This year, I’m not ringing in the new year in any wild, crazy way… no party buses, or champagne, or standing outside in downtown Minneapolis for an hour in below zero weather struggling to find a nonexistent cab and eventually giving up and flagging down a normal person and paying him (and his disgruntled girlfriend) to drive us home (which, yes, happened to us last NYE…). My plans include popcorn and episodes of 24. Nonetheless, I couldn’t help but think about 2010, and what a great year it was. Some things that stand out…
My last semester of college. Within the school realm it was lots of work, but within the social realm it was lots of fun. I enjoyed strengthened friendships and new friendships, and my roommates were the BEST. Micah, Sara, and our crazy fun Norwegian roommate Thomas really made 1081 the best place to live. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend the end of my college life than with all the wonderful people in my circle of friends. Of course, 2010 also included my college graduation, which was a milestone, both bittersweet and a relief. Not to mention we threw a pretty epic graduation party in our backyard, which no one who attended will soon forget.
After graduation, I had an incredible summer. I spent most of the summer nannying in Minneapolis, for two good kids with whom I enjoyed many beach and pool days. When I wasn’t working, I took two wonderful trips – to Florida with Sara and Melissa, and to NYC with Megan and Chelsea. My friends and I went on a weekend camping trip to Great River Bluffs State Park in Minnesota, which, despite the torrential thunderstorm, collapsing tarps, and ridiculous amount of mud, was a blast (at least in my opinion… some of those in attendance may not agree with me, but I think deep down they liked it). Two of my most memorable days in Minneapolis were those of the outdoor festivals I attended – Grand Old Day and Soundset... both of which were absurdly fun and made me so grateful to live in such a great city with great local music (and great local beer). August, of course, included Gomollapalooza/Camp Steve 2010, the annual get-together at the Gomoll’s in Oconomowoc in which dozens of old and new friends come together for a weekend of games, food, boating, and floating around in the lake on noodles drinking beer.
The end of the summer was bittersweet. Lots of goodbyes and people moving, which is always difficult. And, obviously, I’ve spend the last three and a half months of 2010 hurling myself outside of my comfort zone in Uganda. I’m incredibly grateful for all of the people who have made 2010 such a memorable year, and for all the experiences I’ve had… sometimes I honestly just stop, take a moment and think “Wow, is this really my life?!” I can only hope that I will be equally blessed in 2011. HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Friday, December 31, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
christmas in kla
I’m sorry that it has been SO LONG since I’ve last written… if you’re anything like my dear mom, I know that you’ve all been compulsively checking to see if I’ve written. Just kidding, but just in case you are a bit curious, here are some things I’ve been up to.
The last week and a half of work leading up to Christmas was pretty quiet, as many of the staff took vacation time to lengthen their break. One of the more eventful days was last Tuesday, when we went to a DAC (District AIDS Committee) meeting at the district building in Sembabule. This was the first real DAC meeting that the district has held, and it’s too bad that it’s taken so long to get going, but it’s good that they’re motivated and heading in the right direction. The goal of the committee is to bring together representatives from the NGOs, from other institutions, and from the local government in order to coordinate each group’s efforts towards fighting AIDS in the district. It is a really important goal, because by coordinating efforts and dividing up tasks and responsibilities, things can get done more effectively and hopefully make more of an impact on the community. The committee plans to meet every quarter, so I’m interested to see how things progress from here.
On Wednesday morning, I traveled to Kampala with Beatrice and Emily Sylvia. The trip was long, and for the first time the matatu I was in ran out of gas… it was pretty inevitable that that was going to happen to me at some point. We finally got in to the city and to Beatrice’s house around 2 pm. Staying at Beatrice’s for the holidays was really nice – she has four kids (who aren’t really kids, I guess) who are between the ages of 19 and 27 – Andrew, Viki, Rita, and Baine. We basically just relaxed, ate, and watched TV – I’m not a huge TV person at home, but after not watching TV for over three months, getting to veg on the couch and watch all kinds of cheesy Christmas specials and other miscellaneous American programs was incredible. I went into town with one of Beatrice’s daughters, Rita, one day, but mainly we just hung out at home. Various relatives stopped by, and on Christmas Day evening we went to church at a big Catholic church in Kampala. In general, being away from home on Christmas was odd, and sad at times, but I tried to just block out what I was missing out on at home. It was nice to be with a family during Christmas, even if it wasn’t my own family.
I stayed with Beatrice from Wednesday until Sunday, and then on Sunday evening I went into Kampala to stay in a hotel for a few nights. Staying with her was wonderful, but I also actually enjoy staying in town – even if it is by myself – so that I can eat at my favorite restaurants, and shop, and stuff like that. So now I’m in Kampala, doing my usual Kampala routine. Last night I ate at Haandi, the amazing Indian restaurant that I go to every time I’m here. Today I’m planning on doing some shopping for books, fabric, and possibly a few clothes. My clothes have really taken a beating since being here. I don’t know if it’s because I wear the same pieces of clothing all the time, but I really could use a few new things, so I’m going to try to find a couple of new tops and maybe a dress. I’m either going to head back to Sembabule tomorrow or Thursday… I haven’t decided yet.
I hope everyone had a happy Christmas! I missed you all, but I’m proud to say that I made it through the holiday season here without any sort of freak-out, so I’m doing well.
The last week and a half of work leading up to Christmas was pretty quiet, as many of the staff took vacation time to lengthen their break. One of the more eventful days was last Tuesday, when we went to a DAC (District AIDS Committee) meeting at the district building in Sembabule. This was the first real DAC meeting that the district has held, and it’s too bad that it’s taken so long to get going, but it’s good that they’re motivated and heading in the right direction. The goal of the committee is to bring together representatives from the NGOs, from other institutions, and from the local government in order to coordinate each group’s efforts towards fighting AIDS in the district. It is a really important goal, because by coordinating efforts and dividing up tasks and responsibilities, things can get done more effectively and hopefully make more of an impact on the community. The committee plans to meet every quarter, so I’m interested to see how things progress from here.
On Wednesday morning, I traveled to Kampala with Beatrice and Emily Sylvia. The trip was long, and for the first time the matatu I was in ran out of gas… it was pretty inevitable that that was going to happen to me at some point. We finally got in to the city and to Beatrice’s house around 2 pm. Staying at Beatrice’s for the holidays was really nice – she has four kids (who aren’t really kids, I guess) who are between the ages of 19 and 27 – Andrew, Viki, Rita, and Baine. We basically just relaxed, ate, and watched TV – I’m not a huge TV person at home, but after not watching TV for over three months, getting to veg on the couch and watch all kinds of cheesy Christmas specials and other miscellaneous American programs was incredible. I went into town with one of Beatrice’s daughters, Rita, one day, but mainly we just hung out at home. Various relatives stopped by, and on Christmas Day evening we went to church at a big Catholic church in Kampala. In general, being away from home on Christmas was odd, and sad at times, but I tried to just block out what I was missing out on at home. It was nice to be with a family during Christmas, even if it wasn’t my own family.
I stayed with Beatrice from Wednesday until Sunday, and then on Sunday evening I went into Kampala to stay in a hotel for a few nights. Staying with her was wonderful, but I also actually enjoy staying in town – even if it is by myself – so that I can eat at my favorite restaurants, and shop, and stuff like that. So now I’m in Kampala, doing my usual Kampala routine. Last night I ate at Haandi, the amazing Indian restaurant that I go to every time I’m here. Today I’m planning on doing some shopping for books, fabric, and possibly a few clothes. My clothes have really taken a beating since being here. I don’t know if it’s because I wear the same pieces of clothing all the time, but I really could use a few new things, so I’m going to try to find a couple of new tops and maybe a dress. I’m either going to head back to Sembabule tomorrow or Thursday… I haven’t decided yet.
I hope everyone had a happy Christmas! I missed you all, but I’m proud to say that I made it through the holiday season here without any sort of freak-out, so I’m doing well.
Monday, December 27, 2010
pictures
women singing at sembabule's world AIDS day festivities
campaigning madness going on behind me
the semabule staff in our matching shirts on world AIDS dayMonday, December 13, 2010
it's a small world after all
Thanks to facebook, I can usually keep track of what’s going on at home in Minnesota and Wisconsin (if the internet is working, that is). I don’t want to sound like an old fogey, but I really don’t know what people did before the miraculous internet was invented. I can’t imagine being in rural Uganda for nine months without being able to check in on my friends and family almost daily online. And cell phones! I can talk to my family on my cheap Nokia cell phone with clearer reception than we sometimes have in the US.
WellShare has been in Sembabule for a really long time (something like 17 years), but we’ve only been in our current office for a couple of years. Before we were at this office in the center of town, the office was located just outside of town, and it had no electricity and no internet. Rose (the operations officer who has worked here for 10 years or so) told me about how up until a few years ago, they had to drive to Masaka (about an hour away) to use the internet, and they had to communicate via – gasp! – snail mail. I realize that this is just the way things were until recently (and still are, in some places), but I can’t imagine running an office like this without electricity. It’s hard enough for us when power is out for a day or two (or more, sometimes) but to have to drive an hour away to use the internet and a post office is kind of mindboggling now. It actually makes me feel spoiled, because although there is a great deal of culture shock involved in living here, at least I still have a cell phone (loaned to me by WellShare) and my own modem (which I purchased) to use the internet. The internet is generally slow and unreliable, so I can’t do anything fancy like watch videos or upload pictures, but hey, I can email and usually stalk a few people on facebook. It also seems kind of paradoxical sometimes, because we don’t have a refrigerator, we have to boil our water to drink it, we have no plumbing system, and I take bucket baths, but yet I have internet access and virtually everybody has a mobile phone.
The reason I was thinking about this is because thanks to facebook, I’ve been hearing all about the massive amount of snow in Minneapolis. I have to say, hearing about everybody being snowed in and stuck at home (not to mention the Metrodome – or shall I say Mall of America Field – roof collapse… karma, Favre, karma) made me a tad bit homesick. Minneapolis weather can be brutal, especially around January and February when I’m trudging to class before the sun has even risen, feeling the snot freeze inside my nostrils, but a heavy snowfall in December is wonderful. I can’t believe that I’m going to experience a winter completely free of snow for the first time in my life. I guess I’ll just appreciate it that much more next winter… that is, until I’m late for class because I spent a half an hour scraping the ice off of my windshield with a credit card.
