Juancho in Uganda

This was our last week and today we officially left our nice little piece of heaven. The village has been amazing and I am sure that I am going to miss its people and the peace that it exudes. Our main events this week were the finalization of the house to house sanitation pushes (a total of 137 were done) and arranging for our last event. Just after finishing the first one on tuesday we got caught by a huge rainstorm that made us wait at a small store. While waiting there were at least 8 kids that started running naked towards the road and played with the water and the rain. I almost wanted to join them, but I knew it was probably not a great idea. After some time throwing water at each other they even did some handstands and ran home were they coughed for quite some time (we got one of them inside the store and he wouldn't stop caughing!). After about an hour waiting we (Juliet and I) started walking in the middle of a drizzle and in full darkness. We made it home somehow with my newly nightly adapted Ugandan eyes and not as much mud on the shoes as expected.

The big event was fantastic with a huge xylophone type instrument that was made of long plantain three trunks and pieces of wood of different sizes. They played from 2PM (Esawa Munana) until 7PM. We got to even dance with some of the locals and enjoy little kids perform for us. We also arranged for a Chapatti maker to deliver 300 of these tortilla-like concoctions to the village and they were eaten in approximately 10 minutes. Everybody was very happy and we got to see even inhabitants of neighboring villages.

At night we got most of the farewells from the locals including uncle Willibur who promised to have his next son named Felipe because of me. To top everything off, Malaika and I decided to take the mattresses outside and slept with just a mosquito net above our heads. We didn't get to see as many stars as we wished, but the experienced was still great despite the lonely sheet that I had to cover myself and the lack of socks because I forgot to get them out of my room. This morning was pretty sad with everybody saying good bye and us not really wanting to leave. I will stay in Iganga tonight and tomorrow I will go to Kampala for a 3 day safari to Murcheson falls starting on Sunday. I will also go to Sipi Falls again next week to start the climb of Mt. Elgon on the morning of August 6.

PS. One person that I forgot to mentioned was "My Brother": This is the nicest store clerk in Iganga town from Moon Supermarket. This nice Pakistani always asks me... How is it going my brother? and was very concerned about my wallet when it was gone. He was very sad today when I bought airtime for the phone and found out that I will be leaving very soon.

There have been a lot of interesting people that I have not mentioned and it is now their time:

Smiling Jane: Jane is a secondary school student that once confessed to me that she wants to be a doctor and who loves biology class. Every time that collect water from the water we pass by her house and she greet us with a smile and a very long salute that includes greetings for every member of our team by name. I have not yet seen her without her huge smile, which is great!

Uncle Willibur: The son of the chairman, uncle Willibur delivers to us the milk every night and tells us what is happening in the town. He also is in charge of fixing the boreholes and has done a great job of following up on the engineers to finally have some water on the broken borehole (it broke down again today, but it should be fixed soon)

Patrick Kibumba: A cousin of the chairman, this mobilizer has killed all the pests from our house including the termites that were removed this week. His wife Justine is a very active participant in the community as well and someday she wants to be a village councellor. Good luck to her!!!

Auntie Joyce: The owner of our house is always laughing and loves to ask us questions in Lusoga. She is a very sweet woman that wouldn't let us go to bed if somebody forgets something outside or if the bikes are not properly parked. She also sweeps the compound in the most thorough form possible.

Auntie Ayda: Our cook has made our life great by giving us local Ugandan food. I even have special status now since she saves me some Posho to be turned into arepas when there is time for grilling. She is Rejab and Idi's mom.

Baby Goat: Not a person but the latest character in Bunio. This goat was born about 1 to 2 weeks ago and it is the craziest animal ever. It know stands on chairs, jumps on our walls like a skateboarder, or just slides on our porch like a skater. The craziest trick has been hitting both of the back legs on mid-air. We won't attach to much to it since he will probably turn to stew soon!

This week we had all the HIV events culminating with a testing day on thursday that had 159 people attending. We are very happy to have that many people coming since we had the fear that the men would not turn up due to fears of being found out by their wives. Even the newly elected member for the Village Health Team (VHT) in charge of HIV/STDs was present during the whole 6+ hour session and encouraged everybody to be tested by being the first one in line. A lot of condoms were also distributed and hopefully some more testing can be done in the future to control this virus that has been creeping up in Uganda again.

On friday we had the UVP tournament were Bunio was well represented by finishing 3rd (or 4th since that game was not played). We had a lot of fun and I was very proud of my 5 goals (people in Colombia are not going to believe that, but it is true!).

Thanks everybody for checking on me regarding the bombs in Kampala, but I was safe in Iganga watching the game at Sol Cafe. It was nice to see Spain win and in the process win 2 beers (that have not been paid yet!). I only found out about the bombs the next morning through a phone call from UVP staff. It was only until later that day that full explanations started showing up linking them to the somali based terrorist group Al Shabab. It seems that they wanted to grab attention before the African Union meeting that is starting in Kampala this week as well as protest for the 20,000 troops that Uganda has in Somali as peacekeepers. So far we have been banned from travelling to the capital or Jinja, which is a pretty good idea since there are also primary elections for the president's party (NRM) this wednesday. I will not travel this upcoming weekend and after the meetings are over things should calm down.

