Sep 2008

We went to Sipi Falls this weekend as well as to Mount Wanale. It was a great time. We went with TASO members and some people from the TEACH program. The place was beautiful. I took some pictures which I will post. I even stood on top of the waterfall and looked down. Words don't describe the beauty and pictures don't do it justice. On the hike up to the waterfall we also found a cave. Now I would love to have turned on my flashlight and explored the cave but I promised my husband that I would not do any cave explorations while I was here. Uganda has had a few Marburg Virus outbreaks that they believe are caused from bats in caves. Many of you are well aware of my fascination with Marburg, Ebola and other hemorrhagic fevers but I am not so crazy as to become a victim of said viruses. Kenneth, the boy that was helping me up the mountain, did give me a smokey quartz crystal from the cave though....Which I excitedly accepted. We walked across multiple rickety bridges to climb up and then back down the mountain. I almost fell off one. Luckily I caught myself or I would have rolled down the mountain. I can't imagine that would have been pleasant. Overall it was a great day and I returned home covered in mud and smiling from ear to ear.

Last night we were in the house making dinner when I heard Stephanie let out a shout. She had a baby snake in her room. It was so small that it was actually stuck in a spider web in the corner. Since I like snakes I quickly came to the rescue. I used a piece of paper to scoop it up and stuck it in a ziplock bag. I wanted Tom to take a look at it to make sure it wasn't poisonous before I left it go outside. He informed us that they stay very small and that they are harmless. Everyone wanted to kill it but I refused. I walked down the street and let it go. Then a few hours later I hear a yell from Tom outside. We ran out the door to see what was going on. He had captured a hedgehog for us. We didn't realize it but they run wild all over our backyard at night. I played with two of them and took a few pictures. I am going to go searching again tonight to find some more so that I can take better pictures.

Other than that there is nothing new here. I did find an Indian restaurant that was cockroach free and quite delicious! It is called Landmark Inn and it is very close to our house. I imagine I will be going there often.

Hedgehog
Hedgehog
Snake
Hedgehog
Stream on mountain
flowers
flowers
Boys leading us through mountain trail
Peter standing on top of waterfall
Rickity Bridge
Sipi Falls
TASO group on Mount Wanale
Cute Baby at Viewpoint
Another Cute Kid at Viewpoint
Ryna and Stephanie at Viewpoint
Stream on Mountain
Bridge at Base of Mountain
Sipi Falls
Another Scary Bridge
Our Guide
TASO Group at Sipi Falls
House Gecko
View From Our House
Matoke Tree in Our Yard
Me holding a Gecko
Our House
Flowering Tree
Bird

I have had a couple of people ask me about the food in Uganda and what I eat so here is a description. For breakfast, someone brings Tea and a snack to our office around ten. Usually the snack is something like fried dough, chapatti, or roasted groundnuts. At one in the afternoon our lunch is brought to us. It consists of rice, beans, groundnut sauce, what I think is boiled kale, and either posho or matoke. Posho is kind of like grits only so thick that it is almost in cake form. It has no flavor and I usually smother in g-nut sauce. Matoke is a staple here. It is like a banana only it is not sweet and doesn’t really have any flavor. It is mashed together and steamed in its leaves. It is extremely dense and I dip it in g-nut sauce in order to eat it. For dinner we usually have a meal that we make at home consisting of a rice dish or a pasta dish. Yes! I am in a carb coma almost every day!

I do not eat meat here. Not even seafood. If you saw the butcher shops you would understand. The meat is hung up in front of the shop in the open air in the heat. Flies land all over it and the smell is horrendous. The other day we were walking by a butcher shop and there was this almost gelatinous pile of skin lying on the ground. It took me a minute but then I realized it was the skin of a freshly butchered goat.....it made me sick to my stomach.

