So I'm leaving in less than 12 hours, but I don't think that it means that the blog is done for. I will continue to post some more reflections and stories as they come back to me. I will defenitely post a bunch of pictures, too. Once school starts, however, I can't primise a thing.
I woke up to the Lubogas surprising me with a kanzu, a long robe wore by men at special occasions. We took some pictures and pretended that I was their son at his introduction ceremony, basically an official engagement. Meanwhile, I was in my PJs under the kanzu. Pictures to come.
I feel sad about leaving here. I have really developed an excellent relationship with the Lubogas and some other people in the area. (sigh)
I have about 5 minutes of internet left, and I definitely don't wanna spend my last day in front of a computer. So, I'm gonna go.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Less researcher, more tourist
Sunday, August 17, 2008
I feel like some of my most recent posts have been somewhat uninspired. Now, I feel inspired. Malaria free, and free to do whatever I wanted in the psychotic city of Kampala. Naturally, after not being a tourist for so long, I went to the traps.
On Buganda road there is a large craft collective full of very sweet and inviting people in each of the stalls. I went door to door like a good mzungu. I haggled a bunch and then realized that I didn’t really buy much at all; it was all about the bargain. Ok fine, I bought a bunch of things, I just didn’t spend very much money.
Meanwhile, my friend Jennifer, whom I met in Mbale with the Abayudaya, was waiting for me to go to her house and chill. I was offered hot tea, but steered us towards cold beer instead. Poor Jennifer has been without good (read “American”) music for a couple of years, so I helped her transfer a bunch from my computer to hers. We only got to the Bs.
On the way home, I really wanted to stop in an area called Kalerwe. It’s basically where the biggest market I know about is and there is a drum factory there. The word factory is used very loosely here; it’s a dark room and a half made with random slats of wood with space shared with a sofa factory. There are pelts of goat, cow, and lizard on the walls and there are drums in different stages of development all over the place. Samuel showed me around the place; prices were very fair (read “cheap as all hell”). I promised to come back in the next few days with my bag so I can see how many I can fit in.
The best part: On the rest of my way home, people in Mpererwe waved to me because they recognized me and I recognized them. In Namere, up the hill from Mpererwe, I got the same greeting. Later, when I went back to the Namere supermarket, the cashier and I had a great discussion about my stay here and she was sad to hear that me (Sebachwa) and Lauren (Nabachwa) were leaving so soon. As I walked out of the store, 2 local bodaboda drivers called “hey Danny!” I waited for one of them, Medi (short for Mohammed), to come back because I hadn’t seen him in a long time and wanted to catch up. He recently lost his day job, but is instead working all day as a bodaboda driver. He makes 20k Shillings a day, about $13.
It made me feel really good that I feel that I have become part of the community here. People ask me when I’m coming back and the only thing I can tell them is perhaps in 2011, when I am actually a doctor. They always answer “that’s too long!” It’s hard for me to think that I won’t be seeing these people for such a long time. Tonight, a woman whom I never met before thanked me for the osoma (research) that we are doing here. That made me feel the best.
There are many people here who are suspicious of any Mzungu who comes into town to do research. I was once asked by a deputy teacher to “Please do not just write a book about us and get your degree like some other people. Please come to us, join us in our communities, and really help us make a difference.” I hope to continue the work we are doing here and to really help the community that we have become a part of.
OK, shower break over. I could just feel really good because I am over malaria, though that cold shower was quite invigorating.
I feel like some of my most recent posts have been somewhat uninspired. Now, I feel inspired. Malaria free, and free to do whatever I wanted in the psychotic city of Kampala. Naturally, after not being a tourist for so long, I went to the traps.
On Buganda road there is a large craft collective full of very sweet and inviting people in each of the stalls. I went door to door like a good mzungu. I haggled a bunch and then realized that I didn’t really buy much at all; it was all about the bargain. Ok fine, I bought a bunch of things, I just didn’t spend very much money.
Meanwhile, my friend Jennifer, whom I met in Mbale with the Abayudaya, was waiting for me to go to her house and chill. I was offered hot tea, but steered us towards cold beer instead. Poor Jennifer has been without good (read “American”) music for a couple of years, so I helped her transfer a bunch from my computer to hers. We only got to the Bs.
On the way home, I really wanted to stop in an area called Kalerwe. It’s basically where the biggest market I know about is and there is a drum factory there. The word factory is used very loosely here; it’s a dark room and a half made with random slats of wood with space shared with a sofa factory. There are pelts of goat, cow, and lizard on the walls and there are drums in different stages of development all over the place. Samuel showed me around the place; prices were very fair (read “cheap as all hell”). I promised to come back in the next few days with my bag so I can see how many I can fit in.
