It is a week I have been to Uganda. On the first three days, all our nine interns stayed in Kampala downtown New City Annex Hotel. I got here one day later then other girls. I was really tired when I got here on the first day. George took me to the KWTD at Kampala office. The lady in the office, Rehema, gave me a little orientation of Katosi Women Trust Development. Also I got the chance to read the annul report of KWTD and other documents. I slept early on that day. I woke up early on the first three day at 6 and spent the early morning to explore Kampala. Around 7, there was almost nobody on the street except the newspaper-sellers. Almost all the shops in Kampala didn’t open until 8:30. Uganda used to be an英国殖民地, so in the street I saw plenty of British things: their British English-spelling such as “colour” and “honour”, their banks such as Barclays. On the second day, four Katosi interns went to get a formal orientation from KWDT. In the orientation we knew that KWDT have many different projects. Each of them has already developed really well and helped local women a lot with empowering them especially in financial parts. They emphasize a lot on water and sanitation project. With the help of KWDT, those local women built rainwater-harvesting tank and latrine, learn basic hygiene knowledge and get training for the optimal water management.
On the Sunday, every intern was taken to their office. Lauren and I are in the Kampala office. It is a nice office and a nice house. We are going to both live here and work here for two months. We went to walk around the office a little bit. Our neighborhood were all surprised to see “Mzungus” (some of them recognized me an Asian and called me “MChina”) walking around. The scene around here is really nice. Kampala is a city on seven mountains. We walked to the peak of one of the mountains near our office and we see the whole scenery of old Kampala.
Our job, mostly paperwork, in the office is to find grant and apply for them. To me it is not an easy task because I’m not interested and not good at English writing. At first I was assigned to write an application for Climate Initiative. Since I learned some basic knowledge of microcredit and attended some monthly meeting of women microcredit in Ghana, I asked whether I can search and write proposal for microfinance groups. Rehema said good but it was just a little bit hard to find grant for microcredit.
June 3rd is national holiday and we got a day off. Lauren and I took a boda-boda to town. We went to the craft market. Everything there is so cute there. I think I will buy a bunch of souvenirs from here to my family and friends on the last few days here. On the weekend we went to the town again to see Avery and Colleen and plan our trips on the rest weekends in Uganda. I can’t wait to travel in Uganda!
In Uganda, I think I have already lost a sense of time. Everyday after a days of work (5pm), in the evening, we may walk around, talk, read some books or just do nothing and sit. I like this kind of leisure life here!
Friday, June 11, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
please do not flush your dypers...
says Reuben, circa 10:30 pm last night. regina, julia and i wonder what in the world Reuben means by "dypers" when 20 minutes later we realize he is actually talking about feminine products. Since weve arrived in uganda, there have been several miscommunications between us (the muzungus) and the ugandan people. these include but are not limited to: understanding the meaning of bathing costumes, confusing the lugandan word for water with the lugandan word for feces, and accidentally telling our boss that fornication is okay all the time in the united states. i feel like an idiot most/all of the time, but luckily everyone here is so welcoming that they just laugh it off.
the last week and a half in bukasa (the village we stay in) has been much different than life in kampala, the big city. we went from late night clubbing at blu haze to playing soccer with the boys in our village (who are absolutely ridiculous at it). bukasa is much more quiet, minus the roosters that crow literally every .5 seconds. at the risk of sounding incredibly cheesy, i like the village more than the city because the sunsets and starry nights are one of a kind.
last sunday mom (literally, our mom for the summer who makes the best food on the planet) taught me how to kill, pluck, and cook a chicken. needless to say, it was an interesting experience.... much like walking almost an hour to the nearest town to buy cadbury chocolate bars and renting bootleg copies of greys anatomy was. seriously, how american are we?
work is slow, but its getting more and more busy every day. today we are learning how to immunize all the little babies, and ive already learned how to identify almost every disease in the lab! even here everyone can pick up on how nerdy i am.
this weekend some of us are going to jinja for the world cup opening match, and before that regina, julia and i are going to a school in mukono to perform some sort of a hip hop dance and then do HIV testing. not sure how the two of those are related, but im excited and slightly terrified.
