The ABC’s of PC

This post is to welcome you to the world of PC acronyms.  Until PST, I was unaware of how much PC/U enjoyed using abbreviations. 

During PST, us PCT learned all about TB, ABC, malaria, Schisto, and received many vaccines from our PCMO’s.  The PCMO’s told us that if we get injured we are entitled to FECA.  Depending on the severity, you could find yourself recuperating in South Africa.  You receive a per diem and some PCV’s who have had to travel there ending up saving their money to buy a refrigerator and a toaster oven, which means cold beer and cookies.  Not to shabby…

The dynamic duo of health PM and PS spent many hours educating us on HIV/AIDS (hopefully you know what this stands for!), MCT, PMTCT, PEPFAR, VMMC, FP, VCT, M&E, VHT, PACA, VSLA, RUMPS, WASH, and ABC.  We also had PCRV’s come in, who are RPCV’s who have applied for a specific job for a specific time frame, anywhere from 3 months to a year.  These people talked to us about PMI, IRS, and LLIN. 

Our wonderful PC/U staff, made up of the CD, SSO, PM, PS, PCMO, in addition to others spent many mornings, afternoons, and evenings with us.  They talked to us about the US Dollar exchange to the UGX, how to bucket bathe, wash clothes, how to respond in the event of having to implement the EAP, the history of the GOU, the importance of using the VRT and the SAP. 

During training, I ran for and got elected as one of my training class representatives to serve on VAC.  This means every three months I will travel to Kampala to sit in on meeting with the CD and other PC/U staff to address different areas.  Essentially I will help my training class be heard in areas of concern, praise, ideas, etc. 

It was during this time that I was assigned to learn R/R, a language spoken in the Southwest region of the country.  I had approximately six weeks to learn, study, and practice before taking my LPI, which I had to pass at a level of Intermediate Low.  I got Intermediate Med.  Bam!

Upon completing PST, we were sworn in and officially became PCV’s.  This meant that we had completed our FSV, CBT, and CBC.  The 45 of us would now move about the country.  Many of us will not see each other until IST in November.

Since being at site, I have started to think about what PC/U programs I would like to get involved in.  These include Camp GLOW, Camp BUILD, MCH, start an IGA with at risk women, and WASH… I was thinking a program with school children called, “Happy Handwashing Hour.”  Catchy.  I have been introduced to some of the members on my LC, which helps increase my network here in my village.  Hopefully they will assist me with getting the word out about programs that I anticipate doing. 

As many PCV’s say, these next two years will go by quickly and before you know it you will be at your COS conference and will be an RPCV.  That is if we do not ET beforehand!

Now you didn’t think I’d leave you without a key did you?! 

PC: Peace Corps

PST: Pre-Service Training

PC/U: Peace Corps Uganda

PCT: Peace Corps Trainee

TB: Tuberculosis

ABC: Airway, Breathing, and Circulation

PCMO: Peace Corps Medical Officer

FECA: Federal Employment Compensation Act

PM: Program Manager
PS: Program Specialist

MCT: Maternal Child Health

PMTCT: Prevention of Mother To Child Transmission

PEPFAR: President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief

VMMC: Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision

FP: Family Planning

VCT: Voluntary Counseling and Testing

M&E: Monitoring & Evaluation

VHT: Village Health Teams

PACA: Participatory Analysis for Community Action

VSLA: Village Savings and Loan Association

RUMPS: Re-Usable Menstrual Pads

WASH: Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene

ABC: Abstinence, Be Faithful, Use Condoms

PCRV: Peace Corps Response Volunteer

RPCV: Returned Peace Corps Volunteer

PMI: President’s Malaria Initiative

IRS: Indoor Residual Spraying

LLIN: Long Lasting Insecticide Net

CD: Country Director

SSO: Safety and Security Officer

UGX: Ugandan Shilling

EAP: Emergency Action Plan

GOU: Government Of Uganda

VRT: Volunteer Reporting Tool

SAP: Strategic Action Plan

VAC: Volunteer Advisory Committee

R/R: Runyankore/Rukiga

LPI: Language Proficiency Interview

PCV: Peace Corps Volunteer

FSV: Future Site Visit

CBT: Community Based Training

CBC: Competency Based Curriculum

IST: In-Service Training

GLOW: Girl’s Leading Our World

BUILD: Boys in Uganda In Leadership and Development

IGA: Income Generating Activity

LC: Local Council

COS: Close Of Service

ET: Early Termination

From Stilettos to Chacos

I never claimed to be much of a fashionista back in the States, as my daily outfit choice consisted of workout clothes or jeans and a t-shirt, with my hair in a messy bun to top it off. 