The best part: On the rest of my way home, people in Mpererwe waved to me because they recognized me and I recognized them. In Namere, up the hill from Mpererwe, I got the same greeting. Later, when I went back to the Namere supermarket, the cashier and I had a great discussion about my stay here and she was sad to hear that me (Sebachwa) and Lauren (Nabachwa) were leaving so soon. As I walked out of the store, 2 local bodaboda drivers called “hey Danny!” I waited for one of them, Medi (short for Mohammed), to come back because I hadn’t seen him in a long time and wanted to catch up. He recently lost his day job, but is instead working all day as a bodaboda driver. He makes 20k Shillings a day, about $13.
It made me feel really good that I feel that I have become part of the community here. People ask me when I’m coming back and the only thing I can tell them is perhaps in 2011, when I am actually a doctor. They always answer “that’s too long!” It’s hard for me to think that I won’t be seeing these people for such a long time. Tonight, a woman whom I never met before thanked me for the osoma (research) that we are doing here. That made me feel the best.
There are many people here who are suspicious of any Mzungu who comes into town to do research. I was once asked by a deputy teacher to “Please do not just write a book about us and get your degree like some other people. Please come to us, join us in our communities, and really help us make a difference.” I hope to continue the work we are doing here and to really help the community that we have become a part of.
OK, shower break over. I could just feel really good because I am over malaria, though that cold shower was quite invigorating.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
I am the Anti-Malarial
Saturday, August 16, 2008 10:22PM
OK, so I didn’t report everything in that last post. Thursday night, as Lauren, Sonia, and I were preparing dinner, I felt tired (read feverish) again. After much encouragement from Sonia and Lauren, I called Dr. Luboga on his cell… he was driving up the driveway. I told him all my symptoms, exhaustion, sweats, headache, stomach cramps, etc. He said something to the effect of you’re now a real Muganda because you have malaria. Sonia made sure to tell Lauren that in the park, I forgot one dose of Malarone and took another dose late. It’s hard to remember things when you’re on vacation.
So, on Friday I slept late (I blamed it on the malaria, but I would have done it anyway), but still worked at Kittetika C/U and got 8 blood samples. A little disappointing, but every bit helps. The Makerere students were very nice to me. Henry said “you’re going to get it much worse that we get it because you have no antibodies.” Thanks for the encouragement Henry.
I went home immediately after because I was so tired and feverish. I made a very basic Shabbat and slept. And slept. And slept. I tried reading some books, but I was too tired. I spent some time thinking about malaria. I thought about how there are little parasites in my red blood cells destroying them one by one. I think it might have been a hallucination… I also thought about how it’s a real shame that people should die from something that responds so quickly to cheap treatment. I spent $3.12 on the medication at a private pharmacy. Government pharmacies provide the medication free of charge (though the one I went to was out of medication). It angers me to know that people still die from it.
I am now taking my malaria prophylaxis with a new zeal. I feel much better now that I have completed the 3 day treatment, but I still feel tired.
Busier still.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Sunday was a fast day. On Saturday night, I lit my room with one candle and read Ecclesiastes. The first 3 words really resonated with me. I am completely alone in religion here in Mpererwe. I wonder why we read it all together in the synagogue. Maybe being alone should be part of the experience. Sunday morning, after davening (praying), I went to
Monday morning we left for
We got to the national park very late after taking a driver from the city square. We also found out that the transportation we were relying on did not exist and ended up having to hire the driver for the following 2 days. Which worked out perfectly. Julius took us to our campsite, Kanyiyo Pabidi (I still can’t pronounce it well), and we crashed in the nicest dorms I have ever seen in my entire life. And I had another hot shower. This was the best one so far because everything at KP is solar powered!
Breakfast on Tuesday was great fresh fruit and AMAZING FRENCH-PRESS coffee! I had 2 cups. Julius drove us to the Paraa river launch and we took a ride up the river to see
We rushed back to KP because we were hoping some people wouldn’t show up for their guided chimp trek. 2 people didn’t show up. It was perfect. We ended up getting a private guide to take us to the chimps. He said we were the luckiest people he has ever taken because of the private tour and because the chimps were on the ground in the middle of the path when we first encountered them. Chimps are a lot bigger than I imagined them. We spent an hour and a half with the chimps, saw some really old (500 years) trees, and had a general good time.
Wednesday morning, we decided to sleep late so that we could relax before taking another ride back to
The ride back was pretty sweet. We got a matatu instead of going on a big bus. We met a cool guy named Justin who had been working with the Red Cross in Masindi, the town closest to the park. We went out for dinner at another Indian place, I had couscous…again. Though I did enjoy my drink; vodka was an excellent additive to my freshly-squeezed passion juice.
