pictures

a focus group discussion taking place under a tree in sembabule

measuring children for school uniforms in a sub-county of mubende

my mango had a heart (but i ate it anyway)

this is painted on the wall of a school near our office... girl power!

jess & i on her last day in sembabule

the entire wellshare uganda crew!

week in mubende

This week I’ve been in Mubende, helping the F/CBOs here update their databases and assist them with data entry. On Tuesday I spent the day in the field, helping measure and register a LOT of OVCs for school uniforms; we also conducted one focus group discussion with OVCs. It was a long day, but we got a lot done (and I got an unexpected sunburn… I guess that’s what happens when you’re a fair-skinned girl taking doxycycline on the equator).

On Tuesday night we had one of Mubende’s infamous potlucks… “potluck” is really a loose term, because we just chipped in money for a few people to make food. But we had the best goat I’ve had here so far – usually it’s really tough and I can’t gnaw it off the bone (I’m sure I look really graceful when I eat it, too) but this time the goat was roasted on skewers and it was really good. We also had pumpkin, chicken, chapatti, rice, pineapple, Irish potatoes (that’s what they call regular potatoes here) and even a cake that Joel brought from Kampala. It was really a farewell dinner for Katie (the program manager) and her husband, Renzo, who announced about a month ago that because of unexpected personal reasons they have to return to the U.S. earlier than planned (they were initially supposed to stay until around November). They are really sad to have to leave, but the reasons they had for leaving were really out of their control. We’re really going to miss them! I spent many nights playing board games with them when they were in Sembabule or when I was in Mubende. It’s unfortunate that they have to leave so early, but I’m glad I got to know them while they were around. The search for the new program manager (PM) is already almost complete; I’m not sure who it’s going to be, but we should be finding out soon. Unlike in the past, WellShare is now hiring a Ugandan PM rather than an American PM. Staff transitions are always a challenge here, and for many reasons we’ve had a lot of this over the past year or so. Luckily there shouldn’t be too big of an interval between Katie and the new PM. There’s a pretty steep learning curve when someone first starts working here, so initially I’m sure it’ll be a challenge, but I’m sure whoever fills Katie’s shoes will have a lot of experience and learn quickly.

Today I’m going to another one of the F/CBOs here to update their databases, and then tomorrow I’m heading back to Sembabule. Yesterday was a public holiday (Liberation Day) so the office was closed. It was nice to have a day off in the middle of the week, but now I’ve lost track of days and think that it’s Monday.

As I’ve mentioned before, the Ugandan presidential elections are on February 18, and in order to avoid any pre- or post-election fallout (which probably won’t be anything serious, but is always a possibility), I’m going to be spending about a month at WellShare’s Tanzania office in Karatu. I leave next Friday already! I’ll spend some time helping out at the office in whatever way I can, and for the last two weeks of my time there, my parents will be visiting! I’m extremely excited. It’s kind of like a vacation within my vacation… I’m excited to spend time in Tanzania, learn a few words of Swahili, see what WellShare’s programs in TZ are like, and go on a safari adventure with my parents. Of course, I’ll write more about this once I’m there. Oh, and my goal/challenge is to see if I can find a place to watch the PACKERS play in the Superbowl in TZ…

One last bit of exciting news: I got into grad school! I got accepted to the University of Minnesota’s Master of Public Health Nutrition program. I’m very happy, and it’s a big weight off my shoulders. It’s a two year program that will start in the fall. Things are falling into place!

meeting, cheeseburger, annoying man

Last Monday and Tuesday, I went to the field with Eric, Allen and John to finish measuring OVCs for school uniforms. On Wednesday afternoon, the Sembabule staffed piled into two vehicles and headed to Mubende for our regional meeting. The meeting took place on Thursday and Friday, and it was nice to see everyone again. We discussed the accomplishments we’ve achieved in the past quarter, and planned out our work for this quarter (Jan, Feb, Mar). The country director was also present at the meetings, which was really beneficial – it’s good for us to hear her perspective and get her guidance on things, and it’s also good for her to see how things work in the field.

On Friday afternoon we had our New Year Party (which, unsurprisingly, started 2.5 hours late… goat takes a long time to cook, man!) which mainly consisted of eating a lot of good food, and a Secret-Santa-ish gift exchange. My gift, which I dug out of the bottom of my suitcase before leaving Sembabule, was a few packages of Silly Bands that I brought from the US (when I left the US, my friends and I were in the midst of a slight Silly Band obsession…). Luckily the country director picked my gift, so her 2 year old daughter can enjoy the Disney Princess Silly Bands.

After we finished eating and gift-giving, I hitched a ride with the WellShare vehicle going back to Kampala. It was a short weekend in the city, but it was still nice. I ate a surprisingly good, non-dry (I don’t like the word “moist,” so I’m going to say “non-dry”) cheeseburger at New York Kitchen. That place is seriously my saving grace – all different kinds of American-style comfort food. I did some shopping, and went to the cinema to see “The Tourist” on Saturday night.

