Another Honeymoon

I should start this by saying……..another long hot day toiling in the African Sun bringing love and enlightenment. It was actually me who got the love and some language so scratch that. Truth is that today some of the words actually began to make a bit of sense……. Amaro Chai! I love Chai, for anyone who lived in India this is cheating but what the heck. 

Adam the driver and Steven my guide, guard, translator, teacher, etc. picked me up this morning after 8. Today was one of those magical, interesting, very fun days where you think you have really stepped into a place that you want to get to know better. We went to meet the local police and the guy is was so nice and friendly.  He even rushed off to pick a bag of oranges to give to me. He has been voted into his position since 2001 and was someone that I would definitely count on to keep things in order.  Our friendly conversation drifted into football (how is that possible?) and of course I have a way of leading any conversation into B R O N C O’s.  I actually think I could have a more interesting conversation if I go into Manchester WHO? United. They explained that in Uganda there are fights after the game, how well I understand, I won't even take a connecting flight through Seattle any longer unless the fare is very good. My personal goal is to find someone to watch SB 50 with me, when the Bronco’s kick butt. Just an overall great experience meeting the powers that be and walking about in a garden with some vegetables I had for lunch yesterday but it was delicious, something like rau mung and a cheap but delicious dark green veggie. Yeah!

We went to visit my humble abode where I will be spending the next year. It is embarrassing how nice it is. Very clean, large and safe, they were installing screens, a new lock, and I was imagining which of the four bedrooms to store my 3 suitcases full of “stuff.” One for the electronics’, one for skirts, one for this one for that. The house is lovely and the compound is large. The house was used in the past for 3 volunteers so I will have plenty of space for those of you planning a visit to Northern Uganda any time soon.  It has running water, a gas stove, and a lovely compound. That lovely compound also was pictured on a previous volunteers FB page with a Cobra or a Boa (she thought one, David our "guide" thought another) I’m not going to test the grass.  In all it looks quite comfortable and can be made a bit more homey. Previous volunteers left an abundance of kitchenware, including wine glasses. Got wine”

We headed out to the countryside. Steven is a man of short sentences but is delightfully friendly and full of surprises. He said that we were going to go to the country and I was of course prepared to experience a Saturday afternoon in a grass hut. Not so. We went to a place that had very fast Internet connection, and was clean, spacious, beautiful gardens,  cool breeze and has some rooms for rent that actually do have thatched roofs. Remind self: fresh air is just beyond the bend.  It turned out to be a very relaxing day at the Brownstone Country Home, about 7 miles from Lira.

We had lunch which appears that they ran into town to buy the ingredients for which has been my ongoing experience with meals that I have ordered. Sketchy refrigeration makes for fresh food if you find the right place. Very lovely. By chance? If anything is by chance in this place we ran into our country director for GHSP Bonny and said hello. 

Last night! Lest I forget. We had a remarkable dinner with University staff and I was able to have a great chat with the President of the University (could be the wrong title) who was a Fulbright scholar who lived in Chicago and Boston. We were having a wonderful conversation and enjoying our talk so much when at some point we were reminded that it was raining and it we should go inside. Speaking of Malaria……… which I am reluctant to do, I am sure that I was bitten about 20 times. Overall, a very good day. Bonny led some very good session earlier in the day with my Supervisor (the Dean) and Counter Part Agnes that I felt were some of my most productive in Uganda where he did his best to lay out his expectations for me as a GHSP volunteer and for the University as for the expectations for me.

The greatest stumbling block appears to be centered on when the University opens, when classes begin, and when the lectures and other staff members actually show up to start teaching. A perfectly illogical set of problems for some of us but very real here, My host family says that the time stretch between when the students arrive for classes and when the lectures actually are to be taught left me with the impression that there was a gap that was about ten days between what we hope for and what we get. We played a few interesting games which seemed a stretch culturealy but actually gave me some good insight into what they might be expecting from me.


I heard quite the music fest going on near my house and assumed it was a karaoke bar or some such thing, it actually is a "born again" church the family informs me. Sounds like they are having a very good time. 

