Lending a helping hand

University student hopes trips to Uganda promotes cultural understanding

Thursday, Jan. 26, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo Lawrence Jackson Jr.⁄The Gazette University of Maryland residence assistant Patrick Wu stands near photos of Ugandans that decorate the walls of his Cambridge Hall room. Wu has made two trips to the country to promote cultural understanding.

The camps, set up as a temporary refuge for Ugandan children trapped in a bloody civil war, were crammed with people thankful for a few hours of safety in an area rife with danger.

Wu, a University of Maryland student who lives on the College Park campus, vividly remembers the stifling African heat, the hoards of mosquitoes and the permeating smell of human excrement.

The resolve of Uganda’s children and young adults inspired Wu, and he returned to Uganda this month as one of 24 American college students taking part in the GYPA.

The partnership, with offices in the District and Kampala, Uganda, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to international advocacy for Africa.

‘‘Once I heard about the situation, I knew I had to do something about it,” said Wu, 23.

‘‘It was emotionally overwhelming. Spending the night in the ... camp is the most gut-wrenching thing I had to do in my entire life.”

GYPA arranged forums with Ugandan students and leaders, exchanging ideas about how the long-lasting war could be resolved.

In his most recent trip, Wu was one of 46 people to sign the Uganda Youth Alliance Action Statement, which vowed to support Ugandans in efforts to slow HIV⁄AIDS infection rates in Northern Uganda, collaborate with international policy makers and support women’s equality and educational opportunities throughout the country.

GYPA Executive Director Jeremy Goldberg, who founded the organization in 2003, said the partnership gives college students a chance to help in Africa’s neediest regions.

‘‘I believe there’s a lot of energy on college campuses across the country,” Goldberg said. ‘‘Usually, students are just looking for a vehicle to affect change in Africa ... and we offer a hands-on experience for students to get involved.”

After meeting Goldberg and hearing Uganda’s horrific statistics, Wu felt called to help those in the devastated northern region.

One such statistic was that the 20-year civil war had displaced more than 800,000 people.

‘‘To put the faces and stories with the numbers was even more inspiring, so that’s why I knew I had to come back this year,” said Wu, who self-financed both trips to Uganda, costing a total of more than $3,000.

During his most recent trip, Wu and his American delegation met with 24 Ugandan college students, promoting cultural understanding, women’s rights and potential resolutions for the war that continues to rage in the northern part of the country.

While it was inspiring to hear some of the Ugandan students discuss their aspirations and goals, Wu said the hopelessness evident in others was in stark contrast to his experience in the United States.

‘‘Some people seemed ready to accept the fact that they would be in this civil war for the rest of their lives,” he said. ‘‘That really hit me hard. ... Here [in America], we’re taught that we have the efficacy and the power to change things. To see someone my age getting a higher education not having that belief ... really touched me.”

Wu said young people are the primary target of the rebel army, which kidnaps children between the ages of 8 and 15 and trains them to fight their friends and family.

‘‘The rebel army brainwashes the kids to fight for their cause,” Wu said. ‘‘There are cases where children have been kidnapped and come back and killed their own families.”

Despite the progress made by the American and Ugandan student groups, Wu said GYPA will continue to draw attention to a conflict that receives little attention from American college students and the international media.

‘‘I was at the right place at the wrong time and I just wanted to make things right,” Wu said. ‘‘I had a chance to actually do something about it when so few of my colleagues were doing anything about it. As a student and an American, it seemed like the right thing to do.”

E-mail Dennis Carter at dcarter@gazette.net.