by Kennedy Martinez, Junior Advertising and Public Relations major
At a home in Uganda there lives a newborn child, and his name is Warner.
This past May, students from the College of Journalism and Mass Communications travelled to Uganda in Africa as a part of the Global Eyewitness program. This class is led by professor Bruce Thorson where he selects students to travel to developing countries and bring awareness to the lives of those who live there.
When Adam Warner applied, he was unaware of where he’d be photographing, writing, and developing these stories.
“You don’t know which country you’re going to until you get the confirmation that you’re actually going,” Warner said. “I applied with a story set in Thailand and got an email and a week later saying I was going to Uganda.”
Luckily for Warner he knew the other students participating in the program making traveling to Uganda less intimidating.
But of course, traveling to a new country comes with challenges.
“There’s a difference in culture that you have to get past which I feel I’m pretty good at because everyone is a human,” Warner said. “You just have to treat them like humans.”
While there were many challenges while studying abroad, being in Uganda also provided Warner with many special memories.
The most special memory, perhaps, was when Warner was told a child was to be named after him.
Warner explains during his time in Uganda, he commuted on the back of a bike of a local man.
“I paid him to translate the interviews I had,” Warner said. “I gave him 200 thousand shillings one night. He came to me the next day saying he called his wife and told her he’d received a great gift from a friend.”
The gift is equivalent to 100 US dollars. The man’s wife was very grateful and wanted to know Warner’s name.
“Warner,” said the man’s wife who was pregnant at the time. “We will name our child Warner.”
On Nov. 16, at the Rococo theatre in Lincoln, Neb, Adam Warner along with the other Global Eyewitness students, will present and share their stories from their time in Uganda.
