pictures!!!

a group of kids at one of the villages I visited with the orphanage.

Walking down the main road in one of the villages.

Les filles at the guesthouse - Lindsay, Vicki and I

Linsay, me, Vicki on a boat trip to see the "Source of the Nile" (where lake victoria turns into the river Nile). I took some pictures but it didn't really capture it. It looks like a bunch of bubbles - as there used to be a big waterfall but was flooded from dam construction along the Nile.

The tranlator's house at the village I visited with Johann.

Boda-boda rides (Vicki and Lindsay)

white water rafting. hospital visits. villages. TASO. and more at Welcome Home.

Hey all! So much to write about… last week was really busy.

Last Saturday I went white water rafting with the two other Canadian girls (Vicki and Lindsay) on the Nile (can’t believe I just wrote that!). Phenomenal!!! Our guide was Finnish (Jussi), and there were a couple of kiwis and a guy whose been touring around East Africa from Australia since January. Before coming, I never realized how much of a backpacking place East Africa is! Rapids were incredible (Grade 5s – which I hear are pretty big). We flipped I think 5 of the 12 rapids – mostly all at the beginning! One time I thought I was drowning for real, because as soon as you make it to the surface another huge wave takes you under. A little scary – but other than that one rapid lots of fun! I was definitely really sore the next day! And sunbunt – we all wore SPF 50 (and reapplied four or five times) but still burnt our knees. Incredible.

Monday – went to the orphanage as usual. I’m picking up quite a bit of Luganda. Getting really attached to kids and the “moms” as well. The people everywhere are incredibly nice, and eager to talk to us – and yell “mzungo” at us hahaha. Working 9-5 at the orphanage is definitely a long day – by the end I’m eager to get home and changed (I’ve been peed on already L). Really enjoying the orphanage as I also get to do some other things with the kids. I’ve been with one to the dentist to get a tooth pulled, to the health clinic numerous times as well as to 4 or 5 different villages. A little more about the orphanage: a lot of the kids have parents and are returned to them when they are three or four depending on the situation. When they go back to their villages, the orphanage provides a mattress, sheets, some initial money to help afford some of the costs of raising a child, money for school fees, and pays for their medical bills until they are ten. Also if the mother (or father) aren’t working – the orphanage finds a placement for them where they can learn to start their own business (providing start up money to sell charcoal, braid hair, etc.). It’s nice as it really ensures that once the child moves back into their home they are taken care of. The orphanage also goes and checks on children periodically – which have been the majority of the village trips that I have gone on.

Tuesday – Vicki, Lindsay and I went over to an American missionary’s house in the afternoon who has been living in Uganda for the last five years. Her organization (Global Outreach) funds the outpatient ward to the children’s hospital in Jinja – so we went over and saw the hospital for the afternoon.

Health care in Uganda is a public private split. The public system is really quite poor, but the majority of people cannot afford to use the private sector. In the public sector, all physician services are free but patients often face long wait times (could be an entire day) – and may die while they are waiting. Patients need to bring their own sheets when coming to the hospital, as well you need to bring a family member or friend as food for patients must be brought in. Some medicines are available in the hospitals for free, but if drugs are not available, the family members would need to walk downtown to a pharmacy to buy it. I’m not really sure what would happen if you didn’t have anyone with you. In the children’s ward – there’s really no privacy (about 20 patient beds in a small room – no dividing curtains – and when it gets busy, we were told that there are two patients per bed). I can’t imagine.

Wednesday – I had my first matatu (large taxi van) ride with Johann, a South African missionary I am living with. I had a really interesting conversation on the weekend with Johann on the churches role in HIV/AIDS. Uganda as a country is really Christian (as well as some Muslims). As religion is such an integral part of Ugandan life, I was curious if HIV and AIDS are talked about frequently within the church. Following this discussion Johann invited me to come out to a rural village with him (took two mtatus and a boda – took about 2 hours to get there), so that I could discuss with the pastor in the village. There is a running joke here: “How many Ugandans can you fit in a matatu?” “Always one more”. This seems to hold true, as often times there are 15 or so ppl squished in (when it holds about 10). On the way back, our mtatu ran out of gas so the conductor ran with a jerry can to get more (and spit it in the tank with his mouth!). Talking with the pastor was a little difficult as we were using a translator who knew very limited English but I was able to learn a little bit. This village was really neat to visit, as Johann is the only mzungu who goes there so everyone was pretty excited. Again people so friendly, and I was given a lemon by one family as a sign of appreciation for coming.