Today we planned on getting some more soil samples from ABC primary school, but only Lauren went because I felt a little tired. Tonight, Lauren and I are making a mzungu dinner for the Lubogas. Tomorrow, we are going to another school, Kittetika C/U, and then Shabbat comes. I leave for
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Mbale adventures
Wednesday August 6th, 2008
I'm down to one post a week. Obviously, things are really busy here; we've been visiting many schools, we've been trying to enter a lot of data for preliminary analysis, and we've been trying to procure soil samples from families we have already taken blood from. All of this happens in Mpererwe, where internet is really cheap, but doesn't even have the bandwidth to get email. I apologize.
So, I left off on Thursday last week, huh. Friday was an adventure of a different sort. I went to town with Lauren for a morning meeting with Mike (friend from Yale) and Dr. Sadigh (Yale global health MD). We relaxed and talked about accomplishments, challenges, and goals. Then, I was off to Mbale.
Travelling in Uganda is kinda like playing darts drunk and blindfolded. I jumped on a bodaboda for a ride from the hospital to the new bus park. My driver, a nice guy agreed to take beya mna'Uganda (Ugandan's price), thought I said old taxi park. Because I haven't been to either place, I thought that maybe all the nice people who were telling me that I had to go accross the street were wrong. Eventually, I made it accross the street and was escorted to a Gateway bus to Mbale, they said they were the Elgon Flyer just to get me on. 10,000USh later (fair price), I was on my way.
Busses in Uganda are the same size as those in the USA but there are 5 seats accross instead of 4. Also, there are no lights, all the windows open, no AC, and peddlers are free to come and go as they please until the bus starts moving. Once the bus moved, however, I was out cold...clutching my bag to make sure I knew that nobody's hands were going into it. (I am still a little nervous about that kind of thing because I stopped an attempted pickpocket from getting my new camera about 2 weeks ago, oh yea, I have a new camera!).
About an hour into the ride, I get woken up by people yelling to my right. I thought, that's weird, I have a window seat. There were people sticking all kinds of food and drink through the windows of the bus. I was right next to the guy selling meat and chicken, NOT FAIR. Eventually, I bought a few mini bananas and was very happy for paying only about 12.5 cents for 5 bananas. Once the bus started moving, people started to yell a lot louder; apparently not all debts had been paid. I saw at least 3 people on the bus throw money out of the window to 1 or 2 people running after the bus. I guess you have to be honest in business here (unless you're in government).
When I ate my first banana I realized that I have nowhere to throw the peel. The guy next to me explained in sign language.
- fingers peeled an imaginary banana - got it
- fingers put imaginary banana into mouth - clear
- fingers throw peel out the window - really?
Unfortunately, Uganda is it's own garbage dump. People don't care about throwing anything just about anywhere. I also only know once place to recycle water bottle... I'm saving them all for one trip.
Suprisingly, we arrived in Mbale on time. Not suprisingly, my guide/ride/hotelier was not. I waited among the bodaboda drivers in the bus park, who would not leave me alone, for my ride. The ride was worth the wait. We went into the backwoods of a small town to a tiny village on top of Nabugoye hill (check out this article written by my friend Jordan about their Jewish community). Forunately, I made it with an hour to spare before Shabbat, unfortunately, I had only an hour before shabbat to get settled, shower, and take pictures. I took no pictures before shabbat.
Shabbat was nice. Very different from what I am used to, but still very nice. The singing and congregation participation was really fresh, especially since some of Kabbalat Shabbat was in Luganda. The electricity went out in the middle of the service, so the entire room was lit only by 2 candles. It was really great. After services, we Mzungus who did not get invited for meals or refused invitations sat to a shabbat dinner. It's amazing what hanging out with your people can do for you when you've been away for so long. We spoke a lot about how the only reason we were together was because we are Jewish and a lot about the people-tend-to-sit-in-a-lunchroom-at-the-same-table-as-people-like-them phenomenon. We stayed up past 10:30, but then I slept really well.
The rest of Shabbat was really nice and relaxing. I went for a walk to the lookout point where the founder of the community sat to look at his kingdom (long story). It rained a bit, but the sunset was still spectacular.
Saturday night was a trip. We went to town to get some food and drink. We ended up getting food (I had some banananas and passion fruit) and then going to get Adam(new friend)'s beard shaved off and hair cut. The barber was absolutely wasted. He kept on messing up. So, I took over. We hung out there for about an hour and a half, and then I crashed on my friend Mitch(also new friend)'s couch.
We woke up really early, I was going to Sipi falls and Mitch was going to Kampala for a ride West. I met up with Merideth (also new friend) and we jumped in a matatu bound for Sipi. A- MA-ZING! Only pictures will do it any sort of justice, and I don't have the bandwidth. Sipi is basically a system of 3 waterfalls each at least 60 meters high all on the same river. We hiked down a huge ravine and back up the mountains to get to all of them. It was out of this world.