Prior to my departure though, I would say that this slowly began to change.  With a body I was more proud to dress, I found myself wanting to take more pride in my appearance.  With this came an appreciation with updated fashion, which I took full advantage of.  Especially because I knew that my options would be limited in Uganda.  AKA skirts below the knee.  I found myself dressing nicer for work, nights out with my family and friends, and just in general.  These days are of the past and now hang in pictures that line the walls of my bohemian, romantic, concrete jungle house.  These days will not occur again for two years.

Little did I know the wonder of Chacos…

For those who know me, I don’t own stilettos for the simple fact that’d I break my ankle if I tried to walk.  Instead I wear Forever 21, 3-inch heels with Dr. Scholl’s insoles because they are so incredibly uncomfortable.  But they get the job done when you need a night out on the town or have Christmas services to attend to.  I stole the catchy title of this particular blog post from a PC friend, whose blog is titled such.  And she can rock stilettos!

Anyway, do a Google Image search for “Chacos” if you don’t know what they look like.  They are not the most fashionable footwear out there but when living in Uganda, fashion is not high on the priority list as much as, “sustainable, grassroots development work.” 

I only wore my Chacos once before leaving for Peace Corps.  I was with my Mamasita and her best friend.  We went out to go and eat Pho and see the movie Footloose.  I remember when we left the house my Mom glanced at my feet.  That was it.  She didn’t even have to say a word for me to know that she was thinking, “You are wearing those.  Out of the house?”  My outfit wasn’t completely outrageous.  I was wearing jeans and a t-shirt.  Shocking, huh?  I explained that I wanted to break them in.  Secretly, I wanted to know what outfits they wouldn’t look completely ridiculous in.  Apparently jeans and a t-shirt were out of the picture.

Fast forward ten months later.  I wear my Chacos everywhere and with everything!  I wear them with skirts, shorts, dresses, and jeans.  I wear them to town, to the club, and the market.  I wear them in the sun and in the rain.  I wear them when I hike.  These shoes/sandals are freaking incredible!  The best support in the world.  Prepare yourself family and friends… Come August 2014, this is what I will wear when I step off that plane and will continue to wear when we find ourselves at Finnegan’s on a Saturday night or Sam’s the following morning. 

Now go on… Get out there and try on, or better yet, buy a pair and reap from the benefits!  I forgot to mention the best part.  The tan lines. 

Time Is (Not) of The Essence

Time in Uganda moves at a very different pace than it does in the USA.  For example, during our homestay thank you event, which was supposed to start promptly at 9a, began at 11a.  I asked Maama wangye omu Uganda (my Ugandan Mom) why she was so late when she was clearly dressed and ready when I left the house that morning at 8a and she replied, “Eeh Tara, I drank my tea, walked around, talked to Ssenyonga [her husband], and waited until the sun was higher to leave the house.”  Another example, during satellite training my fellow trainees and I were invited to an event where we got to meet the President.  That’s right.  The President Museveni.  You would think that an event of this capacity would begin on time.  Ha!  He was scheduled to arrive at 2p.  He got there closer to 4p.  TIA.  This is Africa.

I am 2 weeks into my service as a PCV and all I can think about is how this African concept of time is going to affect me upon my COS (Close of Service) in 2014.  I mean in the states I was told, “Early is on time, on time is late, and late is never acceptable.”  Thanks Chico Housing (AKA Hemlata) and parents!  Well at this rate, I may return and not realize that when you say class starts at 2p, you actually mean 2p and not 5p.  I am sure readjustment will be interesting in and of itself and is something I will conquer when the time comes.  This is just one of the many cultural differences that makes me appreciate this country more and more every day. 

Nonetheless, this has prompted me to bring my Nook and iPod everywhere.  Meetings.  Bus parks.  Restaurants.  It is something to pass the time.  I am keeping a book list to see how many books I can complete in 2-years time.  Check out the link at the top.  At this rate, this list may be more books then I have ever read.  Who would have thought I needed to travel 8,000+ miles to read The New York’s Time Top 100 book list. 

Next post… All about my site, cooking for one, traveling, and hopefully… drumroll please… pictures of Uganda and my house!  Cross yo fingers!

P.S. I started the Insanity workout yesterday with Shaun T and holy toledo.  He knows his stuff.  My Ugandan neighbors must think I am crazy when I leave my house to shower and my face is bright red, dripping with sweat.  Tomorrow I am going to a gym in Ishaka with a fellow PCV to hunt down a personal trainer.  He costs 5,000 Ugandan Shillings ($2 USD) for 90 minutes.  Apparently he knows his stuff. I am slightly nervous that come Saturday I may not be able to move.

P.P.S. Happy 24^th Birthday to my wonderful, little sister Julie!  I’m wishing you the best from the Southern Hemisphere and am completely envious of your day filled with pedicures and Italian food… Have a very special day  :)  Love you!

Commence Package Sending and Letter Writing Season!

