Dance Performance@ CRO

Today @ CRO was definately the highlight of my time here in Uganda so far. I met a local dance troop called Hallelua Yesu Akwagala and asked them to perform @ CRO for the street children. I was expecting a few performers to come but the whole team showed up with costumes & instruments. It was the last day of the break so many of the street children were returning to school so it was a perfect way to send them off. Most of the performers were also orphans & previous street children so it was so amazing to connect them to CRO. Many of the children got up & danced & sang & were able to be children for a change. Many people from the community came to watch as did my colleages. Well pretty great to be apart of the culture here & even though I am only here for a short while our motto is to help support sustainable projects that continue after we leave & I hope the connection between this dance troop & CRO is one that will continue not only to instill hope but also to make for a better future for these street children. Honouring their culuture with music & dance is not only healing but also empowering. Well pretty hard to beat this week but I will definately strive to.To be continued...Michelle

KCSS Social Work Field Trip

Well it was another great day of social work @ KCSS. Today we took the youth on a big social work field trip into town from the village. They started out at the internet café which they were very excited about to conduct some research & set up email accounts. Then we went to TASO(The Aids Society Organization) which was such a great learning experience for them as well as a great resource for them to access. From there we went to the Mental Health ward in the hospital which was quite an eye opening experience for them. Many people in Uganda believe that mental health issues are caused by Witchcraft, so it is difficult for people to get proper medical treatment. Next but most importantly we visited the woman with the broken back that we had taken to the hospital earlier in the week. She looked much better as she had been seen by the doctor & was receving treatment.After the hospital tour we proceeded to CRO in an EXTREME rainstorm. Oh well always an adventure in the field of social work. We arrived at CRO & the street children were very excited. This was definately the highlight of my day seeing the KCSS students teach to the CRO children. They taught in Launga with such authority & conviction on topics such as HIV/AIDS, child aduse, food/nutrition, child rights,health & social work. As this project was such a great endeavor the goal will be for the students to return in the future & provide more support & modeling for the street children. The KCSS students definately enjoyed the day & my colleage & I thought it was one of our best days here as well.Stay tuned..Michelle

back to school

i have officially been away from home for five weeks which totals exactly one half of my time in uganda. i have mixed feelings about what today symbolizes in regards to my africa experience. from one perspective i feel i've had five great educational weeks that have gone by slowly enough for me to grasp the experience fully. but on the other hand i sometimes feel like time is going by so quickly that i don't have enough time to really root myself in this experience and absorb everything there is to learn. it makes living life quite confusing when i cannot comprehend everything that is happening to me and around me. i think i must be patient and wait to see what i'm taking from this experience once i get home and have time to make sense of it all.

my work at the daycare today was very brief; there were only two young children at the center since the new school semester begins today. this means many families are busy arranging for their children to get to, and settle in at school. as a result many of the younger children who i would typically see at the daycare are out with their families accompanying their older siblings to school. not only that, the older children who i am accustomed to working with at the daycare will no longer be attending the service because they start school today. they had only been attending the center during semester break.

i have mixed feelings about this as well. on one hand i am happy to hear that most of the children i've been working with have the opportunity to go to school, but on the other hand i am sad they will no longer be coming around the center. i've built some very strong relationships with these children over the past four weeks and feel i must mourn the loss of some of those bonds today.

it is a strange and saddening feeling i must deal with because now, during school time, the primary function of the daycare is to support children who come to uganda cares for hiv/aids testing and treatment. i hope to see the children i've come to know so well again, but will find myself constantly reminded of the many challenges they face living with hiv since their visits will fall on clinic days (tuesday and friday) alone. don't get me wrong, their visits to the uganda cares clinic for hiv/aids treatment are extremely positive and i am very thankful the clinic serves children. but from my emotionally-connected perspective it is very difficult to look forward to their visits now, as i will be constantly reminded of the challenges they face living with hiv. i witness and attempt to understand/believe that these children live with such a debilitating disease every day but continue to find it very challenging to comprehend. until today i had almost completely forgotten that these wonderful, innocent little children were hiv +.

who knew something as simple as a new school semester would elicit such emotions and ignite a profound learning experience.

till next time,

-rachel-

my second practicum placement

originally i planned to work on masaka regional referral hospital's many wards as a social work student completing tasks such as arranging transport for individuals who have been discharged, locating attendants for individuals left at the hospital without anyone to care for them, and getting birth certificates for orphaned children. however due to a change in interest i have decided to narrow my focus at the hospital to one ward in specific. due to my increased interest in hiv work and my drastic increase in comfort around individuals who have hiv, i've set out to complete my second praciticum practicum at the m.c.h. ward. i will work here wednesdays and thursdays for the remaining duration of my practicum in uganda.

m.c.h. which stands for the 'maternal and child health' clinic offers many services including hiv/aids and health education, antenatal care, child immunizations, routine testing and counselling (r.t.c.) for pregnant women and their husbands, postnatal care, and gynecological services. this ward is funded through an initiative working to reduce parent to child transmission of hiv.

working at m.c.h. i have the opportunity to experience a variety of situations. for example i spend time with women awaiting hiv testing, offer a listening ear and a hand to hold while women/children are being tested, and partake in post-test counselling as individuals receive their tests results. last week i managed to spend an entire morning in the laboratory as individuals were test for hiv. this was a huge accomplishment for me since i am known to have a fear of needles and ill stomach at the sight of blood. i was very nervous entering the laboratory but managed to stay strong and confident for the individuals being tested; i did not want my fear of needles or blood to project onto the clients and increase their already heightened anxiety. i told myself 'rachel, if these individuals can have the courage to test their hiv status then you can handle the sight of needles and blood'. miraculously after about three clients i was able to comfortably watch the entire testing process.

