The Staff and Board at WDOMI just completed a fabulous four month cross-cultural experience with a international disability leader from Uganda. Alex Lawoko, who is deaf, shared with us his vision for empowering people with disabilities in Uganda by training them for self-employment and giving them small Capital investments to get their business started. His descriptions of life in a country that has been devastated by decades of war and poverty, where there is no social safety net, where a person must become more self-reliant in order to survive, left us marveling at the different worlds we come from. In exchange, we introduced Alex to Independent Living here in the US and shared our common vision for disability led organizations serving people with disabilities. Our heartfelt thanks to IREX and the US State Department for giving us this opportunity. Alex’ thoughts about his time with us are below.
FOUR MONTHS OF UNBELIEVABLE EXPERIENCES IN THE US AT WESTCHESTER DISABLED ON THE MOVE, INC (WDOM)
By Alex Lawoko Community Solutions Leader
The main ways I’ve developed personally and professionally while at Westchester Disabled on the Move, Inc are a greater understanding on handling myself professionally in a foreign situation, overcoming language barriers and working in contrasting situations from the ones I have been used to. The experience has been challenging and & I’ve gained a lot experience beyond my expectations. This has been a great experience for me personally. I feel like I totally became a new person trying to absorb all that I could in the short time I had and totally let go of my inhibitions and fears like my fear of eating alone in a restaurant. Getting to places just with the help of a map and public transportation at my disposal was an experience I enjoyed. Above all, I gained some great friends that I can gladly say will be friends for life. I can help my colleagues, friends and family understand how this is important by sharing the experiences I had in my host organization and the US professionally and personally through presentations, general talk and through the implementation of my follow-on project the Learning & Actions Project (LAP), I hope to make everyone relive my experiences in the months to come.
The major goals I want to use my experience in my home country are the first place where I will use the experiences and knowledge I have gained in the US while at Westchester Disabled on the Move, Inc will be during the implementation of my follow-on project. Sharing the things I have observed and learned in my host organization with my colleagues back home is something I am looking forward to. The work ethic and the efficiency with how my colleagues here in the US execute their tasks is something I will hope to take home and implement with my projects. Personal experiences that I have had have changed me a lot as an individual, I will definitely like to share with people around me and encourage them to exchange their experiences