The Incredible Allyson McKinney

Greetings from Kampala, Uganda, where I've been visiting my good friend, Ally!

Many of you know Ally, but for those who don't, I'll give you a brief history. I first knew of Ally freshman year at Florida State. One day I overheard girls in my dorm talking about how the reigning Miss Teen Florida lived on one of the floors. She did. It was Ally.

Later on at FSU, I got to know Ally as we were involved in several student organizations and associations together. That's when I discovered she was so much more than a pretty face. She is intelligent, thoughtful and very funny. She's spunky and strong. She's a good friend.

My friendship with Ally really took off in the years after college, however. I was living in DC, beginning my career, and she was in DC earning her J.D./MBA at Georgetown (Did I forget to mention she's also very ambitious??). Together with another great FSU grad, Miki, we ran around the city doing our best to live it up on meager budgets -- and we did quite well! To this day, one of my favorite road trips to NYC is the one Ally, Miki, Kristan Carrizales and I took for the Kickoff Classic game where FSU beat Texas A&M - such good times!

After her degrees, Ally moved to San Francisco and put in a few years with a big law firm. It wasn't long before she desired a career with a higher calling, however, and she found that calling in Africa. Her first trip here was a 6-month stint in Arusha, Tanzania, where she worked for the Rwandan War Crimes Tribunal. And in those months, the "Africa bug" bit her. She returned for another year at the firm in San Fran, but all the while was on the lookout for a permanent opportunity in Africa, which she found.

Ally is now the Director of the Uganda office for a Christian-based NGO called, International Justice Mission. Her focus is human rights, and she works with local governments and law officials, getting them to enforce laws that are often ignored. For example, if a man dies (which happens often with the AIDS rates here), according to some tribal customs, his family members may go and claim his house and children, leaving his wife homeless and without any posessions to her name. There are laws on the books that protect widows, but often people don't know about the laws, and so the tribal customs win out. Ally and her office will intervene on behalf of these widows and work to regain her home, children and posessions. I'm so impressed with this great work she's doing, and with her commitment to this place, Africa.

In addition to gaining a better understanding of Ally's work, it's been a real treat to see her taking charge and living a great life in this crazy city, Kampala! She drives around in a huge Land Cruiser, appropriately nicknamed, "The Beast." She lives in a beautiful home and hosts great parties, like the Thanksgiving dinner she made for 20 that I've heard so many kudos about! She speaks Lugandan (the most common local language) enough to get by with the locals. She attends a great church, is a favorite among the other ex-pats, and has made many local friends too. It has been an absolute riot to see her in action over here -- not that I would have expected anything less!

Mere