Culture with a Corporal C

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

I think that many of the differences that I see between Johannesburg and Kampala are related to the type of interactions I have with the environment. In Joburg, I was with family all the time. It was a welcome break from being in Uganda and basically being on your own all day. Now that I’m back, however, I am clashing with the culture on a more basic level.

Today 2 students from Makerere and I went to 3 different schools around the Kiteezi landfill to ask permission to recruit students from them. It was so nice to hear the students learning in sing-song, really it was something out of a movie. I hate that I don’t have a camera… hopefully I will fix that tomorrow. The children greeted us to their school in unison. And then we went to the field, among little children playing, with the deputy of the school to discuss the project.

The meeting went very well. We discussed all aspects of the study and what help we needed from the school. At the end, he asked us to do ourselves and other researchers a favor. He said that other people come into the schools, take samples and then nothing. Nobody contacted them to inform them what the results were, nobody took the research any further. He said (something like) “don’t just take our children’s’ blood and write a book about it in America, help us make a difference.” Wise words. They reminded me of a professor at Mount Sinai who at first blew up at me when he found out that we were going into schools to analyze blood for lead levels. He thought that we weren’t going to provide treatment or education, just go in there with some skewers, stick some kids and run. Some people have a lot of distrust for researchers because they have been used by them in the past. Just an aside, this happened in America not so long ago… check out the Tuskegee Study on Wikipedia.

We assured him that we have no intention of leaving them high and dry, and he agreed to look over the forms and call us in a day or two. As he was walking us out, however, the visit turned very sour, for me anyway.

As the little Muganda children with bags on their back were walking, holding hands, back to their homes, I saw six boys are lying face down on the ground, their teacher above them. One of them was already crying, protecting his bottom by lying on his side. It took me a few seconds, but I realized that the teacher had a cane in his hand. I prayed that he didn’t hit the children in front of me, I don’t know what I would have done. I almost stopped him to begin with. The Makerere students were chuckling embarrassedly because, as they told me, they were in that position before. Students in Uganda can get up to 3 hits of a cane for any reason. Henry told me that at his school they hit him for getting below average marks; he’s been studying as hard as possible ever since. Teachers are allowed to give 3 lashes per student per day, the headmistress/master can give 5, and parents have no limit.

I wanted to say that it was barbaric and cruel; only savages hit their children. I wanted to judge them with my American values. Instead, I, an American medical student who learned that any evidence of abuse is required to be reported to the authorities, witnessed abuse and walked away. Abuse, you should just be aware is not reportable in Uganda…that’s what I was told by the medical students (I’m not sure if that is a legal or practical opinion). I haven’t had any lashes ever. Besides, that abuse is legally sanctioned. I don’t know if I did the right thing and I feel like I did not. I hope the teacher is now telling his wife how hard his day was because he had to cane six children.

I’m not sure what hospital (in America) I was in, but once I saw a woman slap her child very hard; not the kind of slap that people give to stop their children from doing something wrong. This slap was out of anger. I made sure that we caught eyes, and in my full ID tag regalia, I gave her a very stern look. She blanched immediately and apologized to her child. I could have taken it further, but didn’t out of embarrassment for me and the woman. I think this will be one of my biggest challenges as a doctor; learning when to be nice and understand where the people are coming from, and when to report them to the authorities.

I don’t know if I did the right thing.

I can’t end there. It’s too dramatic.

For the past two evenings I have been greeted at the Luboga’s by two amazing species of bird. One had a head that looked like it had been hit on both sides by a frying pan. Seriously, the head was almost 8 inches tall. The other was an extremely skinny light blue bird that stood about 3 feet tall.

That didn’t work. I’m going to make some comfort food…Black eyed peas. There isn’t any kosher French fries or barbequed/fried chicken here.

Back in the Saddle

It's interesting to go somewhere, leave it and then return. Prospectives change. I came back to Uganda knowing what to expect... funny story, about 10 minutes before entering the house, the electricity went out. 10 minutes later, the water stopped running. Thanks to my trip to South Africa, I have fresh pita which was dinner and will be lunch today. Seriously though, I find that coming back to Uganda is like coming back to what is normal for me, it was nice to be back in my own room surrounded by all my familiar clutter. I slept like a baby.

