Our time in Uganda so far has been memorable to say the least...It began by a brief visit to a small town we will call home for the next 6 months or so located in south-western Uganda (Lyantonde). There, we met the PARDI (Participatory Action for Rural Development Initiative) executive committee and found a group of vibrant young Ugandans giving most of their time and resources in offering help to the victims of HIV/AIDS. They are working closely with the widows and orphans, the groups most affected by the epidemic, with their most pressing needs (food, clothes, shelter) as well as long term sustainable objectives such as providing them with free primary education and vocational training centers for those unable to pay for secondary education (overwhelming majority). The centers offer disciplines ranging from mechanics to carpentry and tailoring to name but a few. Their main objective is to help the most neglected by offering them the means to help themselves by acquiring the necessary skills to overcome the poverty cycle created by AIDS. Their innovativeness and dedication are inspirational....especially considering the fact they must also work other jobs to provide for themselves and their loved ones. In this town, we also found a little two room apartment to call our own in which we will be moving in shortly.
The past two weeks, however, were spent in eastern Uganda working closely with PARDI's eastern branch in the Iganga district. If culture shock is part of such a journey we certainly found it here! Woman kneeling to greet you (form of respect), children walking long distances to and from wells with gallons of water that I would struggle to carry, and the thousands of greetings, hellos, how are yous...CRAZY.
My skin made children cry! Every short walk takes hours as everyone wants to chat and ask questions and visit family, ect. Not to mention the lack of electricity, living with bats, bathing by hand, wiping with the left, and the beans with rice, beans with banana, beans with sweet potato or beans with casava selection.
Our main objective in Nakabale (the village), was to evaluate the needs of the community on the ground, as PARDI is helping to subsidize (logistically, materially and financially) a primary school for the local orphans. We spent many days going from house to house and listening to the tragic stories' of the orphans' guardians and finding out their most urgent needs. We also interviewed local council members, sub county chiefs and various medical establishments to get the "bigger picture".
What we found was a blatant lack of access to health services. Those in the area are ill-equipped and ill-supplied to deal with the more complex afflictions such as HIV, unable to offer antibiotics to treat the most mundane infections (systemic shortages), and sometimes leave patients waiting for hours until the clinics 'decide' to open, leaving many who must work to leave and return to their fields sick, either because they haven't seen anyone, cannot afford medication from shops, or out of sheer frustration, only to repeat the process the next day. Worse still, are the accusations of abusive treatment towards HIV infected patients and the occasional demands of payment for services meant to be free (such as HIV testing). Furthermore, for any treatment or drug (ex: Anti Retrovirals) that is more serious, the costs of transportation to the nearest small cities are beyond the means of the large majority...the cost between life and death is often nothing more than a few dollars (literally!).
The second and third areas of concern were access to education (at the secondary level students are expected to pay much higher fees) and agricultural education. As the locals are mostly peasants struggling to survive on subsistence agriculture, being poor takes on a very different meaning than the one we know. Most cannot afford to eat meat more than once a year, nor do they make, in some instances, ANY money at all. If it wasn't for St-Andrews school for orphans, their children would have no access to education at all since "public schools" do not provide any materials, uniforms or meals, rendering them inaccessible to such communities. However, as St.Andrews is only a primary school (up to P7 or Grade 8), upon graduation the children have no means to pay for secondary education or the necessary materials, leaving them with no option but to return to their homes and repeat the cycle of poverty. Hence, the community and PARDI have a plan to build a vocational training center in the area, as well as a health clinic. However, when the resources to begin such projects will arrive, no one knows for sure. Concerning
agriculture, there are a few simple solutions that could help families avoid malnutrition and even generate income to assist buying cheap drugs and paying for education, but the knowledge is not there....new diseases are ruining the crops and the elders taking care of the orphans have little energy left to invest (we saw many grand-mothers having to raise the children of their deceased daughters or sons).
Although the situation is quite bad, there are also many great steps being taken within the community to fight these conditions. Community based HIV groups and widows groups have been formed and are growing and giving what they can to sustain community projects like the St-Andrews school (with food donations and ideas).
There are also aims to strengthen them by joining with similar groups in neighboring villages to make their voices heard in larger numbers. PARDI's eastern leaders are incredibly knowledgeable of their environment, its people and culture and have simple and effective solutions for many of its problems. While making important headway, the pace is slow as government support is nowhere to be found and those with so little are finding the precious time, resources and energy to make something out of nothing.
Aside from the journalistic type work (which we hope to publish), we gave 6 HIV/AIDS seminars to groups like those mentioned above which was a riot. A muzungu (white/European) couple talking about intercourse, oral sex and making condom demonstrations to these villagers could prove quite difficult...especially with elders, or when relatives were present. Embarrassment, shyness, uncomfortable laughter, uncontrollable laughter, and downright anger were all a part of the show!
Some of these cultural barriers had to be made flexible, but we succeeded quite well. Also, Denise became a beloved primary teacher in the orphans school where we taught a couple of days. She was definitely better fit for the job and the kids were a lot of fun...So much potential.
The looks on peoples' faces upon seeing us in the villages was priceless....Jaws dropped in stupefication! We were swarmed by 500 students while walking by a local school, greeted with chanting and dancing momas elsewhere, and given piles of papayas, peanuts, eggs, sugarcane and jackfruit by the villagers...Truly wonderful people.