There is no way on earth that I am going to be able to spell or grammar check, or at least not be able to keep up with my data use but this is the way it is August 1, 2015.  Bonny the country director assured me this is just the “honeymoon” period if so this is a marriage I can live with.  Amaro Lira 

The day.....where to begin?

University

Up and around by 6 and Steven was here at 8 to take me just as he stated. He was very happy today and seems to have found his energy. First we went to the University by car, this involved quite the trip to town, the university is about 10 km from here so took some doing to get to as there was a major and not usual flood in the area which had the entire road blocked off a bit. We arrived at the University, me ready to meet the staff and went to the room that I will call my office for this year. We did what? Oh we studied Lango of course. I would have had no way at all of knowing what we were going to do but as I learned back in Vinh with the Viet Nam vets, "All will reveal itself as it unfolds." Steven was fresh and ready to present me with some simple yet important words and phrases. This guy is a true professional. This is one of those "You Know Nothing Cherie Clark moments" as I was staring at his well made chart, his well planned out program as my mind calculated when I would be meeting the staff and what was going to happen the rest of the day. I realize I complain too much about language. My family is perfect, the town is perfect it is the Lango that exhausts me to think of, night or day I think this is because so many people speak English so well it makes it harder to want to kick in. Then I remind myself, this was my first full day in Lira.  Steven worked so hard and I can now remember how to say "thank you." Throughout the day today I frequently heard words being spoken and would brighten up whenever I recognized one. Big shout out to Steven for being so incredibly persistent and determined. I'm waiting for him to reach out and strangle me at some point.

Agnes, who will be my counterpart this year reached the University and gave me a wonderful tour of all of their planned project and the current class room. We then continued onward and met at least 20 of the nicest, kindest, funny, big hearted people you could encounter. Delightful people in all capacities. We toured the library, the proposed rooms of the hospital and the class rooms.  They are off to a wonderful start and it is exciting to be here in the 3rd year of operation of this University. I met so many people and from the first to the last they were so open I felt as though I had been here forever and I knew that I had come across an ocean and found people who I will remember all of the days of my life.

One of the gentleman told me of his experience in meeting with Vanessa Kerry and how overjoyed he was to meet the daughter of the Secretary of State, I assured him that I was impressed myself and had met her father back in 1992 or so in Viet Nam.

Lira

Agnes took me then way back to town and we had a tour of the hospital. I have very mixed emotions. It is poor but perhaps on the scale of what I saw when we returned to Viet Nam, not that poor, or what we saw in busy crowded Kolkata on a daily basis it looked relatively okay. But all is relative and there were young people who were very sick with Malaria and other preventable diseases that should not have taken hold to begin with. We had an interesting visit with many nurses. The previous nurses who have come before me certainly have found their way into the hearts and minds of these people as they spoke fondly of them and their contribution. In the neonatal unit we saw one baby who weighed 1kg. his mother had malaria and he was delivered prematurely as she is quite ill. His struggle looked incredibly familiar, another preemie was lying in his mothers arms as the only working incubator was already full. We walked past maternity as we were leaving and saw several women in active labor ......many with mothers and other people there to offer them support as they labored on the sidewalk outside of maternity ward in the hot sun.

Agnes asked me today if she can add Anatomy to the classes I will be teaching. Anatomy? I have a distant memory of some of it. I probably know enough to stay one day ahead of these bright young students but as for teaching it, we will be on an amazing journey. "Good Question!" I will frequently say, can anyone answer that?

It was quite the journey and as we were leaving we were able to meet with the head matron. I have no idea what all of the titles and names are but she obviously was "in charge" ...... when we reached the entire discussion with her and the pharmacy was over the fact that they had NO gloves ..... no gloves for tomorrow for all of the patients filling the wards! This seems like an incredibly large problem to tackle and she looks like a woman who can do it. How can that possibly be I wanted to ask. I have seen gloves hung up to be washed and dried years ago in Viet Nam and it effected me more than seeing the patients filled with the very sick people, the ones that are sick are very sick and many have exhausted all other methods before they arrived at the hospital for care.

One big boost for me is that Agnes was in Bangladesh in the past and lived there as a student for several years. That was so helpful as she had some baseline to judge my experiences in India. This poverty and this place is so very different and yet I find small similarities with the preventable diseases.