Everyone in the neighborhood also recognized me. I got a bunch of "culicayo," "welcome home" from the bodaboda guys in Mpererwe, from some of the shopkeeps on the road to the Luboga's house, and especially from the Lubogas. They said that they have to start fighting for their rights to me. Then when I showed Dr. Rev. Luboga that he made the front page of The Jewish State, he exclaimed "YOU TOOK ME INTERNATIONAL!" He loved it!

Faith, Dr. Luboga's neice, really took on the advocate's role last night. She made sure that there were fruit cut up and rady for me, she kept on sneaking me bananas, and made sure that nobody asked me to do anything besides relax. After stuffing my face with tons of fruit and pita, I excused myself and took off to hit the sack. I slept for 11 hours, 10-9. I guess a fast day (Sunday) will do that to you.

Now that I'm back in the Makerere School of Medicine Library, I feel like I'm back at the helm. There is much to do. Our first school visit is on Thursday, and Lauren lined up 2 more after that. All of the red tape has been shredded, and now there will be blood (reference to a movie by the same name, but probably a bit inappropriate here). I am very excited to start the testing. In retrospect, it's amazing how much we had to go through to get to this point. I feel like now that we can finally work with teh schools there will be much less work to do (not really though).

Talking about work... It's time I get back to it.

Note about pictures... there will be none until I get my camera fixed or buy a new one. Please send your donations to Danny Asher care of Nancy Asher...... (Not a real appeal for money, but if you want, be my guest)

Guilty!

I'm sorry. It's been so busy here in South Africa that I have not updated in almost a week. I had one very disappointed reader contct me and I had to act.

THis week has been absolutely nuts! I've been hanging out with the kids (Paul and Chev Bacher's kids), babysitting, cooking...it's wonderful to have more than a little stove. There was a bris on Thursday, lion park on Sunday, cool African market on Thursday too. It's been so nice being busy with other things here, but I can't wait to get back. Lauren has been working so hard!

Worst part: My camera broke yesterday. It's a summer of so many firsts so it fits that I shouldn't be able to capture it with my camera. I think I'm going to buy one in Uganda.

Amazing news: I have the front page of The Jewish State, a NJ newspaper, on July 18th. I share it with a great friend, Avi Hoffman, so this one is a keeper. Somebosy save me a copy! www.thejewishstate.net. Most of the article is very accurate, I know it's hard to interview and remember things perfectly, but Jason Cohen did an amazing job. They even put a link to the blog! Hopefully people will read and send money... we still need some for the project. AHEM!

I know I said it before, but it rocks to be with family, especially when my sister (in law) gave birth to Channa Asher, picture below.
Anyway, after a wonderful 10 days with my family and I have so many stories to tell and pictures to post, but Shabbos is in about an hour (its the winter here) and Zahara, 2 years old, is standing on the stove... i gotta go.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Lazy in SA

Sunday, July 14, 2008

Family is paramount. Even the kind of family that is not specifically related to you, but you still go through the trouble of explaining how you are related through marriage. I do that because my family in South Africa rocks. I am really living it up here; big bed, tons of food, and the best showers in the universe. Seriously, I feel like I am in a steaming hot downpour. They have one of those shower heads that is probably illegal in the US because it’s a foot or more in diameter and just deluges water in perfectly-sized drops.

I’ve been doing a lot here in SA besides improving my hygiene. Today we went to a game reserve and I pet lion cubs…yes, I’m a tourist. We also hang out on the trampoline, yes, TRAMPOLINE in their yard. I can almost do a back flip…will post the latest attempt. Shabbat was wonderful and full of all types of great conversation (and sushi). And, throughout it all, I have been comparing South Africa to Uganda.

South Africa is a mix of third and first world aspects that have not yet come to terms with each other. We drove down a 6 lane highway and saw huge shantytowns on the hillsides. It’s hard to explain, but there are sections of town that look like Manhattan and others that look like Kampala. Here you can really feel the tension between the “haves” and the “have nots.” There is also a lot of (violent) crime here, probably because of a lot of that tension. In Uganda, I don’t feel that tension. There is a large history of pain and separation here; I went to the Africa Museum on Friday and had a disjointed history lesson. Seriously, skip it.

Left uncompleted…

Snaps (like pictures in Luganda)

This is a sex free school zone
Rev. Dr. Luboga at the focus group

Mount Sinai's lesser known branch in Entebbe

Chameleon on St. Stephen's Hospital's road
Sunrise in Mpererwe

Sunrise in the Luboga's yard

Lake Victoria at dusk

Tastes like babies?