We finished about 3lbs lighter because of the exercise, but 1lb heavier with dirt. We called the guest house and were invited back in to take a shower. Really sweet people, I wish I had more time to write about them (the library closes in 12 minutes).
Getting back to Kampala was nuts. I ended up getting the last seat on the 2nd to last bus, so my space was shared with some chickens. I stepped on one of them by accident, it made a lot of noise and I got a lot of looks.
Note to self: in next post tell the story of the Muganda women talking about Mzungus.
My ride back to Mpererwe consisted of boarding a matatu bound for Wandegeya, getting off said matatu when it went into the worst traffic jam ever to pick up people from a concert (I had to fight the conducter for the right to leave), and jumping onto a boda. The boda's light stopped working half way through the trip. I screamed bloody murder, but the guy wouldn't stop driving out of fear that I wouldn't pay him at all. I got home and got some well-deserved rest.
Monday...Monday...hmmm. I guess I was really tired. I will continue with more about this week next time.
I'm down to one post a week. Obviously, things are really busy here; we've been visiting many schools, we've been trying to enter a lot of data for preliminary analysis, and we've been trying to procure soil samples from families we have already taken blood from. All of this happens in Mpererwe, where internet is really cheap, but doesn't even have the bandwidth to get email. I apologize.
So, I left off on Thursday last week, huh. Friday was an adventure of a different sort. I went to town with Lauren for a morning meeting with Mike (friend from Yale) and Dr. Sadigh (Yale global health MD). We relaxed and talked about accomplishments, challenges, and goals. Then, I was off to Mbale.
Travelling in Uganda is kinda like playing darts drunk and blindfolded. I jumped on a bodaboda for a ride from the hospital to the new bus park. My driver, a nice guy agreed to take beya mna'Uganda (Ugandan's price), thought I said old taxi park. Because I haven't been to either place, I thought that maybe all the nice people who were telling me that I had to go accross the street were wrong. Eventually, I made it accross the street and was escorted to a Gateway bus to Mbale, they said they were the Elgon Flyer just to get me on. 10,000USh later (fair price), I was on my way.
Busses in Uganda are the same size as those in the USA but there are 5 seats accross instead of 4. Also, there are no lights, all the windows open, no AC, and peddlers are free to come and go as they please until the bus starts moving. Once the bus moved, however, I was out cold...clutching my bag to make sure I knew that nobody's hands were going into it. (I am still a little nervous about that kind of thing because I stopped an attempted pickpocket from getting my new camera about 2 weeks ago, oh yea, I have a new camera!).
About an hour into the ride, I get woken up by people yelling to my right. I thought, that's weird, I have a window seat. There were people sticking all kinds of food and drink through the windows of the bus. I was right next to the guy selling meat and chicken, NOT FAIR. Eventually, I bought a few mini bananas and was very happy for paying only about 12.5 cents for 5 bananas. Once the bus started moving, people started to yell a lot louder; apparently not all debts had been paid. I saw at least 3 people on the bus throw money out of the window to 1 or 2 people running after the bus. I guess you have to be honest in business here (unless you're in government).
When I ate my first banana I realized that I have nowhere to throw the peel. The guy next to me explained in sign language.
- fingers peeled an imaginary banana - got it
- fingers put imaginary banana into mouth - clear
- fingers throw peel out the window - really?
Unfortunately, Uganda is it's own garbage dump. People don't care about throwing anything just about anywhere. I also only know once place to recycle water bottle... I'm saving them all for one trip.
Suprisingly, we arrived in Mbale on time. Not suprisingly, my guide/ride/hotelier was not. I waited among the bodaboda drivers in the bus park, who would not leave me alone, for my ride. The ride was worth the wait. We went into the backwoods of a small town to a tiny village on top of Nabugoye hill (check out this article written by my friend Jordan about their Jewish community). Forunately, I made it with an hour to spare before Shabbat, unfortunately, I had only an hour before shabbat to get settled, shower, and take pictures. I took no pictures before shabbat.
Shabbat was nice. Very different from what I am used to, but still very nice. The singing and congregation participation was really fresh, especially since some of Kabbalat Shabbat was in Luganda. The electricity went out in the middle of the service, so the entire room was lit only by 2 candles. It was really great. After services, we Mzungus who did not get invited for meals or refused invitations sat to a shabbat dinner. It's amazing what hanging out with your people can do for you when you've been away for so long. We spoke a lot about how the only reason we were together was because we are Jewish and a lot about the people-tend-to-sit-in-a-lunchroom-at-the-same-table-as-people-like-them phenomenon. We stayed up past 10:30, but then I slept really well.