Today marked a big day… I opened up a P.O. Box.  Five other PCV’s and I will be sharing it but don’t let that stop you from sending packages and letters.  Look under the Contact Info & Mailing Tips and Wish List... tabs for some helpful hints.  Without further a due…

Tara Matthews


U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer


P.O. Box 806


Mbarara, Uganda


East Africa

Later I will post more about the end of training, swearing-in, and moving to site.  Long story short… It’s been INCREDIBLE!

Minor Change of Plans

Since the get go, we have been told to remain flexible, open, and patient in all areas… From language and site announcements to homestay and travel arrangements.  Needless to say, I have mastered these.  When I received my site, I could not have been more excited to move in and begin my journey.  During my Future Site Visit, I realized that my primary job assignment was not consistent with what I was given and what I wanted to achieve out of my Peace Corps service.  That being relevant health experience that I could use after to apply to an MPH program or to a government position.  Centers of Disease Control and Prevention anyone?!  The health program manager and specialist were incredible and with the support of the Country Director and the Director of Programming and Training, my site was changed to… Drumroll please… Hunter’s Foundation Hospital in Bushenyi.  I will be living on the hospital compound with some of the other nurses and will do health outreach with the village health teams in addition to work at the hospital.  I have ideas for secondary projects including Girl’s Who Click (a girl’s empowerment program through photography, creative title right?!), Happy Hour Handwashing (self-explanatory), and PostSecret (Google it).  We’ll see what happens over the next two years.  Hopefully a lot! 

I have yet to see my site or housing so Friday will be interesting to say the least.  I have been told wonderful things about the location and the organization I will be with so I am extremely excited.  There are other volunteers placed in and around me, which will be fabulous when I need an “American” weekend.  I won’t have running water, which translates to pit latrines and bucket bathing.  BUT I should have electricity, which means I can keep these ever so intriguing blog posts coming.  Be excited about that! 

On Thursday I swear-in, which marks the transition from training to my actual service.  No more Peace Corps Trainee (PCT).  I will be an official Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV).  It’s kind of a big deal in the world of Peace Corps.  I am eager to begin my service but also extremely nervous, anxious, and sad to leave my friends.  Some memories from the past 10-ish weeks…

- The other 44 amazing, fabulous trainees, AKA my support and family.

- The Sexy, Celibate 6… Sophie, Kat, Julia, Caitlin, Pat, and Me.  BFF.

- Meeting President Museveni during satellite.  A blog post to come later about that.

- Passing my Language Proficiency Interview in Ruyankore/Rukiga at Intermediate Med.

- Managing to get myself from point A to point B in Uganda.  It’s a task.

- Tea time. 

- Hikes in banana plantains.

- Cards Against Humanity.  AKA Apples to Apples for Adults.

- Not eating matooke at homestay.

- Game of Thrones.

- Cadbury.  Yes it does exist.  In immense quantities.

- Getting my bags back after they were held hostage in Kampala.  It was like Christmas morning.  Finding 2 full mason jars of Crystal Light.

It’s off to continue organizing my bags and to prepare for the supervisor’s workshop tomorrow.  Thursday: Swearing-In.  Friday: Day 1 on the job.  Crazy.

Muzungu In Taxi Park…

So I promised everyone that’d I share my site information but I’d like to first give a shout out to our program managers and the involved Peace Corps staff because they definitely paired us up with organizations that fit our interests.  Without further adieu…

I will be working for Mazzoldi Vocational Training Community College, which is an NGO under the Catholic Church, located in Western Uganda in Kirihura District.  Their main goal is on the development and empowerment of young Ugandan women.  I am expected to design and provide health education to the girls at the vocational school and to those in the secondary schools around the campus in addition to developing new ideas to empower the girls to succeed.  The town also has an active Village Health Team (VHT), which will allow me to reach out into the deeper community and work with those affected with HIV/AIDS in addition to other illnesses.  I couldn’t be more pumped.

Here is where the title of the blog fits in.  Muzungu is the name that Ugandans will call white foreigners.  When Michelle and I would walk to class during satellite, children would line the streets and would follow us shouting, “Mu-zun-gu!  Mu-zun-gu!  Mu-zun-gu!”  It is cute and warms a spot in your heart.  That is until you are alone in the taxi park trying to get to site with a backpack full of stuff.  So my organization planned for me to take a certain matatu (taxi) and in true Ugandan fashion it was late.  Needless to say, I finally made it on by 11:30a and was ready to leave.  Well matatus don’t leave until they are full, which is 14 passengers.  At 3:00p, I was still the only one.  After four hours of being bombarded with Ugandans trying to sell me everything from torches (flashlights) to chapatti and being stared at, and watching fights go down, I called one of my counterparts and explained the situation.  She was incredibly apologetic and called Cotious, the fabulous health program specialist.  Between many calls with Cotious and Fred, our awesome PC Safety and Security Officer (SSO), I was told that I would be staying in Kampala for the evening at the Peace Corps Guesthouse.  I finally left the taxi park and waited for the Peace Corps Driver to pick me up.  The car had air conditioning and to my excitement the guesthouse has 3G+ Internet.  No complaints.