Thursday – I went to The AIDS Support Organization (TASO) in Jinja, where I will be volunteering four days a week now (and at Welcome Home orphanage Wednesdays and Saturday mornings). TASO is one of the largest NGO’s relating to HIV and AIDS in Uganda, so I am really excited to learn and feel very welcomed there already. TASO is a support center for people living with HIV – they provide counseling services, provide free antiretroviral (ARVs) and also treat opportunistic infections. It is almost entirely funded by international donors (about 5% comes from within Ugandan through government and private donations). They also do a lot of community outreach programs and fully adopt an open and public approach to HIV and AIDS by encouraging positive living, and by discussing the topic openly to reduce stigma within the community. Also provide testing for family members of those who are positive (for free – usually costs 2,500sh (a little less than two dollars)). Currently those who are on ARVs in the Jinja district (nearly 2000 people), need to come once a month to pick up their drugs by appointment. TASO Jinja is currently undertaking a study to see if adherence to ARVs is improved if the drugs are delivered to homes (or to more rural locations) rather than patients having to come to TASO to pick up their drugs (looking both at adherence and cost effectiveness). Transport is a really big issue – as there is a significant cost involved in making the trip to Jinja (esp. for many people who are peasants), as well as arranging for a day off work or finding care for younger children for the day. I’ve been told that I might be able to help in the research which is really exciting. Whatever I end up doing in the end I’m sure there will be lots to learn!

Friday- Back at the orphanage. I had my first really difficult (emotionally) moment. I went to a village to visit a mother who had decided that she wouldn’t be able to take her son back into her care (son is now 5 years or so). The mother had been through a lot (been in jail), and just had another baby – wasn’t committed enough to visiting and showing interest in caring for her son, so it was recommended that unless she showed more initiative that she sign papers to allow him to be adopted. Although I think the mother knew that it was the best thing to do, I think it was really difficult for her to sign her rights as a parent away (so that he could be adopted or could be transferred to an orphanage in Kampala when he was older).

Otherwise things are incredible here – I can’t believe it’s already been three weeks. Time really flies! This weekend I will be going up to Murchison Falls which is a national park on the Western side of Uganda. The two other Canadian girls and I are doing a safari as Lindsay is going back to Canada the following week (can’t leave without seeing giraffes, elephants and lions!). Vicki and I are in the process of rebooking flights until the end of July – so that we can make some time to travel to Rwanda following volunteering. Vicki has a sponsor child in Rwanda so she is arranging to meet her, and we also want to go to the genocide memorials and see the mountain gorillas. Hoping it will all work out!

When in Africa = the new “When in Rome”

The guesthouse where I am staying is a constant influx of new people: 7 gap year students from England; a middle aged Japanese women named Hati who goes between Jinja, Ktigun (in Northern Uganda where she is starting a library in one of the schools) and Japan; Matt, from Scotland who has been working here for the last year or two; Dan – a past gap year student from London who is back to check on a medical clinic he started at one of the schools; Tara, another Canadian girl who is at the guesthouse on the weekends and has been here since August, Johan, a missionary from South Africa and, Lindsay and Vicki who are both here with the GIVE international as well. Amazing and lots of interesting discussions slash laughs over accents and phrases that we use.

The nights here are LOUD. Between dogs howling (and really howling) at each other, roosters, armies marching and singing at 5 or so in the morning, and building shaking thunder it is enough to wake you up a couple of times even for deep sleepers. When it rains here it really rains (huge downpours) and lots of thunder and lightening – lots of fun to watch! Not as fun to watch in the day though because all the kids in the orphanage stay inside (which is quite small) and things get a little nutty. Oh, yesterday I got peed on as well. Fun! Hahaha. Otherwise things at the orphanage are going really well and I am still really enjoying it. I love talking with the women that work there – they have lots of interesting stories to tell and I am picking up bits of Luganda and Lusoga (the local languages here) – much to their amusement! I have also been to two more villages this week (one by boat) – which I really enjoyed!

I was supposed to start volunteering at an AIDS clinic on Thursday – but things have gotten delayed so hopefully by next week something will work out. I can also volunteer at a health clinic in one of the schools, or at the Joint Clinical Research Centre (which provides free ARVS and works a lot with USAID which would be interesting to learn more about).