The rest of Shabbat was really nice and relaxing. I went for a walk to the lookout point where the founder of the community sat to look at his kingdom (long story). It rained a bit, but the sunset was still spectacular.
Saturday night was a trip. We went to town to get some food and drink. We ended up getting food (I had some banananas and passion fruit) and then going to get Adam(new friend)'s beard shaved off and hair cut. The barber was absolutely wasted. He kept on messing up. So, I took over. We hung out there for about an hour and a half, and then I crashed on my friend Mitch(also new friend)'s couch.
We woke up really early, I was going to Sipi falls and Mitch was going to Kampala for a ride West. I met up with Merideth (also new friend) and we jumped in a matatu bound for Sipi. A- MA-ZING! Only pictures will do it any sort of justice, and I don't have the bandwidth. Sipi is basically a system of 3 waterfalls each at least 60 meters high all on the same river. We hiked down a huge ravine and back up the mountains to get to all of them. It was out of this world.
We finished about 3lbs lighter because of the exercise, but 1lb heavier with dirt. We called the guest house and were invited back in to take a shower. Really sweet people, I wish I had more time to write about them (the library closes in 12 minutes).
Getting back to Kampala was nuts. I ended up getting the last seat on the 2nd to last bus, so my space was shared with some chickens. I stepped on one of them by accident, it made a lot of noise and I got a lot of looks.
Note to self: in next post tell the story of the Muganda women talking about Mzungus.
My ride back to Mpererwe consisted of boarding a matatu bound for Wandegeya, getting off said matatu when it went into the worst traffic jam ever to pick up people from a concert (I had to fight the conducter for the right to leave), and jumping onto a boda. The boda's light stopped working half way through the trip. I screamed bloody murder, but the guy wouldn't stop driving out of fear that I wouldn't pay him at all. I got home and got some well-deserved rest.
Monday...Monday...hmmm. I guess I was really tired. I will continue with more about this week next time.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
It's a hard knock life in class 5
Thursday, July 31 2008
I realize that the last time I wrote was Sunday. It's been a really long week. We went to 3 schools, got about 68 blood samples, AND WENT WHITE WATER RAFTING DOWN THE WHITE NILE! Yes, that exciting (if you heard it like a used car salesman would say it). So, as hard as it is, I will start from Monday...
Monday was all about Good Times. Yes, the sitcom. You see, Good Times Primary School in Mpererwe, named themselves after that sitcom. They also happened to have so many parents show up for testing day, which was much cooler than the whole sitcom thing. We got 19 blood samples there. Not bad.
However, we were pretty impressed with Valley St. Mary's Primary School in Namere, too. I am actually pretty partial to this school because the headmaster, Julius, rocks. I'm pretty sure that the following biographical sketch is correct.... Julius is an orphan who really felt strongly about his musical talent and improving the life of other orphans in Uganda. So he got a group of musical orphans together who now give health education through song and dance. I get to see them on Monday but won't post the video because I don't have the bandwidth. Sorry.
Anyway, Uganda is at the beginning of the rainy season. There is no summer or winter here, just rainy and dry. So, as we were walking to VSMPS, the sky looked foreboding. As we walked in the door a few drips fell; 5 minutes later it was a full-on deluge. Parents still came. Probably not as many as would have come if the sun were out, but still, WOW. Everybody was wet, including one of our students who took a bodaboda and ran in the rain to get there. I think there is a picture of Henry with Lauren's shawl on him... Lauren's friends, Ruth and Anna, were visiting so they got to play with the kids at this school. Our favorite: Timothy. I have about 10 pics of him. Everytime I walk by the hospital and he sees me, he runs to hold my hand.
That night had it's own challenges. You see, the power went out just as I was making hashbrowns. Have no fear, I ate them... right after I cooked them on my new sigir (little coal stove I bought for $3.75. Problem was, I thought I may have made the whole thing non-kosher by taking coals from the family stove. Called the rabbi(s), no answer. Texted my brother, no answer. Called my mom, no answer. Meanwhile, Lauren, Rith and Anna were waiting on pins and needles for the answer so that I could explain whyI was having such a problem with cooking potatoes. Called a friend, no answer. Called another friend, Gila, who rocked before, but now rocks so much harder. She got the question, my calling card number, and my cellphone number within the 2 minutes I had left in airtime. She then called back with an answer after calling Yehuda Rother at Camp Stone (I can't and will never try to get away from that place). KOSHER! Nice; I ate them with a vengence.
Wednesday was N-U-T-S! Lauren, Ruth and Anna wanted to go to Jinja. I realized that I haven't really left Kampala, ever. So, Anna and I went white water rafting and Lauren and Ruth went biking. Both were adventures. I'm going to talk about mine because I was there, it's much easier.
