Interview on The Point with Mindy Todd

My friend and colleague Mindy Todd graciously invited me as a guest on the WCAI program The Point to discuss my experience in Uganda. Here is the link to the audio-

http://streams.wgbh.org/online/play.php?xml=cape2/thepoint/point_042009.xml&template=cape_audio

VOLSET Update & Volunteering Information

19 April

Festus emailed that Deborah began her studies at university on 1 April! He was able to gather a portion of her school fees for the first term so the school enrolled her. I'm hopeful he'll be able to find a sponsor who will commit to at least one year of fees if not all 4 years so she can stay in the program. Festus is also hoping he can find a sponsor for Gloria, to pay for her medical expenses and ensure she gets the correct nutrition and care. And then there will be school fees for her as well. I'm glad he doesn't seem to get overwhelmed by the responsibilities, I think I would.

The global economic downturn has had a real impact on the work of VOLSET and other small NGO's (non governmental organizations) who rely on volunteers. Quite simply people are not signing up to volunteer- not only does this mean the organizations lose out on human resources, they also lose out on a very important source of income. A portion of the fees volunteers pay goes directly to the program where they are placed.

I know my donation paid for the community outreach HIV/AIDs testing and counseling session we did in early March. With more volunteers VOLSET could do more of these outreach sessions, pay school fees for other students, fund a program to provide egg laying chickens to poor families, embark on more home visits to the sick and infirm, begin to set up the sewing and woodworking vocational classes and the list goes on.

For those interested in learning more about the work of VOLSET please contact Festus
volset2008@gmail.com
VOLSET also has a website but Festus will be able to give you more information about their current programs than the website. volsetuganda.tripod.com/
And they are on Facebook! www.facebook.com/people/Volset_Uganda/1171667344

If you are interested in the world wide volunteer opportunities through the Global Volunteer Network their website is www.volunteer.org.nz/

Saying Goodbye... and Thank You

27 March
The rains finally came- last night it poured for a long time and this morning it is cooler. Instead of fetching water from the spring, Mary had the girls pull water from the cistern and pour through a cloth filter into the barrel. Normally this job is done by the one boy who lives here who does it each evening when he is home from school. Millie wasn’t able to haul the jerry can up (the cistern is deep and not that full even after the rains) so I took a break from my laundry to help. It was heavy but doable and it took 7 jerry cans to fill the barrel. I brought out my camera and Deborah was very excited to take some photos. Here are the first pictures of me in Uganda. I think I still look the same.

Technically running is not playing… but I couldn’t help but include the photo taken from my window of a three year old running down the lane with a large knife in hand.
I’m not sure if I’ll be able to update this blog again before leaving. I’ll include safari pictures and photos from the big party at Future Diplomats Education Centre later this week if I can or once I return. I’ve been thinking about what I’ll miss, and not miss, about Uganda- here are a few thoughts:

What I won’t miss-

1.Covering my mouth with my skirt in the latrine so I don’t inadvertently inhale a fly
2.Breakfast, or really the lack thereof
3.The red dust… in my mouth, my nose, my hair, my eyes and stuck to my skin

What I will miss-
1.The night sky
2.The amazing fruit
3.A Ugandan smile which transforms even the most sour or angry appearing face
4.My evening walk to the view of Lake Victoria and the calls of Naaaluuunnnggaaa along the way
5.Snuggling with Gloria at dusk as we wait, and wait and wait for dinner.

This trip has been an incredible learning experience and adventure for me and I wouldn’t be here without the support and love of some important people. My grandparents Walter and Patricia Sowecke unknowingly made it possible for me to come to Africa. I thank them for their generosity and I thank Walter for instilling his dreams of travel and adventure in me. I also thank the best boss in the world, Susan Loucks, for not just making it possible for me to leave work for such an extended time, but for encouraging me to go when I was getting cold feet. I also thank Nancy, Gary and Alexei for giving Hintza a special place by the woodstove while I was gone and David busy. Finally I thank my best friend and partner, David. Your encouragement, excitement and faith in my ability to set out on my own were the greatest supports before and during this journey. The next adventure is one we’ll take together.

25 March
My time at VOLSET is coming to an end quickly. I’ve dreamt of being at home and missing Uganda only to wake up in Uganda and feel relieved.