Tunalabagana (see you soon!)
the last week and a half in bukasa (the village we stay in) has been much different than life in kampala, the big city. we went from late night clubbing at blu haze to playing soccer with the boys in our village (who are absolutely ridiculous at it). bukasa is much more quiet, minus the roosters that crow literally every .5 seconds. at the risk of sounding incredibly cheesy, i like the village more than the city because the sunsets and starry nights are one of a kind.
last sunday mom (literally, our mom for the summer who makes the best food on the planet) taught me how to kill, pluck, and cook a chicken. needless to say, it was an interesting experience.... much like walking almost an hour to the nearest town to buy cadbury chocolate bars and renting bootleg copies of greys anatomy was. seriously, how american are we?
work is slow, but its getting more and more busy every day. today we are learning how to immunize all the little babies, and ive already learned how to identify almost every disease in the lab! even here everyone can pick up on how nerdy i am.
this weekend some of us are going to jinja for the world cup opening match, and before that regina, julia and i are going to a school in mukono to perform some sort of a hip hop dance and then do HIV testing. not sure how the two of those are related, but im excited and slightly terrified.
Tunalabagana (see you soon!)
yellow beetles
I have officially been in uganda for TWO WEEKS! it has been amazing to see the beautiful scenery and the people of uganda who are extremely friendly. As of now, me and my kyetume girls have settled into our apartment in Bukasa surrounded by neighbors that have been very helpful in our quest to wash and dry our own clothes. the people I work with have also been super nice and I will be working with the resource center and the clinic during the week. so far I have drawn blood that didnt end so well since I fainted the second I saw it ha, but o well thats how it goes. I am no working in the lab but I am doing counseling with HIV patients which is very exciting. I went on a home visit to see the patients I helped counsel and their stories were amazing. It is incredible to know how much effort people in the community have to make to get to the clinic for their medicines. It really opened my eyes to the struggle these patients go through and made me really happy that I was going to be working with more patients like them.
One of the greatest aspects about Bukasa is the kids. they were so happy to see us when they first came and even today they still act like its their first time seeing us as they jump at us and love to play. As julia and emily played soccer with the local boys, me and the girls were practicing a photo shoot as every girl loves the camera, it was really precious how they imitated tyra fierece poses. And we also cheered on the mzungus playing in the field. Im loving uganda.
until next time!!:)
One of the greatest aspects about Bukasa is the kids. they were so happy to see us when they first came and even today they still act like its their first time seeing us as they jump at us and love to play. As julia and emily played soccer with the local boys, me and the girls were practicing a photo shoot as every girl loves the camera, it was really precious how they imitated tyra fierece poses. And we also cheered on the mzungus playing in the field. Im loving uganda.
until next time!!:)
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Real World: Katosi
Week 2 in Katosi!
So Colleen and I have finally figured out a rough routine and idea for what we will be doing with our time here, and I’m slowly getting used to village life.
Still no electricity, every time you ask you get the response “yes, they are bringing it back soon” so we’ll see what soon really means. I did my laundry today- a process that took an hour and was a nice “3-cycle” wash, meaning there are 3 different buckets where you rinse and scrub your clothes. Surprisingly, hand-washing is pretty effective at getting stains out, but I think I’ll stick with my machine once I get back home. Colleen and I went to Kampala on Saturday to see the other Katosi interns, Lauren and Scarlette, and plan out what we can do together for the KWDT! We also went to Bukasa on Sunday to visit with the Kyetume interns and catch up with what they are doing (I also used them for their shower. BLISS).
Colleen and I teach twice a week at St. John Bosco Primary School. It is a brand new orphan school started in January with apparently a western benefactor named “Kathy”. We mainly teach math and social studies to the P.4s, but are slowly getting to know everyone so that we can start talking about bringing water and sanitation initiatives to the school via the KWDT. When we went on Monday, we taught the kids duck-duck-goose, and while it took a while for them to catch on, once they did they LOVED it. Cutest thing ever.
Excited for the world cup to start this weekend! Even though we won’t really be able to watch it in Katosi the excitement is definitely all around.
And one last little Uganda story: I had my iPod stolen from my room by little boys who poked sticks through the window and grabbed it. To make it even better, when the village people put out and announcement they found it, and I got to pay $25 to get it back. So yeah, I got to rebuy my own iPod. All a part of Real World: Katosi.
Over & out!
avery
So Colleen and I have finally figured out a rough routine and idea for what we will be doing with our time here, and I’m slowly getting used to village life.
Still no electricity, every time you ask you get the response “yes, they are bringing it back soon” so we’ll see what soon really means. I did my laundry today- a process that took an hour and was a nice “3-cycle” wash, meaning there are 3 different buckets where you rinse and scrub your clothes. Surprisingly, hand-washing is pretty effective at getting stains out, but I think I’ll stick with my machine once I get back home. Colleen and I went to Kampala on Saturday to see the other Katosi interns, Lauren and Scarlette, and plan out what we can do together for the KWDT! We also went to Bukasa on Sunday to visit with the Kyetume interns and catch up with what they are doing (I also used them for their shower. BLISS).