We used to eat out quite a bit until this week when we had a bad experience. We decided to take a break from the TASO lunch and we went to an Indian restaurant called Dawat (there is a large proportion of Indian immigrants here because Uganda was once used as a trading hub). A previous fellow recommended the restaurant to us. We walked over and found it was in an alleyway. We walked up the stairs, which reminded me of the rickety wooden and rope bridge that Indiana Jones has to walk across in the Temple of Doom. The boards creaked and moved under our feet. They were cracked and I feared I was going to fall through. When we got into the restaurant, I was pleasantly surprised. It seemed rather clean and nice. We ordered our meals and chatted while we waited. When our food came, the server sat the tray down on our table and a white roach ran off it toward Ryna. She jumped out of the way and it made its way to the floor. The server smiled and laughed like it was no big deal. She sat our food and baskets of Nan down and left. We began to eat the Nan and about 20 seconds later a baby roach came crawling out of Stephanie’s basket. My Nan quickly dropped from my mouth onto my plate. I searched through my basket and found the tail end of an adult roach in the bottom. Needless to say, I was not eating any more. The girls continued to eat cautiously. After they were done, we paid and all but ran out of the building. We will never eat there again!

We will definitely go out to a restaurant again but not before checking with others about its reputation and cleanliness. I know there are often roaches in restaurants and that is okay as long as they are not running through my food! For now, we go to the market and buy fresh produce. It is kind of like a farmers market. Everyone is lined up at stalls with their tomatoes, matoke, eggplant, watermelons, pumpkin, oranges, pineapple, passion fruit, beans and rice. You have to bargain for prices but they are usually pretty fair with their first offer. For other things, we go to the supermarket. However, what they call a supermarket reminds me more of a 7-eleven and the selection is only a little better.

I have settled into my house quite nicely. The spiders no longer bother me and I have made friends with the many geckos and skinks. My roomate handles the spiders and I catch the lizards and take them outside. The other day I was trying to catch a gecko when it ran into the pocket of my book bag. I scooped him up and, after a few pictures, released him into the back yard. I also have a few bats that live above my bed in the ceiling. They cannot get into my room and I believe they come and go through a hole in the attic. I don't mind their squeaking and occasional thudding on the ceiling and I figure they eat the bugs and mosquitoes that linger near my window. Last night they were very quiet and I couldn't sleep. I was worried something had happened to them, but this morning when I turned my light on they let me know they didnt want to be woken up by squeaking and pitching a fit.
It is strange being one of the few "mzungus" in town. People are constantly staring at us. On our way home, we pass by the children leaving from school. They stare at us as if we have a third eye on our forehead. If we say hi to them, they usually smile and laugh. We have made friends with our night guard Tom's kids. He has a set of 5-year-old twins, Edwin and Sharon, and a 7-year-old boy named Isaac. They have a soccer ball from the last fellows and can't wait for us to invite them in to play. Every day they sit out by the gate and wait for us. We told them that they could come over on Friday after school to play. On Wednesday, we were inside reading when we heard kids yelling and banging on the gate. It was the kids yelling "mzungus let us in" and "dephanie open up". I assume that was their attempt at Stephanie's name. Tom talked to them and explained that they could come over on Friday. I am sure we will have our hands full with a bunch of kids under the age of ten, but it will be nice to play around and have some fun.
We had a brief meeting today with Peter, the Social Support Officer from TASO. He needs to clone himself because he does a little of everything including supporting the orphaned and vulnerable children by getting funding to pay their school fees and helping us with our various questions and needs. He gave us the schedules of the different departments so that we could plan to go on outreaches. We will be attending outreaches for the PMTCT program with the medical staff and with the counseling staff on different occasions. In an outreach the doctors, counselors and other staff go to neighboring towns to visit clients that are too far away to travel to the center for treatment. In some towns, they use local clinics and in other towns, they set up under the shade of a tree and treat clients or go visit the families in their homes. I am very excited to go with them. TASO is an amazing organization and I am enthusiastic to see them in action. They have limited resources yet they have made a huge difference in Uganda and in the health of its people. I am eager to learn all that I can from them.

