Austin

Lessons from Water to Thrive by Nosi Oleghe 1 comment

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Having an internship this summer was a huge adjustment for me, and I’m glad to have worked at Water To Thrive. On our last day at work, they threw us a goodbye pizza party. My experience here was different than what I expected. I was lucky to work under the accounting manager for Water To Thrive which was cool for me since I am an accounting major. I also got to help create a budget plan for the well projects that my supervisor got to use on her trip to Ethiopia. Majority of my time at W2T was spent planning our Chef’s Table Austin fundraiser which will take place in September. I contacted restaurants in order to get gift card donations for the silent auction part of the fundraiser. One part of this internship that I didn’t get to experience was traveling to Ethiopia with my supervisor Susanne and other […]

Finding My Purpose by Madison Magiera

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So, I am back from Ethiopia now and I have pretty much gotten adjusted back to living and working in Austin. I absolutely loved my time in Ethiopia! I learned so much about the global water crisis and about the lives of our Water to Thrive beneficiaries. The people of Ethiopia were consistently so friendly and welcoming. Despite not having many of the luxuries and comforts that we enjoy in the U.S., like running water, hot showers, washing machines, microwaves and accessible clean water, the people I met in the villages we visited were so joyful and thankful. They are grateful for the things they do have: friends, family, faith, love and happiness. It truly made me reflect on my life in the U.S. I think that a lot of times in the U.S., we connect happiness to material wealth and things. In reality, it is not things that create […]

My Biggest Adventure Yet by Nosi Oleghe

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Living far from home was something I had always wanted to experience, and the CAPS Fellows Program gave me this opportunity while doing something I am passionate about, and that reminds me of home. I have had a lot of firsts this summer. It was my first time getting on a plane by myself, living by myself, and learning how to budget money. This might not seem like a lot to some people but I have always had my family to rely on for a lot of things, and as I will be graduating college in a about a year, I figured now is the time for me to experience actual adulthood. Living in my own apartment has been very fun and interesting. I have loved living with Madison for about a week before she left for Ethiopia. We got so close in that week as we spent a lot […]

Austin to Addis Ababa by Madison Magiera

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Wow – so much has happened since I began my CAPS Fellowship! I moved to Austin, TX almost two weeks ago and moved into my own apartment for the first time.  I really enjoy being in my own apartment and I love living with Nosi as my housemate! Together we have started exploring Austin and we have found there is so much to do there! Austin is a unique blend of being proudly Texan, but welcoming to all, liberal and conservative and business-oriented with laid-back, bohemian vibes. So far I have found that the city possesses lots of live music, record stores, cute coffee shops, funky art museums and a profound (and inspiring) love for tacos. Nosi and I are staying in University of Texas housing so there is quite a few shops and restaurants within walking distance of our apartment, which is really nice. After getting settled in at […]

Unexpected Home 2 comments

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I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the book The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver. This has been one of my favorite books since I first read it when I was 13. The novel follows protagonist Taylor, who, realizing that she needs to escape her small hometown in rural Kentucky, buys a VW Bug and vows to drive until it breaks down. She ends up in Tucson, Arizona, and through a strange series of events finds herself caring for a three-year-old girl who she calls Turtle. There are a lot of reasons this book could be on my mind lately – besides the Southwestern aesthetic that characterizes both Tucson and Austin (my home for the summer), it touches on perennial themes like immigration rights, environmental responsibility, and coming of age. But most of all, it is a book about building a new home in a foreign place. Taylor draws together […]

Traveler/Tourist: Reflections on Two Weeks in Uganda

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One month before I left for Uganda, I called my parents to share the news: “Hey, remember how I’m going to Austin for that internship this summer? Well now they’re letting me go to Uganda first!!” They knew that I was excited about the chance to work with Water to Thrive (W2T), a nonprofit that builds wells in sub-Saharan Africa. However, they were somewhat concerned about the two-weeks in the African bush with such limited communication. I’d already been studying in Europe for five months, so they had been looking forward to my return to the U.S. On this call, I didn’t tell them that I’d already booked my flights to Uganda, nor that I didn’t know if I’d get any funding. I had made up my mind to go. And nothing, not worried parents, nor homesickness, nor the crazy logistics of getting there, would stop me. My role on […]