Steven then arranged that we go to the Palace which is the best Indian restaurant in town. He sat with the driver and they looked at the menu like. ... what is this stuff! I had a great conversation with the young woman who waited on me and had delicious Naan and Paneer. It was some of the best Indian food I have had in a very long time. She explained to Steven what dal is, brought the packet and of course he ran across and bought some. So for now I am set. I am content and overwhelmed at the same time. I wonder how this will all unfold and feel confident that I have something to offer while at the same time I met with numerous nurses and staff who looked as though they were managing things very well on their own. The NICU nurse was confident and knowledgable, she said her dream is to go back to school to earn her BSN.

What to say about the heat, it is here, all the time, surrounding me, sometimes feeling overwhelming (and it isn't the hot season). I wonder how I will manage it and at times I seem to be the only one who has noticed that it is overwhelmingly hot. Even sitting in the Dean's office, a delightful man named Tom's room I kept thinking.....has anyone noticed it is VERY hot in here but life just seems to go on without anyone taking too much notice of it. Hopefully I will adjust as the days go by. All and all, this was a what? A good day.

Young Idler, Old Begger 

Lira At Last

It is morning and I am huddled under my mosquito net and have my lantern on but thought I have to catch up on what happened yesterday or it would quickly fade into what will happen today. 

We left the training program in Kampala behind yesterday morning and traveled to our sites. I came along with three others who are going on to Gulu. The driver up here was interesting. It is a two lane highway that in most places was quite smooth with large vehicles. The driver was able to get up to some speeds that I am quite certain I have never traveled at in Viet Nam or India, we were moving.  Along the road side we saw the children walking to and from school and all were dressed in colorful uniforms. Less then half way here we ran into ‘road construction” which seems to be re-paving the road. Traffic is blocked for 15 minutes while they work and then left to flow from both sides. Mysteriously some traffic was able to pass on by.  These were government vehicles from as far as we could tell. There was not crowding around the vehicle or kids and people staring in at us as I might have expected. There were plenty of people carrying buckets with ice and water, and yes, even coke.

The vegetation is lush, very green with pine trees and fields of corn. We crossed over the Nile and the water was rushing across the rocks. It was quite beautiful.  It did almost seem as though we had past over that marker that divides North and South Uganda. Once we had passed we saw monkeys along the road which brought back memories of trips up to Mussoorie although there was no mountain. Still things are very green.  We made a right hand turn onto another major road and were hurdling forward to Lira. Peace Corps requires that we wear seat belts which seems like a pretty good idea. They are looking into how to buy personal ones for people to use on public transport. Can't imagine that happening but there is a definite need. There is none of the swaying and beeping that is so familiar, not a bunch of motorbikes out there but the speed could prove to be very dangerous to anyone who got in our pathway, or in the case of the little game of chicken that we played with a fast moving truck, if a driver had lost even a second of concentration. I have had so many thoughts of this place for so long that arriving was all that was on my mind. We stopped at a hotel to meet with the people who had come to receive me. As could have been predicted noting seemed to have gone “as planned” but after some time my counterpart at the hospital, Agnes, arrived. She came in the hospital ambulance along with the driver Jackson who I have been hearing so much about. My homestay “mother” and her son also arrived and I was brought to their home.  I've asked what her name is a number of times and am told, "she is your mother" .....okay! I greeted the man at the hotel who came to drink orders as I had been instructed with “Kope a nga” and he replied, “I’m from Kampala” ….with 40 languages at least and most likely 50 there will always be that problem.



Agnes from the hospital is younger than I had expected, she is much taller than I am and stately she seems easy to talk with and eager to get started tomorrow showing me around. Some of the students are currently in town working, I have no idea how that goes but I will see them  tomorrow she says.

