Uganda - An Insider’s Perspective

Interview conducted by Erica Schlaikjer

Abroad View caught up with Stephen Okello, a Ugandan native and co-founder of Resolve Uganda, to get his perspective on the issues affecting his country and the role of study abroad programs. Okello says he joined Resolve Uganda to serve as a voice for victims who had no access to the media. “My ultimate goal is to improve my ability to influence events through well-informed and conceived social and political action,” he says. Okello has traveled to Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Sudan, Congo, and the United States. He recently received a scholarship from the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame.

Abroad View: As a Ugandan native, how is your perspective different from those of your Western or American colleagues?
Stephen Okello: First, I am a direct witness to the conflicts in my country. Having lived through two violent wars in Uganda—involving the Lord’s Resistance Army in northern Uganda and later the Allied Democratic Forces in western Uganda, where my family resettled as internally displaced persons—I have experienced some of their worst consequences. One question that has often plagued me is, “Why is international will and attention so lacking?” In recent years there has been an influx of humanitarian aid to the region, but political understanding and will on the part of international actors have been absent.

AV: How do you feel about foreign students who visit Uganda to study, work, or volunteer for short-term periods? Are they helpful or harmful to the local communities?
SO: My answer is a mixed bag. Many foreign students are eager to learn and test what they have learned about Africa in class. Others come with a mentality of fixing things in Africa. Some come with a very honest outlook on the basics that need urgent attention. I think there needs to be greater emphasis on efforts to address the long-term effects after the end of a conflict.

AV: Why is it important to study abroad?
SO: It enriches a student with reality. Study abroad provides an opportunity to engage with the practical dimensions of what is learned in class.

AV: What is the biggest lesson you learned from traveling abroad?
SO: The reality that culture is so diverse yet human beings are the same everywhere. Human disparity is an opportunity to celebrate life in a unique way that transcends artificial walls that societies build around them.