It all started with an early morning bodaboda ride from Mpererwe to Wandegeya, then Wandegeya to the Lugogo Mall where we were picked up in a bus. We drove to the Red Chilli, a backpacker place, and met a huge bunch of Israelis who were very suprised to find a religious, Hebrew-speaking Jew in their midst. We drove about 3 hours to Jinja, though its only about 60 miles away and had breakfast at the lodge. I ate pineapple, good pineapple. We then took an open truck about 5km away to the head of the nile. No biggy here, just a big dam and smooth water... little did we know...
So we came to the launching site, chose groups of 7 (Anna and I ended up with "team mulalu," crazy in English) and took off. Paolo, our guide was on the Ugandan kayak team and can, without a doubt, beat you up. We had a few grade 1s and 2s just to warm up. He also had us swim through a grade 2 to "get a better feel for your life jackets, you'll use them for real very soon." And we did on our first class 5. Lauren and Ruth were able to take some pictures while we did it because they biked really fast to see us almost succeed. And almost we did. We ran though the first half pretty well. However, the second half flipped our raft front over back landing us all in the water. It was awesome!
After a few rapids, we had about half an hour of smooth water so we went for a swim. I talked with a Scottish MD about the kinds of ways we would pay for the trip. He payed a little more because a paddle whacked his nose on the first rapid. We also had a small lunch; they ate pineapple and glucose crackers. I had pineapple...and a Zone bar (thanks Weinbachs). Then we tackled "silverback," a rapid with a huge smooth drop (ie the water wasn't white, about a 20 foot drop) and a MASSIVE standing wave. We "surfed" the top of the wave and made it over.
The rest of the trip was as psychotic, flipping a bunch, trying to convince others we saw hippos and crocs, and avoiding certain death by walking around a class 6 rapid instead of running through it. There were some pretty scary times, like when you think you're about to reach surface but it never seems to come, or when someone grabs your leg after you see them get shoved under by the boat right after a class 5 rapid and you can't find them to pull them up until about 10 seconds later... yea, it was scary. But completely awesome.
The way back was in the same truck, but this time a 25km ride to camp... we rafted for 30km. On the way back the trip was made absolutely perfect when I saw at least 4 schools with the name of the company running our trip on their signs. The company gives back to the community. We chose the right company.
We got back to a BBQ with 2 free beers each, I ate couscous and lentils and had a beer. Couldn't manage to finish the first one, let alone start the second. And it was evening and it was morning, Day 4.
Today was hard. I got little sleep last night, because it felt like I was still in the rapids. It's hard to get rid of that much adrenaline. I still managed to get up early enough to prepare for Grace Primary School. We got a call about 30min before we were supposed to be there because so many parents showed up. I counted almost 40 parents. Unfortunately, about 20 left becuase their children were not the right age, but people kept on coming! We got over 25 samples at Grace. Today was a very successful day.
(sorry, after trying for about 45 minutes, not enough bandwidth to send pics. I will try again tomorrow.)
I realize that the last time I wrote was Sunday. It's been a really long week. We went to 3 schools, got about 68 blood samples, AND WENT WHITE WATER RAFTING DOWN THE WHITE NILE! Yes, that exciting (if you heard it like a used car salesman would say it). So, as hard as it is, I will start from Monday...
Monday was all about Good Times. Yes, the sitcom. You see, Good Times Primary School in Mpererwe, named themselves after that sitcom. They also happened to have so many parents show up for testing day, which was much cooler than the whole sitcom thing. We got 19 blood samples there. Not bad.
However, we were pretty impressed with Valley St. Mary's Primary School in Namere, too. I am actually pretty partial to this school because the headmaster, Julius, rocks. I'm pretty sure that the following biographical sketch is correct.... Julius is an orphan who really felt strongly about his musical talent and improving the life of other orphans in Uganda. So he got a group of musical orphans together who now give health education through song and dance. I get to see them on Monday but won't post the video because I don't have the bandwidth. Sorry.
Anyway, Uganda is at the beginning of the rainy season. There is no summer or winter here, just rainy and dry. So, as we were walking to VSMPS, the sky looked foreboding. As we walked in the door a few drips fell; 5 minutes later it was a full-on deluge. Parents still came. Probably not as many as would have come if the sun were out, but still, WOW. Everybody was wet, including one of our students who took a bodaboda and ran in the rain to get there. I think there is a picture of Henry with Lauren's shawl on him... Lauren's friends, Ruth and Anna, were visiting so they got to play with the kids at this school. Our favorite: Timothy. I have about 10 pics of him. Everytime I walk by the hospital and he sees me, he runs to hold my hand.
