The Nonprofit Administration Program is very excited to share that Andrea Uduma G’21 is the new Monitoring and Evaluation Officer with The Eastern Africa Province of the Society of Jesus!
Andrea accepted this role after graduating from the Nonprofit Administration program last spring Andrea said, “I have been learning and enjoying working with different stakeholders. My role is to visit the different projects, called apostolates in the Jesuit language, mainly to give oversight.” His position involves traveling to the various locations where projects occur and meeting with the respective stakeholders. He then reports on his observations.
Andrea explained that his organization, The Eastern Africa Province (EAP) of the Society of Jesus, is one of the several Jesuit Provinces worldwide. The EAP comprises six East African Countries: Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, and Tanzania. The province runs about four primary schools, six secondary schools, and five parishes in different countries of the region.
Currently, the province is steering a plan to erect a university in Kenya to strengthen its effort in providing quality education to the youth in the region. EAP also runs a vocational school, an agricultural training farm, two youth centers, and a radio station. In addition, EAP also runs a Teachers’ Training College and many short-term small projects.
Andrea said his experiences at John Carroll gave him the confidence, courage, and ownership of set personal values that act as “the drive of my everyday work.” This opportunity has come with challenges in addition to great joy, Andrea explained.
He shared this anecdote, “I found myself like a potter who has been given clay to mold it into a pot. Molding is a process; one makes mistakes and keeps reshaping the clay till it takes the shape of a pot, but most importantly, to learn from the process and enjoy the little progress.”
Andrea also recalls the lessons learned in the program and said, “Dani Robbins’ favorite saying, “celebrate the littlest success” is one of his favorites.
He said, “And sometimes, if need be, I stop everything and take a sip of coffee and ask myself Dani’s questions: “What are my values? Where do I stand? What is the goal? Who decides? …” Some great questions, indeed.
Andrea believes that his academic career at John Carroll University afforded him the skills and tools needed for this role and future roles to come. He said he is prepared to be comfortable with discomfort and looks forward to using the skills learned as new opportunities arise.
Please join us in congratulating Andrea on this tremendous accomplishment! Andrea is an “unapologetic social justice leader!”
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