This Is Africa

My last year as a Resident Advisor, my lady’s used to say, “TIA”.  It was short for, “This is awkward.”  We would say it everywhere…  At the farmer’s market when you happened to see you religious studies professor belly dancing.  When you would reach for your towel after showering only to realize that someone moved it to the opposite rack.  When the fire alarm would sound as you are undressing to get in the shower.  These all qualify as TIA situations.  Little did I know this saying would come up again 9,548 miles away from Chico.  Except it now stands for, “This is Africa.”  For example…

Traffic signs exist warning you of elephants crossing.

In a place where anything grows, people choose to eat the same diet of matooke, posho, potatoes, and rice.  Every single day.

A five-person taxi does not necessarily mean five people.  The driver will easily get ten passengers, not including babies, plus a flock of chickens in the trunk.

The meat you want to get for dinner hangs by rope down on the street corner with a swarm of flies circling it.  When you choose what piece you want it’ll be chopped by a machete, which has probably never been cleaned.

You fear that the goat in the trunk is eating its way through your bags of fresh produce from the market or your package full of American food.

A trip that could, and quite frankly should, take thirty minutes, can also take two hours.

A morning run results in a parade of children following you.

Boda bodas zip their way through town with three men and three sheep strapped to the back.

Showing your knees is committing a huge fashion and culture no-no but letting your breasts hang free is no big deal.

Honking the horn for obscene lengths of time, for no reason at all is completely acceptable.

A perfectly acceptable topic of conversation is about ones bowel movements.

Rain will stop everyone’s activity and you will not move until it passes. 

Adult men know every word to every Celine Dion song and will serenade you whenever possible.

Women whip out their breasts wherever to feed their 2-month old or two-year old, including when you are sitting on their lap in a taxi.

Bedazzled jeans are worn by all.

If you think I can make this stuff up feel free to book a ticket and I will show you.

Bite Back Uganda

In Uganda, malaria is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality, accounting for 25 to 40 percent of outpatient visits to health facilities, 15 to 20 percent of all hospital admissions, and 9 to 14 percent of all hospital deaths.  Nearly half of inpatient deaths among children under five years is attributed to malaria.  People living in high-risk areas are likely to receive more than 1,500 infectious bites per year.  It is Uganda’s tropical climate, temperature, and rainfall that allow for an ideal year-round, mosquito breeding, malaria friendly environment. 

Want to know a secret?

Malaria is 100% preventable.

How you ask. 

Use a bed net.

Peace Corps Uganda is one of nineteen African countries that make up the President’s Malaria Initiative, PMI.  PMI was launched in 2005 as an expansion of the U.S. Government’s resources to help reduce malaria-related deaths in Africa by 50 percent.  PMI focuses its attention towards the most vulnerable groups, including pregnant women and children under five years.  Through interventions such as providing insecticide-treated mosquito nets, indoor residual spraying, intermittent preventive treatment for pregnant women, and immediate use of artemisinin-based combination therapies for those who have been tested positive for malaria, PMI is working towards decreasing the prevalence in Uganda and beyond. 

Kendra, a fellow PCV, and I decided to play our part this past weekend in PMI’s goals by helping to educate and sensitize the locals.  I headed to her site where we prepped, planned, and prepared for our event on Saturday.  After some awesome shirt making we decided on reading a story to the local primary school students titled, Beware of Mrs. Mosquito.  The awesome book was written and illustrated by a fellow PCV and produced by a local NGO on rice sacks.  After reading the story we answered questions, dispelled the myths of malaria, including that you can get it from the rain and by eating mangoes, and had the children make posters to hang around their school addressing malaria prevention.  While the children drew Kendra and I demonstrated to the school staff and parents on proper mosquito net repair.  We then had them practice on their own nets. 

Often times I question whether the work I am doing here is actually making a difference.  It is events like these, where I leave and have children come up and say thank you or parents walk away with repaired nets that I know we are doing something right.

Kendra gives two thumbs up for our awesome t-shirts

Some of the students listening to Beware of Mrs. Mosquito

One group designing their poster

Net Repair 101

Showing the group the finished product.  No more holes!

Smile for no more malaria :)

One Day Without Shoes? Try Every Day.

For those who truly know me you know that I am a fan of TOMS.  Their #1 fan. 