So we are now in Jinja (small city in the next district), on our way back to Kampala to write our report and move into our new place. Unfortunately, we got stuck here a few days as I got malaria the night we arrived and D had been dragging a cough. We are both doing much better now and should be getting out of here soon. When we finish the report we'll make it available to those of you who want to read it. Thanks for reading, love, jm & d.
The past two weeks, however, were spent in eastern Uganda working closely with PARDI's eastern branch in the Iganga district. If culture shock is part of such a journey we certainly found it here! Woman kneeling to greet you (form of respect), children walking long distances to and from wells with gallons of water that I would struggle to carry, and the thousands of greetings, hellos, how are yous...CRAZY.
My skin made children cry! Every short walk takes hours as everyone wants to chat and ask questions and visit family, ect. Not to mention the lack of electricity, living with bats, bathing by hand, wiping with the left, and the beans with rice, beans with banana, beans with sweet potato or beans with casava selection.Our main objective in Nakabale (the village), was to evaluate the needs of the community on the ground, as PARDI is helping to subsidize (logistically, materially and financially) a primary school for the local orphans. We spent many days going from house to house and listening to the tragic stories' of the orphans' guardians and finding out their most urgent needs. We also interviewed local council members, sub county chiefs and various medical establishments to get the "bigger picture".
What we found was a blatant lack of access to health services. Those in the area are ill-equipped and ill-supplied to deal with the more complex afflictions such as HIV, unable to offer antibiotics to treat the most mundane infections (systemic shortages), and sometimes leave patients waiting for hours until the clinics 'decide' to open, leaving many who must work to leave and return to their fields sick, either because they haven't seen anyone, cannot afford medication from shops, or out of sheer frustration, only to repeat the process the next day. Worse still, are the accusations of abusive treatment towards HIV infected patients and the occasional demands of payment for services meant to be free (such as HIV testing). Furthermore, for any treatment or drug (ex: Anti Retrovirals) that is more serious, the costs of transportation to the nearest small cities are beyond the means of the large majority...the cost between life and death is often nothing more than a few dollars (literally!).
The second and third areas of concern were access to education (at the secondary level students are expected to pay much higher fees) and agricultural education. As the locals are mostly peasants struggling to survive on subsistence agriculture, being poor takes on a very different meaning than the one we know. Most cannot afford to eat meat more than once a year, nor do they make, in some instances, ANY money at all. If it wasn't for St-Andrews school for orphans, their children would have no access to education at all since "public schools" do not provide any materials, uniforms or meals, rendering them inaccessible to such communities. However, as St.Andrews is only a primary school (up to P7 or Grade 8), upon graduation the children have no means to pay for secondary education or the necessary materials, leaving them with no option but to return to their homes and repeat the cycle of poverty. Hence, the community and PARDI have a plan to build a vocational training center in the area, as well as a health clinic. However, when the resources to begin such projects will arrive, no one knows for sure. Concerning
agriculture, there are a few simple solutions that could help families avoid malnutrition and even generate income to assist buying cheap drugs and paying for education, but the knowledge is not there....new diseases are ruining the crops and the elders taking care of the orphans have little energy left to invest (we saw many grand-mothers having to raise the children of their deceased daughters or sons).Although the situation is quite bad, there are also many great steps being taken within the community to fight these conditions. Community based HIV groups and widows groups have been formed and are growing and giving what they can to sustain community projects like the St-Andrews school (with food donations and ideas).
There are also aims to strengthen them by joining with similar groups in neighboring villages to make their voices heard in larger numbers. PARDI's eastern leaders are incredibly knowledgeable of their environment, its people and culture and have simple and effective solutions for many of its problems. While making important headway, the pace is slow as government support is nowhere to be found and those with so little are finding the precious time, resources and energy to make something out of nothing.Aside from the journalistic type work (which we hope to publish), we gave 6 HIV/AIDS seminars to groups like those mentioned above which was a riot. A muzungu (white/European) couple talking about intercourse, oral sex and making condom demonstrations to these villagers could prove quite difficult...especially with elders, or when relatives were present. Embarrassment, shyness, uncomfortable laughter, uncontrollable laughter, and downright anger were all a part of the show!
Some of these cultural barriers had to be made flexible, but we succeeded quite well. Also, Denise became a beloved primary teacher in the orphans school where we taught a couple of days. She was definitely better fit for the job and the kids were a lot of fun...So much potential.
The looks on peoples' faces upon seeing us in the villages was priceless....Jaws dropped in stupefication! We were swarmed by 500 students while walking by a local school, greeted with chanting and dancing momas elsewhere, and given piles of papayas, peanuts, eggs, sugarcane and jackfruit by the villagers...Truly wonderful people.
So we are now in Jinja (small city in the next district), on our way back to Kampala to write our report and move into our new place. Unfortunately, we got stuck here a few days as I got malaria the night we arrived and D had been dragging a cough. We are both doing much better now and should be getting out of here soon. When we finish the report we'll make it available to those of you who want to read it. Thanks for reading, love, jm & d.
1 comment:
Amazing! Stay healthy and safe both of you, and JM, take your effing malaria pills!
xo
Mohab (aka Manly)
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