I am still enjoying and trying lots of different foods here. A lot of them don’t necessarily have much flavor but are very filling. So far I’ve had posho (which is mais – looks like corn – paste) with beans, and also with cabbage, sweet potatoes with gnut sauce (peanut sauce), matooke (which is cooked green bananas mashed), goat meat, fried cassava and lots of amazing Indian food. Haven’t been sick of anything so far.

I have ventured into the market once which was quite the experience. It is huge area with wooden outdoor shops with tons of winding aisles selling everything you could possible ever neat or want (from plumbing, fruits and veg, to chickens and goats, to clothes). The fruits are quite cheap (avocados are about 10-30 cents) depending on the size. The food in grocery stores is quite expensive here (similar to Canada for many things) and shampoo is really expensive (about 10 dollars!).

Well I should run the internet is incredibly slow today (some days can do about 2 or 3 emails in an hour!). Tomorrow Lindsay, Vicki and I are going white water rafting on the Nile…when in Africa!

First couple days at "Welcome Home" orphanage

I started volunteering at an orphanage from 9-5 on Thursday (and also went Friday). I am absolutely loving it so far. There are about 60 kids – from a couple months old til about 4 years are so. They are really cute – some have lots of personality and I am having a great time playing with them, reading to them and helping to feed them and put them to bed. By the end of the day I am absolutely exhausted from running around all day. So far I am the only volunteer – there are quite a lot of “moms” – prob. at least 15 in the day, all Ugandan women who are lots of fun. They sing and dance lots and always have lots to say.

I’m still in the process of trying to arrange a health placement that is a little more heath related (hopefully at the Jinja hospital). I am supposed to find out on Monday or Tuesday. If not I am starting to make some other connections that say that they may be able to help me get a volunteer placement at a clinic – or at least set up some meetings to learn more about the pandemic here.

Yesterday with the orphanage I got to go up to a village that is about half an hour away. Very rough ride getting there – and very different from life in Jinja. All of the houses in the village were made from mud (well that’s what it looked like) with frames from long sticks. The first thing I though of was that it reminded me of one of those “Save A Child” advertisements on TV. All the kids came and surrounded the car we were in and followed us everywhere. Really the worst poverty I have ever seen – all their clothes ripped, falling off, and dirty. But all the kids were REALLLY excited and absolutely beautiful and happy. We went up to this village, as the orphanage is helping 3 kids. One girl has a tumor on one side of her face so they are arranging for her to see a doctor in Jinja and then hopefully a surgeon in Kampala later on. Also, a girl named in Immaculate who I think had polio – and they provided a wheelchair for her (made of bike parts – so that she peddles with her hands). Really amazing. There was also another little boy, who has some kind of disease (has been to the doctor and they can’t figure it) – some kind of auto immune disease and is really, really sick. It’s frustrating – as they really have no access to health care (can’t afford first to get out of the village to get into Jinja, and secondly can’t afford to get health services). I left feeling guilty and gracious for everything I have, even all the stuff I have even here. It’s frustrating, but I also feel really inspired – and touched. Leaving the village all the kids ran to this feel and then chased the car down the road waving (It was really like out of a movie)!

I have today off. I met another Canadian girl, Tara, who is staying at the guesthouse and has been here since August. And another girl, Lindsay, who is with my NGO is coming this afternoon! Take care,
Lots of love.
Leslie.

Tales from a mzungo

Mzungo= white person. I called that pretty much wherever I go. By little kids and boda drivers, everyone really. It’s pretty funny.

Things here are going really well. Last night I experienced my first big power cut (there are rolling power cuts around the country) – went out at about 10 and by 11 oclock this morning was still out. Flashlights are doing wonders!

Weather has been pretty good. It is just the end of rainy season, so it rains maybe once a day (but really not for very long) and then the rest of the time it is close to 25 degrees C or so. Still trying to get a little color – not much success so far – but no burns (Mom I’m wearing my sunscreen!).

Still don’t have pictures to upload because the computers don’t seem to take my camera well – but there a bunch of different internet cafes around town so I will try some other places.

I spent one day exploring Jinja – and walked around the Main Street (where there is pretty much everything) to orient myself around town. I’m starting to feel really comfortable here, and feel quite safe. All the people on the streets are quite nice. I find it hilarious because there are chickens, goats and cows and chickens everywhere!!! All over the side of the roads – I find it so funny – and drivers will go around them because they won’t move half the time if they are in the middle of the road.