This was my first week working at TASO. So far it has been great. Everyone has been extremely welcoming. It seems that I am going to be working on surveys for the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV/AIDS. We will be conducting client exit interviews where we will ask the clients whether they were happy with the program, what could be improved, if they understood the need for the treatments/counseling, how they felt they were treated by staff etc. We will also be creating KAP surveys that will be given to staff of TASO involved in the PMTCT program. The surveys will ask questions to make sure they understand what they are teaching, how they treat clients, what they believe needs to be improved etc. I think it will be very beneficial to TASO because the PMTCT program was just implemented this year and they would like to increase capacity and make sure it is a successful as possible.
I met one of the clients on the first day here. I was sitting at my computer in my office and had this strange feeling I was being watched. I looked around and I saw too young boys. One was at each window staring in at us. The windows were open and we don’t have screens….just decorative security bars to prevent people from breaking in. Both boys had their chins resting on the windowsills and they were quietly watching us. Eventually one of the boys ended up standing outside of our doorway so we invited him in. He was shy but seemed quite interested in meeting us. We introduced ourselves and started talking to him. I will leave his name out of this blog to keep anonymity. He told us he was at TASO to receive his medicine. He had just been put on ARV’s a few months ago. He was waiting around because his mother was getting her medicines and then was working with TASO to get his school fees straight so that she could enroll him in school. TASO has a program where they take donations to pay for the school fees of orphaned and vulnerable children. He told us that he was an artist and quickly asked me if he could play on my computer. I wasn’t busy at the time so I obliged. He drew me a very accurate picture of Uganda on my Paint program. He even drew the lakes to great accuracy and told me the names of each one. He is quite a bright boy and very sweet. Next we gave him paper and pencil so he could draw a picture of Ryna (another volunteer). Though we found, that since he is an artist, he prefers to use his own pencil that he keeps handy in his pocket. He did a great job and in the middle of his drawing his mom came in. She is pregnant and is HIV positive along with her husband and son. She is in the PMTCT program in hopes of delivering a healthy HIV negative baby. She was very excited to see that he had found us. Apparently he had made friends with the previous fellows as well. The boy stretched his drawing out for as long as possible because he did not want to leave. Eventually we coaxed him to leave with his mom and assured him that he could come back to see us when he came back to TASO. After he left we asked about his family and his story. We found out that along with him, his mom, dad and all his siblings were HIV+. His siblings had died along with other family members from AIDS. His mom disclosed her HIV status to the community to explain the deaths of her other children. The community then stigmatized her; her husband left and nobody would play with her one surviving son They have since relocated to another village. After finding out she was pregnant she started in the PMTCT program and is genuinely happy about the chance of having another child. I cannot even fathom what this family has been through and how they have managed to get through it all. Yet, they seem to be happy and are moving ahead with their lives and thinking positively about their future.
This story is all too common where I currently reside. The ARV treatments have made families healthy. Many women who were once extremely ill are now quite healthy and living very normal lives. Because of this, some have chosen to have children. That is the reason why the PMTCT program is so important. There is approximately a 25-45% chance that a baby from a positive mother will be become HIV+ without the program. The PMTCT program helps prevent HIV incidence from increasing in the next generation.

I arrived in Mbale after a four-hour journey from Kampala. Along the way, we passed many villages. I was told they are not considered towns, but merely villages. I was rather disturbed by the time we made it to Mbale. The only somewhat progressive place I saw was Jinja. Most of the villages were very small. Just a handful of dwellings and many of them were mud huts or rudimentary brick shacks. Dispersed among their yard were children with clothes dangling off them…many girls in what an American would consider a Sunday school or party dress that was too big. Of all the children, I saw I only saw two toys. It was at the same trading center and two boys had long sticks with two wheels connected with an axle attached at the end. It reminded me of a archaic version of the popup I had as a kid. Except these two boys were much older than the children I see play with the popups. I saw a few kids with what appeared to be kwashiorkor. The strangeness of it all was that while I felt sorrow for these families they seemed to be unaware of their poverty. They simply were going about their business farming, selling items and tending to their daily work. Along the road, people were making and selling charcoal, drying and selling rice and so forth. How is that possible? The strength these people have is amazing; their will to survive tremendous. After arriving in Mbale, Tina brought us to the TASO center where we were introduced to the general manager Kimera. We soon found out he is a Bugandan prince. Though he seemed almost embarrassed that we were told. Peter was quickly called and we were taken to our new house. We arrived and everyone started unpacking our heavy and over packed luggage. Even our neighbor and security guard Tom.
Our house is three bedrooms and two bath. The floors are made of cement that was painted years ago; the walls a rough plaster with paint peeling in every room. The two bathrooms have showers that only produce cold water that drains directly on the bathroom floor wetting everything in even remotely close proximity. One of the bedrooms has light fixtures but faulty wiring so no lights work. Only one toilet flushes properly and quality craftsmanship is very much nonexistent. I do not describe this house to you in complaint, rather to enlighten you on the conditions that many people must live in, because this house is considered a very nice house to most of those that live in Mbale. I have been here two days and have already had multiple people mention this to me. I can only imagine the houses that other people must make their homes.
As you drive though town you get the feeling that you are in something like an old western movie by looking at the buildings. The difference being that the people don’t quite fit the description and the building have not been repaired since before the old west became old. Many building are patched with aluminum; most are filthy others have been reinforced using large branches and yet these are the buildings that people conduct business in everyday. The streets are mostly dirt though there is some remnants of what was once asphalt. Most vehicles spend their time dodging what some describe as pot holes but I would describe as trenches. In every alleyway and along every road and crevice there is trash thrown about. Among the trash, you can find every variety of goat and chicken picking through looking for some scrap of food. These are the same chickens and goats that will be used for milk, meat and eggs. Cattle are hearded down the our street each day to the watering hole in front of our house. They know exactly where to go and don’t try to run away. Any trash that makes it to its proper place is then burned for all to inhale. Yet this town is set in a beautiful, almost magical setting. It is in a tropical lush green area at the base of Mount Elgon. The trees are full of bright flowers and fruit. Bananas, jackfruit, papayas, and passion fruit can be found everywhere. A waterfall can be seen trickling down the side of the mountain who’s peak is mysteriously hidden by a fog of clouds. It is a strange place yet it is growing on me quite quickly.

