An American in Uganda: Sharing Power and Living to Learn

Abstract

Alisha, a native of the United States, has lived in Kampala, Uganda, for 12 years leading a team of Ugandan teachers daring to impact their community for good. She and her team birthed an organization that educates, develops leaders, and creates opportunities. One hundred children and youth train at Terra Nova Soccer Club and Academy, and 50 have earned athletic scholarships to attend high school. In 2013, they opened a preschool with 32 students and now serve 250 students from nine countries and their families.

This chapter explores the fiery transformation of a founder and her staff from a collective yet leader-centric culture to a power-with culture in which multiple leaders follow the invisible leader of common purpose. Other theoretical lenses include the expatriate transformation process and intercultural communication competence, the impact of white fragility on cultural dialog, integrative conflict, four skill sets of courage, and collective courage as a predictor of a successful organizational culture, leadership, and mission fulfillment.

Alisha’s courage grew as she waged war with realities of her outsider status and her white body privilege in an African context, and the harm that can inflict on a community. She learned that it was in staying but not staying the same that allowed her to integrate her blended marriage, her responsibility as a mother to three daughters of color, and her passion to lift young women on their journeys of community development and leadership into her truest self.

Citation

Seruyange, A.D. and Martin, S.S. (2021), "An American in Uganda: Sharing Power and Living to Learn", Breen, J.M., van der Steege, M., Martin, S.S. and Glick-Smith, J.L. (Ed.) Women Courageous, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 11-32. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83982-422-720211003