The trip back to Sembabule was relatively painless. On the last leg of the journey though, the car stopped in a tiny town for roughly a half an hour for reasons unknown to me (I don’t even try to ask questions anymore when things go wrong or take an unexpectedly long time – I just resign myself to waiting). Inevitably, a crowd of children gathered round to stare at the slightly annoyed mzungu sitting in the front seat with the window down. When children stare and yell at me, I can generally handle it, because they’re young and usually cute and probably don’t know that what they’re doing could be construed as rude. However, suddenly an young man appeared next to the car, shaking my hand and saying “Hello, mzungu!” I politely shook his hand and said hi, but to be honest, I am immediately turned off by anyone who calls me mzungu to my face, so I turned away and hoped he wouldn’t want anything else.Then he started speaking Luganda and I had no idea what he was saying. A man in the backseat told me that this man outside the car wanted my phone number. I lied and told him that I didn’t know my phone number, but why would he want it? So we can talk on the phone, the man translated.

This is what gets under my skin: that an adult (usually it’s only men that do this) refers to me as if my name is “mzungu” and asks for my number, solely because I am white. Yes, I understand that I am a complete anomaly in rural Uganda, and of course I’m going to attract attention. And I’m not naïve enough to think that people will get so used to me that they’ll stop hollering at me. I can deal with being treated like a Nordic freak here. But the fact that this man was bold enough to walk up to me, address me as “mzungu” and immediately expect me to give him my phone number is absurd. He didn’t even speak English – how exactly would our phone conversations work? I felt like a zoo animal. Also, I think it’s rude when adults call me “mzungu.” When children do it, I can let it slide… but adults should really know better. Maybe some people chalk this up to a cultural difference or misunderstanding, but I still think that adults can and should understand that it’s rude to yell at someone and call them “White Person” to their face. And in my opinion, it’s far-fetched for them to expect that I’m going to respond graciously and willingly give out my phone number.

Not all Ugandans are like this. Plenty of adults and children are completely respectful and polite, and greet me as if I am a person, rather than a skin color. And in this situation, I wasn’t fearful for my safety or anything like that. I’m sure this man just wanted to go back to his friends and boast that he got a mzungu’s phone number. But it still irked me. I wish it didn’t, but it did.

january update

Last week, I spent a day at the F/CBO offices in Sembabule (SACS and SEDAWOD) updating their Excel files to match our revised M&E tools. The tools, which are the forms that the community caregivers use to track service delivery and client registration, are finally finished, after having been in the revision process for several months. Now that there are some changes to the forms, the Excel files have to be updated as well, to reflect the changes and to ensure that the F/CBOs capture all the client information recorded by the CCGs. So, I updated the Excel files and walked the F/CBO staff through the changes. The M&E process has been challenging, as I think I’ve mentioned before, with some of the F/CBOs doing better than others. The whole notion of filling out forms thoroughly and recording them in an electronic database is foreign and not always well accepted here, but there is really no other way to record service delivery. The whole point of PPLP (Partnering for Positive Livelihoods Program) is to provide services to people living with HIV/AIDS (PHAs) and to orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs). These services need to be recorded, both for accountability and for reporting purposes. Of course, our goal is to build the capacity of the F/CBOs so that, in the future, they can apply for funding and carry out a program like this on their own, without our help. Therefore, M&E training is crucial to building the capacity of these small organizations, so that they will eventually be able to not only fill out forms and databases correctly, but so that they understand the importance of the record-keeping process. Any institution that grants funding to an organization wants to see that their money is being efficiently used to have a positive effect on the community, and this can only be achieved through monitoring and evaluation of programs.

On Friday, we went into the field, to two different communities, to measure registered OVCs for school uniforms. We are distributing school uniforms and scholastic materials to OVCs in the community, so we had to take measurements, find out which school each OVC goes to, and what the colors of their uniforms are. In the first community we went to, there was a small girl sitting nearby, eating a mango, who I took to be three years old at most. When her name was called and she went to be measured for a school uniform, and I discovered that she was in fact eight years old, my heart caught in my throat. Her stature had been severely stunted by malnutrition. There were other children who were obviously sick and malnourished, but she was by far the most dramatic case. It was heartbreaking to observe, but it also reminded us how important it is to go to the field and actually talk to the clients we are serving, as it helps us directly see the issues that need to be addressed in the community.

This Thursday and Friday, the Sembabule staff is traveling to Mubende for a regional meeting. I haven’t been to Mubende in a few months, so it’ll be nice to see everyone. From Mubende, I plan to go to Kampala this weekend, since Mubende is closer to Kampala than Sembabule is, so transportation costs less and takes less time – can’t really pass that opportunity up.

I’ve been captivated by news articles about the Arizona shooting of Gabrielle Giffords… it’s so shocking, with the potential for so many political ramifications. I hope Americans can keep their heads on straight and use this as a learning opportunity to reevaluate gun control laws and the increasingly inflammatory, intolerant language used in American politics. I’m also keeping my eye on the referendum taking place in Sudan this week… I can’t wait to see how it turns out, and I hope the process is carried out in peace. Did you know that Sudan is the size of the US east of the Mississippi River?!