“Madam Ashley! Madam Ashley!”

The words I heard 234 times a day in my classroom at Excel Education Center in the Bwaise slums of Kampala. Those words, that season of my life, living in Uganda are not lost on me 8 years later. Truly one of the best, most refining experiences of my life. My semester abroad was the capstone of my undergraduate degree at the Institute for GOD and I’m so glad it was. Here’s a few reasons why everyone should complete a semester abroad in college. 

1. Take your education out for a test drive. 

2. Gain lifelong friends and co-laborers.

3. Solidify your calling and make it your own

1. Take your education out for a test drive. 

There is no greater test for your degree in Third World Development than spending months ‘on the field’. You can talk about ‘case scenarios’ and ‘how tos’ all day, but living them out is where the real test begins.  What happens when your student can’t do their homework because they don’t have money for electricity? How do you balance your time oriented culture and while trying to teach in an event oriented culture, with a schedule? How do you counsel a girl whose mom is dying of HIV/AIDS? It’s heavy, but it’s real and it’s an everyday challenge to pick up your cross and follow Jesus. 

2. Gain lifelong friends and co-laborers.

When Jesus sent out the disciples, he didn’t send them out alone. I got to go to Uganda with two of my classmates. They were already my friends, but I can’t lie and say we were “besties”. We weren’t. And we had to put in our work because you can’t always choose who Jesus calls you to minister with. But we worked out our inevitable conflict with love (Eph 4), and patience and Friday movie nights in our Hostel room. Eight years later we are still serving God together, raising our kids as friends and I’m texting with both of them as I type this article. Our semester abroad made us sisters. 

3. Solidify your calling and make it your own

I left my heart in Uganda after my 6 month stint there. I had been there several times before and I left a piece of myself there every time, but there were moments then that just felt too overwhelming, like I was counting down the days - I was still just a visitor. Doing a semester abroad is living life. You set up shop in your housing, walk the same routes everyday, report to your job, cook meals on your own stove. It’s living, not visiting. 

You spend day in and day out with women and children who will stay in your heart the rest of your life. They become your friends, not just charity cases or acquaintances.It doesn’t mean there aren’t days where you just want to escape and give up…there were those days. But your calling - God’s  voice you learned how to hear and discern will be the very thing that keeps you there, right where you need to be. 

A semester abroad is a season set apart for God to do a work in YOU, to show you what he’s built up. We are his workmanship and it’s time to shine.