That night had it's own challenges. You see, the power went out just as I was making hashbrowns. Have no fear, I ate them... right after I cooked them on my new sigir (little coal stove I bought for $3.75. Problem was, I thought I may have made the whole thing non-kosher by taking coals from the family stove. Called the rabbi(s), no answer. Texted my brother, no answer. Called my mom, no answer. Meanwhile, Lauren, Rith and Anna were waiting on pins and needles for the answer so that I could explain whyI was having such a problem with cooking potatoes. Called a friend, no answer. Called another friend, Gila, who rocked before, but now rocks so much harder. She got the question, my calling card number, and my cellphone number within the 2 minutes I had left in airtime. She then called back with an answer after calling Yehuda Rother at Camp Stone (I can't and will never try to get away from that place). KOSHER! Nice; I ate them with a vengence.
Wednesday was N-U-T-S! Lauren, Ruth and Anna wanted to go to Jinja. I realized that I haven't really left Kampala, ever. So, Anna and I went white water rafting and Lauren and Ruth went biking. Both were adventures. I'm going to talk about mine because I was there, it's much easier.
It all started with an early morning bodaboda ride from Mpererwe to Wandegeya, then Wandegeya to the Lugogo Mall where we were picked up in a bus. We drove to the Red Chilli, a backpacker place, and met a huge bunch of Israelis who were very suprised to find a religious, Hebrew-speaking Jew in their midst. We drove about 3 hours to Jinja, though its only about 60 miles away and had breakfast at the lodge. I ate pineapple, good pineapple. We then took an open truck about 5km away to the head of the nile. No biggy here, just a big dam and smooth water... little did we know...
So we came to the launching site, chose groups of 7 (Anna and I ended up with "team mulalu," crazy in English) and took off. Paolo, our guide was on the Ugandan kayak team and can, without a doubt, beat you up. We had a few grade 1s and 2s just to warm up. He also had us swim through a grade 2 to "get a better feel for your life jackets, you'll use them for real very soon." And we did on our first class 5. Lauren and Ruth were able to take some pictures while we did it because they biked really fast to see us almost succeed. And almost we did. We ran though the first half pretty well. However, the second half flipped our raft front over back landing us all in the water. It was awesome!
After a few rapids, we had about half an hour of smooth water so we went for a swim. I talked with a Scottish MD about the kinds of ways we would pay for the trip. He payed a little more because a paddle whacked his nose on the first rapid. We also had a small lunch; they ate pineapple and glucose crackers. I had pineapple...and a Zone bar (thanks Weinbachs). Then we tackled "silverback," a rapid with a huge smooth drop (ie the water wasn't white, about a 20 foot drop) and a MASSIVE standing wave. We "surfed" the top of the wave and made it over.
The rest of the trip was as psychotic, flipping a bunch, trying to convince others we saw hippos and crocs, and avoiding certain death by walking around a class 6 rapid instead of running through it. There were some pretty scary times, like when you think you're about to reach surface but it never seems to come, or when someone grabs your leg after you see them get shoved under by the boat right after a class 5 rapid and you can't find them to pull them up until about 10 seconds later... yea, it was scary. But completely awesome.
The way back was in the same truck, but this time a 25km ride to camp... we rafted for 30km. On the way back the trip was made absolutely perfect when I saw at least 4 schools with the name of the company running our trip on their signs. The company gives back to the community. We chose the right company.
We got back to a BBQ with 2 free beers each, I ate couscous and lentils and had a beer. Couldn't manage to finish the first one, let alone start the second. And it was evening and it was morning, Day 4.
Today was hard. I got little sleep last night, because it felt like I was still in the rapids. It's hard to get rid of that much adrenaline. I still managed to get up early enough to prepare for Grace Primary School. We got a call about 30min before we were supposed to be there because so many parents showed up. I counted almost 40 parents. Unfortunately, about 20 left becuase their children were not the right age, but people kept on coming! We got over 25 samples at Grace. Today was a very successful day.
(sorry, after trying for about 45 minutes, not enough bandwidth to send pics. I will try again tomorrow.)
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Testing, testing, test of…. faith?
Sunday, July 27 2008
Truth is, I have no problem having these discussions with people as long as we don't accuse or denounce the other. I prefer more of a religious exchange than an outright disputation. She had never met a Jew before and thought I was SDA (short for seventh day adventist). She then told me how next time we meet she is going to bring her bible to prove me wrong. It's funny. I didn't know how to respond. I was thinking that maybe I should have a better look at the end of the the Old Testament so that I have a lot more to say. We never stressed all that in school. Something to think about.
Back to the school: Here we found 4 children with elevated lead levels, but nothing dramatic. Interestingly, 2 of them were twins exposed to the same environment. I am beginning to think that those children with high lead levels only have them because of their specific environments, not necessarily the dump. Lauren and I talked about it, either way we have done our job, we have a good study, and we got a $10,000 machine donated for 18 months. I truly hope that we get to report that all the children have low lead levels. After the session, I went home and made some cheddar mac and cheese for me and Lauren. Great comfort food after a long day.
