Interview with a Minerva Fellow

Good evening! On Sunday, I wrote about the wonderful initiative my dear friend and Union Minerva Fellow, Sarah Yergeau '10 (pictured with me above), has created to help raise funds to supply English books to the local school where she teaching in Uganda. I caught up with Sarah through email (all the way across the world!) and wanted to pass along her answers to my interview questions:

What has been your favorite part of your experience in Uganda so far?
It's hard to pinpoint one favorite part of my experience but I guess
if I had to choose I would say it has been all the times where I have
had the opportunity to take part in life in the village outside of the
clinic. Such as, when the Ddegeya soccer team won a local tournament
and were given a cow to slaughter and Elliot and I got to witness the
whole process and at the end were included when they distributed the
meat to the different players and villagers. Or even on a smaller
scale, being invited to sit with women as I walk home from school and
share a mango or jackfruit while we try and talk with my limited
Luganda and their limited English. Even though we can barely
communicate, there is something special about being invited to sit and
share food that can’t quite be described. I guess, it’s the mutual
feeling of respect and appreciation and the inclusion in village life
that makes those times so special to me. It is definitely those
personal and memorable interactions with people within the community
are what will stick with me for years and years to come.

What have you learned in the process of living in a completely country and culture?
So much! I don’t think that I could even begin to compile a full list
of what I have learned. It ranges from learning more about myself to
what it’s like to live with limited electricity and running water to
the intricacies of Ugandan culture. I feel so fortunate that I have
been able to live here for such an extended period of time that I have
been able to learn a lot about what life is really like in Uganda and
not just the “snapshot” that you might get when only visiting a place
for a short period of time. I have also learned about listening to
the people in the culture where you are living in order to find out
their needs and what projects they think will work best rather than
just implementing what you, as an American think will work. As the
main character in the book “Tears of Giraffe” so aptly states “There
are always some eager foreign organization ready to say to Africans:
this is what you do, this is how you should do things. The advice may
be may be good and it might work elsewhere, but Africa needs its own
solutions.”

Are you looking forward to coming back to the States in a couple of months?
I have very mixed feelings about returning to the States in a few
months. I will be excited to see my family and get back to campus to
see everyone there but it will be very hard for me to leave all the
people I have become so close to over the past 7 months in Uganda.

How do you see your book project helping the community in the years to come?
I am hopeful that my book project will help increase the quality of
education within the community and at St. Gertrude’s specifically. I
think that it will help the kids dramatically with their studies in
English, which in turn will allow them to perform better on their
Primary Leaving Exams and open up more opportunities for them, such as
the chance to attend secondary school. I would love to see my book
project gain momentum within the community and result in a full
community library so that not only the students at St. Gertrude’s
would have the opportunity to have books to read.

What advice would you give other Union College students interested in the Minerva Fellows program?
I think that the best advice I can give anyone is to just follow your
passions and take that passion and turn it into something that you can
be proud of. I know that sounds cheesy but taking the initiative and
creating something of your own that you are proud of is probably some
of the best preparation for working as a Minerva Fellow.

Thanks so much for answering my questions, Sarah! I hope they have given everyone a little more insight into the Minerva Fellows program and just given another reason to donate to the St. Gertrude's Classroom Book Project!

For more information, please visit Sarah's blog and the project's website, or read my post from Sunday! Keep up the good work, Sarah! We all miss you!!