The cat fell in the toilet

Now, this might seem like an amusing but relatively harmful anecdote if it happened in America – the cat fell into the toilet, meowed pitifully, then was rescued and returned to the comforts of home. Well, in Uganda this story goes a little differently…

Here, the “toilet” is a 10-foot deep pit latrine. And yes, one of the cats that live on our compound/farm fell in one night. The next day as I was squatting to do my business I heard the pitiful wail of a cat. I assumed the cat was outside the latrine door or maybe behind the building, but I noticed that its wails turned rather indignant when I relieved myself. Surely, I thought, the cat COULDN’T have fallen in the latrine! I got my flashlight and tried to find the cat down below. My Ugandan neighbors noticed me peering inside the latrine and laughed hysterically. It turns out they had already discovered that the cat was indeed inside the latrine and had tried, but failed, to rescue him. All I could discern about their rescue attempt was that they had lowered a rope into the latrine and the cat “refused” to grab on. My thoughts on this: he’s a cat! Do you really expect him to grab on to a rope for the 10-foot ascent!? So I executed a second cat rescue attempt.

My first idea was to lower a bucket into the latrine, but the bucket was too big to fit down the hole. My second idea was to tie a loop in the rope, grab a hold of the cat’s leg, and pull him up, but it turns out that you can’t really distinguish between different cat body parts from 10 feet up. My third idea was to lower a plastic bag into the hole and hope that the cat got inside – so we jimmy rigged a bag into a bowl-shape, used sticks to keep the shape intact, and added some leftover rice to attract the cat’s attention. Well, the cat “refused” to get inside, so my neighbors told me we must “just forgot about him and pray.”

Now, this story wouldn’t be nearly as tragic if the cat had died upon impact or within the first few hours or even days, but instead the cat is slowly perishing in a 10-foot deep toilet that several people still use on a daily basis…what a way to go. A colleague told me she once had a chicken fall into the pit latrine and survive for three months! Only time will tell how long a cat can survive in a pit latrine – hopefully it’s less that three months. RIP mukwano gwange (my friend).

Isuka Omwaka!

Happy New Year from Uganda!

I rang in this New Year from the shores of the Nile in Jinja. I met up with some other volunteers, and we celebrated in town and along the river. We visited the source of the Nile, enjoyed delicious food, watched fireworks from a rooftop, and relaxed on a beautiful beach island on the Nile. In summary, it was a pretty fabulous holiday! I think pictures can communicate the experience much better than I can: 

At the source of the Nile River

At the Nile

We took these boats to reach a beautiful island on the Nile

Our over-filled boat

The Ugandans carried us weak-mzungus off the boats

View from the beach on the island

Sunrise over the Nile

Our fabulous new years group!

Funny asides:

I recently bought a few mugs in the market in town. It took me a while to find ones that I liked and that weren’t the same three mug designs found all over the country. I happily went home, glad that I had found some pretty, unique mugs, only to discover that I had just purchased Starbucks mugs, circa 2008. There may not be an actually Starbucks in Uganda, but its influence seems to permeate everywhere!

I was eating dinner outside one evening when a lizard jumped on my chest and tried to crawl down my shirt. Needless to say, this was unexpected, and I spent several seconds frantically expelling the lizard from my shirt. Out of a table of six people, only one noticed this exchange at all. Either my encounter was not as frantic as I imagined, or my friends are really unobservant…

ttfn - ta ta for now!

Christmas in Uganda

My friend Lisa and I spent Christmas in her village (about 15 minutes away from my village). We had a great time cooking great food and “enjoying life” as the Ugandans say. Our menu included French toast, pancakes, creamy potato soap, grilled cheese, sesame noodles, paneer curry, and homemade chapatti. For dessert we (tried) to make no-bake oatmeal peanut butter cookies (from the Peace Corps cook book) and rum balls (a traditional family favorite of my mine). While neither of them turned out quite as expected and therefore had to be renamed as crumble 1 and crumble 2, they were delicious and a big hit with the Ugandan neighbors.