Getting Assent from the children, the candy helped a lot
Not a single kid cried when getting their blood drawn, notice all the kids looking on in the background.
Morning assembly at Mpererwe Church of Uganda Primary School, we addressed the whole school. When you ask these kids how they are doing, they respond in unison "we are eager, disciplined, and very smart." Or something like that.
Our phlebotomist (sp?) and MD turned lab tech.
Getting the notes down in Mpererwe CU. Today we did the letter A.
So lets talk about Thursday. I woke up early to go to town to photocopy all of the documents for the school visit that was planned for 2PM. I arrived in Wandegeya at 9am, sat down with the printer and began printing the documents from my USB drive. We sent the first two documents to get copied. An hour and a half later, we finally finished printing out 10 documents. That is about 9 minutes/document…?! And we checked on the progress of copying the documents, only 20 packets of 9 pages were complete…in an hour and a half. TIA (that is
I explained to the woman that we have to move faster because I had to leave Wandegeya by 11AM and told them to print one sided pages, sorry earth. I also recruited 2 more machines from a neighboring store. I got out by 11:30. Now because I had to be at St. Stephen’s Hospital at noon, and matatus take about an hour to get there, I got a bodaboda for the 12km journey. That in itself was an adventure.
12:03, arrived at St. Stephen’s. 3000USh spent ($1.80). Nice to know that even with such a weak dollar I still feel like I’m not spending NYC prices.
We got to the school on time and were greeted by at least 100 children all smiling and eager to see a mzungu go into their school. We waited for the headmistress to come, it was a standoff of cultures…we tried crossing the line by saying what little Luganda we knew, all we got were big toothy smiles, it was totally worth it.
We set everything up for blood testing and interviews on a shady stage in the middle of the playground. 25 kids, 3 parents. Unfortunately, one of the parents died and was being buried that afternoon so all of the other parents went to the funeral. The headmistress was embarrassed, we really tried to explain that it’s ok and that we’ll do what we can. We told her that though parents gave her permission, we need the parents to be around for the interview. All of a sudden the 3 parents who were there had 8 children aged 6-7 each. Hmmm. Possible, but not at all probable. So, one woman actually did have 4 because she ran the school orphanage. It seems that it’s quite normal for each school to have it’s own orphanage.
After a long introduction, consenting process, and blood tests, we got the kids’ results. I was really holding my breath as each result came with a high-pitched beep from the machine. NO CHILDREN WITH HIGH LEAD!!! We did, however, find 3 children (out of the 8 we tested) who were borderline anemic, and they will be getting free follow-up at St. Stephen’s. The day was a success.
We tried to get home early to prepare for the next day.
Friday:
This was our school. Right near the house, we went to their church and explained everything, we did the focus group in their auditorium. Only 1 parent showed up on time. We stayed from 8am to 1:30PM and waited for children who were sent home to go fetch their parents to return. All in all, 11 completed the study. A little disappointing, but still a good learning experience.
Truth is, I have no problem having these discussions with people as long as we don't accuse or denounce the other. I prefer more of a religious exchange than an outright disputation. She had never met a Jew before and thought I was SDA (short for seventh day adventist). She then told me how next time we meet she is going to bring her bible to prove me wrong. It's funny. I didn't know how to respond. I was thinking that maybe I should have a better look at the end of the the Old Testament so that I have a lot more to say. We never stressed all that in school. Something to think about.
Back to the school: Here we found 4 children with elevated lead levels, but nothing dramatic. Interestingly, 2 of them were twins exposed to the same environment. I am beginning to think that those children with high lead levels only have them because of their specific environments, not necessarily the dump. Lauren and I talked about it, either way we have done our job, we have a good study, and we got a $10,000 machine donated for 18 months. I truly hope that we get to report that all the children have low lead levels. After the session, I went home and made some cheddar mac and cheese for me and Lauren. Great comfort food after a long day.
Shabbat was nice and relaxing even though someone took the tape off of the refrigerator light button. Basically, I waited for the sound of the fridge opening and pounced on the opportunity. Always exciting here.
Consenting the parents at Kiteezi Learning Center
Getting Assent from the children, the candy helped a lot
Not a single kid cried when getting their blood drawn, notice all the kids looking on in the background.
Morning assembly at Mpererwe Church of Uganda Primary School, we addressed the whole school. When you ask these kids how they are doing, they respond in unison "we are eager, disciplined, and very smart." Or something like that.
Teacher Alice keeping the kids busy while we take some of their blood.
Our phlebotomist (sp?) and MD turned lab tech.
Getting the notes down in Mpererwe CU. Today we did the letter A.
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