life in uganda

well, it's been one week since we left home. i'm starting to feel settled into life here in masaka. although i've been set back a few days due to some tummy problems; feeling quite ill this past saturday/sunday. i slept for over 12 hours : and still feel kind of tired and generally worn down. hopefully it is just my body adjusting to the food and environment here in uganda.

it's monday the 27th today and i've got the majority of the day off to regain strength and prepare for my first week in practicum. i have a meeting scheduled for today at 2pm at the hospital with john, my instructor the hospital social worker. we are going to tour the hospital and i will be introduced to the head sisters (head nurses) of each ward. hopefully this tour will help me get a good sense of the hospital grounds and on which wards i will feel most comfortable. as a student social worker at masaka referral hospital i hope to gain a basic understanding of how uganda's social support system works, and develop a greater understanding of how to be an advocate in the social service field. i'm not exactly sure what i will specifically learn through my practicum at the hospital, so i'm trying to keep my learning goals broad for now.

this past friday i spent the day at my other practicum placement, the hospital's daycare center. i was introduced to the full time daycare worker in the morning, and jumped into interacting with the children almost immediately after that. at first i didn't know what to expect at the daycare in terms of valuable work experience, and i was unsure how working there will help me become a better social service practitioner back in canada. but as the day went on i realized i do not need to be in a placement specifically designed for 'social service work' to benefit from this experience. as long as i am interacting with children and families that have social needs, i'm confident that i will have the opportunity to nurture the skills i've developed in the classroom. i will be spending two days per week assisting at the hospital day care. this day care is beside uganda cares which is an hiv/aids testing and treatment clinic. the majority, if not all, of the children using this service are hiv +. they come to uganda cares for testing, counselling and medical treatment for hiv/aids; spending time at the daycare while waiting for test results or to see their doctor/counsellor. i haven't yet set specific goals for my time at the daycare, but hope to do so as i begin working there more regularly.

we spent yesterday at mburro national park. it was a good break from a busy week and a nice introduction to african wildlife. we took a mutatu (sp?) to the park with a funny ugandan driver named robert. the ride in was quite bumpy; even the main highway was full of potholes with some stretches made of only gravel. once into the park, robert made many stops for us so we could photograph the zebras, cobs, warthogs, and monkeys. i was surprised how many zebras we saw and how unnatural they seemed amid the ugandan landscape; their coloring quite cartoon-like next to the greens and browns of the wild. when we got to lake mburro we were welcomed by two large warthogs chowing down on grass. we took a 1.5 hour boat ride which introduced us to a number of hippos, one crocodile, many fish eagles, a water buffalo (way bigger than i had expected), baboons, more monkeys and other beautiful bird species. about half of the group were introduced to our first pit toilet at mburro and speaking for myself, i feel very fortunate to have a porcelain potty at home! overall it was a fun day.

well, thanks for tuning in. i'll try to sum things up quicker next time. many thanks for all your support.

-rachel-