My first travel outside of my homeland: A reflection
I was a teenager when I went on my first trip outside of Somalia. After I finished high school, I traveled to Kenya for medical reasons. It wasn’t really my plan to stay in Kenya for a longer period. After a few months in Kenya, I felt the time was running out, and my friends at the high school started to study higher education. It was at that moment when I decided not to waste my time in Kenya anymore. I instantly contacted a cousin of mine to help me apply to universities in Uganda. I took this bold step and traveled through the land between Kenya & Uganda. It was the first time that I crossed a border from one country to another via bus. The road trip lasted 18 hours. Looking back now, I think, I took a big risk as I was a young girl traveling alone. I reached Kampala, the capital city of Uganda, at 2 am at midnight. I didn’t know anyone who lived in the city. The closest person was a cousin of mine who studied at a university in Mbala, a town that is 224 km away from ...