By Dedan Tumusiime
Recently, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Deborah Cordeiro, an exchange student from Dordt University in the USA, to hear about her eye-opening journey as she experienced Uganda for the first time. Her story is one of discovery, cultural immersion, and the unexpected moments that define life abroad. Cordeiro is a medical student majoring in Biology and Pre-medicine and recently joined Uganda Christian University through the Uganda Studies Program(USP). She is currently studying Global Health at UCU.
She says her first day in Uganda was filled with uncertainty as she and other exchange students upon arrival at the airport, were immediately transported to the campus with very little knowledge of their new surroundings.
“It was a bit hard because we came in on a Friday and spent two full days without phones or access to internet since we had not yet gotten our credentials for internet,” she elaborates
Second time in Africa
Cordeiro says that this is not her first time in Africa as she has been to Tanzania before but she was still filled with curiosity about the Pearl of Africa and what it had to offer. What she has seen, she adds, has surpassed her expectations as she did not expect the campus to be so beautiful.
“During our second and third days at the campus we were taken for a tour and we were left in amazement at how beautiful the scenery around campus looked,” she says with a smile on her face.
Moving to a new place or country comes with positive and negative experiences. When asked if she has faced any, she says she does not have a lot of negative experiences as Uganda and UCU have been really welcoming.
The orientation they received helped them know what to expect. “Through the orientation we were informed that there will be people who will always stare at us, come to talk to us not with the intention of initiating a conversation but just to say hi to us, and such things have helped us to easily fit into the community.”
However, her health in the first month was a bit hard as many of them fell sick from the sudden change of weather as at times it was too hot and then it would suddenly start to rain out of the blue with no warning. She adds and says that the sudden weather changes were also a problem especially after doing her laundry, “Just the other day the rain poured on my laundry and it took days drying” she says, “But we are slowly adapting.”
When I asked her about her experience with the cultural change, Cordeiro comments and says that it’s not something that she has found so difficult to adjust to especially the timekeeping culture,
“If someone is running late for an appointment we made, I always just send a message to know if we are still meeting, rather than sit there and lose my head over such a small thing,” Cordeiro says. She encourages people to adopt a better communication culture to avoid simple miss understandings over poor timekeeping.
Cordeiro has also learnt to take things slow because in a fast-paced country such as the USA, one might miss the opportunity to stop and take a breather but with life in Uganda, she has been able to take her time and take in all the beauty UCU has to offer, something that she has really enjoyed.
Culinary experiences
When asked about the difference in meals compared to what she is used to in the USA, she says that Uganda is rich in lots of nutritious foods such as vegetables, fruits, and matooke. “With such foods it’s very easy to prepare any meal from back home because I can easily access the ingredients that are needed,” Cordeiro adds.
When asked about the difference in taste of foods, she replies with a smile and says that the food here is tastier than the food back home, pinpointing the rolex in particular as her favourite in Uganda, “I even just had one yesterday night and might buy another later on today,” she adds with a smile.
She praises the rolex for being a nutritious meal that has proteins and carbohydrates.
When queried about the meal that just does not sit right with her, after a slight hesitation Cordeiro says she is not a big fan of posho and matooke. But with a serious expression on her face she goes on to ask why Ugandans who are blessed with the most nutritious foods such as fresh vegetables, do not have nutritious meals but rather have unhealthy ones.
“I would advise people to eat more vegetables and fruits and also watch their diet for a healthy life because you have everything here,” she recommends.
