{"id":12147,"date":"2017-02-06T16:30:02","date_gmt":"2017-02-06T21:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.redeemer.ca\/?p=12147"},"modified":"2021-08-16T11:53:08","modified_gmt":"2021-08-16T15:53:08","slug":"a-walk-towards-humility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.redeemer.ca\/resound\/a-walk-towards-humility\/","title":{"rendered":"A Walk Towards Humility"},"content":{"rendered":"

This past term, I had the opportunity to take part in a study abroad program in Mukono, Uganda. During my four months in Uganda, I studied at the Uganda Christian University<\/a> through the Uganda Studies Program (USP) and completed my junior social work placement.<\/p>\n

My fellow USP students and I were required to take a course called Faith and Action. Faith and Action was a class that combined traditional classroom components with various opportunities for experiential learning. We each roomed with a Ugandan host family, travelled to various regions of Uganda and Rwanda and we were introduced to missionaries and Ugandans involved in service work. This course was not limited to its two-hour time slots throughout the week; rather, this course began the moment I set foot in Uganda, and continued to when I sat on the airplane going back home.<\/p>\n

\"USP-study-program-full-width\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Faith and Action highlighted our experiences in Uganda and required us to ask deep questions. We began to first understand and learn from cross-cultural experiences through exploring how exposure to traditional African beliefs challenges our own Christian faith, with emphasis on how the \u201cWesternized\u201d gospel impacted the view and level of acceptance of Christianity in Africa. We then considered how Christians could respond to poverty and suffering in a way that would not hinder the growth and sustainability of a country. Throughout the semester, we were encouraged to integrate the course material into our experiences of life in Uganda. While doing so, I was able to examine my own Canadian Christianity, face my convictions and learn how to respond.<\/p>\n

“When you empower a woman, you empower her family, her community and her country.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I believe my time spent interning at the Child Survival Program (CSP) in Lugazi was when I experienced the most growth in relation to what I had been learning in class. At my internship, I had the opportunity to work with mothers and their children (up to the age of three years) in order to ensure the growth and development of their child. Through this, CSP is able to empower women to take ownership of their family\u2019s lives and prove that they can contribute to society. When you empower a woman, you empower her family, her community and her country. Mothers were taught important lessons about breast-feeding, malaria prevention, child protection, economic skills, Bible teachings and much more.<\/p>\n