Lisa with our homemade paneer

Making Chapatti

We also enjoyed Christmas lunch with my supervisor, Maria, and her children at her home. As soon as we arrived, my supervisor asked us if we could make a cake. She had tried the day before to bake her first cake and it didn’t turn out great….or even good. So Lisa and I made a delicious cake using her fabulous gas oven/stove combo (oh how I wish I had one of those) to enjoy after our Christmas lunch.

Maria, me and Lisa making cake

Christmas Lunch

Maria cutting the cake

All the kids!

Christmas afternoon we went back to the village and enjoyed some traditional Busoga music and dance, where, of course, the two mzungus had to demonstrate our (not-so-good) Busoga dancing skills! Lisa has decided to take lessons J

Enjoying Christmas and the mzungus

Our Ugandan Christmas card picture - this backdrop was set up at the trading center

Enjoying local brew

Ugandan dance party!

Some other things I’ve discovered about Uganda in the past month or so:

It’s important to keep my door closed at all times. ALL TIMES. I found a chicken lounging on my neighbor’s bed on more than one occasion, and when I asked her about she simply said “he likes to lay his eggs there.”

I love the stars. With no electricity around and no buildings taller than one story, the stars create a blanket around my house every night: my very own planetarium.

I seem to discover new types of ants every day. Lisa and I discovered 2 new types over the Christmas weekend alone. That’s when I discovered that Peace Corps tried to prepare us for this via an entry in my Lusoga phrasebook:  

Stink ant?! I haven't seen that one yet...

You can get any piece of furniture you want made in my small town. You just give the carpenter the dimensions of what you want, pay a boda boda driver to deliver the finished product to your house, and in a few days you can enjoy your custom furnished house! I'll post the house pictures once it's fully outfitted. 

ttfn – ta ta for now!

TIA - This is Africa

Some things I’ve learned in Uganda:

In America, we often say “time is money,” but in Uganda, it’s more common to say “eh, there is always time!” I think I like the Ugandan philosophy better.

Carrying a 20L jerry can of water on your head is hard. Really hard. Carrying 10L is easier, but only slightly.

Children are a lot stronger than me, and therefore end up doing a whole lot more work than me. For example, if I don’t want to carry the 20L jerry can of water back from the bore hole (see above about it being really hard), a Ugandan woman will often yell “boy!” at the nearest child and commandeer his bicycle to take back our water. What if the child doesn’t have a bicycle? Well then, he will go fetch one.

Kerosene lamps can burn. Oww.

As the only white person in my town, I often get overcharged for everything. A Ugandan friend told me that I should say: “Eh seebo! You are putting me in an oversized shoe!” when this happens.

My current favorite Uganda song goes likes this: O baby, oli vitamin. Omusuja gunuma. Oli chloroquine. Which translates to: O baby, you are my vitamin. I am suffering from malaria. You are my chloroquine.

ttfn - ta ta for now! :) 

Officially a PCV!

So I know this update is super long overdue, but keeping a blog has become increasingly more difficult without electricity!

A lot has happened since I’ve last written, so I’ll try to summarize the past month or so as best I can.

Our last week in Wakiso concluded with a party thanking all of our homestay families for hosting us these past two months. As part of the festivities, each language group presented some form of entertainment that demonstrated what they had learned about Uganda during training and also shared something about America for the Ugandans present. Some of the Ugandan entertainment included traditional songs and dance. For the American component, groups performed things like the chicken dance, the YMCA dance, and taught the group how to make rice crispy treats. My language group tried (not so-successfully) to sing the Busoga anthem and then sang (more successfully) the 50 state song. In addition, I was asked about 5 minutes before the program started to lead the group in the national anthem, since somehow word got around that I enjoyed singing…sheesh

After leaving Wakiso, we all gathered at the Peace Corps office in Kampala to get the official tour and get some books from the library (yay!) Then we went to a hotel outside of the city where we spent our final week of training, which consisted mostly of workshops introducing us and our supervisors/counterparts to expectations for the next two years.

