Jaclyn ECED --half way

Well the past five weeks have been a whirlwind! So much has gone on, and we have seen and experienced more than I thought we would have by this point in our adventure, it makes time seems to just zip past without me realizing it. My days seem so short and I wish for more hours every day. My favorite thing to do here other than my practicum is to just go into town and explore the different shops, people are so friendly here, though the constant snickering and double takes you get when you walk past people can get a little tire some if you are not in the right mood. The other day me and Florence (my practicum supervisor) were walking into town to purchase some things for the practicum site and we walked past a bunch of bodda bodda drivers. As we walked through the crowd all you could here was ‘Mazungo’ (that means white person who burns in the sun and melts in the rain haha) and little snickers. I asked her what they were saying because we never understand what they are saying. She said that they just are surprised how tall we are they are not use to seeing women so tall. I don’t know if she was just being nice, but I will try to believe that’s what is being said haha.

I have learnt a lot about myself since being here. I have learnt how important life is, and how it is a waste of time to really stress about things that you have no control over, you have to really just take things as they come and not worry about them before they happen. They will either happen or they won’t. I have also learnt how important it is to do all you can for those you care about. So many people here have amazing stories and are doing so much more than you or I could ever even think of doing, and they do it, not for money, or for gratitude, but rather because it is the right thing to do.

This week is my last week at the Hospital day care center and I will be going to the baby home on Monday, I am very excited and sad about this. I have formed amazing relationships with the children at my current placement and I will feel like I am leaving a part of my heart and soul behind with them. However, I am very excited to build relationships with the children at the baby home. I hope all the children I have built relationships will always remember at least one reason why I made them laugh. Or one moment that will bring a smile to their face. For me every smile I bring to a child’s face is reassurance that I am in the right place and I am making a difference, because in that moment when they child smiles, they are truly a child.

People keep asking me if I am missing home yet, or if I am culture shocked from being here. My honest response (sorry mom) I am not really missing home yet, I am so busy here and there is so much to take in I really have not had time to miss home yet. And if probably helps that I am planning for when my mom arrives to travel with me. As for culture shock I did not really experience this, I think if you had never seen what Africa looks like, or had never travels to a developing country that maybe you would experience this. But for me I think I took everything in stride and I have embraced all that is different and all that is the same.

I honestly love it here and I can truly see how people move to Uganda, it is a beautiful country with amazing people and good intentions. I urge all people to travel here if they ever have the chance.

I feel very at home here, I feel more a part of this community than you often do at home. Here when I go to buy my vegetables I know the man who sells me the food, I know him by name and I take time and talk with him. When you walk down the street someone will come up and talk to you. Though one frustrating thing is when you are planning on meeting someone and they are on ‘African time” ( as our taxi driver and friend Nassur calls it) and they are 30-60 mins late.

I have been asked what is the first thing I am going to do once I get home… Well honestly I am going to go and buy some sushi and then go and take a HOT shower… I miss hot water so much!

Anyways I will write again soon, and tell you all about the baby home, I love it hear!!!

I leave you with these great words:

                Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world. --Harriet Tubman

My time at Tekera Resource Center

I am at Tekera Resource Center each Thursday. It is a community. There is a primary school with a scholarship program for secondary school, a library, a medical clinic with a nurse, a dentist and a craft group. It is a lovely place. Last week was the first week that we have been at Tekera with the school in. The children are everywhere. I tried to play net ball with them. This is a game very comparable to basketball but with no dribbling. It was so fun! While Priscilla and I are there, we are working in the library and teaching classes. We taught a class on poetry that I think the children enjoyed. It was the poems where you write your name horizontally and then each line of the poem starts with a letter of your name.

The work is great there and children are so wonderful but I can't believe that this center is a support system for so many people. They can come and get medical attention, the children can go to school close to their home and they have this wonderful craft club that meets weekly. The women get together and weave and have lunch. You can hear the laughter and talking. On top of all the work they have done for this rural community, everyone who works there have welcomed us into their Tekera family. All 7 Masaka students were invited to a farewell bonfire for two of their volunteers returning to Canada. There was many local teachers and students there. There was drumming, singing and dancing. All of us foreigners got to try their local dance around the fire. It was not easy! It's nice to feel a part of a community when I am so far from home. 

Has it really been a full month! Holly

It has been 1 month! I still find this so hard to believe, but I am kind of glad I have made it to this point without any big rough patches. I have been getting over some sort of sinus infection but I feel by tomorrow I will be feeling a great deal better. Each day that passes I get healthier and healthier which is good, ill actually be able to put all of my attention towards my work. At this stage in my practicum I am getting a few mixed emotions, on one hand I am so excited to be working 3 days with Mary at Kakunyu but then on the other hand I am sad that the children from Anaweza are getting back into school and shortening my days there to 2. There is still so much more to come of this adventure and I am more than happy to explore it.


