Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello everyone. My name is Chris. I'm with Only Friends
School and you were listening to Friday Fun with Friends
and today I have a special guest, Ezra. Ezra, will
you introduce yourself?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Hi?
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Uh, my name is Ezra Ivudria. I'm a senior and
I'm from Kampala, Uganda.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Yeah, okay, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
I've always wanted to say that thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Well, there you go. Now you've said it. So I'm
really excited to have you here today. But we are
completely unprepared. The whole point of this was to read
the senior papers senior Graddy papers as they call them,
and interview each of them on their topics. But I
did not get to read Ezra's paper. Why didn't I
(00:54):
get to read it?
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Ezra, I wasn't aware that I was supposed to send
that beforehand.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
So this is gonna be a lot more casual and uh,
just by the seat of our pants. But Ezra, tell
us a little bit more about yourself. How long have
you been here Only Friends School?
Speaker 3 (01:17):
I am a one year senior, so I came in
August of last year and I've been here ever since.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yeah. So yeah, I just came and saw a glimpse
of the place.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Okay, I've also been here one year, So in your
one year of experience here, how do you like it?
How do you like your experience now that you're graduating.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Well, it's not what I expected. I expected.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
A more for more school, but what I found was
a dook's way of teaching and learning from which I
had to get used to. One of my genuine surprises
was how old the places. But there's a certain like
(02:15):
charm to everything around. It grows on you, for sure.
You get to have strong connections with the people in
the community. And yeah, it's it's being at all in
something I'll never forget that will be with me forever,
(02:38):
because yeah, the person I came when I.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Was in school is in the same person that's graduating.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
You know, And that's that's what I've been. That's the
third time I've heard that.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Now.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Each senior has said, you know, how different how they've
grown since they've arrived here. And this, this only friends
school is certainly more like a community than a school.
Definitely family ish, for sure. I have withdrawals when I'm
(03:12):
not here for a couple of days of like, oh
I'm school, so I definitely, I feel it. So where
are you going to college?
Speaker 3 (03:23):
I am going to Wingate in North Carolina.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Oh yeah, and what are you studying.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
I'm going to be doing finance. I'm going to major
in finance. Yeah, I think my nien.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Oh political science sounds interesting.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Yeah, not so much finance. No, no, no.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Do you like numbers?
Speaker 2 (03:47):
No? I just like watch the Wolf of Wall Street once.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Okay those numbers said, you know what, this seems so bad.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
H that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Are you going to be doing any sports?
Speaker 2 (04:07):
I would love to.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
I love to chart for the basketball team because I
love playing basketball. But it might be I don't know.
It depends on my schedule. I'll either I'll try and
do intermuro sports for sure, basketball, maybe play Soca also. Yeah,
(04:31):
but I feel like college, I'll chart a bunch of
different things.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Yeah, just to get the most out of it.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Yeah, for sure, same.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Way I did. Hear, just tried a bunch of things here.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Only That's that's how you find yourself. You know, You've
got to try a bunch of stuff to see if
you're good at it. Yeah. So what was your senior
paper on?
Speaker 3 (05:00):
My senior paper was on the the political patterns of
Uganda and how to move away from these political patterns. Yeah,
the patterns being how people, how people manipulate the power
(05:24):
that they have to stay in power, how certain things
like being being politically active, or there's a certain like
barrier to entry that's exclusive to a specific type of
person or group in the country. That So basically I
(05:46):
was trying to understand where these patterns derived from and
basically suggest analyze how we can move away from these patterns.
I realized that these patterns are formed through the history
of the country, and the history of the country as
(06:07):
is very like most countries, it's very messed up.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Seriously.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah, but.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
From the history you can see the different patterns, the
different regimes of presidency, the different types of rule rules
we had from dictatorships to right now, I feel like
we're in an authority take mean authority taintive type of regime,
(06:40):
which is no one's sure what the future holds. Elections
are coming up and it's pretty much given that it's
going to be the same thing. But basically what inspired
me to write the paper is because I want to
I want to be a leader one day and I
(07:03):
want to be able to enter these various species. This
is an advocate for change within my country. But I
have to understand what I'm going up against, understand how
different things work, and how to change the system that
(07:23):
is the current one.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Yeah, I've learned a lot about Uganda the last couple
of days, you know, and it's it's strange like a
majority of Americans, I believe I can speak on behalf
of a majority of Americans don't know a lot about Africa. No, no,
really don't know. I mean most Americans think Africa is
(07:49):
like one country, one big country. They don't realize. I mean,
how many countries are in Africa?
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Fifty fifty to fifty four. Yeah, that's a.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Lot the countries. Yeah, and they're each different, very.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Very very different.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Like I can't I can't say, like, for example, my Yuganda.
I'm not even quite sure what happens in like Kenya
or Tanzania, which are other African countries are I'm not
sure only because I only know it's that big.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Yeah, London is really big. Yeah, and how many people
are in.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Africa, I'm not sure, but majority of the world's population,
like yeah, yeah, it's like it's a very diverse place.
