It has been far too long since I provided an update regarding what is happening on the ground in what has become my second home. While I am currently residing in London with my family for the fall semester (serving as the Director of Pepperdine Law’s Fall Program), I am eagerly awaiting my next trip […]
In Uganda, medicine, as is law, is an undergraduate major. Accordingly, after completing one year of nursery school (same as our kindergarten), seven years of primary schools, and six years of secondary school, those wanting to practice medicine enroll directing into an undergraduate university. Admission into university in Uganda is based entirely upon a weighted […]
My last two days in Kampala (Sunday and Monday) were a blur as the teams wrapped up the case briefing for the 161 prisoners they assisted. The Pepperdine students serving as interns in Uganda still had one week left in town, so they would be putting the final touches on the briefs before heading home. […]
A rumored terrorism plot at Uganda’s main airport has come and gone with little left in its wake. Such threats are becoming commonplace in Uganda as fears that the Somali militant group Al-Shabaab will enlarge its target area beyond Kenya once again. Some may recall that Al-Shabaab managed to simultaneously detonate two bombs in Kampala […]
We traveled Tuesday night from Hoima to Masindi under a pin-pricked blanket of darkness. With no electricity along the road for most of the 45 kilometer stretch, more stars were visible than it was humanly possible to count. Tango and Daniel navigated the rutted and winding road seemingly effortlessly, dodging pedestrians, chickens, bicyclists, and motorcycles […]
By the end of Monday, it became clear that we needed to divide and conquer. The initial interview work was going well and relatively quickly. What we gained in speed, though, we lacked in depth because we didn’t have access to any of the evidence against the accused persons prior to the interviews – only […]
A Little Help A mesmerized whisper of “wow” involuntarily escaped the lips of most of our team who ascended the hill on Monday to “Luzira Upper,” Uganda’s Maximum Security Prison, home to 3247 inmates. The first to arrive were the Revolution film team of Andy (director), Michelle (producer), John (cinematographer), and Tyson (camera assist/editor), and […]
As in all of life’s ventures, it was important for us to establish a firm foundation before attempting to build upon it this week. So the Pepperdine lawyers who have traveled to Uganda and many of the students living here this summer gathered on Sunday morning in a hotel conference room for a time of […]
In Uganda, simplicity and predictability have different meanings than in the United States. By Saturday morning, we were ready to exchange their definitions for ours. Our Ugandan coordinator, Andrew, left before dawn for his father’s 80th birthday party celebration in Mbale – four hours away – so we were on our own. Before he left, […]
Friday morning started off quite promising, but those promises were soon broken, sending me into panic mode and forcing me against my better judgment to scramble onto the back of a motorcycle taxi in the rain. While I was with Andrew on Thursday, he called his friend and mine, the former Chief Justice Benjamin Odoki, […]