WellShare has been in Sembabule for a really long time (something like 17 years), but we’ve only been in our current office for a couple of years. Before we were at this office in the center of town, the office was located just outside of town, and it had no electricity and no internet. Rose (the operations officer who has worked here for 10 years or so) told me about how up until a few years ago, they had to drive to Masaka (about an hour away) to use the internet, and they had to communicate via – gasp! – snail mail. I realize that this is just the way things were until recently (and still are, in some places), but I can’t imagine running an office like this without electricity. It’s hard enough for us when power is out for a day or two (or more, sometimes) but to have to drive an hour away to use the internet and a post office is kind of mindboggling now. It actually makes me feel spoiled, because although there is a great deal of culture shock involved in living here, at least I still have a cell phone (loaned to me by WellShare) and my own modem (which I purchased) to use the internet. The internet is generally slow and unreliable, so I can’t do anything fancy like watch videos or upload pictures, but hey, I can email and usually stalk a few people on facebook. It also seems kind of paradoxical sometimes, because we don’t have a refrigerator, we have to boil our water to drink it, we have no plumbing system, and I take bucket baths, but yet I have internet access and virtually everybody has a mobile phone.
The reason I was thinking about this is because thanks to facebook, I’ve been hearing all about the massive amount of snow in Minneapolis. I have to say, hearing about everybody being snowed in and stuck at home (not to mention the Metrodome – or shall I say Mall of America Field – roof collapse… karma, Favre, karma) made me a tad bit homesick. Minneapolis weather can be brutal, especially around January and February when I’m trudging to class before the sun has even risen, feeling the snot freeze inside my nostrils, but a heavy snowfall in December is wonderful. I can’t believe that I’m going to experience a winter completely free of snow for the first time in my life. I guess I’ll just appreciate it that much more next winter… that is, until I’m late for class because I spent a half an hour scraping the ice off of my windshield with a credit card.
Friday, December 10, 2010
a plague of locusts
Grasshoppers have taken over Sembabule. I kind of feel like I’m in the middle of a Biblical plague… okay, maybe I’m being dramatic. But grasshoppers (a good thee inches long and bright green) are EVERYWHERE. Falling on my head when I open the door, buzzing around my bed net, flying erratically into my face, and of course, roasted and in heaps outside of the kitchen and in bags for sale on the street.
I’ve been sleeping really deeply lately, and a couple of nights ago I half-woke up in the middle of the night because I heard something that sounded like a flapping of wings on the top of my bed net, where it hangs from the ceiling. The noise was so loud, I seriously thought it had to be a bird. Still in a sleepy stupor, I tried to figure out if I was dreaming or really awake, and when I couldn’t decide, I just fell back to sleep – I really didn’t want to deal with trying to get a bird out of my room in the middle of the night. The next day, when I was awake and coherent, I heard the same buzzing/flapping noise, which turned out to be a grasshopper that was hanging out in my room. I spent a few crazed minutes trying to trap it in a washcloth and throw it out the door, only to have it fly back in my face several times. Apparently it really wanted to hang out in my room (probably because it’s so clean and organized now).
Last week as we were driving through Masaka after dark, I finally got a glimpse of the grasshopper trapping process that happens in every town. It’s kind of hard to explain without a visual, but I’ll try - dozens of metal barrels are arranged in a square, with enormous sheets of corrugated tin shooting vertically out of the top of the barrel into the sky. Blindingly bright lights are used to attract the grasshoppers, who apparently become dazed by the light, hit the metal, and slide down into the barrels, where they are trapped. From, the creatures are roasted, salted, bagged, and sold by people everywhere you go.
I realize they’re not harmful (and a good source of protein) but I just wish they would stop sneaking into my room and making me look like a crazy person as I try to shoo them out.
I’ve been sleeping really deeply lately, and a couple of nights ago I half-woke up in the middle of the night because I heard something that sounded like a flapping of wings on the top of my bed net, where it hangs from the ceiling. The noise was so loud, I seriously thought it had to be a bird. Still in a sleepy stupor, I tried to figure out if I was dreaming or really awake, and when I couldn’t decide, I just fell back to sleep – I really didn’t want to deal with trying to get a bird out of my room in the middle of the night. The next day, when I was awake and coherent, I heard the same buzzing/flapping noise, which turned out to be a grasshopper that was hanging out in my room. I spent a few crazed minutes trying to trap it in a washcloth and throw it out the door, only to have it fly back in my face several times. Apparently it really wanted to hang out in my room (probably because it’s so clean and organized now).
Last week as we were driving through Masaka after dark, I finally got a glimpse of the grasshopper trapping process that happens in every town. It’s kind of hard to explain without a visual, but I’ll try - dozens of metal barrels are arranged in a square, with enormous sheets of corrugated tin shooting vertically out of the top of the barrel into the sky. Blindingly bright lights are used to attract the grasshoppers, who apparently become dazed by the light, hit the metal, and slide down into the barrels, where they are trapped. From, the creatures are roasted, salted, bagged, and sold by people everywhere you go.
I realize they’re not harmful (and a good source of protein) but I just wish they would stop sneaking into my room and making me look like a crazy person as I try to shoo them out.
Monday, December 6, 2010
ridin' solo
The time has come – my other half, Jessica, left last Thursday, so now I’m the only intern holding down the fort in Sembabule. Things have been good so far.. I haven’t started talking to myself or having conversations with frogs or anything, which I take as a good sign.
Last Wednesday, the night before Jessica left, the staff made a huge, delicious dinner (FRIED chicken, potatoes, cabbage, greens, etc) for everyone and we all stayed late and ate together. It was so, so nice of them. We all sat around afterwards, each person saying their goodbyes to Jessica and thanking her for all the work she’s done. The power was out (the battery-powered Coleman lantern I brought has come in VERY handy for situations like this) and the whole thing kind of felt like a slumber party to me – everyone sitting in a circle, with a light in the middle, sharing their deepest darkest secrets (okay, not really). Anyway, it was a really great ending to Jess’s time here.
On Thursday I went along with the car that was taking Jessica in to Kampala. I only stayed for the day, but we got to have lunch at our favorite place – Café Java – and I stocked up on some groceries. The huge advantage to traveling with the WellShare vehicle is that you can buy a lot of stuff and not worry about how to get it back. Public transportation is much more restricting, in that I usually only buy one (large) bag of groceries to lug back here. The day trip to Kampala was nice, but long and tiring (about four hours each way). Not to mention that there was a really bad traffic jam (just known as a “jam” here) that resulted in us sitting for 20 minutes not moving in the parking lot of the grocery store, and then slowly inching out of the parking lot for 15 more minutes. It was incredibly frustrating. I’m not sure why Kampala traffic is prone to such bad jams, but at certain times of the day it is almost impossible to get somewhere without pulling your hair out.
This past weekend, I rearranged and cleaned the room. It had gotten pretty dirty, so I took out the carpet and the guards helped me clean it, and the floor under it. Then I moved a bookshelf from the office into my room to store all the things that I had previously been storing under/around my bed (food, books, toiletries, etc). The room looks MUCH better now. Having a roommate is great, and I would not trade Jessica in exchange for a neater room, but that room really is small for two people. So, my consolation prize is to have a spiffier room. After I finished the cleaning process, I spent the rest of the weekend alternately reading and watching Gossip Girl season two. I never thought I’d get into that show, but I bought season one here, and I have to say I’ve gotten sucked in. One of my coworkers here is letting me borrow season two, further fueling the addiction.
This week is the CCG training, in which the TOTs (who finished up their training by WellShare two weeks ago) in turn train the CCGs, with facilitation by the F/CBOs. We’re using this opportunity to conduct the last of our focus group discussions, both among the CCGs and in the communities in which the trainings are being held. I’m looking forward to finishing up this process and analyzing the results.
A word of warning to anyone who is traveling and needs a long-term visa at any point in the future: try and make sure that you know what type of visa you will need (based on how long you’re staying in the country) and what that visa requires BEFORE you arrive. My visa process has been something close to a nightmare. It turns out that I need a different visa than what I had previously been told I needed, and now I’m scrambling to get all sorts of weird things (a police letter from my hometown, my OFFICIAL transcripts) and have them sent here before my tourist visa expires in a week. Not to mention I've ended up spending a lot more money on the process than I had planned to. The end is in sight now, but it’s been a hassle and it would have been a lot easier to have gathered these things before I left the US. So there’s my travel tip for the day.
Last Wednesday, the night before Jessica left, the staff made a huge, delicious dinner (FRIED chicken, potatoes, cabbage, greens, etc) for everyone and we all stayed late and ate together. It was so, so nice of them. We all sat around afterwards, each person saying their goodbyes to Jessica and thanking her for all the work she’s done. The power was out (the battery-powered Coleman lantern I brought has come in VERY handy for situations like this) and the whole thing kind of felt like a slumber party to me – everyone sitting in a circle, with a light in the middle, sharing their deepest darkest secrets (okay, not really). Anyway, it was a really great ending to Jess’s time here.
On Thursday I went along with the car that was taking Jessica in to Kampala. I only stayed for the day, but we got to have lunch at our favorite place – Café Java – and I stocked up on some groceries. The huge advantage to traveling with the WellShare vehicle is that you can buy a lot of stuff and not worry about how to get it back. Public transportation is much more restricting, in that I usually only buy one (large) bag of groceries to lug back here. The day trip to Kampala was nice, but long and tiring (about four hours each way). Not to mention that there was a really bad traffic jam (just known as a “jam” here) that resulted in us sitting for 20 minutes not moving in the parking lot of the grocery store, and then slowly inching out of the parking lot for 15 more minutes. It was incredibly frustrating. I’m not sure why Kampala traffic is prone to such bad jams, but at certain times of the day it is almost impossible to get somewhere without pulling your hair out.
This past weekend, I rearranged and cleaned the room. It had gotten pretty dirty, so I took out the carpet and the guards helped me clean it, and the floor under it. Then I moved a bookshelf from the office into my room to store all the things that I had previously been storing under/around my bed (food, books, toiletries, etc). The room looks MUCH better now. Having a roommate is great, and I would not trade Jessica in exchange for a neater room, but that room really is small for two people. So, my consolation prize is to have a spiffier room. After I finished the cleaning process, I spent the rest of the weekend alternately reading and watching Gossip Girl season two. I never thought I’d get into that show, but I bought season one here, and I have to say I’ve gotten sucked in. One of my coworkers here is letting me borrow season two, further fueling the addiction.
This week is the CCG training, in which the TOTs (who finished up their training by WellShare two weeks ago) in turn train the CCGs, with facilitation by the F/CBOs. We’re using this opportunity to conduct the last of our focus group discussions, both among the CCGs and in the communities in which the trainings are being held. I’m looking forward to finishing up this process and analyzing the results.
A word of warning to anyone who is traveling and needs a long-term visa at any point in the future: try and make sure that you know what type of visa you will need (based on how long you’re staying in the country) and what that visa requires BEFORE you arrive. My visa process has been something close to a nightmare. It turns out that I need a different visa than what I had previously been told I needed, and now I’m scrambling to get all sorts of weird things (a police letter from my hometown, my OFFICIAL transcripts) and have them sent here before my tourist visa expires in a week. Not to mention I've ended up spending a lot more money on the process than I had planned to. The end is in sight now, but it’s been a hassle and it would have been a lot easier to have gathered these things before I left the US. So there’s my travel tip for the day.
Friday, November 26, 2010
happy thanksgiving!
