Random photos

Right now I am unable to post photos on my picasa site because it takes too long to upload them. Therefore, I thought I'd put a few random ones on here to hold you over.

1. the shower curtain I made out of bags and duct tape, a sharpie (well I had to make it pretty), rope and a perfectly sized broken broom handle

2. Apollo trying to teach me to cook on a small charcoal stove

3. the children's ward at the Iganga district hospital

Quote of the day courtesy of Apollo

"Why do you park your heart where it is going to get smashed?"

A nice day

June 12, 2009

It has been a nice day. I’m sure some of you are breathing a sigh of relief as you read that statement as you’ve been a little bit worried about me over here, sensing my frustration and stress thus far.

It started out like every other day here really. I woke up really early to try to get some alone time since that generally isn’t possible when you live in a tiny room with 5 other people located on the other side of the wall of the UVP office, which is somehow always full of random people coming and going, starting at about 6:30am. I tried to do some work this morning but because it is so busy and loud here, that is really tough to do. A small group of people were heading to Jinja to chill out, so last minute, early afternoon at this point, I decided to jump in a matatu with them, bring my computer and go to an internet café for lunch and work. I split off from the rest of the group and ended up at a fabulous place called Flavours with free wifi and met up with Kristen (formerly employed by UVP here in Uganda and about to head home from grad school) and her friend Annie (also about to head back to the States but has been in Jinja a couple of years working for Soft Power Health).

It is important to note at this point that Flavours has a fantastic tuna melt and fries, just in case you ever end up in Jinja.

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FYI regarding Jinja (which is about 45 minutes in a matatu from here): (from Wikipedia)

Jinja is a city in eastern Uganda, Africa. It is the second busiest commercial center in the country, after Kampala, the capital and largest city. Jinja was established in 1907. Jinja lies in the south east of Uganda, 54 miles (87 km) north east of the capital, Kampala. It is located on the shores of Lake Victoria, near to the source of the White Nile river. The city is the chief town of Jinja District, and is considered the capital of the Kingdom of Busoga.[1] Local attractions include white-water rafting, the "Source of the Nile", and a large brewery. 5 miles (8.0 km) north of Jinja is the site where the Bujagali Power Station is under construction, as of May 2009. When completed in 2011, the hydroelectric facility will provide 250 MW of electric power. There is a private Sailing Club on the shores of Lake Victoria. There is an animal sanctuary at Buwenge, 30 kilometres (19 mi) north of Jinja on the highway to Kamuli. The 9 hole (18 tee) golf course was originally laid out in the mid 1920's; and famously had a local rule allowing a free drop of the ball if it came to rest in a hippo's hoof print. The course has tremendous views of the Nile and Lake Victoria and the second green is within a 'lob wedge' of the source of the Nile. Some of Mahatma Gandhi's ashes were scattered into the source of the White Nile. There is a small memorial garden at the spot. There is an active Hindu temple near Jinja, which has a bronze bust of Gandhi. There is also a Buddhist temple. About 25 kilometres (16 mi) south, in Lake Victoria, is Buvuma Island whose forests sometimes attract intrepid bird-watchers.

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Once I had been in Flavours for a little while, trying to work and chatting with Kristen and Annie, they left and two more girls walked in and sat down to have a meeting at the table I was sitting. Normally, I would probably have been a little annoyed because I was trying to get some things done for our eCare project and they chose to settle right next to me to debrief but I sensed something different about these two and actually wanted them there. At one point, one of the girls stood up and walked out for a bit and the other turned to me and asked with a friendly smile, “Have you been here long?” A rather long conversation ensued as we each shared out stories and eventually the second girl returned and joined in. It turned out that they work with YWAM and are team leaders for a group of 8 people that have been in Uganda for nearly two months. They are leaving in a week. I shared with them some of my frustrations being here so far, mostly talking through the ones centered around my faith. In that arena, it has been difficult since I arrived. I am well aware that I keep trying to do things in my own strength. I’ve found it difficult to pray and sit and listen and be still and even harder still to find anyone to encourage me in that regard. I feel spiritually dead and dull. As I shared this with the girls, they nodded and smiled with understanding. Despite the fact that they have been here surrounded by other Christians and working with a Christian organization, they too have really experienced this heaviness. Oddly enough, I found this incredibly comforting. I have been so frustrated with myself, feeling so inwardly focused, selfish, drained, hardened and almost angry with God at the same time. It is slightly difficult to put it into words but I feel like I have to fight for joy but have no energy to fight; most of the time I don’t even want to. I simply succumb to my depressed emotions. And I think when you feel so empty, it is so hard to focus on anything but yourself. There is nothing left to give to anyone else. I’ll term this “miserable survival mode.” I think that about sums it up.