The week ended with the official swearing in ceremony at the ambassador’s home where we officially became Peace Corps Volunteers. The ceremony included fabulous speeches by two volunteers (both from my fabulous language group!), the country director, and the ambassador. I had also found out the previous day that traditionally, the volunteer who sings the national anthem for the homestay thank you also sings at the swearing in….not sure how I got roped into all that hehe.

All the new PCVs

The above mentioned fabulous Lusoga language group!

We were told that we were indeed a unique training class (something we already knew!) because all 45 of us made it through training and became volunteers – usually a few trainees go home during training for various reasons. I have high hopes of seeing the entire group still here at in service training in 3 months!

The next day, all of us new volunteers departed for our sites…well, except for me. There was a snag with the paperwork and housing with my organization and Peace Corps, so I instead traveled to another volunteer’s site. Thankfully, she is an AWESOME person and friend (from, of course, my awesome language group), so we had a fabulous week and half together, where I helped her settle into her new home.

Finally, I did arrive at my site only about a week and half late, and now I’m settling into my home for the next two years.

My new house!

So far, my house has a bed, a tall cooking table, and 4 chairs. Other than that, I’m attending some meetings with the district health office staff, such as planning meetings for upcoming mass polio immunization campaigns, observing the immunization and HIV clinics at the health center, getting to know the town, and adjusting to life without electricity (I go to bed very early and read lots of books…)

I’ll try and update again when I can.

ttfn – ta ta for now! 

So remember that flexibility thing….

Last week we all went to visit our future sites (with the exception of two of our trainees who had their site fall through at the last moment – actually about 12 hours before they were to leave), and here is the updated information about my future site:

• I will indeed be working at the District Health Office in Mayuge, but I am actually working for an organization called URC  (University Research Company). Here is a brief overview of URC (from their website):

University Research Co., LLC is a professional services firm dedicated to helping clients use scientific methods and research findings to improve program management and outcomes and achieve organizational and behavioral change. For over 40 years, URC has helped government and private sector clients design, operate, and evaluate programs that address health, social, and educational needs.

With its non-profit affiliate, the Center for Human Services, URC works in the United States and abroad on projects that span five core practice areas: Communications & Outreach, Education & Training, Health & Population, Quality Management, and Research & Evaluation. CHS and URC share the same capabilities, staff, and facilities and provide the flexibility to work under for-profit or non-profit contracting arrangements.

• I will be working specifically on the Health Care Improvement Project. Here is another internet blurb about HCI:

The USAID Health Care Improvement Project builds on URC’s technical leadership of USAID’s global efforts to improve health care quality since 1990 through the Quality Assurance Project (QAP) I, II, and III. The five-year project, which was awarded on September 24, 2007, supports the USAID Global Health Bureau and country missions to address significant challenges in raising the quality of health care in developing and middle income countries. The contract’s task order mechanism allows USAID country missions and other U.S. Government agencies to issue separate task orders within the HCI mandate. The first task order, effective September 28, 2007, covers three years and the transition of field and centrally funded work from QAP.

The goal of the HCI Project is to improve quality and outcomes of health care in developing countries by adapting and applying modern methods of quality improvement (QI). The project is guided by a vision that health care quality can be significantly improved by applying proven QI approaches to curative, preventive, and chronic care.

Priority areas for HCI are scaling up evidence-based interventions and improving outcomes in child health, maternal and newborn care, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and reproductive health. Other significant goals include expanding coverage with essential services; making services better meet the needs of underserved populations, especially women; improving efficiency and reducing the costs of poor quality; and improving health worker capacity, motivation, and retention. 