Things I am thankful for:
- The emails that my six best friends from high school and I still exchange, full of life updates and amusing stories. Receiving an email from one of them seriously makes my week.
- The red and silver tinsel Jessica and I bought to decorate the window of our room, which now looks very home-y and Christmas-y
- The headlamp that my thoughtful friends Ellen and Emma bought for me before I left, because it is by far one of the most helpful things I have here
- Talking to my grandma, grandpa, cousin, and sister yesterday on Thanksgiving
- Nescafe instant coffee
- My ability – due my own work, but mostly because of my generous parents – to complete college and hopefully attend graduate school. We take it for granted in the US, but being here has made me realize how incredibly lucky I am, not only to be able to apply for school, but for the ability to pay for it.
- My nifty water filter!
- This crazy, fun, challenging, educational experience I’m having in Uganda. I often have “Is this really my life?!” moments.
- The amount of reading I’m able to do here (I’m on my 17th book!)
- My health. I don’t want to jinx myself, but I haven’t gotten sick yet here, which is lucky.
- The amazing, welcoming staff here. It sounds cliché, but we really function like a family here, and it makes being here so enjoyable and comfortable. I can’t imagine it being any other way.
- You! If you’re reading this, I’m thankful for YOU!
- The emails that my six best friends from high school and I still exchange, full of life updates and amusing stories. Receiving an email from one of them seriously makes my week.
- The red and silver tinsel Jessica and I bought to decorate the window of our room, which now looks very home-y and Christmas-y
- The headlamp that my thoughtful friends Ellen and Emma bought for me before I left, because it is by far one of the most helpful things I have here
- Talking to my grandma, grandpa, cousin, and sister yesterday on Thanksgiving
- Nescafe instant coffee
- My ability – due my own work, but mostly because of my generous parents – to complete college and hopefully attend graduate school. We take it for granted in the US, but being here has made me realize how incredibly lucky I am, not only to be able to apply for school, but for the ability to pay for it.
- My nifty water filter!
- This crazy, fun, challenging, educational experience I’m having in Uganda. I often have “Is this really my life?!” moments.
- The amount of reading I’m able to do here (I’m on my 17th book!)
- My health. I don’t want to jinx myself, but I haven’t gotten sick yet here, which is lucky.
- The amazing, welcoming staff here. It sounds cliché, but we really function like a family here, and it makes being here so enjoyable and comfortable. I can’t imagine it being any other way.
- You! If you’re reading this, I’m thankful for YOU!
Monday, November 22, 2010
TOT training
This is the third and last week of TOT (training of trainers) training, and today I went to the training for the first time because the topic was nutrition. I helped out, although I didn’t actually lead any of the sessions because my grasp of Luganda is limited to basic greetings and a few random, helpful words. Connie, the program coordinator from Mubende, led the sessions , which covered food groups, food safety, food preparation, etc. The trainees had many good questions and comments, and since the discussion was carried out in a mix of Luganda and English, I could follow pretty much everything that was going on, which was surprising but really great. Since one of the jobs of the CCGs (who are trained by the TOTs) is to conduct cooking demonstrations for the clients (people with HIV/AIDS) they visit, the session today concluded with the TOTs breaking into groups and actually preparing meals. Each group was given a scenario – such as a person living with HIV/AIDS who is breastfeeding, or a person living with HIV/AIDS who needs to gain weight – and then they were to prepare a meal to suit that person. While the training is conducted in a conference room of a hotel in town, the cooking part actually took place here at the office.
After everybody’s meals were finished, they set them out on plates and each group explained why they made what they did. I took a lot of pictures of the groups while they were cooking, and soon everybody wanted to pose with a pineapple or have me take a picture of them washing a watermelon or something. People love seeing their pictures on the camera, which is great for me, since I can just snap away. I’ll post pictures when I can.
Anyway, today was rewarding because I was finally able to see how the TOT training works and I got to meet a lot of the TOTs. Most of them seem to enjoy the training – there’s a lot of laughing all the time.
On an unrelated note, I want to give a shout out to my amazing Aunt Nancy who sent me my first care package! Everything in it was great, but specifically, it included two of my favorite things: candy corn and Vanity Fair!
On another unrelated note, yesterday I ate a grasshopper! Apparently it’s grasshopper season here in Uganda, and people are selling them everywhere. While we were waiting on the bus in the taxi park in Kampala yesterday, Jessica bought two and we each ate one. Crunchy and salty… actually kind of good, if you can ignore its beady black eyes and pretend it’s a pretzel or something.
After everybody’s meals were finished, they set them out on plates and each group explained why they made what they did. I took a lot of pictures of the groups while they were cooking, and soon everybody wanted to pose with a pineapple or have me take a picture of them washing a watermelon or something. People love seeing their pictures on the camera, which is great for me, since I can just snap away. I’ll post pictures when I can.
Anyway, today was rewarding because I was finally able to see how the TOT training works and I got to meet a lot of the TOTs. Most of them seem to enjoy the training – there’s a lot of laughing all the time.
On an unrelated note, I want to give a shout out to my amazing Aunt Nancy who sent me my first care package! Everything in it was great, but specifically, it included two of my favorite things: candy corn and Vanity Fair!
On another unrelated note, yesterday I ate a grasshopper! Apparently it’s grasshopper season here in Uganda, and people are selling them everywhere. While we were waiting on the bus in the taxi park in Kampala yesterday, Jessica bought two and we each ate one. Crunchy and salty… actually kind of good, if you can ignore its beady black eyes and pretend it’s a pretzel or something.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
photo update
fried matooke chips... yum
a marching band going through ssembabule as part of someone's campaign effort
sweeping out our room
i take a lot of picture of the food we've made, mostly because i'm proudThursday, November 18, 2010
turning 23 in uganda
Today is the first birthday I have celebrated in a foreign country.. actually, I think it’s the first birthday I’ve celebrated anywhere other than in the Midwest. Being 23 feels the same as being 22, surprise surprise! This morning the staff sang happy birthday and in place of a cake, I had chapatti that Jessica bought me, and mandazis (donut-like things) that the staff bought. Yum! They also gave me this wall-hanging that is made of plastic and fake flowers and says “Happy Birthday” on it… it’s so gaudy and I love it. I plan to bring it home and display it for the rest of my life.
This week has been a nice change of pace. The international program director from headquarters in Minneapolis was here in Ssembabule from Sunday through Tuesday, and it was good to see her and get her perspective and feedback on some of the projects we’re working on. The program manager and her husband are here for the whole week, and it’s been great to have them around. They brought some board games, so we’ve been playing Ticket to Ride and Farkle after work sometimes. In retrospect, it would have been a good idea to bring some games here to play at night and on the weekends, assuming there’s another volunteer to play with. It’s been fun to have some new faces around and for the office to be busier than usual.
Tomorrow morning we’re heading to Kampala for the weekend. My goals are to get a haircut and a pedicure… I’ll let you know how it goes!
This week has been a nice change of pace. The international program director from headquarters in Minneapolis was here in Ssembabule from Sunday through Tuesday, and it was good to see her and get her perspective and feedback on some of the projects we’re working on. The program manager and her husband are here for the whole week, and it’s been great to have them around. They brought some board games, so we’ve been playing Ticket to Ride and Farkle after work sometimes. In retrospect, it would have been a good idea to bring some games here to play at night and on the weekends, assuming there’s another volunteer to play with. It’s been fun to have some new faces around and for the office to be busier than usual.
Tomorrow morning we’re heading to Kampala for the weekend. My goals are to get a haircut and a pedicure… I’ll let you know how it goes!
Friday, November 12, 2010
hail storm & pizza delivery
Yesterday, two strange things happened.
First, in the afternoon the weather suddenly turned stormy and we experienced a hail storm. Yes, I’m sitting on the equator, and hail is pelting down practically sideways and sliding under the door of the office. After the storm, one of the guards scooped up a bunch of the hail stones and ate them (since we have no means of refrigeration and definitely no freezer here, ice is quite a strange site and apparently an exciting snack). I couldn’t help but think that the hail stones were the perfect crushed-ice consistency for a margarita…
Then, at about 9 pm, Jessica and I were about to turn off the lights and go to sleep when Rose (the Operations Officer – she basically stays on top of everything and keeps things running smoothly at the office) knocked on our door bearing a pizza wrapped in tin foil. Indeed, after weeks of joking about how great it would be if we could order pizza for delivery in Ssembabule, we actually had pizza delivered to our door. Rose and Beatrice had been in Masaka, a larger neighboring town where they go to do banking and run errands, and they were sweet enough to bring us back a pizza. Granted, it wasn’t anything close to Domino’s (it was more like focaccia with pizza toppings on it), but it was good, and although I had already brushed and flossed my teeth, I let my hair down and ate it for a bedtime snack (also, we didn’t know if it would taste good the next day; when you have no refrigeration, you have to do crazy things like eat pizza when you’re already full and drink an entire liter of mango juice in one day).
Moral of the story: you never know what’s going to happen here!
First, in the afternoon the weather suddenly turned stormy and we experienced a hail storm. Yes, I’m sitting on the equator, and hail is pelting down practically sideways and sliding under the door of the office. After the storm, one of the guards scooped up a bunch of the hail stones and ate them (since we have no means of refrigeration and definitely no freezer here, ice is quite a strange site and apparently an exciting snack). I couldn’t help but think that the hail stones were the perfect crushed-ice consistency for a margarita…
Then, at about 9 pm, Jessica and I were about to turn off the lights and go to sleep when Rose (the Operations Officer – she basically stays on top of everything and keeps things running smoothly at the office) knocked on our door bearing a pizza wrapped in tin foil. Indeed, after weeks of joking about how great it would be if we could order pizza for delivery in Ssembabule, we actually had pizza delivered to our door. Rose and Beatrice had been in Masaka, a larger neighboring town where they go to do banking and run errands, and they were sweet enough to bring us back a pizza. Granted, it wasn’t anything close to Domino’s (it was more like focaccia with pizza toppings on it), but it was good, and although I had already brushed and flossed my teeth, I let my hair down and ate it for a bedtime snack (also, we didn’t know if it would taste good the next day; when you have no refrigeration, you have to do crazy things like eat pizza when you’re already full and drink an entire liter of mango juice in one day).
Moral of the story: you never know what’s going to happen here!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
my partner in crime
About two months ago, Jessica (the other international intern) and I went from being complete strangers to basically being connected at the hip. If you think about it, it’s kind of insane that two people who have previously never met are suddenly thrown into the same situation, not to mention the same smallish room, and expected to (hopefully) get along and work together. Luckily, things worked out really well for us (I think it also helped that I started off on her good side by bringing her Starburst, Nature Valley granola bars and Pop-tarts from the States). It’s funny looking back on it, because now I feel like I’ve cohabitated with Jessica forever.