To make this already long story a little shorter, they offered to pray with me there and the burden that lifted as they spoke was powerful. In that moment, I realized that there is a battle going on here and I DO have to fight. Thankfully thought, I’m not alone.

(from Gina) Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

(from Alex) Isaiah 41:9-10 “…you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, ‘You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off’; fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

Back safely in Iganga...

June 11, 2009

... and thank you for your prayers regarding public transportation. :)

Job 37:14 "Hear this O Job; stop and consider the wondrous works of God."

A couple of days ago Karly and I braved the matatus and bodas to pick up two more of our ECare team members from the airport in Entebbe. I'm still amazed that we successfully made it to the right place AND back to Iganga without any major happenings. The first segment of our trip, the matatu ride to Jinja, wasn't bad, minus the fact that we ended up sitting in a hot bus in the Jinja taxipark for about an hour while we waited for it to fill. (As a side note, if the name Jinja sounds familiar it is because it is a big touristy area due to the amazing rafting on the Nile that is there. A big group of us volunteers are going to go in a couple of weekends from now.)

As you travel, and this is similar to other developing countries that I’ve visited, it is always amusing when you discover that the passengers are not only people but animals (like chickens) stuffed under the seats. A couple of days ago, I didn’t notice the company until the bird was being passed through the window and thus started squawking and flapping its wings. It was funny.

Anyway, Karly and I arrived somewhere in Kampala sometime in the afternoon and hadn’t a clue where the Garden City mall, our lunch destination, was in relation to us. We wandered for awhile, trying not to be hit, then decided to ask someone for help and eventually got on some boda bodas which took us to the mall where we had some fabulous Lebanese food (yes I’m talking about food again) and enjoyed a real cup of coffee. After that, we bodaboda-ed (no, not a real word) it to the old taxi park to make our way to Entebbe. Actually, we stayed on the motorcycle boda until we were too scared to do it any longer then told him to stop and walked the rest of the way. After wandering again, throughout the entire taxi park, we managed to find the one going to Entebbe and finally arrived at the backpackers hostel; the other girls eventually got there and the next day, which was yesterday, we took a very not exciting private hire back to Iganga. (Dad, I figured you might like that better.)

I met with Dr. Waiswa briefly again yesterday and am so impressed with his willingness to help. He told me that he senses my passion for doing work in countries like Uganda and wants to provide support and direction. The relationship I’m building with him is promising. He took me to a meeting he arranged at the hospital for the midwives, the purpose of which was to determine their perceived needs for the maternity ward. This is something that we also planned to do with our project as well but since the Saving Newborn Lives study is already tackling this area of assessment and intervention, we are trying to determine where to shift our focus. It will probably be that we end up doing work in the health centers located in villages outside of the SNL survey site instead of the district hospital.

Look at it this way: at least the work is being done. :)

thanks Amanda!

Something I'm trying to cling to...

Jeremiah 1:5-19

"'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.' Then I said, 'Ah, Lord God, behold I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.' But the Lord said to me, 'Do not say, 'I am only a youth'; for to all to whom I sent you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you,' declares the Lord. Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me, 'Behold I have put my words in your mouth. See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant... dress yourself for work, arise, and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them lest I dismay you before them. And I behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials its priests and the people of the land. They will fight against you but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you,' declares the Lord,' to deliver you."

trying to persevere

June 9, 2009

Because I never know when I will have access to internet, as there is only one device that can plug into one computer at a time and there are a lot of people staying at the UVP office who need to use it, I am going to type my blog entries in notepad and then post them when I get a chance. This means three things: (1.) hopefully this means I will be able to write more about my experiences here, (2.) Notepad doesn't have spellcheck and I'm a terrible speller so these posts have the potential to be riddled with spelling errors and (3.) the date I post the entries will most likely not be the date that I write them.