The roads are pothole central – and boda drivers will go on the opposite side of the road to avoid potholes. A little scary. I have started bartarring boda costs with the drivers because they rip of mzungos at first (until you know the real price). I was being charged double for the first couple days – until the British students that are also staying at the guest house let me know the real price.

Had my first taste of Ugandan cuisine: posho with beans on Thursday and posho with cabbage on Friday. Posjo is a corn flour made into a sticky, very heavy paste. Its pretty much tasteless on its own and I think is just meant to fill you up. It’s very heavy and very filling. The portions are HUGE!!!! I have to ask for small mzungo portions! I’ve also had some Indian food here as there is a pretty large Indian community in Uganda (lots of business people). Hhahah…funny stories went with some of the British students for supper for pork and chips and the place turned out to be a brothel as well. Ooopps. Regardless the food was good, but I think I will avoid it from now on.

Im still getting used to Ugandan shillings. It’s bizarre for me, because the denominations are huge (a bottle of Coke – in the old school bottles - is about 700 shillings). So it’s weird to carry around thousands and thousands of shillings. Converted though cost of living is still quite cheap.

Also picking up little bits of Lusoga (the local language). The sounds are a little challenging as they are so different but I think I’m really going to make an effort to learn as much as I can. I might even take some lessons (as well as Ugandan cultural lessons). Should be fun! That’s it for now for this mzungu!!

The long trip to Jinja (with tons of stops on the way!)

Yesterday was the crash course in everything about Uganda. We drove through Kampala which is insanely busy! Driving is crazy because there are people walking on the roads everywhere, people biking with huge packages, and then these little motorcycle/moped type taxis that swerve in between traffic everywhere. You have to be really good with the brakes! Most definitely the craziest driving I have ever seen – I thought I was going to be in accident at least 5 times.

Out of the city is absolutely beautiful. I am completely swept away in the scenery. EVERYTHING is so green and lush and the ground is a deep, deep red. Absolutely beautiful!!! Beautiful jungles, and lots of flowers. Still a ton of poverty, but I guess that is to be expected.

So we drove to the ADRIFT head office. ADRIFT is a river rafting/adventure company in Jinja – that helps GIVE International (the NGO I am with) set up volunteer placements. Met the director and a couple other people in the office. From there checked out the Uganda National Museum with Emma who is my go-to man in Jinja (absolutely fabulous guy!) – very neat stuff about colonialism as well as neat things on the different tribal groups here (and there different masks, hunting tools, jewelry, etc.). Very cool! I’m a dummy and had my camera packed away so unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures yesterday – but I’m sure there will be time to go back. From the museum went to the bank in downtown Kampala and exchanged money and then went to grad a bite to eat.

Next drove to Jinja. They took me to Bukalji Falls (sp?) where there is a campground and rapids. There are guys that work there that ride a jerry can down the BIG rapids for a dollar or so. I thought they were mad – but the guy came out alive. ABSOLUTELY INSANE!!! Next time I go I am going to take a video.

Next went to the ADRIFT campsite and checked it out. Really nice place where they have cabins and safari tents, skydiving, quads and white water rafting. I hope to go up and stay there a couple times on the weekends! Looks great! Also met Anne (from California) and Johanne (from South Africa) who work there. Really nice – and let me email home to stay arrived safely.

After checked out the Source of the Nile which is where Lake Victoria feeds into the Nile River. Really neat, but by this point I was absolutely exhausted. They offer boat rides – and I’d like to go back one night and do that.

Wow busiest day ever! Plus jetlag and I was pooped. Arrived at the Busoga Trust Guesthouse where I am staying. Really cute place – they have a little kitchen and I have a room with two beds (not sure if I will have a roommate later on or not) and my own washroom. Very basic, but exactly what I need. I was happy to find out that there are quite a few other people my age staying here. So far 5 British students – all in their gap year before Uni – who are in Jinja teaching at the high schools for six months. (since Feb – and leaving in August). They are “absolutely brilliant” – cool to have people to play cards and watch TV with in the evenings. They have already started to give me lots of tips on how to get around, etc.

Last night was really hard to sleep. It’s REALLY loud at night – tons of birds, dogs barking, insects buzzing, roosters, and this morning at about 5 am army marching and singing. Hahha- I’m sure with time I will get used to it.

