“We shall be in Uganda, for the month of May, with the students from Georgia State University. I’m organizing a party for my students, at our house and I’m inviting our close friends…..”

That was part of the communication I received from Professor Monica Swahn, as we were closing in on the month of May.
Take note that this has always happened this way, for the years I’ve interacted with Professor but for one reason or the other, I find myself missing out on the golden opportunity to mix and mingle with my GSU familia!
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So, I swore to myself that come rain or snow or mountain lava, I will make it this year….first person there, as a matter of fact
And that’s exactly what I did
6:30PM found me round the block
Lost, if I’m to be honest, simply because of my lack of creativity navigating round the place
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I managed to ask around a neighbor about where I was headed and he was kind enough to save me
He directed me right to the exact place where I needed to be
My other guardian angel of the day, Martin, came around as well and directed me inside the party-zone. I got comfy, from here on out
Guess what, he confessed that he saw me for a while, puzzled on where to go and had no idea that I was supposed at Professors’!
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Reminded me of a saying that stuck in my mind ever since I heard it, “opportunity is for you that’s readily available”
It felt really good seeing familiar faces that I had made acquaintances with, throughout last year, 2017….Sophie, Irene, Natacha, Professor our hostess, Martin, Van Data….
I had missed you guys a lot, having worked closely on Tugende Design and other projects, as well
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And then, in came our VIP’s, our guests from Georgia State University ….they were our base-reason to gather around that day
Sadly, I hadn’t moved around town with them, the entire time they were here but you could tell that they loved what they had seen, so far….basing on some of the feedback offered when we interacted…..
The weather here, in Uganda, is one to die for
The culture….all the way down to our way of dressing and welcoming visitors
I, on the other hand, was blown away by their passion at living out every second of their time, in Uganda
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At this juncture, we, all were munching away, to everything eatable present (personally, I was on my serving of gonja crisps and a soda)…..
I really love gonja….it reminds me of my days when I travelled to the village in Rakai for the Christmas holidays with Mummy and my late uncle….we would make stopovers at every town-centre to buy gonja
I don’t know what I will ever do with this extremely sharp appetite of mine
Gonja in simplest terms, is a member of the banana familia and is technically called plantain
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“Ppppppppiiiiiiittttttttttsssssssaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa”
Yyyyaaaayyyyyyyyy!!!
My good friend, Ppiittssaa was here, delivered on site
She’s the one friend I’ll never get tired off of being around
We be tight like that, ya know! (Hihihi…)
I’ll be lying to you, if I tell you the exact number of slices I took in my belly, that day….i just kept eating and eating, till the space for Ppiiitttttssssssaaaaaa, was done!
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Have you ever celebrated your birthday, away from home?
I bet none of us could tell that we had a birthday-girl with us, that day, till it was the right time
Yyyeeessssssss….we did!
And so, it was time for cake….lovely, right?

Aaahhh yyyeesssss, the music kept coming through and you could see some of us, getting jiggy with it
For it ain’t a ppaarreeee without good news to the ears
I mean, what’s a gathering or party for that matter, without music?
In my next thread, I’ll let you know about some plans we hatched as we interacted
They are life-changing for everyone, best believe….

….to be continued….

#GSU’ganda2018