I should be leaving Kampala this morning and actually heading out to site to see my house :D and meet my counterparts.  I’m anxious and am praying that this trip works out better than the last! 

You Are All Most Welcome

Upon arrival in Uganda, this is what was told to us and is is not to be confused with the phrase “You Are Almost Welcome”.  Well, it has been 52 days since I left everything behind and began the beginning to what I would call the best experience of my life. 

After a 16 hour flight to South Africa and an 8 hour time difference, AKA a days worth of travel, my fellow PCT’s and I were able to indulge in our first taste of Africa.  Literally.  We drank smoothies that we out of this world.  As we waited for our 5-hour connection flight to Uganda, we played charades, slept, bought some duty-free items, and explored the airport for our last warm shower.  That was a fail.  We got into Entebbe at about 6:00p, went through customs, and began the daunting task of gathering the 135 or so bags.  The airline managed to only lose 1 bag, which was found soon thereafter.  I would call that a success.  We headed to Luezo Training Center for the night since traveling after dark in Uganda is not preferred.  After rolling in at about 9p, we were served our first traditional Ugandan meal...  Matooke.  Mashed plantains.  No, they are not sweet.  They taste plain and are much better when served immediately after cooking with a little chili sauce. 

The following day started our malaria prophylaxis medication, which was prefaced by saying that we may experience vivid dreams.  To this day I have yet to have one.  Some people have experience night terrors and have had to be switched to a different medication so I am not completely jealous.  I’d like to just have 1 fun dream to live in slash remember for the night.  Is that too much to ask for? 

We then headed off on about a two hour or so trip to Wakiso District to an organic farm called Kulika.  This is where we spent approximately 2 weeks getting acquainted with Peace Corps policies, receiving vaccinations galore, learning about diarrhea and bowel movements, Uganglish, and beginning language training.  I have been studying Ruyankore/Rukiga (R/R), which is spoken in the Southwest Region of Uganda.  Home to mountain gorillas, the Southern Hemisphere, national parks, and me! 

While at Kulika, I became super close with 4 other girls.  We may or may not be called the fab 5.  Unfortunately for me, no one else is in the Southwest but this gives us reasons to travel the country and collaborate on projects.  Sophie, my Philly roomie and Bestie here in Uganda, and Kat, my crazy cool, Facebook stalker friend, will be in the East, source of the Nile; Caitlin, my go to gal, will be in the Central Region; and Julia, my baby sister, will be in the Eastern Region. 

Soon we left Kulika and traveled to our satellite region for Language Immersion (LI) training.  My Southwest Group of 12, plus out two amazing trainers, headed past the Equator to a small town called Kabwohe, where for a month we trained in R/R, lived with a host family, learned how to cook, how to use a pit latrine, and how to live simply.  Mission accomplished.  I thoroughly enjoyed my family’s hospitality and I am confident that they will serve as an excellent resource for me over the next two years.  While at LI, we attended a wedding, shook hands with President Museveni thanks to Robyn’s (a fellow PCT) uncle’s father turning 110, we bone shook (AKA danced the night away), cooked a ridiculously amazing lunch (garlic bread, spaghetti, macaroni and cheese, pineapple fritters), somehow comprehended enough R/R to hold a brief conversation, and taught our families at the homestay thank-you how to dance the Macarena and YMCA. 

After LI we returned to Kulika for a week to do specific technical training, so in my case health.  We learned all about the health systems, malaria, maternal and child health, HIV/AIDS, proper condom use, with demonstration, RUMPS (Re-Usable Menstrual PadS), and much more.  Essentially we acquired the necessary tactics to be successful volunteers once at site.  It was a long week but luckily to Sophie and Kat coming back from their satellite with Cadbury chocolate and Nutella, training was quite pleasant! 

We spent the 4^th of July together in red, white, and blue, playing volleyball, drinking, and eating traditional American BBQ at the Peace Corps Office in Kampala. 

We also got our site announcements!  Ask any PCV or Returned PCV (RPCV) and they will probably say this is one of the most exciting times during Pre-Service Training (PST).  Why you ask?!  Well this is when we find out who we will work for over the next two years and what will be expected of us.  Tune in to my net post to find out more details!

Webare munonga kushoma!  (Thanks a lot for reading!) 

The letter “r” is pronounced as “l”. 

Since my language group and I are obvious trendsetters here in Uganda we have coined the term, “Webs munon.”  It is catching on.  Bring it back to the USA!