First of all, it's very diverse, like not all Africans
are even black, like someone like Middle Eastern or like
(08:51):
even white Africans. But yeah, it's a very very diverse
pot of countries. Yeah, very interesting place, very interesting place.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Well, it sounds like you Ganda needs some new leaders
for sure, and hopefully one day it'll be you. Hopefully
one day it'll be the ruler of you Ganda.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
No no, I aspire to inspire leaders, aspire leaders.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Yeah, I I'm like more like working in the background.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Wi.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
But I don't know you Ganda. I don't I don't
paint a picture of you Ganda being a country of
problems because although we have a lot of problems like
any other country, I'm very proud of where I'm from.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
I love.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
I love the food, the culture, family, most of my
family is there, my friends are there, and yeah, coming
coming to only from Uganda was.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
A very hard decision for me.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
But it's it's a very very beautiful country, very beautiful country.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
It's just we need to you know.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
We doubt we need to with there's work to be
done like anywhere else.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Yeah, that's that's really interesting. So thank you for painting
that picture for us. For sure, I would love to
see Africa one day. Yeah, is there anything additional you
want to add about your future? Your time here?
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Oh, my time here was was is one of the
most I don't know all the experiences of my life
so far am a one year senior, which tells a
lot about the place. I've discovered things about myself that
(11:06):
I wouldn't otherwise know if I wasn't here.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
They I've discovered.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Certain things that I'm passionate about, Like I didn't know
what was passionate about politics.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
I started writing the paper mhm.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
And although I've only known certain people for like nine
months something like that, it's like these are people never forget.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Yeah, I'm going to business place.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
I wish graduation was like two months away.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Yeah, me too.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
It's like it's like a home away from HORMND. It's
very very it's been a very good experience.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Room that's wonderful. Well, I hope you come back to
all the alumni stuff that they have here, which is
so cool to watch too. Everyone. So I'm gonna before
we go, I'm going to tell you a joke that
Amy told me because I don't know any but so, uh,
(12:19):
why we have to remember it? Why are ancient history
teachers so boring. Why because they Babylon. Yeah, well, thank
(12:53):
you Amy for that one. So I guess we'll go
ahead and close there, and as I wish you all
the best of luck with your future endeavors and look
forward to seeing you continue to grow on your next chapter.
You're welcome, thanks for being here.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Wow.
Hello everyone. My name is Chris. I'm with Only Friends
School and you were listening to Friday Fun with Friends
and today I have a special guest, Ezra. Ezra, will
you introduce yourself?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Hi?
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Uh, my name is Ezra Ivudria. I'm a senior and
I'm from Kampala, Uganda.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Yeah, okay, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
I've always wanted to say that thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Well, there you go. Now you've said it. So I'm
really excited to have you here today. But we are
completely unprepared. The whole point of this was to read
the senior papers senior Graddy papers as they call them,
and interview each of them on their topics. But I
did not get to read Ezra's paper. Why didn't I
(00:54):
get to read it?
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Ezra, I wasn't aware that I was supposed to send
that beforehand.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
So this is gonna be a lot more casual and uh,
just by the seat of our pants. But Ezra, tell
us a little bit more about yourself. How long have
you been here Only Friends School?
Speaker 3 (01:17):
I am a one year senior, so I came in
August of last year and I've been here ever since.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yeah. So yeah, I just came and saw a glimpse
of the place.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Okay, I've also been here one year, So in your
one year of experience here, how do you like it?
How do you like your experience now that you're graduating.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Well, it's not what I expected. I expected.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
A more for more school, but what I found was
a dook's way of teaching and learning from which I
had to get used to. One of my genuine surprises
was how old the places. But there's a certain like
(02:15):
charm to everything around. It grows on you, for sure.
You get to have strong connections with the people in
the community. And yeah, it's it's being at all in
something I'll never forget that will be with me forever,
(02:38):
because yeah, the person I came when I.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Was in school is in the same person that's graduating.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
You know, And that's that's what I've been. That's the
third time I've heard that.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Now.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Each senior has said, you know, how different how they've
grown since they've arrived here. And this, this only friends
school is certainly more like a community than a school.
Definitely family ish, for sure. I have withdrawals when I'm
(03:12):
not here for a couple of days of like, oh
I'm school, so I definitely, I feel it. So where
are you going to college?
Speaker 3 (03:23):
I am going to Wingate in North Carolina.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Oh yeah, and what are you studying.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
I'm going to be doing finance. I'm going to major
in finance. Yeah, I think my nien.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Oh political science sounds interesting.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Yeah, not so much finance. No, no, no.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Do you like numbers?
Speaker 2 (03:47):
No? I just like watch the Wolf of Wall Street once.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Okay those numbers said, you know what, this seems so bad.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
H that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Are you going to be doing any sports?
