From Temple with Love: Keitel, Nash Provide Service and Smiles in Uganda

With the school year officially starting at Temple University this week, the common chatter around campus has been about how everyone spent their summer break. Typical responses ranged from internships worked to family vacations and other fun summer activities.

Then there are Temple women's soccer players Emily Keitel and Jordan Nash. The duo literally drops the microphone with "we went to Uganda on a community service trip."

So how did these two young women make "the trip of a lifetime" a reality?

It started by first joining the Temple branch of Athletes InterVarsity, a Christian-based organization that engages student-athletes around the country. Keitel and Nash went to their first meeting last year, on the invitation of teammate Taylor Matsinger, but neither knew the other was attending. There they heard about the community service opportunity in Uganda run through Child Voice International, and after attending the organization's January retreat, they were sold.

"Jordan and I were sitting on opposite sides of the room (at the retreat) and we both looked at each other and were like 'we have to go'," said Keitel on the opportunity. "We just both felt like this was something we wanted to do. It just felt right," added Nash.

So with the decision made, the preparation began. And then the realization that traveling over 8,000 miles from home to live in a third world country is a daunting task. There was a lot of reading to prepare both for the trip and for the culture they were about to embrace for this two-plus week adventure. One book, Enduring the Night: Courageous Stories of Survival by Former Girl Soldiers, was actually written by someone from the first class that made trek to Uganda. Another book, Girl Soldier, follows a young girl, Grace, who like many Ugandan children was kidnapped and made a soldier by the country's rebels.

"This preparation really helped us gain more knowledge for the trip," said Keitel.

On May 31, Keitel and Nash embarked on their life-changing journey. The two flew to the capital city of Uganda, Kampala, where they were debriefed by Global Link Afrika, a missionary organization in the war-torn nation of 41 million people. Here they familiarized themselves with the customs, the native dress and mannerisms as well as other details. Not easy when you take into account that Uganda encompasses over 40 different tribes, each with their own language.

After two days in Kampala, Keitel and Nash took off for the bushes of Northern Uganda and the Lukome Center. Run by Child Voice International, the Lukome Center is a safe haven for women and children who have been affected by the war in Uganda and also the war in South Sudan. The Center teaches vocational and life skills and also provides counseling.

"The biggest culture shock for me was the bathroom system," said Keitel. "We use toilets and they use latrines. It is just a hole in the ground. It was a nine-hour drive when we first arrived in Uganda. We stopped about halfway and I went to the bathroom and I was focusing so hard on how to go as it was so unnatural."

"Bucket showers were interesting," added Nash. "Since there is no running water you have these cans that you take to the well, pump water into them and carry them back to your hut…You then shower from that bucket, scooping (the water) into your hands. After a few days you get used to it and it becomes so natural."

"The Lukome Center is a really amazing place," stated Keitel. "The children go to preschool or, depending upon their age, they go to school. They garden. They farm. They learn to clean their huts. They become independent which is really amazing and very empowering for the women."

The Center held approximately 30 young women with ages ranging from 15-20, at the time of their stay. These women also were the mothers, with a few having more than one child.

"We were there as visitors and lived the life with them," explained Nash. "We did chapel with them in the morning and we would take turns preaching and sharing our favorite verse and giving a testimony on that. We did community service with them."

"We basically just did all of this with them, including building relationships," added Keitel. "We got to know all of the girls we got to know all of the children and the staff."

At first, the young children (three months to three years) were scared of the two Temple student-athletes as they rarely encounter white people. "It took a good three days for them to get comfortable enough to let us hold them or play with them," said Keitel. "Once they did, it was amazing."

But how do you form a bond when you do not speak the same language? The answer is easy when you think of it - the international language of music and dance. "We learned some Arabic songs and also some Acholi songs," said Nash. "It was miraculous how through song and dance we were able to connect with these girls."

Keitel and Nash ended their stay in Uganda and returned to the United States on June 17. The impact will last a lifetime, though.

"It has affected my life forever," said Keitel. "It has completely changed the way I view the things that we have and how I view loving on people and just building relationships. And how I want to deepen the relationships I have in my life."

"With these girls, you get to know them, and what they have is their culture and they love sharing their culture with us," added Nash. "I learned so much more in that week and a half then I do in a normal school year."

"Both of us have tried to share our experience with everyone that we can," explained Keitel. "Just sharing what it was like and hoping other people can experience that."

Temple University Athletics

From Temple with Love: Keitel, Nash Provide Service and Smiles in Uganda

Players Mentioned

Emily Keitel

Taylor Matsinger

Jordan Nash

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