Bird from Kampala
Room at Namirembe
View at Namirembe
Our Guarddog Foxy
Skink in our garden
View of falls from our road
Teal Bird

Well I have been in Uganda for about 24 hours. I am staying in Kampala (the capital) for a few days to meet everyone at TASO headquarters. The plane rides weren't bad. However, the 4 hour delay in Addis Ababa was not fun. Though I did meet a nice cockroach that wanted to craw up my leg and beautiful orange cat that was walking across the runway. I didn't think such a small international airport existed, but then we landed in Entebbe (Uganda) and it was even smaller. Entebbe airport was right on the water of Lake Victoria and had an amazing view. Norma, thanks for the neck pillow for the plane....it was a lifesaver and I even used it to sleep with last night because my pillow at the hotel was so thick I would have had to sleep sitting upright. It is warm and muggy here but not hot. Last night I slept under a bednet for the first time. I felt like i was in a tent. our room is nice. Small, with three twin beds inside, but it has an attached bathroom and shower which is nice. I am also lucky in that it has hot water....something i won't have when we move to our house in Mbale. Today we went exploring a bit in town. First we went into Garden City Mall which is apparently in the "posh" area of Kampala. It has a connected golf course. We went there to buy a phone and get some large bottles of water. We have to use bottled water to drink and brush our teeth. We drink so much because of the heat that we cant seem to keep enough bottles around. After that we walked around the streets a bit. I encountered my first beggar. He was an adorable little boy probably around 3 years old. He kept following us saying hello and putting his hand out like he was asking us for something (my guess was money). We were on an extremely busy street and the drivers are CRAZY!!!! so I thought his mom was probably nearby watching. I felt bad but we didn't give him anything. So about those drivers.....people are constantly passing people on all sides of the road and sidewalks. They constantly beep their horns and all but hit each other every few seconds. Tonight we were walking down the road from our hotel to check out the local bar and backpackers hostel and a minibus started honking his horn and pulled off the road to pick someone up. Apparently we were in the way because he came literally about 3 centimeters from hitting Stephanie (my roommate) and I before we jumped out of the way to avoid being hit. Then on the way back it was dark and we were walking on a trail beside the road. I was leading and all of a sudden i took and step and just fell. I walked right into a waist deep hole. Stephanie said she looked away and when she looked back i was just gone. After climbing my way out i assessed the damage. Luckily it was just grass stained jeans and a bruised knee. I guess I should consider myself lucky...I didn't think i had to worry about large deep holes in the middle of walkways but now i have learned my lesson! After that we took it easy....sat outside eating fried plantains, fish, and rice (don't worry Matt it is not as good as your fish) for dinner. We are waiting for another GW student Christina to arrive tonight. Tomorrow we are meeting at TASO headquarters with her. Not much else to report.