This was Lepp’s third time escorting the students across the ocean, although his ties with Uganda go much further back. In the 1990s, Lepp served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Uganda.

“I have benefitted so much from international experiences; they have given me a more enlightened perspective on the world, and I wanted to share that with students,” Lepp says. “Since I have so many contacts and friends in Uganda from my Peace Corps days, it’s a logical destination for me to take students.”

Students visited and learned about three national parks, rural villages and the Nile River. During the trip, they studied such important global issues as natural resource conservation and rural development. They also learned trip-planning skills and how to be ethical global citizens.

Danny Blair, senior recreation, park and tourism management major, says the parks are really trying to incorporate the conservation of the communities. Blair says they want to keep the forests abundant and the animals living there, but it’s important to keep the culture of the people there as well. “They’re working to incorporate different villages into the parks so people can go along with their daily lives,” Blair says. “For example, one park was working to revive the Ankole cow, which is very important to certain villages.”

By studying at the parks, students learned about the challenges of park management in Uganda, and they considered the need for parks to provide development opportunities for the people living nearby.

“People use the parks for obtaining food and building homes, so it’s important to keep good relationships with the community,” Blair says.

The students also interacted with Ugandans on a daily basis and learned about Uganda culture. Lepp says there are so many misperceptions and inaccurate stereotypes about sub-Saharan Africa in general that the trip serves as an opportunity to correct some of these misperceptions. “Every time when students get there and meet Ugandans and see the country and make friends there, they really come back with quite a different perspective.”

Blair says it was interesting to meet with the Ugandans and learn about the culture of Uganda.

“Along the road we interacted with shop keepers and locals,” Blair says. “The one day we played a soccer game with some of the local kids the whole village showed up to watch; the (local) players were really good, and we ended up tying because we had some of them on our team.” The trip is open to all majors at Kent State and students receive six credits for traveling to Uganda. Lepp will be conducting the trip again next May. Up to 17 students can be accommodated on the excursion. Lepp would like to have next year’s trip filled by December.