This morning I woke up around 5:30am with my mind full of different stresses and couldn't fall back asleep so I decided to start writing. Maybe it will help me figure out why. I actually tossed and turned all night so I'm pretty much exhausted. For many reasons, this developing country experience has been drastically different from any other that I've had. Usually, because of the lack of technology and slower pace of life, I'm typically much more relaxed in this type of setting. For a plethora of reasons I'm sure, I have been really stressed out since I arrived in Uganda. I really appreciate all of the encouraging e-mails and prayers and scripture that people have sent. I hope this gets better soon, or it will be a very long two months.

Yesterday we had a meeting with Dr. Waiswa, a professor at Makerere University, who is doing a project with Save the Children, Saving Newborn Lives, in the Iganga/Mayuge demographic surveillance site, which includes the district we're working in. This meeting was essential as it turns out the capacity and knowledge assessments that we were planning to do at the Iganga district hospital and outlying health centers have essentially already been completed by those performing this study, something that we had suspected.

The study period for Dr. Waiswa's project is 2007-2010 and the overall objective is to improve "newborn health and survival in Uganda through community based intervention linked to health facilities." Utilizing community health workers, they're in the process of creating trainings within the villages to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality. He gave us information regarding the SNL project including the key findings from the formative research in areas such as antenatal care, maternal and newborn danger signs and complications, birth preparedness, skilled attendance at delivery and postnatal care. The fact that we have this information already, interventions are already being implemented and another project with similar objectives to ours called Safe Mothers, Safe Babies will commence in July, we must decide where to go from here. Fortunately, Dr. Waiswa is more than happy to share information regarding the findings of his formative research and able to identify gaps and potential intervention areas to target. Hopefully I will continue to be able to work with him and learn from the SNL program. Together, we're trying to identify other projects that have collected similar, useful data and determine if we can get that information from the organizations involved.

I have to head to Kampala to pick up two more members of my team so I will write more in a few days.

Life and death

Friday morning I walked over to the Iganga district hospital with Medi (our Ugandan friend and translator for this project) and Karly to meet with the hospital administrator and take a tour of their facility. As we were crossing the street, we heard a sickening thud and scream and looked back to see an older woman lying in the middle of the street with her bags strewn all around her. The motorcycle which had hit her was long gone. I let out a gasp and stood there stunned as Medi grabbed my arm and pulled me back off the road, out of the path of an oncoming van.

A man ran out into the street to help the woman and as far as I know, she was okay.

But that was not the case today.

Apollo, Mary, Karly and I had just finished eating lunch outside. We were chatting and enjoying the breeze when we heard another sickening thud, this time much louder than before. We all jumped up to see what had happened. A crowd had already begun to gather around the car which had hit someone trying to cross the street. We watched as he laid in the middle of the road convulsing and drawing his last breaths. Someone lifted him into his arms and jumped on the back of a motorcycle taxi to take him to the hospital but I am certain it was too late.

I stood there shocked, trying to process what had just happend. This is life here. And death. No one seems surprised, and that is the hardest part. It is very dangerous crossing the roads here, particularly this main street. Pedestrians are on the bottom rung. We DO NOT have the right of way. People drive way to fast and don't care who or what they run into. My immediate instinct was to rush over and try to help this person dying right in front of me but that would have potentially meant death for me as well.

In a span of three days, I've witnessed two people being hit or "knocked" as the Ugandans term it and this was right after Medi told me the story of a friend of his, whose burial he had just attended. This young man was hit by a matatu (or taxi van) which subsequently backed over him to make sure he was dead so as not to have trouble with the law later. Furthermore, many times when people are hit, not only will the driver flee, but that person will be left to die alone because if someone takes him or her to the hospital, the innocent, good samaritan will be accused of being the cause of the accident as someone must pay.

Hopefully my next post will be more uplifting. :(