the Night (and my monthly gratitude list)

    My monthly gratitude list. Today is the 21st day of the month, and here is a list of 21 things that make me happy and grateful, should they be of interest. How most of my kids, when we’re conversing, tag the word “Dad” or “Daddy” onto the end of every sentence, i.e. “Yes, Daddy,” or…

  • Silly Spiders: 3 lessons in a roomful of cobwebs

    I’m currently staying at a friend’s house in Kampala. The other evening, after dark, I crept into the darkness of the bathroom, reached under the sink, and pulled out a can of bug spray.  I then went to my bedroom (also dark) and sprayed the heck out of it, and then closed the door and…

  • 31 (My monthly gratitude list)

    My monthly gratitude list, should it be of interest. Thirty-one things that make me happy: Hearing, “Hello, Daddy.” That going for a walk in my neighborhood means experiencing the vastness of Lake Victoria, and the calls of countless birds. Playing volleyball with a flat ball.  It’s an added Read more […]

  • “The Big Idea” (My opening remarks at my dissertation proposal defense)

    So many of you have offered great support throughout my graduate studies, and have asked about details of my dissertation proposal defense last week.  The transcripts are long, but I thought I would share the opening comments, followed by the abstract of my proposal, should they be of interest. After Read more […]

  • Be Patient with Your Life

    It’s all a bit overwhelming, I would think. I pick Dorah up at her dorm at the University of San Diego, a place she has called “home” for only three weeks.  (She’s here as a Hansen Fellow for a Leadership Institute.) It’s a typically bright, sunny day.  We drive to a location not far away,…

  • “The Other Side of the Veil” (One of 25 things that make me happy)

    Last night, in the middle of a very stressful phone call, I was given a word-image.  The caller told me about how, earlier in the day, “Jjaja Jack” (Grandpa Jack, my dad) had taken little, individual ice cream packets to the kids at our home in Nkumba (pronounced “in-KOOM-bah”).  Somehow, the Read more […]

  • Springing Forward

    It’s one of my favorite times of the day.  It’s nearly 2am.  The streets and surroundings are still.  Lights twinkle from the neighboring buildings.  There’s a slight chill in the air. And there is silence. So much hype surrounds me virtually as social media reminds me that a change in Read more […]

  • It hasn’t been done before. (Really?)

    There seems to be something inherent to humanity—at least to current humans—that makes us want to believe that our efforts are unique, unequaled, and unmatched. Several years ago, I was contacted by a British group that wanted to help children living with HIV/AIDS in Uganda.  They asked if I Read more […]