For those of you who do not know about TOMS, let me help.  TOMS is a for-profit shoe company that gives a pair to a child in need for every pair that is purchased.  Simple.  They have since expanded to include books, clothing, and eyewear, all which give back in some sort of fashion. 

Blake Mycoskie, the TOMS founder, was inspired by a trip to Argentina, where he found extreme poverty, rampant health conditions, barefoot people, and children not attending school. 

The common denominator? 

Lack of shoes. 

Shoes prevent many soil-transmitted diseases and are a requirement to many school uniforms.  Shoes in developing countries cost more money than most families bring in so unfortunately you see many children roaming the dirt roads without any protection for their feet.

Each year TOMS designates a day where they encourage people around the world to go without shoes.  Creatively named, One Day Without Shoes.  Back in the States, I participated in this event to try and gain a very basic understanding of what others go through on a day-to-day basis.  And I thought I understood but I had no idea.

Walking barefoot around a college campus where you may have to walk on hot concrete or uneven terrain is nothing to the conditions of those abroad.  Broken pieces of beer bottles, nails, and used condoms are just some of the things that make up the roads.  Tag along pot holes, sharp rocks, and cars and boda bodas that drive too close to the edge and your feet are in some serious danger.

This year I did not participate in One Day Without Shoes.  I would have loved to see how the locals manage to walk from here to there without something to walk upon but in my mind I had medical saying, “Don’t do it.”

Since being in Uganda, I have encountered one child who was wearing a pair of TOMS that were given to him as a result of someone purchasing their own pair. 

I was estatic.

But then reality hits again and I see children and adults who run around barefoot.  I think of the creepy crawly creatures they walk upon that are making them fall ill.  I think about the children that cannot attend school because of this.  I think about how fortunate I am to have shoes on my feet. 

To learn more, please visit: TOMS and One Day Without Shoes

30 Days and 30 Sites

When Peace Corps gives you the a-okay for being invited to a program, applicants begin to anxiously search the world wide web for anything about their new home.  Now lucky for me I got to do this twice… Once for Guatemala and again for Uganda.  At times you feel like a stalker, coming across blogs, pictures, and articles about Volunteer’s you haven’t even met yet. 

And then sometimes you stumble across an awesome project idea.

Example.  When I was researching about Guatemala I came across a Volunteer’s blog who had mentioned about visiting her fellow Volunteers’ sites to gain a greater understanding of the work they do and the communities they live in.  I was hooked and thought to myself, I want to do this.

Coming to Uganda I found no such project existing.  That is until my dear friend Jen proposed this to the Peace Corps staff. 

Her goal?  Visit thirty PCV’s at their respective sites in thirty days.

Jen traveled the country high and low and eventually she made her way back to the Southwest to visit me.

Jen came to my site last Sunday and since it was a weekend we just hung out, talked about her service, showed her town, and cooked. 

Jen is a COS’ing Volunteer and leaves the country on Wednesday.  I have begged for her to stay and be my roommate, as she has become a dear friend and support over the past couple of months.  I think her 70-day Europe trip is more enticing than another 17-months filled with cold showers and malaria hungry mosquitoes. 

Jen is now finished with her project and is spending is last day down in Kabale on Lake Bunyonyi.  What a perfect ending to an amazing journey.

I was telling Jen that I had heard of this project in other countries and she recommended that if I am interested, to propose this to Peace Corps when I am ready.  She said they looked at a Volunteer who had an active blog and was in good Peace Corps standing.

I think I somehow fit both of those requirements.

You can read more about her awesome adventures here: http://therewontbesnowinafrica.blogspot.com/

The Floor’s All Yours

My apologies in the lack of recent blogging…  After so many posts in March, I am sure you were all anxiously awaiting for more.  It seems that after eleven months in country, I am not finding my everyday occurrences to be unusual. 

Nine people in a taxi meant for five?  No problem.

No running water for weeks at a time?  Typical.

Parades of children following you home from the market?  Yup.

So this is where I need your help.  

Please feel free to ask questions.  This can be about Uganda, my everyday whereabouts, my work, or anything your heart desires.  You can email me at tara.ann.matthews@gmail.com or leave them as a comment in this post.  This will help me fill this blog with more information until I have something awesome and interesting to write about!