New Site

Well the paperwork is in and the move is in the process. 

I have a new site. 

Leaving Hunter’s was much more difficult than I thought.  The people there are incredibly hard working and appreciate and love life to the max, even given the situation that that particular organization is going through.  Saying goodbye to the hospital staff and my friends in town was difficult and I am not looking forward to the day I have to do that for good.  Conveniently for me my new site is located fifteen minutes down the road so I can always visit. 

I am now going to be placed at Ishaka Adventist Hospital, specifically with the Health Plan Office that works to get community members on a basic insurance plan for access to the health facility.  The office also works in the villages doing sensitizations on various subjects.  I am hoping to introduce a health education aspect to this and to network with the Village Health Teams to not only gain support but to also ensure that this program can be sustainable after my service is completed. 

I am looking forward to working with the numerous schools and implementing health classes and a life skills club.  I also managed to inherit a giant bucket of RUMPS (Re-Usable Menstrual Pads) materials and have already begun to talk to some orphanages to do a workshop on RUMPS. 

A quick background on RUMPS… Sanitary pads here are incredibly expensive and many families cannot afford to purchase them for their daughters.  Well this results in a high rate of absenteeism in the schools as the girls will stay home for the week they are menstruating.  RUMPS allows the girls the chance to go to school during their time of the month and is incredibly inexpensive as all that is needed is a thorough washing.  I will include pictures from one of my future workshops in a later blog.

So this previous week I spent at the office learning about their past, present, and future.  I attend a sensitization in a village where I learned that the health plan office had helped them transition from kerosene lamps to solar lighting, which is one of their additional project areas.  This allowed for members in that village to move away from the dangers of using kerosene on a daily basis, such as smoke inhalation.  On this sensitization I also met the cutest toddler wearing this precious pink dress.  We were playing amongst the dogs, goats, rabbits, and chickens when all of a sudden a stream of urine came shooting out from under his outfit.  Yup.  It was a little boy.  Anyway, back at the office I began to slowly organize documents with some of the other staff and learn more about my role.

Finally, my supervisor and I located housing!  My house is a simple 19-minute walk to the office and is located just on the outskirt of town.  I will be living in a gated compound that is monitored by a security guard.  My landlord lives next door in a two-story mansion with one of his wives.  Yes, wives.  Anyway, I have a simple 2-bedroom place and a bathroom, which includes a western style toilet, shower, and electricity.  There are other five, maybe six, other units in the compound, which will soon be filled with other Ugandan families, hopefully some with children.  Once construction is completed, grass will fill the compound and I have convinced my landlord to allow me a small space to garden.  I think my winning argument was that I will prepare him and wife number two an American meal with those fresh vegetables.  Plus this will give me the opportunity to teach the Ugandans around the importance of gardening, fresh food, and how you could even use them as income to sell in the market. 

I officially move in some time this week and until then I am staying in the guesthouse on the hospital compound with a full size refrigerator and hot water.  Quite frankly, I am uncomfortable with these added amenities.  I am looking forward to my cold showers and having to go to town everyday for fresh produce.  America is going to be overwhelming.

What am I most nervous about?  Well I now get 3G+ Internet so I am going to have to do some serious budgeting of my time online so I don’t go through all my data.

What am I most excited about?  Skype.  Supermarkets that sometimes carry cheese.  A gym.  This is obviously all in addition to working in the communities, starting a life skills group, and seeing the hospital and health plan achieve new heights.