Yew-gone-duh? (Uganda)

Yes, Uganda. It's a country in the middle of Africa sandwiched between the DRC, Sudan, Kenya and Lake Victoria, and we're gonna be there in 5 days!! Since we'll be gone for two and a half months we decided to dedicate this blog to the comings and goings and especially the whatnot that may go on over there.

So what is it exactly that we're doing over there???  That's probably the number one question we've had as of late haha. So, this is a BYU program with the Political Science department that Tyler decided to apply for since his emphasis in International Relations is in Africa (They graciously let Jordyn go along with him). It is a mentored research study abroad so there will be two professors and about 20 students. There are 4-5 different groups of 2-3 individuals that are carrying out political science experiments. Tyler is in the micro-savings group and also the menstrual hygiene group which Jordyn ingeniously created we might add! Simply put, we will conduct randomized experiments and recruit test subjects to see if we can find some kind of correlation that is related to development. For example, in the micro-savings group we are trying to find out what pushes Ugandans to save money in banks since right now they are very distrustful of the banks and only about 10% of the people do it. Our hypothesis is that an up-front incentive will be the best incentive to save. There will be treatment and control groups and we will run statistical analyses afterwards to see if there is a correlation. For Jordyn's group (the menstrual hygiene group) we are trying to keep Ugandan girls in school. When girls start having their periods they also start missing school because a lack of health supplies and lack of health education so our hypothesis is that an increase in menstrual supplies and education will lead to girls staying in school. Keeping them in school is important because women empowerment helps develop countries and right now most Ugandan girls become pregnant and/or are married in their mid to late teens! 

So, there it is. Cut and dry. Hopefully it made a little sense. We are both getting more and more excited about development because it is directly linked to helping people lead better lives. On the side, through a miraculous encounter at the Hospital, Jordyn ran into a nurse that set us up with contacts in two orphanages in Kampala (the capital city) and we have rounded up quite a bit of medical and school supplies to take over on a humanitarian mission effort. We are very excited about that! We greatly appreciate all of you who donated!! 

Anyway, that is the scoop. I'm (Tyler) still new at this blogging stuff so hopefully it will get better in time. Stay tuned, more to come!