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!