Just a quick update from South Africa:

1. I just ate meat for the first time in 3.5 weeks... twice.

2 MY SISTER IN LAW HAD A BABY GIRL! Mom and baby are healthy. Baby was 6lbs5ounces (ish).

It's great to be with family!

Lake Victoria Luxury

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Today I went back to the Ministry of Health, but I had a problem. I didn’t remember the name or location of the person/people whom I spoke to last time I was there. So, naturally, I smiled a lot, pretended to accidentally open the wrong door, and walked around the entire building faking epiphanies when I reached the end of a hallway and did not recognize anyone in the offices in that hall. Eventually, I found Christine who was so helpful to me. She was, of course, all business until the very last second of our meeting. “Are you a believer in Jesus?” (completely out of the blue, no religious discussion before this at all!)

I answered quite candidly, “No, I’m Jewish.”

“You’re JEWISH? One of the chosen people?!”

Immediately she started crying to me and told me about how much her church prays for the Jews and for peace in Israel. She hugged and blessed me with the priestly blessing of the old testament among other blessings for about 5 minutes, still crying. I was a bit shocked. After all that impersonal service and telling me that looking at our proposal would take at least another week, a complete breakdown of any boundaries. She then asked me to bless her. So, I blessed her with the same blessings of the old testament, but in Hebrew. She really liked that. I know because she thanked me… and because at 5:30PM I got a call from the Asst. Director of Health who approved of our study. My friend Mike decided that he is going to play the religion card here too, but he’s an atheist, I doubt he’ll have as much luck. I know I’ve said this before, but people are really religious and religiously motivated here in Uganda.

This is going to be a treat. I went to a hotel tonight. You see, going to Entebbe, staying in a hotel, and then getting a free shuttle to the airport in the morning is just about the same as praying that your private hire taxi shows up on time in Kampala. I am paying $55 for the night in a hotel where I can hear Lake Victoria’s waves crashing on the shore, and I have hot water in my shower. LUXURY! I just took my first hot shower of the summer. It’s nice to be spoiled like this. Though, I did miss eating dinner and relaxing with the Lubogas.

Before my shower, I went for a walk to the beach. There were bugs everywhere. I took some pictures and will attempt posting them (writing this one in advance). There were also no muzungus around at all. Just me. So, naturally, I hung out with the security guards and talked about the differences between American and Ugandan culture. (for some reason, every single dog in town is barking and howling now). They get paid 150,000 shillings a month…about $95. We talked about religion, that always seems to come up here, and kidded about starting a business importing obutunda, passion fruit. Passion fruit at 1000USh for 15, in the US they are about $4 each; that’s a 100 fold difference in price and you can get passion fruit much cheaper in bulk. They made me promise that if I started a company importing obutunda and omuyembe (mangoes, also really cheap here), they could work for me for American wages.

On my way back to the motel from the beach, I had a bit of a scare. It’s about a 4 block walk, but instead of paying about 33 cents for a ride on a bodaboda, I decide to walk; the streets were empty and dark. I thought it was an economical decision. Of course, I see someone across the street sitting on the curb who gets up just as I pass by. My prejudice precedes me. I figure, like a good New Yorker, that I’m about to be mugged while carrying my passport, all my money, and my ticket for tomorrow’s flight. So, I turn around and ask him where I can get a bodaboda even though I saw them about a block away. He pointed, but then asked me where I was going. I said Sophie’s Motel. He offered to walk with me. I think I wet my pants. I immediately introduced myself and asked for his name, Emmanuel. I then drove the conversation towards religion, figured that I could get lucky twice, and also spoke about my research “helping the poor children of Kampala.” I put that in quotes because it’s what I said, not because it was a lie. Naturally, he was a real sweetheart who had just finished his shift at the big hotel nearby and had to walk home. I felt stupid and smart at the same time and will probably react the same way if it should happen again.

Tomorrow, I’m off to South Africa; don’t worry, the blog will continue and I will still be working on research for Uganda. You see, Dr. Angela Mathee, in Johannesburg,did similar research and has been helping us all along. I want to get a good night’s sleep for the meeting, so I’m off to bed. It’s 10:20PM..