Just Peachy in Uganda

Posted 7/20/2013

Disclaimer: The views expressed on this website are entirely my own and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

 4/28/13: Today was the first meeting for the HIV/AIDS education to the orphan and albino families. We had 31 people attend, all over 15, with 15 signing consent forms for 28 children to be tested. They even had 2 radio stations there to promote the organization and their program. I took 3 students with me to help teach in the local language which was good because we were there from 11 to 5 and if they had to translate for me it would have taken much longer. It was a very productive program with most of them doing well on the post test and many of them commenting that they learned a lot. Many myths were dispelled. They had lots of questions such as how a woman who is not HIV positive can stay free of the disease when her husband is positive.

5/6/13: You know we try to schedule and plan but things just don’t happen that way here. About 10 days ago we scheduled with the HIV clinic at the hospital to bring the orphans/albinos today for testing. However, only the primary nurse remembered we were coming, but she didn't arrive until after 9 and she had forgotten to plan. We waited about 2 ½ hours for them to be able to tell us that they did not have any testing kits and would not be able to test the children. During this time, I am running back and forth to the wards to check on students, while talking to the lab about testing kits and working with staff at the clinic. Richard was in the field picking up students and his car got stuck in the mud because of serious rain last night. Benjamin had rented a boda to pick another family to try to save time. It was a bit crazy. One of our major problems was financing. We had already transported children and needed to get the testing done free. Most of the clinics charge for testing and the hospital was the only one we knew of that was free. Thankfully one of the staff members knew of a clinic that had just started free HIV testing and needed to get participants to build the program. Well, they agreed to test all 28 children. So, the project that we thought might take 4-5 hours ended up taking 8. That’s Africa for you! We didn’t plan for lunch, but were able to buy juice and a small cake (like a muffin) for the kids. Suffice it to say it was a productive tiring day. Oh, you want results? Well, we tested about 21 orphans and 7 albinos between the ages of 2 and 17. All children were negative!!!

Even more successful than the testing, was the nutritional education. Here are a couple of comments from community members: “Me, I used to think that if a certain type of food is important in the body, for some people it's dodo (greens), I will eat just that food in large quantities. So, I could not know that I need to take small quantities of each type of food because each food has different purposes in the body.” “Some other people used to think that people that are malnourished are bewitched. But I discovered that poor nutrition is the root cause of that.” “Here you may even find a kid of 2 months being fed on soda. When you explained that soda is not good for them they doubted that. When we were discussing this, some people came to believe that soda was not so good for them.”

6/1/13: Today I joined some others on a visit to the salt flats. Salt gathering is a very long process. They first scrape the dirt into mounds, then a week later after they dry out, they spread them again. They do this weekly, I don’t know how long. Then after the last spread, they gather the dirt and put it in a large pot that has holes in the bottom (like a colander). This pot sits on another pot and they pour water over the dirt and let it drip through the holes. Now, we are talking about really coarse salt and it doesn't go through the holes. They fill the pot with water every day and let it drip until all the dirt is gone with only coarse salt in the bottom. Then they boil it. They pour the salt out when done and then add more salt on top until they have this upside down cone shaped (like a pyramid) large block of salt, about a foot high. Then the ladies wrap it and take it to market which happens to be up a huge hill and probably about 10 miles away.

7/13/13: I was able to spend a week in Bwindi which is at the southwest tip of Uganda next to the “Impenetrable Forest”, a national tropical forest where Gorilla trekking is a popular tourist site. There is also a group of pygmy natives called the Batwa who were forced from their homes when the National Forest was established (kind of like the Native Americans). Some of them have been allowed to return to provide cultural experiences for the tourists and another Peace Corps volunteer helps with income generating and sustainability for them.You can see them if you go to http://www.batwaexperience.com/ We had a great time. I think the area is one of the most beautiful here. We were lucky enough to see the gorillas without having to do the trekking.

7/20/13: I spoke with a visitor to the school today who was working to improve capacity of nursing students, midwives, and pharmacy techs. He gave me some interesting data...

Certificate nurses (our program) starting salary around 300,000/mo or $115. (Just for comparison, my living allowance from PC is higher.) Diploma nurses starting salary around 400,000/mo or $154. Certificate and diploma nurses are most often in hospital wards, whereas bachelors nurses are usually administrators in hospitals or government. Wards in the government hospital that I go to are often staffed with only 1 or 2 nurses for 16-32 beds. That is why they are so dependent on the school students. They do everything; they don’t have IV techs, nurse’s aides, lab techs (except to run the lab specimens), or computers. So when you think your work is hard……

1 year gone, 1 year to go: “I think the biggest thing I have learned so far is that deep within me is a strength that I did not realize I possess. People at home keep telling me how proud they are of me. They tell me that I am doing so much, that I am so strong, yet I haven’t really seen it in myself. I have come to realize that with God’s help, I can conquer anything. I never would have seen myself moving to a place where I know no one, a place where I would be unable to physically touch those I love; living without power, smashing 2 inch cockroaches, or washing clothes by hand. But I think God took the focus off of me and what I could or could not do and put it on Him and what He wanted me to do. I have to say that my strength lies in my faith that God will guide my steps and without Him, I never would have made it this far.”