"Third time's a charm," as someone said, not just once, but all too often. Team 2013 departed without a hitch from Knoxville airport yesterday at 5:25 AM, Uganda-bound. Perhaps it was the smaller numbers traveling together this year, the way kinks seem to work themselves out over time, or the all-female factor (sorry, guys!) but somehow things seemed smoother than ever. The 3:30 AM gathering at the airport, the weighing and shuffling of luggage, and group check-in were calm and easy.
For me, however, things were anything but. The third time has not been a charm, or at least not the charm I expected. As co-director and co-founder of GSSAP with my dear friend Dr. Rosalind Hackett, I plan and work all year long to make these five weeks in Gulu a success. The work is paid off by the sheer joy of traveling with the students. It is the highlight of my year, among the most rewarding elements of my life and my job as a professor and anthropologist.
But this year I found myself in the position of the undoubtedly anxious and sometimes tearful parents, relatives, and friends who came to see their beloved young women off to Uganda. An unexpected personal turn of events meant that I could not accompany the group this year. And so I was left behind, hugging each student in turn, suppressing tears (unsuccessfully), saying goodbyes and wishing them health, safety, and adventure. I was suddenly hit with the realization of how much GSSAP means to me as I watched the students walk away.
I have spent the last 36 hours marking time as it passes, imagining where their plane must be at any given moment. I awoke this morning and thought first thing how the group must have landed in Entebbe. I imagined the distinctive sweet, musty smell of the sodden Lake Victoria air that hits the senses at once, the smoky dust of woodfires and red clay earth, the thousands of tiny flames that electrify the often electricless night, the sound of traffic horns and rumbling trucks and the voices of workers, traders, mothers, children, and boda boda men as they go about their days and nights. I imagine how these sights and smells appear to fresh eyes, and I revel in the feeling of how my eyes, too, are freshened by those of the students. I imagine Uganda, and I feel at once heartbroken to be left behind and exhilarated for the nine young people whose lives will never be the same after this summer, for the lives they will touch in turn.
I will not be there to witness it personally, nor to come to know each and every one - Stephanie, Anna-Claire, Hannah, Madison, Michaela, Stephen, Kelsey B., Hajie, and Kelsey L. - with the intimacy and closeness that is among the greatest rewards of GSSAP. But I will follow it every moment of the day. Having made the painstaking plans, I know where the students are at nearly every moment of every day. I can picture what they are seeing, doing, and experiencing. This blog will be a window to their experience, to our shared experience. Regular emails from Rosalind and Jayanni Webster, who has stepped in for me, will keep me abreast of all the goings on.
While my body may be here in East Tennessee, my heart and soul are tethered to Uganda, just as this year's t-shirt design, created by Team 2013, captures so simply and beautifully.
My heart and soul are in Gulu. My heart and soul are with GSSAP.
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