Somewhere in these past two months we’ve fallen into a very comfortable, predictable, married-couple routine. In the morning, she showers first, and then I do. When we want to watch a movie, I hook up my computer and set it on the small table in our room, I drag the table over between the chair and the bed, and then I lie on my bed and she sits in the chair (and then we both watch as many episodes of Gilmore Girls as we can until our necks get stiff from being at weird angles). Oftentimes all it takes is a few words and a hand gesture for one of us to know what the other means to say before she says it. Best of all, our candy preferences totally complement one another – my favorite Skittles are purple and red, and hers are green and yellow. My favorite Starburst are pink and red, and hers are yellow and orange. So we swap, and everybody’s happy!
I guess my point is that I’ve gotten really lucky with having her here. She’s leaving at the beginning of December, and I can’t even imagine being here alone, but I’m hoping it won’t be too depressing. It’s just going to be an adjustment, because since the second day I got here, I had a partner in crime who could answer all my stupid questions, e.g.: How do I wash my hair in this basin? What do I wear? Is it going to rain? How do I eat this thing? What is that word they keep saying and how do I respond to it? How does this magic Internet stick work? Do you have strong feelings either way about me playing Taylor Swift? Can I touch this frog with my bare hands?
Somewhere in these past two months we’ve fallen into a very comfortable, predictable, married-couple routine. In the morning, she showers first, and then I do. When we want to watch a movie, I hook up my computer and set it on the small table in our room, I drag the table over between the chair and the bed, and then I lie on my bed and she sits in the chair (and then we both watch as many episodes of Gilmore Girls as we can until our necks get stiff from being at weird angles). Oftentimes all it takes is a few words and a hand gesture for one of us to know what the other means to say before she says it. Best of all, our candy preferences totally complement one another – my favorite Skittles are purple and red, and hers are green and yellow. My favorite Starburst are pink and red, and hers are yellow and orange. So we swap, and everybody’s happy!
I guess my point is that I’ve gotten really lucky with having her here. She’s leaving at the beginning of December, and I can’t even imagine being here alone, but I’m hoping it won’t be too depressing. It’s just going to be an adjustment, because since the second day I got here, I had a partner in crime who could answer all my stupid questions, e.g.: How do I wash my hair in this basin? What do I wear? Is it going to rain? How do I eat this thing? What is that word they keep saying and how do I respond to it? How does this magic Internet stick work? Do you have strong feelings either way about me playing Taylor Swift? Can I touch this frog with my bare hands?
Friday, November 5, 2010
it's november already?
This week has been pretty low-key, as about half the staff are in Mubende this week for TOT training. TOTs (trainers of trainers) are the people we directly train, who then train community caregivers to deliver services in the community. The training is pretty intense – six days in Mubende, one week off, and then two more weeks of training in Ssembabule. The office has been quiet this week, but we’ve been lucky to have power pretty steadily, which always makes life easier.
Wednesday morning as I was taking my bucket shower, I was about to rinse the shampoo out of my hair using a small jerry can when I spied something that I thought was a leaf clinging to the opening of the jerry can I was holding. Not a leaf, it was in fact a frog who had been hanging out inside the jerry can for who knows how long. I’m just glad I didn’t pour the frog onto my head along with the water. Needless to say, that incident woke me up much more effectively than my alarm did.
It’s election year here – elections are February 18th. Yesterday, nominations were being held for positions within Ssembabule (I’m still not clear exactly what the positions were). The campaigning process is quite interesting… as I was sitting in the office, I heard a marching band nearby. A marching band? In rural Uganda? Is it homecoming? Is this just my subconscious reminding me how sad I am to be missing football season? No, it turns out, I am NOT crazy – there was indeed a marching band passing through the town. We soon learned that the spectacle was one way that a candidate sought to gain attention for her campaign. The band proceeded to walk back and forth through town all day. After the musical extravaganza, a procession of trucks displaying campaign posters and full of people waving branches drove through the town as well, campaigning for another candidate. The lead-up to the election is going to be quite interesting, especially as February draws closer. Kampala is plastered with posters of President Museveni (wearing a straw hat that I can’t help but think is a sombrero every time I glance at a poster), but his re-election is guaranteed. He’s been in power since 1986 (along the way he scrapped the two-term presidential limit that he himself had put into place, deciding that he wanted to keep running for re-election), and he has no credible opposition. Members of parliament are also being elected, and from what I hear, election years here can get pretty crazy (they hold elections every 5 years, so I’m just lucky to be experiencing it while I’m here, I guess). You’ll hear a lot more about this as February draws closer, as I assume that’s probably all I’ll write about.
In unrelated news, I am almost totally finished with my grad school application, which is a HUGE relief. I hope to submit it next week (it’s due December 1st). I’m only applying to the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, because the program there is fantastic and I really want to stay in Minneapolis, at least for a while. I’m applying to the Coordinated Masters Program, which is includes both a MPH in Public Health Nutrition and completion of my dietetic internship, so that when I graduate I can take the Registered Dietitian exam and become an RD as well. The program matches my interests exactly, but they only accept 8 students a year (yikes, I know), so cross your fingers for me!
Things I have been enjoying lately: Gilmore Girls Season One, VitaSnacks (delish South African crackers that I stocked up on in Kampala), mystery novels, bug spray, instant coffee, and the Shania Twain remixes that keep blasting from the building across the street.
Wednesday morning as I was taking my bucket shower, I was about to rinse the shampoo out of my hair using a small jerry can when I spied something that I thought was a leaf clinging to the opening of the jerry can I was holding. Not a leaf, it was in fact a frog who had been hanging out inside the jerry can for who knows how long. I’m just glad I didn’t pour the frog onto my head along with the water. Needless to say, that incident woke me up much more effectively than my alarm did.
It’s election year here – elections are February 18th. Yesterday, nominations were being held for positions within Ssembabule (I’m still not clear exactly what the positions were). The campaigning process is quite interesting… as I was sitting in the office, I heard a marching band nearby. A marching band? In rural Uganda? Is it homecoming? Is this just my subconscious reminding me how sad I am to be missing football season? No, it turns out, I am NOT crazy – there was indeed a marching band passing through the town. We soon learned that the spectacle was one way that a candidate sought to gain attention for her campaign. The band proceeded to walk back and forth through town all day. After the musical extravaganza, a procession of trucks displaying campaign posters and full of people waving branches drove through the town as well, campaigning for another candidate. The lead-up to the election is going to be quite interesting, especially as February draws closer. Kampala is plastered with posters of President Museveni (wearing a straw hat that I can’t help but think is a sombrero every time I glance at a poster), but his re-election is guaranteed. He’s been in power since 1986 (along the way he scrapped the two-term presidential limit that he himself had put into place, deciding that he wanted to keep running for re-election), and he has no credible opposition. Members of parliament are also being elected, and from what I hear, election years here can get pretty crazy (they hold elections every 5 years, so I’m just lucky to be experiencing it while I’m here, I guess). You’ll hear a lot more about this as February draws closer, as I assume that’s probably all I’ll write about.
In unrelated news, I am almost totally finished with my grad school application, which is a HUGE relief. I hope to submit it next week (it’s due December 1st). I’m only applying to the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, because the program there is fantastic and I really want to stay in Minneapolis, at least for a while. I’m applying to the Coordinated Masters Program, which is includes both a MPH in Public Health Nutrition and completion of my dietetic internship, so that when I graduate I can take the Registered Dietitian exam and become an RD as well. The program matches my interests exactly, but they only accept 8 students a year (yikes, I know), so cross your fingers for me!
Things I have been enjoying lately: Gilmore Girls Season One, VitaSnacks (delish South African crackers that I stocked up on in Kampala), mystery novels, bug spray, instant coffee, and the Shania Twain remixes that keep blasting from the building across the street.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
i love indian food.
This past week I was in Mubende on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for meetings. Jessica and I stayed in at Town View Hotel, which was actually pretty nice – shower (albeit, a cold one), king-sized bed, breakfast included. On Thursday evening we headed to Kampala for a 3-day weekend.
Yesterday we ran all over the place. Kampala is much warmer than Ssembabule or Mubende, so we basically melted in the heat all day. I’m incredibly grateful that it isn’t this hot in the central region. We’ve already eaten Indian food here twice this weekend, and both times it has been fantastic. Uganda isn’t exactly known for its culinary greatness or diversity, but they do manage to make some amazing Indian food, and it tastes AMAZING after weeks and weeks of traditional Ugandan fare. Yesterday we did some souvenir shopping, and at night we went to a movie (Eat, Pray, Love - although I had already seen it in the US) and I finally ate popcorn, which I had been craving for a long time. The movie theater is inside Garden City, which is the shopping mall in Kampala, and it’s really nice because the mall is always busy and well-lit even late at night on the weekends, so I always feel like it’s a good/safe place to go and hang out, even if you’re by yourself.
Today we went to Aristoc, the biggest bookstore in Kampala. Turns out that my habit of buying way too many books (and then proceeding to bask in a book-buying high) in the US has followed me here, because I bought 7 books today. However, it’s good to stock up on books while we’re in town, and I know that I’ll eventually get to all of them (I have many more months and a lot of down time). Right now I’m hanging out at 1000 Cups, a really cool coffee shop that has lots of comfy chairs, a TV that plays CNN, a large souvenir shop, and selection of international newspapers and magazines. We have a little more shopping to do this afternoon and tomorrow, and then tomorrow we’ll head back to Ssembabule in the early afternoon.
This is me outside our hotel in Mubende, with attractive wet hair.
Yesterday we ran all over the place. Kampala is much warmer than Ssembabule or Mubende, so we basically melted in the heat all day. I’m incredibly grateful that it isn’t this hot in the central region. We’ve already eaten Indian food here twice this weekend, and both times it has been fantastic. Uganda isn’t exactly known for its culinary greatness or diversity, but they do manage to make some amazing Indian food, and it tastes AMAZING after weeks and weeks of traditional Ugandan fare. Yesterday we did some souvenir shopping, and at night we went to a movie (Eat, Pray, Love - although I had already seen it in the US) and I finally ate popcorn, which I had been craving for a long time. The movie theater is inside Garden City, which is the shopping mall in Kampala, and it’s really nice because the mall is always busy and well-lit even late at night on the weekends, so I always feel like it’s a good/safe place to go and hang out, even if you’re by yourself.
Today we went to Aristoc, the biggest bookstore in Kampala. Turns out that my habit of buying way too many books (and then proceeding to bask in a book-buying high) in the US has followed me here, because I bought 7 books today. However, it’s good to stock up on books while we’re in town, and I know that I’ll eventually get to all of them (I have many more months and a lot of down time). Right now I’m hanging out at 1000 Cups, a really cool coffee shop that has lots of comfy chairs, a TV that plays CNN, a large souvenir shop, and selection of international newspapers and magazines. We have a little more shopping to do this afternoon and tomorrow, and then tomorrow we’ll head back to Ssembabule in the early afternoon.
