I Was Sent on a Mission...

...by the Senior 6 girls of Pope John Paul II College.  And it was this:

that I tell all the Ugandan men I meet that muzungu women only want men who remain faithful and honest to their partners.  WHAT?!

These girls (all around the ages of 18 or 19, about to finish the equivalent of high school) held the belief that because many Ugandan men want muzungu women, they will listen to us when we say that men should be faithful and not stray.  They felt the biggest problem they face is that the men they date go off into town and sleep with other women, then bring back HIV and give it to their unsuspecting girlfriends.

They put an enormous weight on my shoulders to carry this message outside the protective walls of their school, which apparently aren’t strong enough to protect them against foolish sexual decisions.

I felt like this was a direct link to the fact that so many western aid organizations come to Gulu, and muzungus are sometimes seen as the ones who can fix the problems of this place.  Thus is one of the major problems of western aid: creating a society dependent on NGOs and outside assistance to solve problems that only the people themselves can remedy, and contributing to the already apathetic attitude of the government.

You just wait, Independent Study... I'm coming for ya.