Performance for Change

On Friday night we hosted a successful fundraiser at Wilf's, called Performance for Change. We had some wonderful acts and I was glad to see the effort everyone put in. I definitely appreciate the passion I see in each Future of Africa volunteer but what really amazed me that particular night was seeing the support I had from my friends. 

After becoming what I felt was an ugly marketing machine, I was surprised to see a great number of friends come out to show their support. I had been talking to one of the guys that's going on the trip and he was saying that his roommates didn't even come out to support him. It struck a rare emotional chord inside me, helping me to realize just how valuable friendship is. 

(Warning: bragging is about to ensue)

How is it possible that I had three Cord editors, past and current roommates, friends from church, friends from first-year, a volunteer writer/friend and two incredible musicians that I met randomly through a friend, come out to support not only me but a group of people they don't even know? 

When looking around the room that night I felt both incredibly lucky and sad. Although I've been jokingly telling everyone I'll probably never see them again after I leave, in that moment I felt like that was partly true. I'm going to do my best to keep in touch and obviously I have amazing friends that I hope will try to do the same (it can't be that difficult with Facebook, right?) but I can't help but think that the changes I'll be making to my life in the next year can either make or break relationships. 

Despite all the unsettling emotions that come along with graduating, leaving the country for ten weeks and eventually job-hunting in foreign countries, I found a sense of peace that night in the moments where I was able to look each of my friends in the eyes and genuinely thank them for their financial and more importantly, for their moral support. 

*In case anyone was wondering, even though I came to the solid realization that my friends are totally awesome, the 50/50 draw that I conducted was not rigged so that Laura Carlson would win while I was sitting at the same table as her.*

I'm not in Uganda yet.

Although I love writing, blogs are not my favourite thing in the world. I've attempted many an failed miserably. I've created templates and then never visited the blog again. More recently, I've written three or four entries and then gave up. I've got a good feeling about this one though. Mostly, because people keep asking me when I'm going to start up a blog for the trip. 

You might be wondering where I'm going (if the title isn't clear enough). In May I'll be going with a group of Laurier students to Uganda and Rwanda for ten weeks. We're doing volunteer work within a community in Uganda under Peace for all International. We'll be working with children, local businesses and wherever else we're needed. Because this is the first group of people going from the newly created campus club, Future of Africa, our main goal is to build solid relationships with the people we come into contact with so that future trips will be able to work even more closely with the community members. 

I guess this all started last June when I met (who is now a great friend of mine) Tk. I interviewed him and wrote a profile piece for The Cord and we instantly became friends. After the interview I remember Tk asking me to go to Rwanda with him someday. Although seemingly sketchy, I said, "sure thing". Little did I know, six months later, I'd be planning a trip to Uganda and Rwanda with him and an awesome group of people. 

Tk started a campus club called Future of Africa and asked me to be on the advisory board. I accepted the offer for two reasons: I really believe that he is going to go far in life and achieve some of his greatest goals and I really wanted to be part of the beginning of that. The other reason was because it was going to be something I could commit a small amount of time to since I had so much else going on. Wrong. When I foung out they were planning a trip to Uganda, I applied immediately. After being accepted onto the trip, my involvement mulitiplied and I couldn't be happier.

So now here I am, writing about the trip as though it's going to be as easy as pie to get there. It's going to take a ridiculous amount of fundraising and I'm nowhere close to where I should be. Of the approximately $4,000 I need to raise, I have gathered $750. Thank you to those who have given but I still have a long way to go. It's getting close to flight-purchasing time ($2,300) and we'll be getting our vaccinations soon ($600 upfront but only $150 after reimbursement - Thank you health plan!). 

I'm not overly concerned about it all because I've applied for a couple of grants and will be applying for the Investigative Journalism Grant at The Cord but I can't bank on those to get me there. For anyone who knows me, you know I'm a stubborn little girl but I really do need help this time and will fully accept whatever you can do. You'll see there is a donation button to the right of this post or you can email me personally and we can work something out (whether it's mailing a cheque or a direct deposit). 

Another way you can help financially is by attending fundraising efforts like John's benefit concert at Wilf's on Friday, Emily's bakesales or Reyn's bazaar in the Concourse. I'm hoping to have a coffee house of sorts in the Grad Pub on March 13 so clear your calendar if you're in town and let me know if you would like to participate. 

As always, let me know if you have any ideas at all for fundraising or suggestions for what to bring to Uganda. I also strongly encourage prayers as well. I definitely believe that God will answer prayers and if they're collective, all the better. 

I'll do my best to keep you guys updated on life leading up to Uganda and if there's anything specific you want to hear about, I'm open to topic ideas. By the way, if you were wondering, "postikadi" is Swahili for postcard.