Fall '05. Mukono, Uganda. USP.

Strolling around campus nearly 5 years since I first arrived to Uganda Christian University was a strangely pleasant phenomenon. I found nearly everything to be larger and more developed: roads, buildings, vegetation, friends. The field space was turned into a football pitch; the old dining hall became a second library and a bigger and better DH was erected; canteens were transplanted; the wild hillside was transformed into luxurious housing complexes; roads have been widened; classroom buildings and staircases have appeared on various slopes; bushes and trees have grown noticeably larger or removed completely. Very few places hold such vivid and influential memories packed into a short few months, and it seemed a bit like I was stepping into the reality of a reoccurring dream. Countless short clips of my semester flashed past my brain as I revisited the familiar places, chatted with a couple of friends who remained, and exchanged words with a current USP student about to leave for debrief. I recall questions without answers, an intense confusion coupled with a dangerous cynicism, a longing for understanding, tears for friends I was leaving, and a cry for recognition.