This morning Mary and I did another home visit to an infirm man living with his sister in our village, Nsumba. I’ve started asking if I can take people’s photographs and, despite his illness, he and his sister were pleased to be asked. We all enjoy seeing ourselves! His English was good and had a stack of papers near his bed where he reads and writes although I don’t think he ever leaves his bed. He came to live with his sister when he was no longer able to care for himself. These visits make me realize what a posh life we live at the white house with occasional lights, furniture and even paint on some of the walls. We are most fortunate.

Although March is normally the start of the rainy season we have had no rain the entire time I’ve been here except for a torrential rain the first night I spent in Mukono the beginning of March. The dust from the road is coating everything and we have run out of water in our cistern. There is an elaborate gutter system that drains into a large tank and, when it is full, a much easier way to get water. This morning before our visit Mary, Deborah, Millie and Jane all went to fetch water from the natural spring down the lane. Probably a 10 minute walk but it is all up hill. People planted crops mid-March anticipating the start of the rain and many of those crops (beans, g-nuts, maize) are languishing without the rain. Nobody seems particularly concerned… I don’t think there has been a serious drought here for as long as anyone can recall.

How do you like Gloria’s new hair?

This week has been light work wise. I gave a presentation on Monday at a secondary school about personal hygiene, health, nutrition and water quality after spending most of the morning at the nursery school. Yesterday we gave another presentation to the Helm Secondary School (this is the third week we’ve visited) using the hour to answer the questions they’d submitted last week. It is obvious the curriculum lacks a reproductive health component and hopefully that will be included in the VOLSET talks in the coming weeks. Festus does an excellent job of answering the questions honestly and frankly but with a sense of humor which keeps the students engaged and also more at ease. The students and the headmaster gave me a very nice farewell and I was struck at how disappointed I felt knowing I wouldn’t be returning. This is the type of education I enjoy- sharing information with students that is relevant to their lives in a way that treats them as young adults. I only wish condoms were made more available to these students, and young adults throughout Uganda. In a culture that considers 10 year old girls “mature and ready for sex” they shouldn’t be surprised when teenagers at a boarding high school are engaging in sex and getting pregnant.

A 15 year old neighborhood girl was recently hospitalized after she tried to give herself an abortion. There is a plant (common enough that Jane pointed it out on the side of the lane) whose leaves you chop up and make into a tea which is thought to induce an abortion. Apparently she started to bleed profusely- her parents brought her to the clinic 4km to the south only to have the clinic say they couldn’t help and she should go to the hospital 8km in the other direction. I haven’t heard how she is doing.

Last weekend I went to Jinja with 2 other Real Uganda volunteers, Mayra (coincidentally from Boston, originally from Venezuela) and Zoe, an 18 year old from Ithaca, NY. Zoe was in town because she decided to leave her placement (an AIDS orphanage about 50km northwest of Kampala) after the director of her program received word that the villagers were planning a Muzungo sacrifice. In her village sacrifices are not uncommon- when they opened the market 12 children were sacrificed. Many parents will inflict cuts on their children so they are blemished/scarred as only un pierced, unblemished virgin children are appropriate for sacrifice. It was interesting to me that Lee (Real Uganda coordinator) told Zoe she should return- that it was just a scare tactic and they wouldn’t harm a white American with so many piercings (Zoe does have a lot of piercings)…. But I don’t blame her for not wanting to return. Especially since she walks unaccompanied for an hour each way between the orphanage and where she lives.

Off we went to Jinja to white water raft on the Nile. First we stopped in the town to get some western food (there are a lot of Aussie’s here catering to the Muzungo tourists) which included my first cup of non-instant coffee and a brownie. We then went north along the Nile to the base camp for the white water rafting- which also has the most incredible outdoor shower. It is set into a high bluff overlooking a bend in the Nile. There are doors to get into the shower but then open overlooking the water. No matter there was no hot water. Simply having water coming out of a shower head and a view in the evening light was more than enough for me.
The next day was the rafting adventure. There were class 1-5 rapids and if we didn’t flip the raft in almost all the class 4 and 5 I would have said it was great. OK, it was pretty amazing to be rafting on the Nile and it was beautiful. The last rapid was a class 6 which we portaged around, followed by a class 5 called “the bad place.” I decided to sit that one out and let my sinus drain the portion of Nile which had been shot up my nose for the past 4 hours.

This outfit was also run by Australians but there were plenty of Ugandan guides whose English had a bit of an Australian accent. There were three rafts of Muzungos, one safety raft, and then ½ dozen safety kayakers who would go through the rapids first and then standby to rescue the muzungos who got tossed out. They kayaks were the smallest I’ve seen, maybe a meter and a half in length, and I was impressed with how quickly they made sure everyone was accounted for and had us back to the rafts. But I will say it was exhausting getting tossed out and hauling yourself back in. That evening I decided to head back to Mukono as hanging out in the camp bar, listening to loud distorted music with a bunch of muzungo twenty-something’s wound up about rafting and cheap beer was not so appealing. 24 hours of being a tourist was plenty for me.