Anaweza has taken a small piece of my heart and I am sure it is going to stay there. Every day I fall more and more in love with these children. As everyone does I have a few I have become very attached to and there is no way saying goodbye is going to be easy. I have forgot how full of life children are with me being in school, working and being caught up in this crazy adult life, They fall down, get hurt and two seconds later they are back at it. It kind of makes me think... Maybe I need to stop taking my advice from adults and start working off of the examples lead by children. In some way I think they are a great deal stronger and independent than any one adult I know. 

Blessed to be here.

It is my fourth week in Uganda, I can't believe how fast the time is going. When I think ahead to all of my weekends that I already have pretty much planned out up until the end of my trip I am excited but also sad. I want to take in as much as I possibly can while I have this amazing opportunity; unfortunately I don't think 11 weeks is quite enough time. Though in the last 3 weeks I have probably learnt and experienced more than I have in my entire life. Things I may have never witnessed had I not come here. About myself, about life, about my field of work, and about the possibilities that the world has to offer. There is so much more to life than what our city Vancouver can offer, and I feel so blessed every day I am here in Uganda. I have never been more sure of anything as I am sure that this is exactly where I am supposed to be.

Practicum is amazing so far. The real grass roots outreach work we are doing is so satisfying - and exhausting (in a good way). I will try my best to paint a picture of what my days look like. Every day we meet at the Centre for Disability and Rehabilitation Uganda and prepare for the day's outing.  Teresa and I are accompanied by a social worker and occupational therapist named Alex, as well as one or more parents who work with us who either have or have had children with disabilities, or some other personal connection to the issue. We usually walk to the villages, though we sometimes take a mataatu if it is a very far distance. We meet children with disabilities and their families, learn about their condition and history, and make recommendations for what may be done to improve the situation. This could be therapy, appliances, stimulation/play, etc. A lot of what we do is around changing attitudes, educating and supporting the parents, and empowering the family to make positive changes with the resources they have available.

Last week we met a boy named David who is weak in his legs when standing and walking. Using the materials the family had around (trees, rocks, and a machete) we constructed parallel bars for him to use to practise walking back and forth in his yard in front of the home. It was pretty amazing to see what could be done at no cost that will help David immensely. With practise his legs will get stronger and he will be able to walk and run normally.

This is one example of the kind of work I have been doing. I wish I could describe my experience here in better detail but it really is hard to put into words how amazing it has been so far.

-Michell

Empowering Women

My time here at Shanti has been wonderful. I have met so many amazing people who share like-minded beliefs as to why we are working with Shanti Uganda. Empowering women to give them the tools and skills they need to be successful is what Shanti is facilitating. Through the womens' income generating group, the teen girls workshops, the garden workshops or the birthing house, Shanti is empowering women and awakening the confidence within them.

Over the last 2 weeks I have been very busy co-facilitating teen girls workshops for at risk youths between the ages of 12-18 years. It has been both challenging and rewarding at the same time. The first week we partnered with Compassion International and held a teen girls workshop on their premises. The first day we started out with about 20 girls, but that quickly changed, and by the end of the week 41 girls graduated from the workshop. We were fortunate to have a midwife from Shanti come and speak with the girls about HIV/AIDS and a police officer from the Luwero police district come and instruct the girls on self-defense. The girls really enjoyed it and we felt good giving them the basic skills needed in order to defend themselves.

The second week we held an outreach workshop in Katikamu. We took the classroom outside to a grassy meadow where the girls were able to relax and enjoy being in nature while learning the material from the workshop. Yoga breaks were incorporated and the girls greatly benefited from it as it helped with their posture, concentration, and mental state, not to mention, the infectious laughter that amounted when the girls tried the yoga poses.

Each girl took away from the workshops the skills to make a reusable menstrual pad, lessons in self-defense, knowledge of HIV/AIDS, the reproductive system, establishing healthy relationships, nutrition and a heightened awareness of yoga and its benefits. As a volunteer working in Uganda, I recognize the importance of these topics not just for the teen girls here in Uganda, but also in my own country.

By facilitating the workshops these girls are receiving knowledge, skills, and support, which will help them throughout the rest of their teen years and prepare them for transitioning into becoming young women. I deeply feel that these types of workshops are needed and to be implemented all over the world to empower women to help them awaken their confidence in order to make the journey from being a teenaged girl into becoming a young woman. These young women are our future mothers. Therefore, if we invest in the youth then we can help to improve some of the problems we are facing, such as the spread of HIV/AIDS, malnutrition, and maternal and infant mortality in developing countries. I feel very fortunate to have been part of the teen girls workshop and kudos to Shanti for creating such an empowering program for young women.