being present for hiv test result delivery was my next fear to overcome. since i am present for testing i know an individual's status before they do. i feel an uncomfortable sense of power over the clients in this situation, but am working to understand that service providers are automatically placed in this power position over clients. i am trying to gain a better understanding of how to competently work within this power imbalance without coming across as agreeable to it.

nurses have the responsibility of delivering the test results where my role is to assist in post-test counselling with individuals who understand and are comfortable with speaking english. post-test counselling consists of emotionally supporting the client, making sure they understand what is the next step in their situation (positive = hiv treatment, negative = how to protect themselves from this point forward). i speak with the client about their fears or concerns prior to result delivery, what they know about keeping themselves healthy, and help to empower them to take control of their situation once they know their status. i am very nervous in post-test counselling sessions but have wonderful support from my supervisor. i am confident that my comfort level with this will eventually increase as i become more familiar with the process and gain more experience.

well, that's it for now. thanks for reading :)

-rachel-

Social work @ Kittengessa Secondery School

My practicum at Kittengesa Secondary School has been really amazing and rewarding. We are working with a group of 12 youth to do social work projects in the community. They are working with a disability group in the village to teach english, business, games & educating them on several relevant social issues that the people of uganda face. They have been working with families in need in the villages with various projects such as farming.Today was quite an eventful social work day we did some home visits and some outreach work. WE embarked on some sustainable farming projects in two homes where both caregivers could not afford to feed their families, so we supplied them with seeds & supplies.As well we took a very sick relative to the hospital. She had a broken back and in the advanced stages of HIV. She was in so much pain and could not afford medical treatment for three months. We avocated for her with her docotor and arranged for transport with her to the hospital. The hospital was a whole nother experience so many people in tough situations and not enough doctors & nurses. The social worker & I launched into more work while at the hospital such as carrying patients into the emergency room doors and fixing iv drips. After the events I experienced today as much as I was exhausted & overwlemed I had this sense of amazement & hope watching these social work students give back to their community & the gratitude of the people recieving the support was so deep. Our next project will be this thursday the big trip to town for the youth to connect with the services & gain more support. Also they will be teaching valuable lessons on drug abuse, hiv/aids, health/nutrtion, & education. Stay tuned.Michelle

feel the energy and the movement!

happiness

Last Sunday, the Introduction was another interesting cultural experience. There were over 200 people there for the celebration, many of which walked miles in their shiny outfits (the gomez) to be a part of it. It was my first Ugandan-Muslim Introduction so I do not have anything to compare it to, but from what the locals were saying, it was quite extravagant. There were live performances, a drama put on by the bride and groom's families, and a procession of gifts that was over one hundred people long--complete with a truck full of cows, goats and chickens that were a gift from the grooms family to the bride. Wearing a gomez was fun... but terribly uncomfortable. It is all about the hips and butt in Uganda** so underneath the gomez I had to wear a skirt, a thin blanket folded over twice and then the dress on top of it--in order to create the illusion that I was curvy. I thought I was going to feel ridiculous but I am so glad that I wore it otherwise I would have been the only woman out of hundreds that was not dressed appropriately for the occasion. There was a lot of laughing and finger pointing when I entered the wedding accompanied by two other Muzungus in traditional garb, but many people told me that I "looked smart" and they thanked us Muzungus for putting in the effort.
**For those women out there who are unhappy with their curvy figures, come to Uganda--your beautiful body will be loved and appreciated!

My week began with an exciting celebration on Nurse's Day up at the new hotel in Masaka. The Schizophrenia Fellowship choir/performance group had been practicing all week to be the opening performers in front of nurses and health workers from all across Uganda. They had organized costumes, choreographed dancing and rented drums. As I have mentioned before, the choir is made up of people that are dealing with mental illness, caretakers, family members and friends of those with an illness. The amount of support is incredible. The performance began and it blew everyone away from start to finish. The energy coming from the group was like nothing I have ever seen before. They really put their all into the performance. They had the audience up and dancing and people were throwing money at them! When they finished every member was grinning from ear to ear and hugging each other--their sense of pride was infectious.

Over the past weekend we took a trip to Lake Bunyoni and Queen Elizabeth Park. It was a great wellness weekend complete with a sunset canoe ride and a day lying around a pool, sunbathing and swimming. We went on two safaris where we got to see a lioness and her three sweet little cubs! When we arrived home from our first safari on Friday night we drove up to our hostel and were face to face with a male lion!!!! He was just sauntering around the hostel checking things out.... Once he was gone and we got settled in bed we could hear him roaring and making loud snorting noises all night. It sure had our adrenaline pumping!

It is hard to believe that we have been here for a month already. I feel settled and happy with my life here. I also feel very comfortable at the Schizophrenia Fellowship so walking up to the hospital each morning to start my day of work isn’t so anxiety provoking anymore. I have developed relationships with many of the patients so it is nice to be greeted and welcomed by familiar faces each morning. I have also been practicing my Luganda--a Muzungu speaking Luganda is quite funny to the locals and it works as a great ice breaker when greeting patients. There is nothing easy about living here, but life in Uganda is not easy for many people so I do not expect it to be any different for me. -K