On Saturday I hope to spend the day in Kampala and return for the big party at the Future Diplomats school on Sunday. I bid adieu to VOLSET, Ntenjeru and my many mukwanos (friends) Sunday night as I return to Kampala to embark on a 3 day safari to the north west of Uganda. Thursday night I fly to Nairobi and then Amsterdam and on home.

Your Comments

Just realized that some readers (Hi Susie!) are posting comments. I'll try to read them in the 6 minutes I have left and respond next time to some of the questions. There are radios here, many people have cell phones but no electricity so charging is a problem. More next week!

Ugandan Women

19 March
One thing I’m glad I am not is a Ugandan woman. Women here work incredibly hard from dawn until 9 or 10 at night. They are responsible for keeping the home which is a huge task given 99% of the people cook over a wood fire and don’t have running water. Water needs to be fetched and carried and firewood gathered (often from relatively far away). Washing dishes with Jane the other night I tried to explain how we wash at home with a sink. She had never heard of a sink… although she did know that Americans have machines that wash dishes. Women also tend the gardens, clean the home, look after the children, gather and prepare meals, do the laundry and tend any animals they may have.
Only in the last 20 years or so has it been legal for women to work outside the home… which only means they still have to do all the regular tasks PLUS go to a job. Men don’t have any responsibilities around the home although some are farmers, peasants, woodworkers or laborers. Women also have no rights to property. If a husband dies his family can, and often does, force the widow and children out of the home and take ownership. If a man leaves his wife, once again she gets nothing except responsibility for raising the children. A married woman without children is also not allowed to spend the night alone in her own home (if her husband has to go away) - the fear being she will invite another man. Seems like a groundless fear… who in their right mind would want more than one? Or even one for that matter. It is also very common for a husband to be unfaithful and many have more than one wife (even if they are Muslim).
I learned much of this from Deborah and Jane the other night over dinner while Festus was away and Mary was working late. I tried to describe how life is different for women in America but felt uncomfortable saying too much. Sometimes an education of this kind can be difficult- knowing something better exists but you’ll never have the opportunity to enjoy it. I only hope their interactions with foreigners make them think twice about whom they marry, what work they choose to pursue and how they prepare themselves to be independent of a man even if they choose to marry. As we wound up our conversation around 9:30pm Mary arrived home to say Festus was on his way home and wanting dinner. He hadn’t told anyone he would be home for dinner so Deborah hadn’t prepared enough for him. Back to the kitchen and fire to make another meal- she still hadn’t completed by the time Jane and I finished the dishes from dinner #1. Ugandan Men.
The younger Ugandan women also don’t understand why I am married but have no children. Most everyone comes from families of 8-10 so having none or even just one child is odd to them. Culturally they believe women can only get fulfillment by having children. I tried to explain by saying if I had children I wouldn’t be able to visit Uganda- by not having children I have some freedom and ability to do other things with my life. This is a hard concept for a Ugandan woman to understand- freedom and the ability to make choices about what she does. It’s the M&M problem- Men and Money.
In recognition of the hard working men in Uganda (for there are some) the photos posted are both taken today. The “tinker” who carries his wares (I hope he sets shop up somewhere and doesn’t spend his day so burdened, could be deadly in equatorial Africa) and a man I met on my way home who requested I take his picture. He was coming from a day of toil in his fields. The Tinker asked me if it gets so cold in America that people could die if they didn’t have the right clothes. I told him yes and he shook his head in disbelief.