Took my first Boda Boda ride in to town this morning. A little scary at first but it seems to be the way everyone gets around here. I visited two orphanages where I will probably be volunteering and Emma is in the process of trying to set up a placement at the Jinja hospital so that I will have more exposure to learn more about the pandemic. The kids are soooo cute – and at the one orphange they all call you aunt ___, so by the time I left they were all calling my aunt Leslie – sooo cute!

People are fantastic here, really friendly. I am having a little bit of trouble with the accent still – but I’m sure with time that will come. Well I should go before this computer kicks me off! Anyways doing well, and loving it so far. I’ll see what I can do for adding pictures next time! With love,
Leslie.

The Amazing Race

Well the adventure started off great! I got to Pearson airport to find that my flight to Amsterdam was delayed at least 5 hours. Translation: there was no way I would make my connecting flight from Amsterdam to Entebbe. In the end I was switched to an Air France flight and flew to Paris. Coincidently, my friend Andrea from my program was on the Air France flight and we ran through Charles de Gaulle airport trying to make our connecting flights (hers to Rome and mine to Amsterdam) a la Amazing Race. Very cool. Flight over to Paris was alright I didn’t get too much sleep, but was fine. Flight to Amsterdam the same.

Flight from Amsterdam to Entebbe was fabulous. KLM is awesome and they had tons of selections for movies, music and TV and awesome food as well. I arrived in Entebbe at night. It was so neat flying in because it is very very very dark. There are very few street lights – so it wasn’t at all like flying into Toronto or even Thunder Bay (there isn’t that orange city glow at all). Luggage came in fine (very quick!) and I met the man who was coming to pick me up very easily.

Small world: I met a prof. (Louise) from Concordia U. who knows Allie (one of my best friends from high school) and Peter (who runs an NGO in Northern Uganda with Concordia). Very cool!

First night stayed at the Entebbe Guesthouse not far from the airport. Was really cute place and slept well because I was very tired. My first experience under a mosquito net – I found it kind of romantic. Hahah.

Leaving on a jet plane....tomorrow!

Hello hello!!

Well the big adventure starts tomorrow! I can’t believe how quickly the last couple months have flown by. April was jam packed with exams and the last couple assignments and essays, moving out of my student house (tear…) and going home to Thunder Bay for Arte’s big 50th last weekend.

My flight leaves tomorrow at 6 pm from Pearson in Toronto (flying KLM). There is one stopover in Amsterdam for 3-4 hours and then on to Entebbe, which is the major airport in Uganda. I get there around 8 pm Ugandan time on Sunday night. There is supposed to be someone meeting me in the airport (yay!!!) and my first night I’ll be staying in a hotel somewhere near to the airport.

My plans have changed a little bit for what I will actually be doing while I am there. Mid-march I found out that the clinic where I was going to be volunteering and doing my study is no longer able to take volunteers. So, now the first two weeks or so I will try out five different placements that are HIV/AIDS related and then from there will pick two or three that I would like to stick with while I am there. I am not really too sure what the placements will be like yet, so I guess I’ll find out when I get there. I will still be using this experience for my fourth year thesis, although I’m not sure in exactly what capacity yet. I will be keeping journals while I am there and will let my interests guide me and go from there in September!

I wanted to say HUUUUUGGGGGGGEE thank yous to everyone who made donations towards this experience. I was able to fundraise over $2500 which was a ton more than I had originally anticipated! This covered nearly the whole cost of the program fee which was amazing. And thank you so much to Mom, Dad and Lauren for their support for the trip. Also thank you so much to Uncle Ray, Auntie Michelle, Andrew, Eric and Stef who have helped me with a lot financially, with organizing and helping me sort out the little details, moving out, and for giving me a place to crash and food for the past little while! Also big thanks to the housemates (Andrea, Kristen, Jess and Heather) and all my other friends for listening to me banter on and on about being excited, etc. this past little while. Also Neil was able to provide me with a huge amount of medical supplies that I will be able to clinics while I am there – which is amazing! Finally thanks so much to Dr. Arratia for all the wonderful talks in your office (I look forward to many more next year), keeping me excited and motivated, and for all the help and support (academically and otherwise!).

I’ll try to update this site at least once a week or so. I really have no clue what the set-up will be so I’ll play it ear and see how it goes. I will have a cell phone there (in case anyone wants to call….haha) – I’ll post the number when I get it. Same goes for address. Otherwise, I think best way to contact me is through my hotmail account (leslielappa@hotmail.com). Again, not sure how often I’ll check it, but probably at least once a week. Thanks again for all the messages and best wishes. Much love. Cheers,leslie.