Host Mom Felicia 

The University Driver, Jackson

This family has hosted another volunteer here last year, Mary who is also from Colorado and they had many memories to share about her and I felt immediately welcomed and accepted in their humble and clean home.  The floors are concrete and there is a bathroom which is always locked up and I seem to be the only one who is allowed to use it. It is quite simple but adequate and I will have a bucket bath for the next week while I stay here. I began to meet the family members and there was a Paul, Janet, Beth, Steven, Dan, Elvis, and Deo. We loved the fact that we I have a Daniel, Elizabeth and Steven as well. We sat outside and talked as though we had known each other for many years. The house parents lived in Australia for two years and studied there as teachers. They had stopped by in Mumbai on their way to Australia in the early 70’s so we had a great place to start, they were appalled by the poverty in India and saw the crowded cities as very different from their own. So far everyone I have encountered speaks good English.

The family confided their worse fears, how to feed a Vegetarian? I told them I would eat whatever they eat but only the vegetables, they promptly told me that they don’t really eat vegetables! Oh. As for fruit, I have been told that fruit is usually for children, not for adults but they were happy to rush someone out to get delicious avocado for me. In all they provided me with a great dinner. Beth, one of the daughters seemed to be in charge of most of the cooking and is sweet, shy, and easy to talk to. We sat outside by the charcoal stove as she cooked up the food. She boiled ome potatoes and along with the fruits it was some of the best food I have had since reaching. I tried to go to wash my hands prior to the meal but they told me that the bathroom was not acceptable and brought a towel and large bowl to the side of the table where I washed my hands, then Janet asked if she could wash my feet, which I promptly declined, even if they did need it. Mom and I ate alone and she seemed in pain over a boiled potato! Almost everything at the hotel was fried and I just wasn’t in the mood for that much fried food at one meal let alone three per day so a bunch of boiled veggies made me extremely happy. I also had not had a bite to eat since leaving Kampala in the morning where all I took was a slice of bread. Our lunch stop over never seemed to materialize.

My room has the obligatory mosquito net. There isn’t a fan so it was quite hot when I went to bed but I woke up in the middle of the night and it had continued to pound and I mean that sincerely, the roof is tin but the rain is very hard and it was quite a storm last night but nothing could have kept me awake. I had my best sleep since departing Colorado.

The Peace Corps have sent us up to our homestay with language instructors, mine, a man of about 30 named Steven is quite reserved. He looks as though he would rather be any place but here most of the time. I have learned a great deal from him about Lira, how the system of government is set up, how the language evolved and a bit about his life. I haven’t learned anything in actual language past How Are You but in part that is due to language lessons after the end of our long training days and probably a bit of my personality and Steven’s thrown in, the fact that he is teaching a class of one doesn’t make it much easier.  The language has a great deal of sounds in them that just more or less mean that you are paying attention. Steven had told me about this when we were in Kampala but it took some time with the family for these to become so familiar. Humm’s and Awww’s and that type of thing which are obligatory, yep, I hear you noises. I already had much of that in my vocab. I love the way the English flows and there is some particular linguistic twists that I am enjoying, like the way “what?” keeps coming up in almost every explanation. As in, In Uganda adults don’t eat What? We don’t eat fruit. In Uganda the women don’t wear What? We don’t wear trousers. It took me some hours not to stop answering What? Realizing that the speaker was going to fill in the blank. Great fun!

Steven will meet me this morning at 8 and take me to Agnes. If all goes as usual this means I will be ready to go at 8 and he will arrive at 9. We arrived at the outskirts of the town and stopped at the hotel and the family house is near to that so I haven't actually seen Lira yet.  It rained yesterday I am told so the unpaved roads were quite muddy . I am fine here and looking forward to going to the University today to meet with students and faculty. It is time to merge into skirts. If I have any hesitation or questions at all it is how to navigate the streets in skirts and sandals with all that mud. The day will tell.  I asked several people if I could possibly wear anything else and my host mom said, “but can you teach in those?” While looking at my comfortable what?  slacks. Humm maybe not.

Elvis the grandson who lives here in the home where I am staying, too cute!

This Isn't "anywhere" Else in the world!

We arrived in Kampala very late on Thursday after a long flight via Amsterdam and then transit through Rwanda. The hotel where we are staying is basic and comfortable and  clean. Yesterday we had only sporadic internet and were in classes all day until 5 pm. They again emphasized how important it is to protect ourselves from Malaria and showed a compelling video about a Peace Corps volunteer who had died of it, and another who was critically ill. So I am taking my meds despite the fact they make me feel a bit off.  After all of these years abroad I am taking anti-Malarial's for the first time but I am also in probably the most critical spot on the planet. There were recently about 160 new cases of Malaria in Lira so ....... I take the medication which in itself will not provide complete protection. This map of Malaria in Uganda gives an idea of the severity.

