Traveling with Mica

Today, we were invited to join the students and faculty of Ndejje to celebrate our 4 weeks at the university and to have a final send off. The event included many tears, laughs, and stories shared amongst us all.  We were able to have snacks and watch our two professors receive traditional Uganda culture wear.  It was a unique experience to watch our teachers be dressed by other Ndejje professors and gifted the clothing.  Today, I also had to say goodbye to a girl named Monica.  She has been such a ray of sunshine.  She is a group member with two other SIUe students and has made a huge effort to get to know us.  She is the sweetest breath of fresh air.  She is always so happy and eager to teach us the Ugandan culture and to learn more about ours.  Having to say goodbye to her was hard and full of tears, but I know I will see her again. I spent the evening packing up my things in the room and getting everything together in order to leave on Saturday.  I cannot believe that 4 weeks at Ndejje University has already come and gone!!

Today was our last official day working with our fieldwork groups. We were able to meet after lunch and go over all the information and notes that Lauren and I had typed out for them. All students take notes using notebooks and they often get full, which means they have to buy a new notebook. Lauren and I decided that we would type out all the notes that we had collected while working with the team and type all of the notes out, print them, and give them to each student to ensure that everyone had all of the notes and were on the same page before we left. After our meeting, Lauren and I wanted to treat the team to ice-cream, but the store had ran out. Instead, we all enjoyed a cold soda and talked about each other, rather than discussing field work. It was sad to say “see you later” to a group that has answered my umpteen questions, translated every interview, and introduced us to the culture of Uganda. I have been able to create everlasting friendships because this team welcomed me with open arms and guided me through the Ndejje fieldwork experience. 

Rhianna’s song “work” is the theme of the day. Since this is our last few days at Ndejje, I am trying to get does as much work as possible before leaving to go on a week long safari. Because I am completing my internship, I am not only supposed to fulfill all the assignments that Ndejje gives, but I also have many assignments that are required of me in order to officially graduate. Much of the work right now is not hard, just time consuming. For example, we are required to log all of our work time and what we did during the time, simple enough right? But, its easy to get behind. We also have to apply every thing we do to the Public Health domains, which again, is not hard, just time consuming. I will have a 20-30 page paper to write that does not have to be done before I leave, but I am trying to start a little of it now that way I do not have to cram when I get home. Today is my last “real” work day. I am finishing up the lesson plans for the group. Tomorrow I will be practicing the scripts with them and make sure that they have all of the hard copies of resources that the entire group has gathered over the last three and a half weeks. To say I am going to miss this team, is an understatement. It has been such and adventure with them. They have answered my one hundred million questions over the course of my time being here. Not only have the answered my questions but they never get annoyed with me asking them. Well, they might but they sure do not let me see it 🙂 While working on the health programs with the team, I am getting so excited to hear how the health programs go when they start implementing next week!

Although today was a very busy work day, I made a lot of time to reflect on my last three weeks at Ndejje. There have many struggles, which everyone has while working with a different culture. However, I can’t help but to think of all the amazing memories I am creating. I have caught myself on my occasions mad that I forgot to take pictures of something that was happening or the things I’ve been seeing. But today I realized how important it is to view these beautiful things through your own eyes instead of through a camera lenses. Uganda is truly the pearl of Africa and I am beyond lucky to experience a glimpse of this beautiful country. The last few weeks I’ve noticed that I’ve been so sad when someone starts to talk about us leaving soon. Today, Riley asked me what I’m going to miss most and it truly stumped me. As I began thinking about the question, I couldn’t put my finger on just one thing. I think I’m going to me the feeling that I feel while being here the most. 5 weeks will never be long enough stay in Uganda. Yesterday, Dr Cathorall asked me to work on a research project with her and one of the faculty members. They are doing a policy analysis focusing on traffic and safety laws in Uganda. Of course I was beyond interested and excited about this opportunity since my MPA emphasis is in policy analysis and human safety. I’m hoping this gives me another opportunity to travel back to Uganda and continue working with Ndejje University. If it doesn’t, I’ll start looking for another reason to come back. My heart is breaking knowing I have to say goodbye soon, but I know it won’t be a for good goodbye, just a see you later.

Today felt like I was in a movie. We left campus at 8am to head to Entebbe, which is a two hour drive. Once we got there, we had about an hour to kill, so most of us relaxed and watched the shore lines of Lake Victoria. It was SOOO beautiful. We then took an hour boat ride to the island. We were given some tea and then started the island and chimpanzee tour. During the tour we learned a little about the monkeys and the reasons why they were there. They have 49 monkeys total and three of them have been born in the island. There is an electrical fence on one side of the island to keep monkeys away from the people. However, they do bring them in to sleep at night so they don’t escape. We then went to watch the monkeys during feeding time. They give them four small meals a day and in between the meal times, the moneys can eat the fruit off the many fruit trees on the island. They were so fun to watch as they caught the fruit like a softball. Today was something I will never forget.

