2007: A Reflection

For most of 2006, I lived in Africa helping to run a small NGO, Global Youth Partnership for Africa (GYPA), and working for USAID. 2006 marked the last of several years that my work has focused nearly exclusively on transitional justice and reconciliation in northern Uganda.

2007 was a wonderful year of transitions. I moved from Kampala to the DC area (briefly) and then to Cambridge/Medford, MA. Predictably for someone in their first year of graduate school, my work shifted in focus from practice to academia. I wrote a lot about Internet & democracy through my work at Harvard's Berkman Center, and found my way around the Fletcher School.

Reading through this year's blog posts, I found that they very much reflect my change in focus, though there are still a few good tales from Africa. Here are some highlights.
---
Before I left Kampala, Rebekah and I managed to leave our mark on the Ugandan blogren. I wrote alot for Global Voices, and we started the Uganda Blogger's Happy Hour and the Best of Blog Awards.

I managed to get in some fitful arguments about the state of the global/local soul, what American youth can accomplish by working in Africa, and whether Uganda should send troops to Somalia.

In Cameroon, I had epiphanies with American students in Limbe, ran up mountains in Bamenda, and witnessed the emergence of the Cameroonian film industry in Yaounde. In Cambridge, I walked the streets with nostalgia for hot summer nights.

I've been fortunate to be blessed with health, good family and friends, and time to reflect. Wishing you all the best in a new year.