This is me outside our hotel in Mubende, with attractive wet hair.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
focus groups, movies, fried stuff
One of the projects I’ve been working on is developing focus group discussion questions regarding food preparation and supplementary feeding for children aged 0-2. I developed the questions and got feedback from the staff both here and in Mubende, and this past Thursday and Friday, I went into the field with the staff to hold our first focus group discussions and test out the questions. Obviously I don’t speak Luganda, so I basically introduced myself and then observed, but I’m very glad that I was able to observe the process. As the discussion is going on, one of the staff members takes notes in English, and then afterwards, I look at the notes and compile them. Our goal is to get an idea of the knowledge gaps that exist in the community, so that we are able to develop our education materials and interventions accordingly. It would be a waste of everybody’s time and resources to, for example, develop a cooking demonstration that shows women something they already know.
This weekend has been nice, as we’ve had power almost constantly. I’ve been watching a lot of Everwood (I brought the DVDs from home). While I was packing, I wasn’t sure how many DVDs to bring along, but I erred on the side of bringing too many rather than not enough. I have to say that I’m glad I brought as many as I did. I’m also going to buy some the next time I go to Kampala. It’s just nice (when power allows) to be able to veg out and escape by watching a movie (or several, as we tend to do on the weekends). On Friday Jessica and I watched both Center Stage and Center Stage 2… we’re kind of on a dance movie kick. We watched Save the Last Dance last week.
To try something new, we bought potatoes from the market, and yesterday we cut them into chunks and fried them, like chips. Luckily, as we were starting to make them, Beatrice came into the office, and helped us out. They turned out really well. Then she bought some green bananas and prepared them for us – peeled, thinly sliced, and fried. They were really good.. kind of like dried bananas, but not sweet. Yummm. I guess anything fried is usually good, right? Oh, and let me just say that bringing a large container of Lawry’s Seasoned Salt from the US was one of the best moves I made. We put it on both the potatoes and the green bananas. It tastes good on everything, and it’s been great to have here, since spices here are few and far between, and often not as flavorful as I’m used to.
This weekend has been nice, as we’ve had power almost constantly. I’ve been watching a lot of Everwood (I brought the DVDs from home). While I was packing, I wasn’t sure how many DVDs to bring along, but I erred on the side of bringing too many rather than not enough. I have to say that I’m glad I brought as many as I did. I’m also going to buy some the next time I go to Kampala. It’s just nice (when power allows) to be able to veg out and escape by watching a movie (or several, as we tend to do on the weekends). On Friday Jessica and I watched both Center Stage and Center Stage 2… we’re kind of on a dance movie kick. We watched Save the Last Dance last week.
To try something new, we bought potatoes from the market, and yesterday we cut them into chunks and fried them, like chips. Luckily, as we were starting to make them, Beatrice came into the office, and helped us out. They turned out really well. Then she bought some green bananas and prepared them for us – peeled, thinly sliced, and fried. They were really good.. kind of like dried bananas, but not sweet. Yummm. I guess anything fried is usually good, right? Oh, and let me just say that bringing a large container of Lawry’s Seasoned Salt from the US was one of the best moves I made. We put it on both the potatoes and the green bananas. It tastes good on everything, and it’s been great to have here, since spices here are few and far between, and often not as flavorful as I’m used to.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
classiness
I’ve been here for a little over a month, and I’ve tripped twice so far. Hopefully that pattern won’t continue, or else my knees will be even more scarred than they already are from years of bike and roller-blade wipeouts (as well as several tripping-up-the-stairs incidents that happened when I was far too old to blame them on any sort of childish clumsiness). The first weekend I was in Ssembabule, I lost my footing on the sandy, gravelly road and took a good chunk out of my left knee. Yesterday I totally wiped out while walking up the hill in the rain, landing on my left shoulder and losing both of my sandals in the process. Apparently the muddy sandy gravel is made of thousands of tiny razor blades, because I am mildly scraped up all over my body, and my shoulder hurts. Every time I picture what I must have looked like, I laugh out loud (like right now).
Later in the day, a gecko fell from the ceiling onto my arm, and I leapt around and hollered in a very un-ladylike way until I flung it off of me. The poor thing scrambled away and hid under a pair of shoes. It was actually cute, but I was unprepared for it to appear out of nowhere and latch onto my body.
Last night, the power went out. I had finished a book I had brought, and there are only a handful of books at the house here, so I chose to read my first ever Danielle Steel novel, circa 1995 (“novel” is a loose term, as I think I could have written that book at age 13). Hence this picture of me reading Danielle Steel by headlamp… how could I ever miss the US when I’ve got this?!?
So basically, I’m staying classy and not awkward over here.
Later in the day, a gecko fell from the ceiling onto my arm, and I leapt around and hollered in a very un-ladylike way until I flung it off of me. The poor thing scrambled away and hid under a pair of shoes. It was actually cute, but I was unprepared for it to appear out of nowhere and latch onto my body.
Last night, the power went out. I had finished a book I had brought, and there are only a handful of books at the house here, so I chose to read my first ever Danielle Steel novel, circa 1995 (“novel” is a loose term, as I think I could have written that book at age 13). Hence this picture of me reading Danielle Steel by headlamp… how could I ever miss the US when I’ve got this?!?
So basically, I’m staying classy and not awkward over here.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
pictures on facebook
after much trial and error, i was able to upload some pictures to facebook, but it's much more difficult to load to this blog. so, here's the link to the album on facebook, in case you haven't already seen it, or if you don't have facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=3024917&id=13955180&l=372fdf6888
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=3024917&id=13955180&l=372fdf6888
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
my first trip to mubende
On Monday, Jessica and I traveled to the other Central Region office in Mubende, where we’ll be until next Tuesday. The town of Mubende is like NYC compared to Ssembabule… it’s HUGE. We’re staying in the volunteer house, where the Program Manager and her husband usually live, but they’re in the US for 11 days so that’s why we’re here for so long. The house is pretty big, and it’s really nice to be able to stretch out and have a real kitchen. The volunteer house is right next to the office building, and the complex is about halfway up a big hill, so the view is pretty great. There is also nearly constant electricity, and better internet than in Ssembabule, so we’re living the high life here.
This week we’re going along on site supervisions of the faith/community-based organizations (F/CBOs) in Mubende, which is a time for us to provide advice and answer questions, and make sure that the projects that the F/CBOs are working on (funded by us) are on track. Right now, our priority is to make sure that they are on track with data collection using the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) tools that they’re supposed to use. For example, the community caregivers fill out forms when they visit people with HIV/AIDS (PHAs) and orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs) – these forms are used to keep track of basic health information, and specific needs that the clients have. These forms make their way back to the F/CBOs, who should be recording the information in an Excel file for their records, and to help them prioritize the needs of the clients. However, this has been a huge challenge (as I think I’ve already mentioned), and the M&E process is not going as smoothly as it should be. The F/CBOs have limited resources and time, and they may only have one computer in their office, so it’s difficult for them to get the forms entered in a timely manner.
This may all sound boring or confusing, and it is kind of a pain, to be honest, but it’s really important that the F/CBOs (and in turn, WellShare, since the information is ultimately passed to us) have this information to keep track of the results of the programs we’re running. If there’s no way to evaluate the program, then it’s impossible to know whether it’s effective or not. This kind of information is also used when compiling the many reports that WellShare has to provide to USAID and other donors. So, Jessica and I are going with on the site supervisions this week to help the F/CBOs enter data and answer questions.
We spent yesterday at St. Thomas, one of the F/CBOs right down the hill from the office here. St. Thomas is partially funded by us, but they also get funding from Compassion, a Christian organization based in Colorado Springs. Through Compassion, they get grants to sponsor children from primary school through university (which I think is amazing). St. Thomas currently has 242 children come every Saturday for a variety of activities and support. It sounds really amazing. Yesterday when we were at their office, kids were stopping by all afternoon to pick up their new uniforms that they wear on Saturdays – and of course, the kids were adorable. They were pretty fascinated by us, and it was fairly entertaining to watch them all try on and get excited by their new uniforms. Jessica and I are planning on stopping by St. Thomas on Saturday to see what they do, and to hang out and play with the kids.
Today and tomorrow we’re also doing site supervisions at the two other F/CBOs in Mubende. It’s really good for me to be here and see how things work, as I’m going to eventually be taking over the M&E process from Jessica, and I need to understand how the big picture works. I left the U.S. one month ago today!
This week we’re going along on site supervisions of the faith/community-based organizations (F/CBOs) in Mubende, which is a time for us to provide advice and answer questions, and make sure that the projects that the F/CBOs are working on (funded by us) are on track. Right now, our priority is to make sure that they are on track with data collection using the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) tools that they’re supposed to use. For example, the community caregivers fill out forms when they visit people with HIV/AIDS (PHAs) and orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs) – these forms are used to keep track of basic health information, and specific needs that the clients have. These forms make their way back to the F/CBOs, who should be recording the information in an Excel file for their records, and to help them prioritize the needs of the clients. However, this has been a huge challenge (as I think I’ve already mentioned), and the M&E process is not going as smoothly as it should be. The F/CBOs have limited resources and time, and they may only have one computer in their office, so it’s difficult for them to get the forms entered in a timely manner.
This may all sound boring or confusing, and it is kind of a pain, to be honest, but it’s really important that the F/CBOs (and in turn, WellShare, since the information is ultimately passed to us) have this information to keep track of the results of the programs we’re running. If there’s no way to evaluate the program, then it’s impossible to know whether it’s effective or not. This kind of information is also used when compiling the many reports that WellShare has to provide to USAID and other donors. So, Jessica and I are going with on the site supervisions this week to help the F/CBOs enter data and answer questions.
We spent yesterday at St. Thomas, one of the F/CBOs right down the hill from the office here. St. Thomas is partially funded by us, but they also get funding from Compassion, a Christian organization based in Colorado Springs. Through Compassion, they get grants to sponsor children from primary school through university (which I think is amazing). St. Thomas currently has 242 children come every Saturday for a variety of activities and support. It sounds really amazing. Yesterday when we were at their office, kids were stopping by all afternoon to pick up their new uniforms that they wear on Saturdays – and of course, the kids were adorable. They were pretty fascinated by us, and it was fairly entertaining to watch them all try on and get excited by their new uniforms. Jessica and I are planning on stopping by St. Thomas on Saturday to see what they do, and to hang out and play with the kids.
Today and tomorrow we’re also doing site supervisions at the two other F/CBOs in Mubende. It’s really good for me to be here and see how things work, as I’m going to eventually be taking over the M&E process from Jessica, and I need to understand how the big picture works. I left the U.S. one month ago today!