Katosi Visit

18 March 2009
Quick update with the potentially dangerous items I’ve seen children playing with in the last few days. Razor blades (this was at the VOLSET school; teachers use them to sharpen pencils. I’ve searched in vain for a pencil sharpener to replace the blades), plastic bags (over the head is always fun followed closely by eating them) and finally a monkey tail. At first we thought it was a rope the boys were hitting each other with, but soon realized it was the tail of the monkey killed behind our house 10 days ago. We heard a lot of commotion, dogs barking, people yelling and word went out they were after a monkey. I wasn’t too concerned for the monkey, after all they are fairly adept at climbing trees and since these men didn’t have guns how were they going to kill it. Yet an hour later they paraded out of the jungle (I use that term loosely here) with one boy holding the hands of the monkey and another holding the feet. Simba, our neighborhood dog was in on the hunt and returned home with a nasty gash on his head but was rewarded with monkey dinner. The boys were rewarded with the tail. From what I can gather people don’t like monkeys about as they tend to steal crops- if you hang up a dead monkey it also serves as a deterrent for other monkeys. The boy was very proud to have his picture taken with the tail.
On Sunday Zach, Jane, Doreen and I all walked to Katosi on the shores of Lake Victoria about an hour and 20 min walk from home. We met up with Deborah, Peace Corps volunteer at the end of her 2 years, who showed us around the town and brought us to see some monkey’s up close (they’ll come out of the trees for bananas). Deborah has done some great work for the community. She works with a woman’s cooperative and taught them how to make and sell soap and how to construct water filtration system using sand and bacteria. Not only do the woman (and larger community) now have clean drinking water, they can go to other communities and build the filtration systems which gives the woman income and other communities access to cleaner water. We then did a short hike up a hill to get a view of the lake (picture above doesn’t do it justice) and did the walk home.
On Monday I returned to the VOLSET school for the morning (and reconsidered my views on corporal punishment… only slightly kidding. I could never, never, never be a nursery school teacher. At least in Uganda where there are no doors on classrooms or fences in the school yards and keeping the kids in the classroom is a big challenge. Although no one seems to care if they do stay in the classroom).
On Tuesday I returned to the secondary school in Kysoga to give a talk about HIV/AIDS. We had about 250 students at once which makes it difficult (especially since I’m loath to lecture and prefer doing an activity) as does the language barrier. Students learn English but their comprehension varies and is fairly limited. Mary and others interpret but I’m never exactly sure what she is telling them so it’s hard to follow up or add a comment. We were scheduled from 3-4 and had enough material for that hour. We ended by having the students write down questions so we could better formulate next week’s lesson. As we started our goodbye’s the headmaster asked us to remain for another hour! Fortunately we had the questions so we could answer some of them.
Many of the questions were not about HIV/AIDS but about sex, pregnancy, contraception. Festus has said to me “we do not talk about condoms, our president doesn’t want us to talk about condoms and so we won’t.” This is a man not shy to talk about sex or HIV/AIDS transmission, but he believes (due in large part to his 7th Day Adventist faith) condoms should only be used by married people and everyone else should abstain. The headmaster at the school told us he has a problem with girls having to drop out due to pregnancy and would like us to talk about that in the future- women’s reproductive health, pregnancy…. I just don’t see how we can avoid talking about condoms and how we can ignore the truth- these kids (and probably most other teenagers) are sexually active. The fact we believe them too young for such pursuits is beside the point and I believe we do them a great dis-service if we only talk about abstinence as a means of birth control and as protection against the HIV virus.
It seems many people expect and accept people engaging in sex at an earlier age. I was doing some reading about child abuse in Uganda and a study found that parents were less likely to contact authorities about abuse if the child was over the age of ten! Girls over ten are considered “mature and ready for sexual activity.” Then we should at least be providing teenagers 14-18 information about condoms and birth control. In my opinion.
Tomorrow I head back to the primary school where I gave the child abuse talk last week. Lighter topic this time, personal hygiene and sanitation. I’ll be a tourist this weekend heading into Jinja (the source of the Nile) to do some white water rafting with other Real Uganda volunteers as well as enjoying some COFFEE! And maybe eating something other than beans and rice for lunch and dinner. Fortunately I really like beans and rice. Otherwise I’d be pretty skinny or pretty unhappy.
And yes, another picture of Gloria. I arrived home the other afternoon to find Deborah preparing some peas while she and Gloria shared ear buds and some music. Gloria is a hoot but when she returned to the hospital for a tetanus shot yesterday she had lost weight since the last time she was there. In my research on nutrition I found that mal nourished children’s upper arm circumference is 13.5 cm or less. Gloria checked in this morning at 13.5cm. It also stipulates that healthy children should eat all day, at least 5 times a day and mal nourished children more. My stock of Cliff bars won’t last the entire time I’m here and even supplementing her diet with those is not enough calories for her. I’ve even thought about leaving a donation earmarked solely for her food/nutrition but I don’t think it’s an issue of folks not being able afford food to feed her, it’s just not in their culture to eat often or a lot.
PS- MOM, no need to send email to Lee. It’s difficult to check and send email. I’ll get your news when I get home and can readily get to email. Love you!