Classes and such at UCU

Hey team!

I know this post is RIGHT after the previous one, but we are leaving campus for the weekend to move in with the host families we will live with for the next 2 weeks so I won’t be using my computer or the internet again until Monday when I come to campus for class. I've been typing up posts whenever I have the chance so I can include you in all the crzainess going on here!

So, I'll fill you in on classes here. As most of you know the main purpose of my semester in Uganda is my 450-hour senior field placement for social work, which accounts for 12 credits for the semester. I’m also taking a 3 credit seminar class at Messiah. So, on Wednesday nights (or, more accurately, Thursday mornings) I will be entering a digital classroom and participating in the seminar class real time with my classmates in PA via this lovely invention called the internet. The class is from 6-9 pm EST, so it’s from 2-5 am Uganda time! Praise the Lord for instant coffee and electric kettles =) So, I’ve already started my placement at Hospice Africa Uganda, which you will hear more about in another post, and the seminar class will start this week… prayers for alertness on Thursdays are appreciated! Also, every other Friday, the junior and senior level social work students meet with the MSW social worker on staff with USP for supervision time and to share what we're all experiencing in our placement.

In addition, all Uganda Studies Program students, regardless of emphasis (I am social work emphasis) must take a course called Faith and Action in the Ugandan Context here on UCU's campus (Uganda Christian University). For this 4-credit class, we are studying some things in the classroom setting such as Christianity and Culture and Christian Responses to Poverty, but most of the class is experiential. These experiences include living on campus with Ugandans, home stays with Ugandans, travel to other places in Uganda and Rwanda, etc. So, it ties in what we are experiencing with some readings and a lot of discussions as a class and as smaller groups. So far I've really enjoyed the class but it requires a lot of time outside of class reading so it gets stressful sometimes! There are also a few writing assignments later in the semester that will help to tie it all together. This class meets on Mondays and Fridays, which limits the amount of time I go to my placement, but you'll hear all about that soon!

Have a good weekend friends! As I mentioned in the last post I am going to meet my host family soon... prayers appreciated and more updates to come!

Ruth

p.s. sorry there are no pictures! Enjoy the ones from the previous post =)