Colleen and I teach twice a week at St. John Bosco Primary School. It is a brand new orphan school started in January with apparently a western benefactor named “Kathy”. We mainly teach math and social studies to the P.4s, but are slowly getting to know everyone so that we can start talking about bringing water and sanitation initiatives to the school via the KWDT. When we went on Monday, we taught the kids duck-duck-goose, and while it took a while for them to catch on, once they did they LOVED it. Cutest thing ever.
Excited for the world cup to start this weekend! Even though we won’t really be able to watch it in Katosi the excitement is definitely all around.
And one last little Uganda story: I had my iPod stolen from my room by little boys who poked sticks through the window and grabbed it. To make it even better, when the village people put out and announcement they found it, and I got to pay $25 to get it back. So yeah, I got to rebuy my own iPod. All a part of Real World: Katosi.
Over & out!
avery
Internet is Back!
It's been too long since I've updated on this... the internet here is so spotty, and it has been a busy couple of weeks.
After spending a few days in Kampala, which was wonderful & busy, Regina, Emily and I moved into our little apartment in Bukasa, a small village about 40 minutes from Kampala. On the first night we arrived, we were greeted by dozens of little kids, all of which wanted to play with the brand new Mzungus in town. That night we got settled in, played some football (their kind, not ours) with the kids and went to bed early. The first week at work was awesome. Everyone was so welcoming and wanted us to feel as comfortable here as possible. We got adjusted the first day and met everyone who works at Kyetume, then I spent a few days at a domestic violence conference with Henry. I learned that 80% of women in Uganda are subjected to violence on a regular basis and 79% say that they think this violence is acceptable because it is so deeply rooted in the country's culture and history. Even though the statistics were pretty discouraging, it was very exciting to hear so many people speak out against domestic violence and commit themselves to a violence free life.
After a relaxing weekend, we came back to work yesterday, and Regina and I went on home visits to help with HIV counseling. It was probably my favorite day in Uganda thus far. The two patients we visited were in such high spirits and were so excited to have us visit them at their homes. One of the men said that he has to ride a bike about 3 hours to get to the clinic we work at to pick up his medicines every month. It's frustrating that there is no sort of system in place to help people access their medicines more easily, but every one seems to recognize the problem, so hopefully change will come soon.
I'm loving Uganda, but it is taking time to adjust to the lifestyle here. The pace of life is pretty slow and relaxed, which is a big change from how busy my life is at school and home. I've been trying to learn as much of the language as possible, and I'm making progress even though people still laugh at me on a regular basis. One of my favorite things about this place is the strong sense of community and family. Every one helps each other out, something that is not too prevalent in the United States.
Well, I have work to do now, but I will try to update again soon.
Until then, tunaalabagana!
After spending a few days in Kampala, which was wonderful & busy, Regina, Emily and I moved into our little apartment in Bukasa, a small village about 40 minutes from Kampala. On the first night we arrived, we were greeted by dozens of little kids, all of which wanted to play with the brand new Mzungus in town. That night we got settled in, played some football (their kind, not ours) with the kids and went to bed early. The first week at work was awesome. Everyone was so welcoming and wanted us to feel as comfortable here as possible. We got adjusted the first day and met everyone who works at Kyetume, then I spent a few days at a domestic violence conference with Henry. I learned that 80% of women in Uganda are subjected to violence on a regular basis and 79% say that they think this violence is acceptable because it is so deeply rooted in the country's culture and history. Even though the statistics were pretty discouraging, it was very exciting to hear so many people speak out against domestic violence and commit themselves to a violence free life.
After a relaxing weekend, we came back to work yesterday, and Regina and I went on home visits to help with HIV counseling. It was probably my favorite day in Uganda thus far. The two patients we visited were in such high spirits and were so excited to have us visit them at their homes. One of the men said that he has to ride a bike about 3 hours to get to the clinic we work at to pick up his medicines every month. It's frustrating that there is no sort of system in place to help people access their medicines more easily, but every one seems to recognize the problem, so hopefully change will come soon.
I'm loving Uganda, but it is taking time to adjust to the lifestyle here. The pace of life is pretty slow and relaxed, which is a big change from how busy my life is at school and home. I've been trying to learn as much of the language as possible, and I'm making progress even though people still laugh at me on a regular basis. One of my favorite things about this place is the strong sense of community and family. Every one helps each other out, something that is not too prevalent in the United States.
Well, I have work to do now, but I will try to update again soon.
Until then, tunaalabagana!
