Introduction

Eight months ago my husband and I learned that our family would spend the first six months of 2015 on sabbatical in East Africa, supported by a Fulbright AIDS and AIDS-related research award. Professionally, my sabbatical has two purposes. First, I'll be researching the association between Ugandan youths' exposure to sexual media content and their sexual attitudes and behaviors. This research is part of an ongoing project with my UCF colleague, Will Kinnally.  Our ultimate goal is to build an understanding of what media are associated with which types of effects under what conditions. We would like to use that knowledge to inform development of a media literacy intervention for either youth themselves or to train parents about effectively advising their children. Second, I'll be working with colleagues in the communication department at Uganda Christian University to train and mentor junior faculty in conducting quantitative research. 

At personal level this trip is an important opportunity for members of my family to reconnect with our roots. We left Africa in 2008 after living in Kenya on and off for 19 years. During that time we were serving as missionaries: my husband was a dean at a local seminary and I taught communication at a Christian university. Three of our five children were born in Kenya, and all of our children have spent more of their childhood living in Africa than in the U.S. But it has been six years since we left, and our 15-year-olds have forgotten much about the culture of their birth and childhood. This is a chance for them to visit former haunts,  get to know another part of East Africa, and renew old friendships.

So that's what this blog is about. A little culture, probably a lot of family, and hopefully a few insights along the way.