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!