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Thursday, October 7, 2010
food
Most of you probably wonder what I eat on a daily basis, so here’s a typical day:
Work starts at 8. There is usually some hot water lying around, and if there is, I’ve been making instant coffee that I bought in Kampala… not as good as the real thing, but it’s still nice to have a cup of coffee in the morning. We have tea around 9:30. The traditional tea here is really a type of chai – they boil milk (straight from the cow) and add water, and then steep some tea in it. I add sugar to it, and I actually really like it – it’s like a less spicy version of the chai that you find in the States. Plus, it’s pretty filling since it’s a cup of whole milk, and at least I’m getting some daily calcium, Mom! With tea we almost always have some kind of food, such as chapatti, bread w/margarine, fried cassava (cassava is kind of like a potato, really starchy, and when fried, it basically looks and tastes like large french fries), or these yummy round things that are like donuts but less sweet whose name I am blanking on right now. So tea is like my breakfast.
We have lunch between 1 and 2. By the way, Victoria, one of the office assistants, is the one who prepares all the food and tea. At the other office in Mubende, they don’t make lunch, so everybody is on their own, but it’s really nice that they make lunch here because at least I’m guaranteed one hot meal a day. We each pay 20,000 shillings, or about $10, per month for lunch. Lunch is always a traditional Ugandan meal. The main staple food here is matoke, which is cooked/steamed plantains. We also sometimes have rice, or posho, which is maize flour cooked with water into a starchy blob. These staples are usually served with beans or g-nut (groundnut, aka peanut) sauce. Other variations on this meal include dried fish, tiny silver fish that you eat whole, and shredded cabbage. On special occasions, like when we had our regional meetings last week, they had lunch catered, which was similar to what we normally eat but also included chicken and a few more sides. Usually, however, our lunch is very basic, with a staple and then one side or sauce. I don’t dislike any of the traditional foods, but I wouldn’t say that I love them either. The traditional diet here is very carbohydrate-heavy, with little protein. A limited variety of fruit and vegetables are available in town, but we don’t eat them in significant portions at lunch.
I’ve been really bad at cooking lately, and I’ve only prepared an actual dinner for myself a few times (although tonight we’re going to go buy vegetables and stock up for the weekend). I’ve mainly been eating crackers, bread and peanut butter, dried fruit, etc… things I’ve bought in Kampala or brought from home. The process of cooking here sometimes feels overwhelming, because we don’t have an actual kitchen. There’s a gas stove that we can use, but the sink is in another part of the building and we store food in our room, so we have to run all over the place to prepare a meal. However, I know that I’m going to have to start eating better soon, and I’m starting to crave real meals, so I know that I’ll inevitably get better at preparing dinner. There is also street food available – we’ve had chapatti and rolexes several times (I explained what those were in a previous post), both of which I think are really good, not to mention cheap. Food here is really inexpensive… but there is very little variety, so that’s the tradeoff, I guess.
Because of the monotony of my diet here, when I’m in Kampala it’s really exciting to eat other foods. I’ve already tried out several cafes and restaurants that serve American-style food, like sandwiches, burgers, fries, salads, etc. I also went to a good Indian restaurant last weekend. Food in Kampala is much more expensive than it is here, although I’d say prices are comparable to restaurants in the US, and sometimes a little cheaper. Before I leave Kampala, I buy some food at the grocery store to bring back here, such as crackers, cookies, chocolate, and juice. There is no grocery store in Ssembabule, only a few tiny shops that sell bread, eggs, water, and juice… so it’s a good idea to stock up before heading back to the field. It’s also really nice to have some comfort foods, such as chocolate (I’ve been buying Cadbury chocolate bars and Twix bars… yum), as a reprieve from our monotonous diet.
Work starts at 8. There is usually some hot water lying around, and if there is, I’ve been making instant coffee that I bought in Kampala… not as good as the real thing, but it’s still nice to have a cup of coffee in the morning. We have tea around 9:30. The traditional tea here is really a type of chai – they boil milk (straight from the cow) and add water, and then steep some tea in it. I add sugar to it, and I actually really like it – it’s like a less spicy version of the chai that you find in the States. Plus, it’s pretty filling since it’s a cup of whole milk, and at least I’m getting some daily calcium, Mom! With tea we almost always have some kind of food, such as chapatti, bread w/margarine, fried cassava (cassava is kind of like a potato, really starchy, and when fried, it basically looks and tastes like large french fries), or these yummy round things that are like donuts but less sweet whose name I am blanking on right now. So tea is like my breakfast.
We have lunch between 1 and 2. By the way, Victoria, one of the office assistants, is the one who prepares all the food and tea. At the other office in Mubende, they don’t make lunch, so everybody is on their own, but it’s really nice that they make lunch here because at least I’m guaranteed one hot meal a day. We each pay 20,000 shillings, or about $10, per month for lunch. Lunch is always a traditional Ugandan meal. The main staple food here is matoke, which is cooked/steamed plantains. We also sometimes have rice, or posho, which is maize flour cooked with water into a starchy blob. These staples are usually served with beans or g-nut (groundnut, aka peanut) sauce. Other variations on this meal include dried fish, tiny silver fish that you eat whole, and shredded cabbage. On special occasions, like when we had our regional meetings last week, they had lunch catered, which was similar to what we normally eat but also included chicken and a few more sides. Usually, however, our lunch is very basic, with a staple and then one side or sauce. I don’t dislike any of the traditional foods, but I wouldn’t say that I love them either. The traditional diet here is very carbohydrate-heavy, with little protein. A limited variety of fruit and vegetables are available in town, but we don’t eat them in significant portions at lunch.
I’ve been really bad at cooking lately, and I’ve only prepared an actual dinner for myself a few times (although tonight we’re going to go buy vegetables and stock up for the weekend). I’ve mainly been eating crackers, bread and peanut butter, dried fruit, etc… things I’ve bought in Kampala or brought from home. The process of cooking here sometimes feels overwhelming, because we don’t have an actual kitchen. There’s a gas stove that we can use, but the sink is in another part of the building and we store food in our room, so we have to run all over the place to prepare a meal. However, I know that I’m going to have to start eating better soon, and I’m starting to crave real meals, so I know that I’ll inevitably get better at preparing dinner. There is also street food available – we’ve had chapatti and rolexes several times (I explained what those were in a previous post), both of which I think are really good, not to mention cheap. Food here is really inexpensive… but there is very little variety, so that’s the tradeoff, I guess.
Because of the monotony of my diet here, when I’m in Kampala it’s really exciting to eat other foods. I’ve already tried out several cafes and restaurants that serve American-style food, like sandwiches, burgers, fries, salads, etc. I also went to a good Indian restaurant last weekend. Food in Kampala is much more expensive than it is here, although I’d say prices are comparable to restaurants in the US, and sometimes a little cheaper. Before I leave Kampala, I buy some food at the grocery store to bring back here, such as crackers, cookies, chocolate, and juice. There is no grocery store in Ssembabule, only a few tiny shops that sell bread, eggs, water, and juice… so it’s a good idea to stock up before heading back to the field. It’s also really nice to have some comfort foods, such as chocolate (I’ve been buying Cadbury chocolate bars and Twix bars… yum), as a reprieve from our monotonous diet.
Friday, October 1, 2010
long time, no power
Here are some things that have happened since the last time I wrote...
- No power. The first week I was in Ssembabule, I was absolutely spoiled by having electricity virtually the entire time. Last Saturday, power went out for five days, so things were a little bit different. I actually got used to it after a few days. It’s not so bad during the day, except that you can’t charge your computer, which makes it difficult to get work done since a lot of our work requires the computer. Luckily, the office turned the generator on a couple of times so that we could charge things. Fuel is really expensive here, and there’s also some sort of fuel shortage, and since the generator runs on fuel, they only use it in extreme circumstances. It gets dark at 7 pm, so basically after that there’s not much to do when there’s no power. Jessica and I pretty much just sit in our dark room and kill time until it’s more socially appropriate to go to sleep... let’s just say we had some pretty early bedtimes when there was no power. The upside of darkness, however, is that you can see an amazing amount of stars in Ssembabule. Oh, and I have to give a shout out to Ellen and Emma for buying me a headlamp – THANK YOU! Despite its nerdiness, it’s about the handiest thing I own. Don’t knock it until you’re without power and trying to use a latrine at night.
- Regional Meeting. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the staff from Mubende came to Ssembabule for our monthly regional meeting. There was a lot to talk about and get done, and it was really good to meet the rest of the staff. It was especially nice to get to talk to Katie, the program manager (and basically my ultimate supervisor), more – she’s from Appleton, went to grad school at the U of M, and lived in Minneapolis before she moved here in August. Small world (although I guess it’s actually not that weird, since WellShare’s headquarters is in Minneapolis). Both Ssembabule and Mubende are essentially working on the same projects, but we’re at different stages and have some different ideas, so it’s good for us to communicate. Although I’m based in Ssembabule, I’m also going to be spending time in Mubende to help them out as well.
- Kampala. On Wednesday evening, as the staff from Mubende were preparing to leave, my supervisor, Beatrice, and Katie made a last-minute decision to send Jess and I to Kampala this weekend. Jess had to get her passport before going on a trip this weekend, and I came to meet with somebody at Mulago Hospital about supplementary feeding. WellShare is incorporating a supplementary feeding (for malnourished children ages 0-2) program into their current health education and training programs; we want to teach people how to use sustainable foods that they already have in their homes or communities to supplement children who are malnourished (mostly from protein malnutrition). Mulago Hospital in Kampala has a malnutrition unit called Mwanamugimu, so Jess and I went there yesterday to talk to the head of the nutrition department and see if she had any advice or resources for us. She was very helpful, and coincidentally, as we were wrapping up our talk, a woman who works for the nutrition unit at the Ministry of Health walked by, and we ended up going with her to the MOH to get some materials , advice, and to exchange contact information. Both people we met with were very helpful and supportive, and it was good to meet with them and get ideas for what we can do.
- Still in Kampala. So now, Jess is gone for the weekend and I’m still in Kampala. Today I’m working at the country office here, and tomorrow and Sunday my plan is to chill out, eat some good food, and find my way around the city a little bit better. My hotel is in the city centre and close to a lot of things (translation: it’s pretty noisy), and I even have my OWN bathroom with a HOT shower and a REAL toilet! I’m paying a little bit more than I’d like to, but for now, it’s worth it.
- No power. The first week I was in Ssembabule, I was absolutely spoiled by having electricity virtually the entire time. Last Saturday, power went out for five days, so things were a little bit different. I actually got used to it after a few days. It’s not so bad during the day, except that you can’t charge your computer, which makes it difficult to get work done since a lot of our work requires the computer. Luckily, the office turned the generator on a couple of times so that we could charge things. Fuel is really expensive here, and there’s also some sort of fuel shortage, and since the generator runs on fuel, they only use it in extreme circumstances. It gets dark at 7 pm, so basically after that there’s not much to do when there’s no power. Jessica and I pretty much just sit in our dark room and kill time until it’s more socially appropriate to go to sleep... let’s just say we had some pretty early bedtimes when there was no power. The upside of darkness, however, is that you can see an amazing amount of stars in Ssembabule. Oh, and I have to give a shout out to Ellen and Emma for buying me a headlamp – THANK YOU! Despite its nerdiness, it’s about the handiest thing I own. Don’t knock it until you’re without power and trying to use a latrine at night.