It is hard to believe that I have been in Uganda for almost two weeks now...the time has really flown. Three days a week (Monday to Wednesday) I have been at the Centre for Disability and Rehabilitation Uganda.  They work with children who have a variety of disabilities. It is an exciting experience in being able to have the outreach experience of going into different villages to work with families of children with disabilities. We have been welcomed in as students to be part of the team where we have a chance to give our feedback in looking at the medical and social challenges that are around each child.
Michell and I will be looking at cases and asked to pick a case to present to the rest of the staff and then we discuss it..a great opportunity in public speaking skills, working as a team and problem-solving.

The Centres Vision is that they envision a society with disability inclusive environment that upholds children with disabilities rights.  Their mission is the Promotion of disability rehabilitation and protection of children with disabilities through research, information sharing, advocacy, capacity building and direct service delivery using Community-based Rehabilitation/dHome-based care approaches. (from the centre's website, www.cdruganda.org)

This is an exciting opportunity for me to be having practice as a community rehabilitation worker and for Michell in social service work. Edrine who is the national director and who is very much a mentor and guide for us in our learnig process, mentioned that he hopes in four to five years for the program to be completely parent run.  Every Tuesday, when the children who have a variety of disabilities come to the centre, the parents gather in another room to discuss ways to mobilize together to generate income and to provide support for each other.  Last week they were discussing about group dynamics and mentioned a variety of ways to generate income together....community garden, cooking, sewing, etc.

On Thursday and Fridays, Michell and I are tutoring Carli's kids with mostly English and some Math. Once they all go back to school in mid-May, Carli, Michell and I will be going into the neighbourhood and developing relationships with street children..this is a project that we will most likely be engaged with for the remaining  weeks we are here.

I can blog!!

Thanks to Jaclyn, I am finally on the blog as promised :) Computers have been a challege, but here in Uganda not being able to be online seems like a ridiculous complaint.  It is about 915am on Thursday morning and I sit with a few members of the group waiting for the rain to clear before we can catch our boda boda's to our various practicums. (boda boda.....a motorcyle taxi that is not the safest way to travel when the roads are flooded by heavy rain!) My first couple weeks here have been so amazing that it will be difficult to put into words but I will do my best to paint the picture for you.  The first thing I noticed is the smell in the air.  It is like sweet campfire and sandalwood and I had to laugh when I discovered what it was.  Masaka, and likely most of the country, does not have the best waste management program, so people create piles of garbage mounds and burn it into ash.  It was a strange sight when I saw a group of women up on a hilltop surrounded by smoke, smoothering the fire with swift swats of torn cloth.  We all laugh now when we take a breath of "fresh" air :)  Another observation is the rich green lush trees and bush that make up this place.  It is tropical, and I look out the window and see banana, pineapple,mango, jack fruit, guava, and passionfruit trees. The ground is lined with many different vegetable and root plants, as the soil is very rich and crops grow quite easily.  The roads are a dusty taracotta, and the contrast of that with the shades of  green can only be captured in my mind; sorry folks, but the pictures will never do justice.  Other than the exterior beauty here, the warmth of the people is what truly has made this experience so beautiful so far.  I have spent most of my days at Anaweza Skills and Talents Project with Julius, our supervisor.  The best way I can describe this place is as a drop in centre for at risk and vulnerable children.  The kids are so gentle and sweet that I can't even believe the day will come when I say goodbye!!  I am really trying to not think about that and live like the Ugandans, and appreciate everyday as it comes.  I have yet to spend much time at Kitengessa school and community library, but when school is back in session on May.14 I will split my time between there and Anaweza.  I could write and write forever of all the things that have happend so far, but the best thing I can say is I am happy and comfortable here.  There is an unexpected ease, and although there is heartbreak and sadness, and much work to do here, I can't help but feel the positive determination of the people I am working with.  I hope I can always focus on that, and contribute something great with my time here.  Well, after being a no-show on the blog for a while, I hope I have made up for it!  Until next time.......
Lesley

Settling into life in Masaka

It's been a week and a half since I arrived to my final destination of Masaka.  My first impression of Masaka is that it is beautiful here but I don't mean only in a landscape kind of way. The area is lush with vegetation but also, the people are so friendly. They work very hard but then seem to really enjoy themselves as they do it. I am working at the Masaka Regional Referral Hospital four days a week. I walk to and from my practicum site each of those days. It's a lovely walk and everyone on the street says hello and waves. We are foreigners but feel so welcomed.We have even been escorted to the hospital from some children from the daycare where Jaclyn is working!
More so than anything else, the dedication of my supervisor Thomas is inspiring. He truly cares for his patients. He  is a clinician but has also organised mental health support groups, and home visits as well as even football games between neighbouring support groups. This dedication is returned by such thankfulness from the patients. Each time that I go into the Mental Health Unit, there are several people who come up to me to tell me their stories. The stories are of how their medicine has made them able to work and contribute at their home. I feel very honoured to hear each of their stories. I have been overwhelmed with how positive everyone has been from the patients all the way up to the clinicians. I look forward to learning more from Thomas and his colleagues as well as hearing more of the patients stories as my practicum continues.