Today we went out to purchase sim cards, have a look around and go to the bus station. That was interesting as we were caught in a traffic jam for about an hour. It has taken on a dream like quality at this point. We are back at the hotel and then language class at 5 pm. Yesterday at 5 everyone was nodding off so should be interesting. I'm not counting on learning too much although I can now say Thank You, in at least one of Uganda's 40 active languages!










Some of the GHSP volunteers continued on for an extended tour and went to visit a Mosque and here they are! David was here with with the previous group and has been our guide throughout our time here in Kampala, he's the guy with the great big smile .....always.

Things I find most interesting: The fact that the weather is so much nicer here then DC, almost a chill in the air when there is a breeze. Very pleasant. The sun is very hot and those people sitting out there selling items on the road side seem to take it all in a days stride, much better than me I am sure!

Bus Station Kampala

Elections are coming. Great campaign photos out there that could be used quite nicely in the US. Things such as "respect the other guys opinion" more or less.


Youth, the young are everywhere! Uganda has the youngest population in the world with 77% of its population being under 30 years go age.

And we're off!

We departed the hotel at 11 with hundreds of pounds of luggage. Everyone pretty stressed about how much stuff they had. Robert, one of the other volunteers and I pooled together and bought a suitcase and checked it in together. Much stress about bags weighing over 50 pounds and then a long ride to the airport and we were all pretty quiet as well. Had a fairly long wait until the counter opened but I got a great check in agent and told him that one bag was lighter and others heavier and he said not to worry,..... they all weight 45 pounds. Victory for me! All that stress over a few pounds here or there. After checking in the bags we all met up in the bar to relax and recoup.

Nice flight over to Amsterdam on KLM and now we wait for boarding. We had a tearful goodbye to the rest of the group who are going to Tanzania and now we wait........ We have one stop over on the way, not sure which country and then.... Kampala. I have some fun pictures to go with this but don't have a sim card or any way of getting them from my phone. More as it unfolds and evolves. 

Graduation

And here we are. What an amazing group of people. As for me I am rushing about, trying to finish things up and trying to take care of last minute things. It seemed wonderful that the hotel has a washer and dryer however with some of the group departing at 2 am we just ran into a snag that one of the washers isn't working. I'm waiting in line and a bit stressed about overweight baggage which is how I have spent the past 35 plus years of my life it seems. The good old days was when you could carry 70 pounds on your international journey.

I am so blessed to have met these amazing people and to be part of this group.

Here is the Seed Global write up: 

2015 Global Health Service Partnership Graduation

On Tuesday July 21, 2015, twenty-seven (27) Global Health Service Partnership Volunteers (10 physicians and 17 nurses/NPs/CNMs) were celebrated in a ceremony to conclude their 10-day pre-service orientation at Peace Corps Headquarters in Washington, DC yesterday. These Volunteers will depart for Malawi, Uganda, and Tanzania on Thursday to serve one year physician and nurse educator assignments. Their work with the Global Health Service Partnership will improve clinical education, expand the base of physician and nursing educators, and build healthcare capacity in countries that face critical shortages of healthcare providers.

SImulation Lab George Washington University

As part of our orientation and site training we were taken to the Sim Lab at George Washington University. I have taken the liberty of clipping a few pictures here and there from their website in case someone is planning on joining this effort in the future and wants a glimpse into what our training is like. This was a very beneficial time where we could actually practice procedures that might not be part of our specialty, I delivered a "practice" baby and intubated a child. Great opportunity.

George Washington University 

Taken from the Simulation Lab pictures available online. The mannequins are quite realistic. I thought it was nice that they were well draped and treated with dignity as though they were a real person. You can deliver a baby, due a tubal ligation, start an IV and many other procedure that we will all find beneficial in the days to come and probably needed to practice on. 

Our final day of lectures today and we will be focused on Malaria!