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Eric Glustrom, Educate!'s founder, on his trip to Uganda
by Eric Glustrom

My trip to Africa in July was a huge success. I went to Uganda and Rwanda to meet the Educate! students in person, see the schools they are attending, and see the lives they are living thanks to Educate!. I could not have been more impressed with the Educate! Students and their drive to receive an education and one day work towards the development of Africa.

I also returned to Kyangwali Refugee Settlement to find more motivated young refugees for Educate! to sponsor, met with several members of the Ugandan government, including the Minister of Education, and had amazing experiences that I will never forget.

I went to Africa in July to see the impact that Educate! is having first hand and take the next steps in the development of the organization. I met the Educate! Students in person and conducted filmed interviews with most of them. The interviews are going to be perfect for the Educate! section of Dream Deferred (the documentary I filmed while I was in Uganda in 2002 about refugees).

All the Educate! Students are incredible people and it is amazing to see their vibrant personalities in spite of all they have been through. I spent a lot of time with two students especially, Benson Olivier and Edward Guma. Benson and I became very close in 2002 during my time in Kyangwali Refugee Camp in Uganda (where I met him) and Edward and I have become good friends in the past year or so that Educate! has been sponsoring him.

Traveling around Uganda and Rwanda with these two friends was not only a lot of fun, but also very helpful considering they can translate in all the local languages. It is amazing how similar all the Educate! Students are to friends here in the States. There is virtually no age difference between most of the students and I (some are a few years older and some are a few years younger), and I felt exactly like I was hanging out with friends from home. For this reason the trip not only very successful, but also a lot of fun.

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Marcel, Eric, Daniel Edward, Angelique, and Antoinette (clockwise from top left)

Eric hangs out with students at Sir Tito Winyi Secondary School

Marcel, Benson, Daniel Edward, Angelique, and Antoinette (clockwise from top left)