- Regional Meeting. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the staff from Mubende came to Ssembabule for our monthly regional meeting. There was a lot to talk about and get done, and it was really good to meet the rest of the staff. It was especially nice to get to talk to Katie, the program manager (and basically my ultimate supervisor), more – she’s from Appleton, went to grad school at the U of M, and lived in Minneapolis before she moved here in August. Small world (although I guess it’s actually not that weird, since WellShare’s headquarters is in Minneapolis). Both Ssembabule and Mubende are essentially working on the same projects, but we’re at different stages and have some different ideas, so it’s good for us to communicate. Although I’m based in Ssembabule, I’m also going to be spending time in Mubende to help them out as well.
- Kampala. On Wednesday evening, as the staff from Mubende were preparing to leave, my supervisor, Beatrice, and Katie made a last-minute decision to send Jess and I to Kampala this weekend. Jess had to get her passport before going on a trip this weekend, and I came to meet with somebody at Mulago Hospital about supplementary feeding. WellShare is incorporating a supplementary feeding (for malnourished children ages 0-2) program into their current health education and training programs; we want to teach people how to use sustainable foods that they already have in their homes or communities to supplement children who are malnourished (mostly from protein malnutrition). Mulago Hospital in Kampala has a malnutrition unit called Mwanamugimu, so Jess and I went there yesterday to talk to the head of the nutrition department and see if she had any advice or resources for us. She was very helpful, and coincidentally, as we were wrapping up our talk, a woman who works for the nutrition unit at the Ministry of Health walked by, and we ended up going with her to the MOH to get some materials , advice, and to exchange contact information. Both people we met with were very helpful and supportive, and it was good to meet with them and get ideas for what we can do.
- Still in Kampala. So now, Jess is gone for the weekend and I’m still in Kampala. Today I’m working at the country office here, and tomorrow and Sunday my plan is to chill out, eat some good food, and find my way around the city a little bit better. My hotel is in the city centre and close to a lot of things (translation: it’s pretty noisy), and I even have my OWN bathroom with a HOT shower and a REAL toilet! I’m paying a little bit more than I’d like to, but for now, it’s worth it.
Friday, September 24, 2010
muzungu!
Every day after work this week, Jessica and I have been taking walks. The office in Ssembabule is located at the top of a rolling hill, surrounded by other rolling hills, and from the top there are four roads leading in different directions… so we decided to try out each road and then decide which way we like the best. We both already agree on our front-runner, which is the quietest road with the least amount of traffic. However, although there is less traffic, the two of us create quite the spectacle and entertainment for everybody else that we encounter. Oftentimes as we walk, a crowd of people gradually accumulates behind us. Kids who are walking home from school walk slowly in order to stay in step with us and stare at us strange, strange muzungus. Sometimes they say “Hello, how are you?” or “Good evening, madam,” which I’m guessing , may be the extent of their English. I often wave at kids who are staring at me like I’m a creature from the deep, and they usually wave back, and then often run back to their families, most likely to report that there is a weird colorless person wandering around their neighborhood.
I had heard that this happens in East Africa, as well as in other countries of the world, so I expected it, but I had never personally experienced it until this trip. I also can’t tell if people are interested in me or terrified of me… I think sometimes both. It doesn’t really bother me, particularly when the gawkers are children. When they’re adults, it’s a little more uncomfortable, but I usually just say hello and keep walking. I think that after a while, it will either wear on me a lot more, or I’ll become immune to it… but I’m not sure which.
When I was in Kampala for orientation, walking around a market with Azida (a WellShare staff member), vendors shouted “muzungu” (translation: “white person”) at me and tried to sell me things. Azida explained to me that I shouldn’t be offended, and that it’s just the same as if she were in the US and somebody said, “Hey, black person!” The thing is, though, that wouldn’t fly in the US… so it’s not really the same thing. But I didn’t want to get into a debate about it, so I didn’t say anything. I really do understand that they don’t mean harm by saying it, and it’s really just a cultural difference. It’s definitely an interesting experience… humbling, almost, because I, like many Americans, am so used to blending in with the crowd wherever I go, and I take that anonymity for granted. To be so visibly and obviously out of place somewhere has never happened to me before.
I had heard that this happens in East Africa, as well as in other countries of the world, so I expected it, but I had never personally experienced it until this trip. I also can’t tell if people are interested in me or terrified of me… I think sometimes both. It doesn’t really bother me, particularly when the gawkers are children. When they’re adults, it’s a little more uncomfortable, but I usually just say hello and keep walking. I think that after a while, it will either wear on me a lot more, or I’ll become immune to it… but I’m not sure which.
When I was in Kampala for orientation, walking around a market with Azida (a WellShare staff member), vendors shouted “muzungu” (translation: “white person”) at me and tried to sell me things. Azida explained to me that I shouldn’t be offended, and that it’s just the same as if she were in the US and somebody said, “Hey, black person!” The thing is, though, that wouldn’t fly in the US… so it’s not really the same thing. But I didn’t want to get into a debate about it, so I didn’t say anything. I really do understand that they don’t mean harm by saying it, and it’s really just a cultural difference. It’s definitely an interesting experience… humbling, almost, because I, like many Americans, am so used to blending in with the crowd wherever I go, and I take that anonymity for granted. To be so visibly and obviously out of place somewhere has never happened to me before.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
What I'm Doing...
Today was my third day of work, and I’m starting to figure some things out. There is definitely a learning curve, but after a couple days of a lot of reading and listening, things make more sense.
The structure of WellShare is more complicated than I initially realized, but it really does all make sense. I’m going to try to explain it, so that when I reference things in the future, you can hopefully know what I’m talking about.
WellShare has two offices in Uganda: Ssembabule and Mubende (fyi, Ssembabule is also sometimes spelled with one “S” – Sembabule, so if I spell it that way, don’t be confused). Both are located in the Central Region of the country. They also have an office in Tanzania, and headquarters in Minneapolis, but I’m just focusing on what goes on in Uganda.
WellShare partners with Faith/Community-Based Organizations (F/CBOs) in each region. WellShare gives the F/CBOs money (from grants that they are awarded by the US Agency for International Development [USAID]) to implement projects that are designed collaboratively. The F/CBOs train Trainers of Trainers (TOTs), who in turn train Community Care Givers (CCGs). The CCGs are the individuals who ultimately visit the homes of people living with HIV/AIDs (PHAs) and orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs). CCGs provide services, but they also train the caretaker (i.e. a family member of the PHA, or someone who lives with them) in how to care for the PHA. When drawn out in a diagram, it is apparent that the whole process really fans out; for example, one F/CBO may train 9 TOTs, who then each train 16 CCGs, who then each see a number of beneficiaries. And yes, I realize that there are a LOT of acronyms. I’m still catching on.
Yesterday and today I learned a lot more about what I’ll be doing. Within the OVC program, there are a few nutrition components that I will be working on. First, my supervisor and program coordinator, Beatrice, wants me to make a few brochures that can be handed out to people regarding nutrition issues. They’ll probably focus on food groups, safe preparation of food, and possibly supplementary feeding for children under 5 years old. She wants them to be very simple, with mostly pictures (any words will be translated into Luganda). There is also a kitchen garden program that is in its preliminary stages. PHA households have been identified by each TOT, and they are in the process of creating five demonstration kitchen gardens in each parish (a parish is kind of like a county within the region). The gardens have been given some local seeds, and will also be provided other seeds by WellShare. After the demonstration gardens have successfully thrived, the gardens will spread to other PHA households in the area. The idea is that people who have HIV/AIDS, as well as their families, will have inexpensive, local, sustainable healthy food that they can incorporate into their diets.
We are also going to hold cooking demonstrations in several areas to demonstrate how to prepare vegetables in a way that minimizes loss of nutrients. Beatrice wants me to create a simple questionnaire for the CCGs to give to PHAs, so that we can identify the gaps in knowledge that we should address. We don’t want to waste time preaching about something that they already are familiar with.
There is also talk of developing some guidelines for supplementary feeding for malnourished children under 5, but I don’t know much about that yet.
I hope this all makes sense and isn’t too confusing… I basically absorbed this all in the past 24 hours, so writing it out like this actually helps me to sort it out. One thing I’ve already observed is that the pace of things moves much slower here. No doubt, there is a LOT to do and the organization is busy, but we are definitely not working on the American fast-paced time schedule that I’m used to. Therefore, I’m confident that all of these projects will get done, but it may take a while. There are also a lot of people in the chain of command, so there’s a lot of communicating to do before actual action takes place.
All in all, I’m very excited about these plans. I sat in on a meeting today between Beatrice and the head of one of the F/CBOs, because they were discussing the plans for the kitchen gardens and cooking demonstrations, and it was very enlightening. Beatrice always stresses that what we do needs to be sustainable, so that when we leave, the F/CBOs and others under them will still be able to continue these programs. I also think that that’s a very important thing, so I’m glad that WellShare focuses on sustainability. Since I’m only an intern, there’s only so much I can do when it comes down to executing plans, but I can be here with ideas and support and create materials that they need me to create. I think I’m going to learn a lot!
The structure of WellShare is more complicated than I initially realized, but it really does all make sense. I’m going to try to explain it, so that when I reference things in the future, you can hopefully know what I’m talking about.
WellShare has two offices in Uganda: Ssembabule and Mubende (fyi, Ssembabule is also sometimes spelled with one “S” – Sembabule, so if I spell it that way, don’t be confused). Both are located in the Central Region of the country. They also have an office in Tanzania, and headquarters in Minneapolis, but I’m just focusing on what goes on in Uganda.
WellShare partners with Faith/Community-Based Organizations (F/CBOs) in each region. WellShare gives the F/CBOs money (from grants that they are awarded by the US Agency for International Development [USAID]) to implement projects that are designed collaboratively. The F/CBOs train Trainers of Trainers (TOTs), who in turn train Community Care Givers (CCGs). The CCGs are the individuals who ultimately visit the homes of people living with HIV/AIDs (PHAs) and orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs). CCGs provide services, but they also train the caretaker (i.e. a family member of the PHA, or someone who lives with them) in how to care for the PHA. When drawn out in a diagram, it is apparent that the whole process really fans out; for example, one F/CBO may train 9 TOTs, who then each train 16 CCGs, who then each see a number of beneficiaries. And yes, I realize that there are a LOT of acronyms. I’m still catching on.
Yesterday and today I learned a lot more about what I’ll be doing. Within the OVC program, there are a few nutrition components that I will be working on. First, my supervisor and program coordinator, Beatrice, wants me to make a few brochures that can be handed out to people regarding nutrition issues. They’ll probably focus on food groups, safe preparation of food, and possibly supplementary feeding for children under 5 years old. She wants them to be very simple, with mostly pictures (any words will be translated into Luganda). There is also a kitchen garden program that is in its preliminary stages. PHA households have been identified by each TOT, and they are in the process of creating five demonstration kitchen gardens in each parish (a parish is kind of like a county within the region). The gardens have been given some local seeds, and will also be provided other seeds by WellShare. After the demonstration gardens have successfully thrived, the gardens will spread to other PHA households in the area. The idea is that people who have HIV/AIDS, as well as their families, will have inexpensive, local, sustainable healthy food that they can incorporate into their diets.
