My Year of Yes: Reflections on My One Year FK Fellowship

In February last year, I received a call from the African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) ’s Information Manager that I had been selected for the Fredskorpset (FK) Fellowship exchange program. In my new capacity as an FK Fellow I was required to move to Uganda and execute communication and research duties at FEMNET’s partner Development Research and Social Policy Analysis Center (DRASPAC).
Yes to a New Life
On 19th April 2015, I travelled to Uganda to begin this new exciting journey. First stop was the Imperial Resort Beach Hotel in Entebbe where I was to attend a 2 week preparatory course organized by FK. There, I got to meet fellows from different countries. Everybody seemed equally excited and upbeat. I met my Tanzanian colleague Samora with whom we would be working at DRASPAC and Isabella and Janet, the two Ugandan fellows with whom we were being exchanged. That day I also met my roommate Assumpta, a Ugandan lady who was a nurse by profession. Assumpta was very friendly and would become one of my best friends to date.
During the two week period, we were taken through a preparatory course detailing what to expect and what was expected of us as FK fellows. One of the most interesting sessions was on challenges we anticipated to encounter during the fellowship facilitated by Peter Harris. During this session, we were put in groups and asked to come up with skits on some of the challenges. From the skits, I learned that I was not the only one anxious about starting a new life. As much as people seemed upbeat, deep down they were worried and anxious about one thing or the other. Some people were worried about leaving their families, others were anxious about adjusting to new weather/climatic conditions, some were worried about the security situations in the countries they were being posted while others wondered how life would be having to adjust to new foods. When we were done with the skits, Peter Harris summarized by telling us that it was normal to be anxious when one is moving out of their comfort zones and that it is only when we move out of our comfort zones that we can grow. And with that statement in mind I said Yes to a new life.
Yes to Learning
After the training, I moved to Kampala. The DRASPAC team took me to my new house in Kyanja. As fate would have it, my next door was a Kenyan. She offered to take me around town and introduce me to the rest of the neighbors. I was new to the neighborhood so I said yes to learning about my other neighbors and the neighborhood at large.
The first task on our workplan involved learning Luganda – the local language. At first it seemed difficult trying to cram all the numbers, words and rules of pronunciation and sentence construction. My tutor Emma was very understanding and tried her best to make it simpler for me to understand. With time however and after interacting with more Luganda speakers I had grasped the basics of language.
One of the projects being implemented by DRASPAC was on Women in Mining. The organization was conducting research on challenges faced by women in small scale and artisanal mining, success stories and opportunities that could be explored. At one of the workshops organized by DRASPAC I got to meet some of the women miners and learned a lot about how they were tackling issues of male patriarchy in the mines and issues related to misconceptions about women miners.
My main task involved documentation of DRASPAC’s activities and projects. Having worked in the development communications sector for over 5 years, I knew that to successfully achieve this task I needed to first understand my audience. Understanding your target audience not only helps you come up with the appropriate communication systems but also helps you know how to tailor your messages so that they effortlessly send the message across. At the end of my fellowship I had redesigned the DRASPAC website, opened social media platforms, developed the organisation’s first ever newsletter as well as participated in a TV show. In the process of doing all these I got to learn about what works in terms of communication to Ugandan audiences.

Yes to Challenges
I would be lying if I said my fellowship life was all yesses with no low moments. Moving away from home means stepping away from a life, people, work environment, food and so many things you are used to; it means stepping out of your comfort zone into the unknown. That stepping into the unknown hit me hard, it was like starting all over again and it was scary. I had to create a “new home’’ away from home, find new friends , adapt to the new office environment and colleagues and get used to so many things – all while having fun so I don’t end up spending my entire year adapting and missing out on many things.
There was also the problem of language barrier .I remember my first salon visit, I spend over half an hour trying to explain to the hairdresser what it was I wanted done to my hair. It was not until a customer who understood English walked in that we finally had a break through. Using public transport (commonly reffered to as taxi) was yet another tricky adventure because of language barrier. Among the first Luganda words I learned were Mpa bitano byange (Give me my 500) this was after I realized that most passengers were usually charged UGX500 for the same distance I paid UGX1000 since I always walked away without asking for my change .
I realized that the only way for me to have fun was by saying yes to the new life and all the challenges and opportunities it came with. Every weekend, I would link up with the other FK fellows based in Uganda and explore Kampala together as we shared some of the new things we were encountering and some coping mechanisms. We taught each other how to maneuver through the different parts of Kampala, where to buy cheapest merchandise and where to spend our Friday evenings and weekends. Together we also learned how to appreciate Ugandan cuisine such as Luwombo, Rolex , matoke , binyebwa, bijanjalo and muchomo. DRASPAC also organized Luganda classes for me and that made my salon visits less tedious. With time, I made more new friends who made my life such a smooth sail. By saying Yes I was not only helping myself to adapt to this new life faster but also learning and having fun in the process.
Yes to A Changed Mindset
There are so many things I am taking away from this fellowship but the biggest lesson I am taking away is a changed mindset where I no longer just look at issues from a Kenyan perspective but rather an African perspective and to an extend a global one. During my fellowship I came to appreciate the economic, social and political ongoings in Uganda and made mental comparisons with what was happening back home in Kenya. I realized that most of the problems encountered by African countries such as bad leadership, corruption, gender inequality were cross cutting. I have now become more curious about what is happening in other countries, how different African countries counter the different challenges they encounter and how those solutions can be applied to other countries. This ‘global consciousness’ is something I may never have gotten in a classroom or working in my country Kenya and so I say Yes to A changed mindset.