I finally returned home! I have only been gone for a month and a half but home seems like a completely new place to me...an amazing place. I actually spent time discussing how awesome napkins and garbage cans were yesterday to my family. By the way, napkins and garbage cans are awesome inventions. Between the horrific bouts of jet lag I have started reflecting on my experience in Uganda and have come to some conclusions about the lessons I learned.
After completing my scope of work I left the small town of Ssembabule to travel around Uganda. First I went to the capital of Kampala, which after spending over a month in a small village was incredibly overwhelming. Ssembabule is the Thief River Falls as Kampala is to Minneapolis, except picture Minneapolis with twice as much traffic (and pollution from diesel fuels), more people, and sans traffic signs (of any kind%u2026so no stop lights or signs). I was able to go shopping at the craft market downtown, which was my first time really haggling as a consumer. I had heard that to buy the item at the price it is worth you should be able to bargain down to one-third of the original asking price. I was never even able to bargain down to half price so now I realize how difficult it is to haggle. I feel pretty fortunate that I was able to make it through the day without being hit by a mutatu (public taxi van) or a boda boda (motorcycle taxi) and also left with some cool souvenirs for my family.
It is amazing what people can get used to. I am at a point where I do not think twice about bucket bathing or going to the bathroom in a hole in the ground. I haven't even thought about the fact that there is no refrigerator basically since I got here. Although it would be nice to be able to store food, it is also nice being able to buy all my food fresh each day. I think the reason for this is that they don't eat food here that needs to be stored. The downside to this is that the food selection is extremely limited and I would kill for a brownie.
Although it is still frustrating, I am getting used to working with limited resources. The unreliable electricity and internet force me to use my time wisely and it has been a great lesson for me to learn how to produce quality work with so little. I think this is a lesson in patience and hopefully I will bring it home with me.
Another thing I am getting used to is all the animals/bugs that live in the vicinity of my bedroom (and by vicinity I mean within 30 feet and the grossest ones live the closest). I have learned that bats are the grossest looking creatures that ever lived, but I am not as afraid of them as I once was. The cockroaches are awful but I am actually getting used to seeing them around. Goats, cows and chickens are often wandering around our site in the middle of the roads and no one seems to think twice about it. Whose animals are these? I also have a Gecko that likes to sleep in my bedroom that I have tentatively named Henry. At first he made me nervous but Geckos are everywhere in Uganda (restaurants, in people's homes etc.), so now I kind of enjoy his company. In addition, we have three roosters living in our site right now that we plan to slaughter and eat. I have never seen my meat slaughtered in front of me, but I plan to try to watch the entire ordeal. I think it will be very difficult to watch them get killed but am also okay with it for two reasons: apparently roosters do not only crow at dawn; they crow all the time and especially at night while I am sleeping, and two is that I think they have had a better life than the majority of the chickens in the United States.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, it is also amazing what Americans are used to that Ugandans are not. Part of my scope of work is to complete staff development trainings and I have focused on computer skills. I recently taught a "file saving and file organization," training as well as an "Excel" training to the Ugandan staff at our site. Some of the staff had never used a computer before. It was awesome to teach them something new since the majority of my trip has been spent learning new things from all of the staff. Even more exhilarating was how intently they listened and wanted to learn. In addition, cars are a luxury in Uganda. It is not considered a necessity here as it often is in the States, and even if it was most people could not afford them. It is probably a good thing more people do not own cars here because the roads are very hilly and rough and they tend to drive in the middle of the road while approaching a rough hill. Lastly, I don't think any Ugandan would know of the word "privacy." The idea of your own space does not seem to exist here. I often wonder when I get back to the States if it will be hard for me to be alone because I do not think I have been alone for more time than it takes in the bathroom.
Family Planning in Uganda: Understood but not practiced
By Sarah Brunsberg Uganda
Today we went to a local hospital to hear a family planning talk given by the chief nurse. She gathered all the people already in the hospital and every one of them sat and intently listened to her talk and even participated. I wonder how many people in America would agree to a family planning lecture while waiting in the hospital waiting room sick or with a loved one who is sick.
One thing I find interesting is that there is no Luganda term for "family planning," so they just use English even though the majority of them do not speak English. From what I could understand and what was translated to me, the majority of the audience knew what family planning is and why it is important. They also knew many of the popular methods of birth control.
Unfortunately, as SPHers we know that the first lesson in Public Health is that knowledge often does not equal behavior change. The big question is how to get Ugandans to change their behavior and start using family planning? What complicates this is that Ugandans are very rich in culture and tradition which includes having many children (reasons mentioned in my previous blog). It will not be an easy feat to get them to change their practices. Many women must go behind their husband's backs to obtain birth control and will often be kicked out of the house if their husbands find out. After a few conversations with Ugandan men, I have discovered that many believe their wives are not using birth control while at the same time telling me stories of children conveniently placed a certain number of years apart. My sneaking suspicion is that many women are using birth control without their husband's knowledge, and some preliminary results from our family planning surveys have confirmed these suspicions.