·      Document interventions implemented to improve the quality of health care, how quality is measured, and the impact of the interventions

·      Institutionalize modern quality improvement approaches as an integral part of health care in USAID-assisted countries

·      Expand the evidence base for the application of QI to human resources (HR) planning and management

·      Expand experience with the improvement collaborative approach in USAID-assisted countries

·      Expand experience with the spread collaborative approach in USAID-assisted countries

·      Expand the experience base for other specific QI approaches

·      Improve the cost-effectiveness of QI in USAID-assisted countries

·      Provide global technical leadership for QI in USAID-assisted countries

• More specifically, I will be working on a pilot project in my district on palliative care in health facilities, focusing on patients with HIV

• Lastly, I actually do not have electricity or a water tap; therefore, once I move to site, blog posts are likely to be even fewer and farther between – my apologies! However, I have an adorable blue roof on my house. Pictures (hopefully) to come relatively soon. 

In other news, since I recently celebrated my 23^rd birthday, I would like to reflect on the differences between this birthday and my previous one:

The day I turned 22:

• I was a graduate student in Baltimore
• I had 7 AMAZING roommates
• I woke up to find a wall of balloons barricading me into my room, followed by a breakfast of pancakes and cookies, courtesy of the above mentioned amazing roommates
• The amazing roommates also made me a delicious meal of fajitas followed by chocolate cake and gifts
• The festivities ended with an evening at the symphony with, you guessed it, the amazing roommates J

The day I turned 23:

• I was a Peace Corps Trainee in Uganda
• I was spending my first night alone in my soon-to-be home: Mayuge
• I attended a Village Health Team (VHT) training in one of the villages outside of town
• I greeted several groups of Ugandans in Lusoga, and all of them were extremely amused that I could do such a thing
• I ate lunch huddled in a hut during a monsoon-type rain
• On my way back to Wakiso, I treated myself to a delicious meal of Indian food followed by a coffee milkshake

In conclusion: my life has changed a bit in the past year J

This week marks our last week in Wakiso, and we’re all surprised that it has come so soon. For the past several weeks we’ve all been eagerly counting down the days until training ends, but as the end approaches, a lot of us are filled with some anxiety about the transition to come as well as sadness at leaving our 44 new muzungu friends. The next two years are finally about to begin: scary/exciting!!!

I’d like to leave you today with an amusing tidbit: one my favorite sites in my village is the ice cream man. Yes indeed, the ice cream man. He rides a boda boda (motorcycle) with a cooler strapped to the back, and he plays music (usually of the Christmas variety) while driving down the street. It makes me smile every time I see it. J

ttfn – ta ta for now!

Oh Happy Day

Today there was a collective rise in the morale of the training class – a general sense of excitement and joy. Today was the day we’ve been waiting for since we arrived in Uganda. Today we got our site announcements.

Now, some of you might be thinking “so what? – you’re already there.” Even though we’ve been in Uganda for about two months now, we’ve had pretty much no idea where we’ll be living or what work we’ll be doing for the next two years. Today we were finally able to start putting together a picture of what our new lives will look like.

Having said that, there’s still a LOT of information that’s unknown, and we’ve all been warned that placements often fall through at the last minute. The main requirement for Peace Corps service = flexibility.

Here’s what I know so far:

-       I’m working for the District Health Office in Mayuge (in the southeast of the country, close to Lake Victoria), whose goal is to improve delivery and access of health services to its population

-       The health office supports 183 facilities and 39 District Health Teams

-       I will live about 2 km from the nearest town and post office

-       I will have electricity and a water tap at my home

This may not seem like a lot of information, but I’m super excited to start getting information on what the next two years will look like, and I’m even more excited about the organization I’ll be working for. Next week we get to visit our future sites where we can meet our colleagues and get to see our new home. Yay J

In other news:

This week we had a talent show, which showcased the fabulous skills of the trainees and trainers. Some of the acts included a skit of a “Ugandan” Hidden Passions (a soap opera that many families here watch on a daily basis), an African fashion show (including my male language trainer modeling a lovely dress), and lots of dancing (both American and Ugandan). I think training should include a talent show at least once a week.

Today after site announcements we went on a field trip to Zika forest and the botanical gardens. We all had a nice relaxing afternoon enjoying the beautiful wildlife. A great ending to a great day.

Hopefully next time I post I’ll have more details about my site.

ttfn – ta ta for now J