This past summer from June to July, freshman Andrea Findley and her father, Mike Findley, were able to experience what few people were able to experience, by traveling to the countries of Rwanda and Uganda.

Mike, a political science professor at UT, often travels to third world countries with his students, and this time he decided to take his family with him as well. The group stayed in Africa for a week and got to experience life like they had before.

Mike travels to different countries every three months, to study the effects of war on the people that live there.

“We studied how African government and rebel armies steal charity money that comes from countries like the United States,” Mike said. “We interviewed the former commanders of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda to learn what they do and why. We learned that charity money can often make a real difference in helping people, but some gets captured by armies and used to fight wars.”

The trip was able to teach students to expand their world view and experience what they learn about.

“It’s fun working with students and watching them learn more,” Mike said. “Students connect well with people in other countries and they always learn a lot. I hope all students take the time to travel to areas of the world where there are hardships such as poverty or conflict. It gives students a really important perspective on the world.”

While her father and his students researched, Andrea and the rest of her family spent time with the people in Uganda and Rwanda.

“We would go visit people, and we helped some of our friends by giving them money because they’re struggling,” Andrea said.

Her family also spent time visiting tourist locations in both countries.

“We went and saw the genocide memorial and stayed in the hotel from Hotel Rwanda,” Andrea said.

When she arrived in Uganda, Andrea had trouble adjusting to how different life was there from Texas.

“It was surprising, I was expecting real roads but there was just dirt roads, and all the people were very different but very friendly, way friendlier than here,” Andrea said.

The Findley’s had to eat mostly packaged food while on their trip, in fear that the meat and water there would be unsanitary due to both countries’ lack of food and water cleaning systems.

“We even had to brush our teeth with bottled water, and we showered with the regular water but we had to make sure we closed our eyes,” Andrea said.

However, the biggest difference from Uganda to Texas the citizens’ lifestyles and attitudes.

“It was really different compared to here, because they’re way more poor than people here,” Andrea said. “It’s definitely life-changing because you see how people live, and that they have it really hard, but they’re happy through it all. They’re very kind people and it was a really different experience.”

Andrea was fortunate to be able to meet all different kinds of people on her trip, from children to families.

“We went to this deaf school, and we got to play soccer and we got to use my dad’s phone to communicate with them,” Andrea said. “There was this one six year old girl, her name was Faith, and she was like my best friend there, it was really cute. She followed us home one time and she was like ‘Can I stay with you? I love you guys.’”

The Findley’s also gave some money and other resources to the families they met.

“I was really sad when we had to leave because we stayed there for like a month and I got to know a lot of people really personally, but it was happy because I got to eat real food again,” Andrea said.

The Findley’s thought that their trip was enlightening and opened them to new perspectives and definitely changed them.

“I learn and grow as much or more as they do,” Mike said. “It’s very difficult to see so much poverty and suffering, but I always come back with hope that things will improve and people’s’ lives will get better. But we need everyone here in the U.S. to be more thoughtful and active in trying to help others.”