As I near the end of my second week I cannot even believe how much I have already learned here. The family planning project Anna and I were working on is coming to a close and I have learned so much from it. The average number of children in Uganda is 7.5 even though most women do not seem to desire having that many children. There are three reasons for having so many children. One is the desire for boys, so families will continue to have children until they have a boy. Our night guard Kaakato has five girls! The second reason is because they do not expect all their children to survive. This is evident from the results of our survey which demonstrated many women having lost one or two children. The last reason is to maintain their tribes since many are in danger.
One disconcerting fact about the town we are in (Ssembabule) is the lack of a birth registration system. Anna is working on this project and I recently attended a meeting with district offcials with her to learn how they registered births in Ssembabule. We found out that they don't, at all. Even more disconcerting is the fact that a birth certificate is necessary to obtain a passport or register for college. I suppose with the larger problems facing this community college and passports are not in the list of priorities. Even with these frustrations I am finding myself growing accustomed to this small town.
The second project I am working on is creating an Information Technology Curriculum for future use with Ugandan staff. I am having an incredibly hard time with this because not only am I the least tech savy person I know, I am also having a difficult time writing this curriculum in simple enough language so that the staff can understand. I am not sure how I will pull it off... but I will try hard!
As I rise at 7AM every morning out of my slumber the first smell that greets me is the pit latrines being cleaned. It does not smell good but it does a good job of waking me up. The next smell that greets me is the pleasant scent of ginger in the tea that Kakaato makes us every morning. In Uganda they drink a lot of black tea and we are fortunate enough to have ginger water added to the tea. I will take this idea home with me.
At around noon each day the smell of the daily trash burn stings my nose. They burn the trash right out front of our site in the middle of the town just to ensure that all the townspeople get a smell it seems.
At the same time the smell of our lunch seeps into our workroom and we know that lunch will consist of: potatoes, rice, greens and noodles. We know this because this is what we eat each day for lunch and dinner. The food tastes good, we just wish for more variety.
Later that day we may take a trip to another town or market. Imagine this: driving down a dusty dirt road with eleven people crammed into a Toyota corolla and you are the only person wearing deodorant. Welcome to Uganda!
I arrived in Uganda after 30 hours of travel completely and utterly exhausted and was greeted by Peter who was a special hired driver to drive me to Kampala for the night. It was an interesting experience arriving so exhausted and making the drive to Kampala trying to understand Peter's Ugandan English while driving on the wrong side of the road and avoiding 10 head on collisions (or what it seemed like to me at the time).
It has been difficult adjusting to how they drive in Uganda, but other than I often feel safer in Uganda than in the United States. Before I left all I heard was how cautious I needed to be and the precautions I needed to take with my money and things. However, I have not taken action with any of the precautions I came with to Uganda. Ugandans are the nicest and most honest people I have ever met. In the market one day a man chased after Anna just to give her the left over change she has forgotten. Besides the honesty there are absolutely no beggars here and from what I can tell everyone works, and they work hard. The staff at our Ssembabule site are amazing. They keep it very clean and make us tea and food often. The only drawback is that toilet paper often runs out and is not replaced quickly.
The living conditions are extremely different from the United States and I miss the luxuries we have back home, but I am adjusting to the living conditions here. Yesterday we went out into an even more rural village than the one we live in and I felt lucky for the pit latrine toilet and bucket baths we use at our site. These villages have nothing and it is amazing how generous the people living here are. The council woman of this village offered me three lemons which I gladly accepted because I am missing the food variety in the United States.
My conclusions thus far are although I am very homesick and miss things about the US, Ugandans are amazing people who are forcing me to slow down and enjoy the simple things in life.
Hey SPHers! My name is Sarah and I just completed my first year as a CHE MPH student. I leave in a few weeks for my field experience and first time abroad in Uganda! I am already losing sleep in anticipation and fear of the unknown. I am not going to pretend I am not scared. I am probably the least worldly person I know, which translates into utter apprehension. The most “abroad” I have ever been is Canada. Yep. Exactly. The only time I have eaten African food was at the SPH Taste of Diversity, and I am pretty sure I will not be eating that well. I mostly wonder how well I will do being tossed into a culture so different from my own. Do I really have to bring my own toilet paper and wash my hair in a bucket? Stayed tuned for the answers to these questions!
What can I do to prepare myself for this culture shock? I tend to have very mixed reactions when I tell people I am going to East Africa for seven weeks. Some people say that is great! Others do not. I had one guy from Nigeria give me the “oooh…you are really going there?” look. I also keep reading Africa horror stories online. I should probably stop surfing the web.
I will be working for the Minnesota International Health Volunteers with another MCH MPH student Anna who has already been in Uganda for over two weeks (check out her blog). We will be working on a program evaluation of MIVH’s Family Planning Project and assisting with other logistical aspects of the project. The only communication I have had with Anna has been via facebook where she informed me that the site we are at is pretty rough and sparse, and to please bring mac and cheese (hence my apprehension).
I think all I can do is expect the unexpected and be prepared for an adventure. I would really appreciate any advice on necessary items to pack or how to better prepare myself for such an extraordinary experience.
For more information on MIVH and their international programs visit http://www.mihv.org/.
By Sarah Brunsberg
Last modified on