It has been a long quiet year in the Testimonies section of SchoolNet Uganda; one could think they have not been at work. Well they have really been doing a lot of work which has been awaiting the right time to be unveiled. On that note allow me to break the silence and finally inform you about one of the undercover opportunities that befell one of the SchoolNet Uganda alumni student peer educators, Kakinda Allan.

Last year, one of long time life dream came to pass when I got an opportunity to travel to the USA for the first time to attend the 1st ever global annual Adobe Youth Voices (AYV) Summit. I really saw this as a golden opportunity to learn and share new skills from professional film makers and AYV educators and students from across the global and also make new connections for myself. I also longed to meet the other iEARN members that I had collaborated with on iEARN projects for a long time. At the summit I interacted with a lot of people in the AYV circle and learnt a lot of knowledge and skills that I did not know before I went.

One of the people I met was Lisa Jobson, the Deputy Executive Director of iEARN USA. I was really excited to talk to her. Surprisingly she was the first to talk to me because she was mistaking me for someone she had met at the iEARN conference in Cairo in July, 2008. In our conversation,  I managed to tell my own iEARN story i.e. how I have been a member for nine years running, the projects I have been involved in such as The Global Teenager project, Feeding Minds, Fighting Hunger, Folks and Tales project, Eradication of Malaria and HIV/AIDS, Tead Bear Project and the different presentations and efforts I have been doing to encourage other peers and teachers to participate in iEARN projects and how they can benefit from projects. I also told her more about the AYV media i.e. the documentary on gender disparity in science we had made and how I had been actively involved in the AYV implementation process i.e. facilitating at a number of AYV training workshops around the country.

During our conversion, she happened to talk about the internship opportunities they had previously offered to a number of other active iEARN members from across the globe. I also asked her if I could get such an opportunity. Fortunately, “I think” with the background I had given her about myself,  she told me it was possible for me to do internship at iEARN USA but she first had to talk to her bosses and would then get back to me. She also asked me if I would want to do it immediately after the summit or after finishing up my studies. I told her I would to do it after my studies; she then told me to remind her after my studies.

After the summit, I left USA with the team of AYV students I had gone with to the summit and came back to Uganda. I still made sure I kept her posted with the AYV and iEARN work I was involved in locally here in Uganda. In May this year, I wrote to her asking if I could still get the internship opportunity and she simply asked  for my resume (C.V) and told me she was going to talk to her bosses and get back to me.

After she talked to her bosses and reviewed my resume, she then handed me over to the Executive Director of iEARN USA, Prof. Ed Gragert who asked me a couple of questions to check if I had really thought about the internship opportunity and would also be a beneficial person to them. Allow me to put the questions as they were:

“It would help me if I could receive from you a description of how you would envision using what you would learn on your internship to benefit both yourself and iEARN.   And of course, you would be teaching us many things too, so I would love to hear how you feel you could contribute to the work of iEARN-USA as well.”

With the experience and training I have got from answering similar open-ended questions, I thought about these questions and answered them. He was impressed with the way I answered them and next thing I knew we had started discussing travel arrangements and accommodations details. And I speak I just received my air ticket today (21-07-2010).

But before I forget there have been a lot of interviews to answer in order to make this opportunity come to pass e.g. before admitting to International House, New York City I had to fill in a lot of applications and I remember in one of them I was asked to write a one page essay explaining why I would love to stay at International House, New York City, how my stay would benefit the local community and the community projects that I had been involved in for the past year. I remember sharing with them a lot about my experience in working with the local communities to produce media in AYV and also using the knowledge from SNU to answer these questions. I have also been getting a lot of assistance from SNU in order to ensure that my trip is a success.

I am now looking forward to a wonderful stay and sharing and learning experience while in New York City. I want also to establish more links and opportunities while there and also making it possible to connect Ugandan Schools with USA schools to collaborate on real life projects.

In conclusion, I would like to share with you what I learn from my own experience in the hope that you can do the same or more from it.

1. When we get an opportunity to attend an event/workshop outside, we should not just go to attend and leave the place wondering how awesome other people are implementing their projects elsewhere. It is an opportunity for us to network and share with others what we are doing and also explore further possible opportunities out there.
2. SNU and other organizations that help us get other opportunities may not directly get us to where we exactly want to be but could just give us a small push and we should be able to get ourselves going further to where we want to be.
3. We need to let the other people out there when we go out there know of what we are currently doing and what we are capable of because without telling someone they can’t know what you are doing and what you are capable of doing. We also need to keep them updated with what we are doing even when we are not close to them.
4. I am one of the people who fall in that category of people who just pick interest in a project and actively participate in it without thinking of how it is going to directly and immediately benefit from it. The time I joined iEARN I was in my S.2 in Namilyango College and had never thought that I would get an internship opportunity there. At that time I just wanted to connect with the other youth around the World and in my own small way contribute solutions to the global problems with other youth and teachers around the world. But here I am today telling you I am going to be an intern at the iEARN USA offices. And have also made use of the projects and opportunities they are co-coordinating to get other opportunities outside their scope.

Finally I would once again like to say thank you to SchoolNet Uganda and iEARN USA for this opportunity and for slowly but steadily bringing me closer to my dreams. To you it may seem like you are just doing your work but I would like you to know that in me you are modeling a very bright and intelligent young man who is going to benefit the whole world at large. May the Almighty GOD reward you accordingly.