June 23

Today was the woodball tournament! We left campus at 6:15am to head to the National stadium in Kampala. The drive from campus is only about an hour, so the ride wasn’t too long. The morning was spent registering and warming up. At 10:30 we begun the opening ceremony. Because it was the 10th annual tournament, there were many speakers and dancers. We heard many people on the National woodball association board speak in honor of the anniversary. We learned that Ndejje University is the school that supported the tournament this year so we saw many friendly faces through the day. We also got the honor of watching cultural dances and drumming. I have attached a video and photo for you. My ankle gave me a hard time once again so I only played the singles round and sat out for the doubles. Playing was much different that what we were used to while practicing on campus for the last two and a half weeks. Many people in the tournament were very good and even the best in the nation. The national team that will be going to to the World Cup next month played against us as well. TOS ya the least, we were the least experienced players. Our scores were typically doubles theirs (hint: the lower the score the better). The women’s winner had a score of 45 stokes for 12 fairways and I ended with 52 after 6. You can imagine the laughs we heard from the other players, I’m sure. Over all, it was a long day but I enjoyed seeing the cultural ceremony and learning more about the game. Tomorrow we were supposed to go paint a health clinic. However, the painting equipment didn’t get ordered so we will be going to chimpanzee island in Entebbe! I’m so excited to see what the island is all about. 🙂

Today we were able to sleep in a bit and work on some homework, which was much needed. In the afternoon, Dr Cathorall held a lecture with the Ugandan students to talk about the importance of using reliable sources when researching. One thing that many of the Siue students have noticed is that the Ndejje students are not taught about reliable resources and research methods. We used the lecture time to discuss and walk through how to look up information when using reliable sources. The American students were able to help the Ndejje students work through research questions that Dr Cathorall had asked of them. After the meeting, I was able to make sure that my group understood the lecture. I asked them to mess around with research questions over the weekend to ensure that we can begin program planning on Monday. The Siue students were invited to Dr Cathorall and Dr Brady’s house for dinner. They had brought Kraft Mac and cheese with them and saved it for us to cook when we were all together. It was so great to have a little piece of home. After dinner, we headed back to the dorms to go to bed early because our woodball tournament tomorrow!! Wooo 😊

Today we were able to go to the Kampala campus of Ndejje University. Here, Dr Cathorall and Dr Brady had a public lecture to discuss what the public health and the undergraduate speech pathology and audiology program look like at SIUE. It was so interesting to hear the comparisons and differences between the public health program at SIUe and the community development program at Ndejje. We were able to meet more faculty and staff from the university and get to know the ones we have already met a little better. When the lecture was over we were able to go buy a candy bar from the supermarket down the street. I have never bought my own snickers bar in my life until today. I must admit, it was SO GOOD. Life here is so amazing, I never want to leave. Enjoy this photo of me and my roomie, Chelsea. We’re canceling our flights and staying here together 😉

Hi everyone! Today I was able to identify which two issues that our fieldwork group has chosen to address. We will be creating a health program for Ggunda focusing on HIV/AIDS and rubbish pits/composting. I’m excited to work with the Ugandan students to create a program that will benefit the community and hopefully make a lasting impact from the education provided. I was able to have a meeting with my supervisor, co-leader, and Dr Cathorall to ensure that we are doing the right thing by providing education and resources rather than building things or providing manual labor. The meeting was successful and I was able to sit and plan a little more in detail with my co-leader colleague. I’m excited to hear the ideas from the Ndejje students about these two topics and begin working. The nerd in me is so excited to be putting my college degree to use!

Today the public health students were able to take a tour of the public Nakaseke Hospital located about an hours drive away from Ndejje University. While we were there, the hospital administrator gave us a tour. We learned that the hospital service two million people, has 192 staff including 13 doctors and 3 speciality doctors. We were able to see the neonatal, pediatrics, and the HIV and TB testing centers. We were able to speak with two pharmacists and see their pharmacy. Also, we were able to see their hospitals blood bank and phlebotomy lab. While visiting, we were able to see where the private wing of the hospital was and the way that they calculate if incoming patients are deemed healthy or not (essentially they calculate it by using a BMI chart). There were many similar portions Nakaseke hospital that were similar to the hospitals in America. For example, there were obvious waiting areas and different wings of the hospital which dictated which patients belonged where. There were also similar rooms that we see in our hospitals such as the pharmacy and phlebotomy labs. We saw many nurses walking around tending to the patients needs, similar to what we see at home. There were even confinement rooms where patients with measles stay. However, there were many differences between the hospitals as well. Nakaeske lacked extreme cleanliness like the hospitals that we see. There are no hand sanitation stands or sanitizers to use before entering or leaving a wing. The also use open windows and fans rather than A/C. Here, air conditioning is not found in many places. Instead, they have all of their windows open and fans going to keep the building cool. Because of a hefty up charge to have a private room (30,000 Shillings which is about $8 USD), as much as 15 women share a room after having a baby.   After a meeting and presentation with the hospital director, I was able to identify many similarities and differences between the two health care systems. In Uganda, all treatment and appointments are free when visiting a public hospital because they have Primary Health Care that was established in 1978. The minimum of the health care covers control communicable diseases, sexual and reproductive health, childhood diseases, vaccines, health education, school health, and strengthening mental health. Although, most people in the US have to pay for medical insurance, most insurances cover the same things as the Primary Health Care that is provided in Uganda. Like in the US, Uganda also has public and private hospitals. There are different levels of health care centers in Uganda, similar to the US. They have small clinic that provide simple first aide to the level five hospitals that provide surgical procedures. There were a few things that did surprise me while touring and learning about the facility. For example, at Nakaseke only 6% of the staff is doctors. The pharmacists at the hospital see a high return rate of HIV medicine due to the side effects. One other thing that surprised me was that the pharmacy gets a $20,000 budget for two months worth of medicines and medical supplies. They also only get $40,000 every three months in order to run the hospital. What surprised me the most is that there is a low retention rate of medical doctors. Many doctors do not want to work at Nakaseke because there is typically a log commute. Also, the hospitals medical equipment as not been updated or fixed since 1974. This means that even if doctors do everything that they can in order to save a patients life, the patient may still die because the medical equipment is not up-to-date or it malfunctions.