Speaker 2 (04:07):
I would love to.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
I love to chart for the basketball team because I
love playing basketball. But it might be I don't know.
It depends on my schedule. I'll either I'll try and
do intermuro sports for sure, basketball, maybe play Soca also. Yeah,
(04:31):
but I feel like college, I'll chart a bunch of
different things.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Yeah, just to get the most out of it.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Yeah, for sure, same.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Way I did. Hear, just tried a bunch of things here.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Only That's that's how you find yourself. You know, You've
got to try a bunch of stuff to see if
you're good at it. Yeah. So what was your senior
paper on?
Speaker 3 (05:00):
My senior paper was on the the political patterns of
Uganda and how to move away from these political patterns. Yeah,
the patterns being how people, how people manipulate the power
(05:24):
that they have to stay in power, how certain things
like being being politically active, or there's a certain like
barrier to entry that's exclusive to a specific type of
person or group in the country. That So basically I
(05:46):
was trying to understand where these patterns derived from and
basically suggest analyze how we can move away from these patterns.
I realized that these patterns are formed through the history
of the country, and the history of the country as
(06:07):
is very like most countries, it's very messed up.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Seriously.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah, but.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
From the history you can see the different patterns, the
different regimes of presidency, the different types of rule rules
we had from dictatorships to right now, I feel like
we're in an authority take mean authority taintive type of regime,
(06:40):
which is no one's sure what the future holds. Elections
are coming up and it's pretty much given that it's
going to be the same thing. But basically what inspired
me to write the paper is because I want to
I want to be a leader one day and I
(07:03):
want to be able to enter these various species. This
is an advocate for change within my country. But I
have to understand what I'm going up against, understand how
different things work, and how to change the system that
(07:23):
is the current one.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Yeah, I've learned a lot about Uganda the last couple
of days, you know, and it's it's strange like a
majority of Americans, I believe I can speak on behalf
of a majority of Americans don't know a lot about Africa. No, no,
really don't know. I mean most Americans think Africa is
(07:49):
like one country, one big country. They don't realize. I mean,
how many countries are in Africa?
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Fifty fifty to fifty four. Yeah, that's a.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Lot the countries. Yeah, and they're each different, very.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Very very different.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Like I can't I can't say, like, for example, my Yuganda.
I'm not even quite sure what happens in like Kenya
or Tanzania, which are other African countries are I'm not
sure only because I only know it's that big.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Yeah, London is really big. Yeah, and how many people
are in.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Africa, I'm not sure, but majority of the world's population,
like yeah, yeah, it's like it's a very diverse place.
First of all, it's very diverse, like not all Africans
are even black, like someone like Middle Eastern or like
(08:51):
even white Africans. But yeah, it's a very very diverse
pot of countries. Yeah, very interesting place, very interesting place.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Well, it sounds like you Ganda needs some new leaders
for sure, and hopefully one day it'll be you. Hopefully
one day it'll be the ruler of you Ganda.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
No no, I aspire to inspire leaders, aspire leaders.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Yeah, I I'm like more like working in the background.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Wi.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
But I don't know you Ganda. I don't I don't
paint a picture of you Ganda being a country of
problems because although we have a lot of problems like
any other country, I'm very proud of where I'm from.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
I love.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
I love the food, the culture, family, most of my
family is there, my friends are there, and yeah, coming
coming to only from Uganda was.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
A very hard decision for me.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
But it's it's a very very beautiful country, very beautiful country.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
It's just we need to you know.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
We doubt we need to with there's work to be
done like anywhere else.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Yeah, that's that's really interesting. So thank you for painting
that picture for us. For sure, I would love to
see Africa one day. Yeah, is there anything additional you
want to add about your future? Your time here?
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Oh, my time here was was is one of the
most I don't know all the experiences of my life
so far am a one year senior, which tells a
lot about the place. I've discovered things about myself that
(11:06):
I wouldn't otherwise know if I wasn't here.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
They I've discovered.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Certain things that I'm passionate about, Like I didn't know
what was passionate about politics.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
I started writing the paper mhm.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
And although I've only known certain people for like nine
months something like that, it's like these are people never forget.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Yeah, I'm going to business place.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
I wish graduation was like two months away.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Yeah, me too.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
It's like it's like a home away from HORMND. It's
very very it's been a very good experience.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Room that's wonderful. Well, I hope you come back to
all the alumni stuff that they have here, which is
so cool to watch too. Everyone. So I'm gonna before
we go, I'm going to tell you a joke that
Amy told me because I don't know any but so, uh,
(12:19):
why we have to remember it? Why are ancient history
teachers so boring. Why because they Babylon. Yeah, well, thank
(12:53):
you Amy for that one. So I guess we'll go
ahead and close there, and as I wish you all
the best of luck with your future endeavors and look
forward to seeing you continue to grow on your next chapter.
You're welcome, thanks for being here.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Wow.
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