We are also going to hold cooking demonstrations in several areas to demonstrate how to prepare vegetables in a way that minimizes loss of nutrients. Beatrice wants me to create a simple questionnaire for the CCGs to give to PHAs, so that we can identify the gaps in knowledge that we should address. We don’t want to waste time preaching about something that they already are familiar with.
There is also talk of developing some guidelines for supplementary feeding for malnourished children under 5, but I don’t know much about that yet.
I hope this all makes sense and isn’t too confusing… I basically absorbed this all in the past 24 hours, so writing it out like this actually helps me to sort it out. One thing I’ve already observed is that the pace of things moves much slower here. No doubt, there is a LOT to do and the organization is busy, but we are definitely not working on the American fast-paced time schedule that I’m used to. Therefore, I’m confident that all of these projects will get done, but it may take a while. There are also a lot of people in the chain of command, so there’s a lot of communicating to do before actual action takes place.
All in all, I’m very excited about these plans. I sat in on a meeting today between Beatrice and the head of one of the F/CBOs, because they were discussing the plans for the kitchen gardens and cooking demonstrations, and it was very enlightening. Beatrice always stresses that what we do needs to be sustainable, so that when we leave, the F/CBOs and others under them will still be able to continue these programs. I also think that that’s a very important thing, so I’m glad that WellShare focuses on sustainability. Since I’m only an intern, there’s only so much I can do when it comes down to executing plans, but I can be here with ideas and support and create materials that they need me to create. I think I’m going to learn a lot!
Saturday, September 18, 2010
quick update
I've arrived in Ssembabule! We got here yesterday afternoon, and I was able to meet the staff here, who were all really nice and welcoming - they even had dinner waiting for us! Luckily the electricity was on last night, so I could unpack with the help of light. It felt good to kind of sort my stuff out and figure out where things are. The office is nicer than I expected it to be - although the town of Ssembabule is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, the office itself is on a street in town and it's actually noisy around here most of the time. I'm sharing a room with Jess, and we have a curtained-off area that has a shower head, but the shower hasn't worked in a while, so that's where we'll take bucket baths, brush our teeth, do our laundry, and whatnot. The pit latrines are just around the corner, within the whole office/volunteer room complex. Yes, I know, pit latrines sound awful, but they're really not THAT bad, and they don't even smell. I'm ust going to develop incrediby toned thighs from squatting all the time. I'll post pictures of the office and my room when I can, but the internet here most likely isn't strong enough to handle tht task. Last night I slept through the entire night for the first time since arriving in Uganda, which is a thrill. I even slept in this morning! Today we spent almost the entire day in our room - there isn't much to do here on the weekends. I alternated between reading books and celeb magazines that a friend of Jess' mailed to her. Tonight we ventured out of the office to go get a rolex for dinner - a rolex is a omlette (egg and veggies) rolled up in chapatti (kind of like a flatbread, tortilla type thing), and it was really good. Hurray for street food!
Friday, September 17, 2010
kampala, day two
(written 9/16)
Well, today turned out to be much different, and by different I mean better, than I thought it would be. When I arrived at WellShare’s office this morning, I discovered that staff from the Ssembabule and Mubende offices had arrived. Jessica, the other volunteer/intern (I’m not sure which one we technically are, so I’ll probably alternate using those terms when referring to what I do) was there, who I had previously spoken to via email. Coincidentally, Jessica is from New Berlin, WI… imagine that. Today was my second day of orientation, but Jessica insisted that we make some modifications to the orientation schedule and cut out the things that she didn’t think were worth going to (i.e. the snake park). I was more than happy to heed her advice (this is her second time in Uganda, so she’s much more experienced than I). We ended up going to a few places – the fruit and vegetable market, and the craft market – with Azida and Richard, and then they dropped us off and Jess and I went off on our own. We had a long, leisurely lunch at a great café that served many types of food (I had phenomenal chicken fajitas). I cannot emphasize enough how grateful I am that Jess is here and will be in Ssembabule with me until December. She had so much advice to give, and she knows a lot of people (mostly expats) in Kampala who will be good travel buddies and people to hang out with when we come to Kampala on weekends. I immediately felt totally comfortable around her, as if we had known each other for a long time. After lunch,we walked around downtown Kampala, and she showed me some important places (banks, hotels, etc). We went to Aristoc (the same bookstore I went to yesterday, but a different location) and bought three books to pass some quiet, electricity-free nights in Ssembabule; I’m sure I’ll be buying many more in the future. We also went grocery shopping for things to bring with us in Ssembabule. There is no refrigerator in Ssembabule, so we basically bought dry goods – crackers, cookies, chocolate, pasta, juice, water, olive oil, spices, candy. I’m glad we got to stock up before we got out there, because it sounds like the options are pretty limited out in the field. The grocery stores here are pretty well-stocked, and I realized that I actually can buy a lot of things here that I didn’t think I’d be able to – i.e. legit face wash, Nutella, muzungu (white person) shampoo, etc. After grocery shopping, we walked around down the main road, and then stopped at another café to have a soda while we waited for the WellShare truck to pick us up again.
Oh! I took my first boda-boda ride today. A boda-boda is a motorcycle that you can take to places around the city for a small fee, and they’re much faster than other taxis. They’re notoriously dangerous, but if you tell them to go slowly they’re actually not TOO terrifying, and locals take them all the time, often with numerous children/infants/chickens in hand. Anyway, Jess and I took a boda-boda to the café. Normally, local women wearing skirts ride side-saddle on a boda-boda for the sake of modesty. I was wearing a skirt today, but to me, living is more important than being lady-like, so I hiked my skirt up and straddled that driver, and Jess straddled me. When in Africa…
I’m currently sitting in my hostel, drinking a Nile beer and typing this into Word, due to the sketchy nature of the internet, but hopefully I can post it quickly in a moment of semi-strong internet. Tomorrow I pack up my things, take them to the WellShare office, meet with Laura, the country director, and then head to Ssembabule with Jess.
Well, today turned out to be much different, and by different I mean better, than I thought it would be. When I arrived at WellShare’s office this morning, I discovered that staff from the Ssembabule and Mubende offices had arrived. Jessica, the other volunteer/intern (I’m not sure which one we technically are, so I’ll probably alternate using those terms when referring to what I do) was there, who I had previously spoken to via email. Coincidentally, Jessica is from New Berlin, WI… imagine that. Today was my second day of orientation, but Jessica insisted that we make some modifications to the orientation schedule and cut out the things that she didn’t think were worth going to (i.e. the snake park). I was more than happy to heed her advice (this is her second time in Uganda, so she’s much more experienced than I). We ended up going to a few places – the fruit and vegetable market, and the craft market – with Azida and Richard, and then they dropped us off and Jess and I went off on our own. We had a long, leisurely lunch at a great café that served many types of food (I had phenomenal chicken fajitas). I cannot emphasize enough how grateful I am that Jess is here and will be in Ssembabule with me until December. She had so much advice to give, and she knows a lot of people (mostly expats) in Kampala who will be good travel buddies and people to hang out with when we come to Kampala on weekends. I immediately felt totally comfortable around her, as if we had known each other for a long time. After lunch,we walked around downtown Kampala, and she showed me some important places (banks, hotels, etc). We went to Aristoc (the same bookstore I went to yesterday, but a different location) and bought three books to pass some quiet, electricity-free nights in Ssembabule; I’m sure I’ll be buying many more in the future. We also went grocery shopping for things to bring with us in Ssembabule. There is no refrigerator in Ssembabule, so we basically bought dry goods – crackers, cookies, chocolate, pasta, juice, water, olive oil, spices, candy. I’m glad we got to stock up before we got out there, because it sounds like the options are pretty limited out in the field. The grocery stores here are pretty well-stocked, and I realized that I actually can buy a lot of things here that I didn’t think I’d be able to – i.e. legit face wash, Nutella, muzungu (white person) shampoo, etc. After grocery shopping, we walked around down the main road, and then stopped at another café to have a soda while we waited for the WellShare truck to pick us up again.
Oh! I took my first boda-boda ride today. A boda-boda is a motorcycle that you can take to places around the city for a small fee, and they’re much faster than other taxis. They’re notoriously dangerous, but if you tell them to go slowly they’re actually not TOO terrifying, and locals take them all the time, often with numerous children/infants/chickens in hand. Anyway, Jess and I took a boda-boda to the café. Normally, local women wearing skirts ride side-saddle on a boda-boda for the sake of modesty. I was wearing a skirt today, but to me, living is more important than being lady-like, so I hiked my skirt up and straddled that driver, and Jess straddled me. When in Africa…
I’m currently sitting in my hostel, drinking a Nile beer and typing this into Word, due to the sketchy nature of the internet, but hopefully I can post it quickly in a moment of semi-strong internet. Tomorrow I pack up my things, take them to the WellShare office, meet with Laura, the country director, and then head to Ssembabule with Jess.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
I'm here!
I arrived in Kampala last night, was picked up at the airport by a driver from WellShare, and driven to my hostel. Last night I slept in a tent with a bed in it, but tonight I was moved to an actual room, which is nice. I wasn't sure what time I was getting picked up this morning for orientation, so I set my alarm for 8 am - and once 8 am rolled around, I went back to sleep, meaning that I had to frantically get ready at 9:20 when I was informed that my ride was here. Today, I met everybody at the WellShare headquarters office, and then spent the day getting oriented, if you will. Orientation turned out to be less of an introduction to WellShare, and more of an introduction to Kampala and how things work here. I exchanged money, received a cell phone and topped it up, walked through the taxi park (chaos), went to the shopping mall, walked around Makerere University, had lunch at a real African restaurant (ate with my hands), and ended the day at Uganda Wildlife Education Center (which is basically like a zoo, and on the shore of Lake Victoria). It was really nice to be able to see the city in the daylight. Azida and Richard were the two WellShare employees that took me around, and they were both really nice and helpful. Tomorrow I have another orientation day, and then on Friday, I head out to the field.
Sorry if this post is disjointed - I'm tired and trying to type quickly and this keyboard is weird. Just wanted to let you all know that things are good and I've arrived safely!
Sorry if this post is disjointed - I'm tired and trying to type quickly and this keyboard is weird. Just wanted to let you all know that things are good and I've arrived safely!
Friday, September 10, 2010
Pre-departure
Another trip, another blog! On Monday (September 13th) I'm heading to Uganda, where I will spend nine months volunteering with WellShare International (www.wellshareinternational.org). Despite unreliable internet access and electricity, I'll try to post blog updates as often as possible. Enjoy!
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