Monday, June 7, 2010
Blog 3 (title creativity is at a minimum)
It's the end of week two in Uganda and we have finished our first week of work!
Scarlet and I had an interesting first week here at the Katosi main office in Kampala. On Monday morning( at 7:30 am) we jumped right into working at our newly set up desk in the office (we are sharing one of the bigger desks in the office). I started reading through a couple of websites for potential grants for our organization and started gathering information to write a grant on expanding the community water harvesting tanks program. The first website I looked at might have had some potential, but it was very political heavy and focused mainly on setting up a program to fight corruption in government administered projects and programs (I know very little about this), so I moved on to work on other grant possibilities.
I submitted applications for the Global Giving philanthropy website in order to expand our donor base in the US and UK as well as a request for funding to the Rockefeller foundation for an Integrated Water, Sanitation and Hygiene program. The internet was down on Tuesday so I could not research for funding online and instead spent the day reading some of the past Katosi proposals, annual reports and information on water sanitation programs in Uganda.
At any given time there are different people in the office. It is always Rehema and Vaal (and me and Scarlet) and then sometimes George, or Leonard, or a variety of other people who just seem to filter in and out of the office at random. Hopefully I will figure out who they are as time goes on!
Wednesday and Friday I started working on a Coca-Cola Foundation grant, though I have not quite completed it because it needs to be reviewed by Rehema, our project/funding manager, to make sure that the budget and organization demographics are collected. Hopefully I can finish up that application early this week and get started on another one soon! Friday I also wrote up a proposal for a "Community -Led Sanitation Program" which mainly focuses on allowing the community members in any given region to design their own culturally relevant and economically feasible sanitation program. I really believe in this idea of letting communities take charge of their own development and change. Not only does it give the locals and sense of responsibility for the proposed project, but it also simply makes the most sense. I think everyone would agree that the members of a community know their community better than any outside could. By providing basic training, initial funding and the necessary educational tools, my program would support local communities in initiating a sustainable clean water and sanitation program. Margaret comes back to the office on Monday and I'm really excited to meet with her and talk more about potential projects for Katosi and how I can best help the NGO expand the work they are already doing.
Thursday was a national holiday, so we had off of work and went into Kampala for the day just to walk around and get out of the office. Scarlet and I caught a ride into town and started our day at the craft market. There was a big missions group there and one Ugandan woman and I shared a good laugh at their uniforms. For some reason they had decided that the best way to fit in in Uganda was to all wear matching BRIGHT orange polo shirts with their organizations name branded on the front, long JEAN skirts and tennis shoes. All of them, the whole group. Hahaha. Best thing. Then we walked over to 1000 cups to sit for a while before setting out on a long walk across the city to Garden city where we bought a few grocery items. I bought a soda there, but didn't have a bottle opener. I tried to open it with my hands for a long time (unsuccessfully) and eventually ended up carrying it in my bag all around Kampala until I finally broke down and bought a Manchester United bottle-opener from one of the vendors on Kampala Road.
After, we went back to 1000 cups and sat in some comfy chairs and read some magazines about Uganda. I decided that I really wanted some beaded sandals from the craft market so we went back and shopped around until I found a pair that I really liked. They are brown and black leather twisted at the top to look like a snake and I absolutely LOVE them (thanks for being so patient with me scarlet while I tried on every pair in the entire market!) I also made a mental note of all the items I want to buy for Agradu to sell, for the culture kit I am going to make to use for Carolina Navigators back in the states and for friends and family back home. I had to use a lot of self-control not to buy it all right then!
I'm getting adjusted to the laid-back pace of things here and enjoying slowing down for a bit. I read a lot here and have already devoured "The Count of Monte Cristo" by Alexandre Dumas and "Out of the Silent Planet" by C.S. Lewis. Next up is Perelandria, also by C.S. Lewis. Even if I keep up this pace of reading, I will be surprised if I finish all the books I brought. Overpacked much? Whoopsies. Oh well, whatever I don't use I will leave here for others.
If any other interns are reading this, let me know if you want to borrow any books, I've got plenty!
Tomorrow is Sunday and Scarlet and I are going to do laundry and then take a long walk up to this Anglican church on the hill across the valley from us. I'm excited to get out and explore some more. Scarlet says I am making her be more active than she has ever been, haha. Best.
Also, the World cup starts this week! We are going to Jinja on Friday to meet up with other interns to hang out, explore and watch some games. I'm going to try to make it to Bugalugi falls and hike for the day.
Hope all is well with everyone!
(Sorry my blogs are so long, I would upload pictures for entertainment purposes, but the internet really can not deal with that kind of file size capacity)
Until next time,
Lauren
Scarlet and I had an interesting first week here at the Katosi main office in Kampala. On Monday morning( at 7:30 am) we jumped right into working at our newly set up desk in the office (we are sharing one of the bigger desks in the office). I started reading through a couple of websites for potential grants for our organization and started gathering information to write a grant on expanding the community water harvesting tanks program. The first website I looked at might have had some potential, but it was very political heavy and focused mainly on setting up a program to fight corruption in government administered projects and programs (I know very little about this), so I moved on to work on other grant possibilities.
I submitted applications for the Global Giving philanthropy website in order to expand our donor base in the US and UK as well as a request for funding to the Rockefeller foundation for an Integrated Water, Sanitation and Hygiene program. The internet was down on Tuesday so I could not research for funding online and instead spent the day reading some of the past Katosi proposals, annual reports and information on water sanitation programs in Uganda.
At any given time there are different people in the office. It is always Rehema and Vaal (and me and Scarlet) and then sometimes George, or Leonard, or a variety of other people who just seem to filter in and out of the office at random. Hopefully I will figure out who they are as time goes on!
Wednesday and Friday I started working on a Coca-Cola Foundation grant, though I have not quite completed it because it needs to be reviewed by Rehema, our project/funding manager, to make sure that the budget and organization demographics are collected. Hopefully I can finish up that application early this week and get started on another one soon! Friday I also wrote up a proposal for a "Community -Led Sanitation Program" which mainly focuses on allowing the community members in any given region to design their own culturally relevant and economically feasible sanitation program. I really believe in this idea of letting communities take charge of their own development and change. Not only does it give the locals and sense of responsibility for the proposed project, but it also simply makes the most sense. I think everyone would agree that the members of a community know their community better than any outside could. By providing basic training, initial funding and the necessary educational tools, my program would support local communities in initiating a sustainable clean water and sanitation program. Margaret comes back to the office on Monday and I'm really excited to meet with her and talk more about potential projects for Katosi and how I can best help the NGO expand the work they are already doing.
Thursday was a national holiday, so we had off of work and went into Kampala for the day just to walk around and get out of the office. Scarlet and I caught a ride into town and started our day at the craft market. There was a big missions group there and one Ugandan woman and I shared a good laugh at their uniforms. For some reason they had decided that the best way to fit in in Uganda was to all wear matching BRIGHT orange polo shirts with their organizations name branded on the front, long JEAN skirts and tennis shoes. All of them, the whole group. Hahaha. Best thing. Then we walked over to 1000 cups to sit for a while before setting out on a long walk across the city to Garden city where we bought a few grocery items. I bought a soda there, but didn't have a bottle opener. I tried to open it with my hands for a long time (unsuccessfully) and eventually ended up carrying it in my bag all around Kampala until I finally broke down and bought a Manchester United bottle-opener from one of the vendors on Kampala Road.
After, we went back to 1000 cups and sat in some comfy chairs and read some magazines about Uganda. I decided that I really wanted some beaded sandals from the craft market so we went back and shopped around until I found a pair that I really liked. They are brown and black leather twisted at the top to look like a snake and I absolutely LOVE them (thanks for being so patient with me scarlet while I tried on every pair in the entire market!) I also made a mental note of all the items I want to buy for Agradu to sell, for the culture kit I am going to make to use for Carolina Navigators back in the states and for friends and family back home. I had to use a lot of self-control not to buy it all right then!
I'm getting adjusted to the laid-back pace of things here and enjoying slowing down for a bit. I read a lot here and have already devoured "The Count of Monte Cristo" by Alexandre Dumas and "Out of the Silent Planet" by C.S. Lewis. Next up is Perelandria, also by C.S. Lewis. Even if I keep up this pace of reading, I will be surprised if I finish all the books I brought. Overpacked much? Whoopsies. Oh well, whatever I don't use I will leave here for others.
If any other interns are reading this, let me know if you want to borrow any books, I've got plenty!
Tomorrow is Sunday and Scarlet and I are going to do laundry and then take a long walk up to this Anglican church on the hill across the valley from us. I'm excited to get out and explore some more. Scarlet says I am making her be more active than she has ever been, haha. Best.
Also, the World cup starts this week! We are going to Jinja on Friday to meet up with other interns to hang out, explore and watch some games. I'm going to try to make it to Bugalugi falls and hike for the day.
Hope all is well with everyone!
(Sorry my blogs are so long, I would upload pictures for entertainment purposes, but the internet really can not deal with that kind of file size capacity)
Until next time,
Lauren
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