On Friday I went to Sipi falls with people from Buwaiswa village and two interns based in Iganga. We were lucky to grab a Lubra coach bus that was going all the way to Kapchorwa even though we had to bear the movie "Police Officer" that was dubbed in Lusoga with something that seemed like a megaphone (it was also one of the worst pieces of acting ever). We got there for a nice sunset and able to appreciate the lower falls from the Crow's Nest were we stayed. The next day we hiked upper and middle Sipi in the morning and later proceed to the top of lower Sipi. This is when we rapelled the 100 meter fall and got one of the most spectacular views of my whole life. It was just amazing and I cannot wait to do something similar in the future. After a really nice warm shower and a nap we climb to the hill on top of the hotel and saw another spectacular sunset with the typical African view that you see in the movies. A couple of mountains close by and a very large savannah (this one without that many animals) extending until the horizon. The pictures that I took are not doing enough justice to the magnificence of the view. The next morning we travelled back to Iganga with just a minor disturbance in Mbale where a mob of bus conductors wanted us to take their vehicles without letting us speak and even grabbing us. It was later on solved and I was back in Bunio by 4:00 PM ready to clean up my sneakers that couldn't take any more mud.

This week we had a deworming session on wednesday. We gave Membandazole to kids and adults except for infants less than 1-year old and pregnant mothers. We had a total of 205 people dewormed and hopefully more will pass by our house to do it. Most kids have swollen bellies that are very likely due to the worms. We also immunized with the help of the local healthcenter on the same day and on saturday held a sensitization regarding nutrition. Everything seems to be very important in the community since the regular definition of a meal is just something that fills up, but probably doesn't provide all the necessary nutrients. Hopefully our Village Health Team (13 women and 9 men) will continue these pushes. We hope that the training that they have received from us along with a 2-day session with the Red Cross will empower them to be leaders in the community and push for a healthier village in a sustainable way without depending on outside organizations.

Our village suffered another loss this week. We had a 5-year old that died on tuesday night from unknown causes so far. It was very sad to know that he was very healthy the night before and I was even told that he yelled to me "How are you?" on tuesday night when I drove the bicycle past his house. I am trying to remember exactly if I responded or not, but for sure I have been more attentive to any salutation that I get from anybody. Any hello, any Mzung bye could be the last and I don't want to know that I didn't give it. It doesn't cost me anything and actually fills me with joy. The kid was also the cousin of the 14 year old that died last week and the family was very devastated. I am not liking going to their burials, but I know that it is very frequent in an area with so many health problems. I hope that there are cases that get controlled due to our interventions, but it is only the failures which are clearly visible.

This post was supposed to be uploaded last week. Lack of power and the internet down prevented it... SORRY

This week started very sadly with the sound of drums around the village. Wilbur (the son of the chairman that leaves just across from our house) went around the village communicating the bad news of the death of a 14 year old boy that had sickle cell anemia. Since he was Muslim the burial had to be the same day and Juliet and I attended. It was very sad to see the parents and his friends from school in such a shock. I even had to do a small speech and even though I heard from somebody afterwards that it was nice, I don’t think that there is anything that you can really mention that is comforting enough. The rest of the week was handled between sanitation pushes on a house to house basis where we checked to see if the villagers had latrines (toi), plate stands, and tippy taps. If they didn’t we informed them about the benefits of having one and how to build them. There was also a visit to the Christian school for sanitation on Wednesday and an election for the Village Health Team (VHT). This team will assume the responsibilities of our group and hopefully be fully independent of the organization after 3 years and work directly with the government. During this election we were introduced to Fred. Fred is a kid that is turning 8 soon but looks like he is 4. He also has sickle cell anemia and is extremely malnourished. His arms are extremely thin and even Kristen from our team said that she could see his heart through the visible rib cage. We are hopeful that we can send him to Ibulanku hospital where there is a nutrition program that lasts about 2 months and teaches families how to help these kids. We know that his sickle cell condition cannot be cured (even in the US), but at least he could manage it better. In the same note, we have a person in the community that has always been the first to buy our preventive solutions (e.g. he bought 3 mosquito nets during the first week). He had complained of problems that he assumed were malaria, but on Thursday we found out that it is really Parkinson’s disease. There is nothing to cure it, but I don’t know how his large family will manage his sickness once more dramatic stages arrive and his labor cannot be counted.

I just talked to my brother and he is perfectly fine.

When the bomb exploted, he wasnt in Kampala.

He says that they are not allow to go to Kampala soon. But also says that he is not worry because it seems to be an attack to a specific group.

He says also thank you to all you guys for being worried about him!

Have you guys a good day!

MARIA

I didn't finish the visit to Kampala, so here it is. On monday we visited the Uganda Wildlife office to request information about climbing Mt. Elgon (not really a reservation needed) and then spend about an hour at the Uganda Museum. It was interesting for all the cultural things it had, but the signs of lack of funding are evident. After this we were invited to eat at the house of Mansi's friends (one of the girls in Bunio) and had probably one of the best lunches that I have eaten in Uganda. It was a typical Indian food and the spices were just perfect. After this just a long taxi trip to Iganga and sleep at Bunio.

On wednesday we went to the Christian school in Namalemba for a sanitation push and met with some English people that are teaching during the summer. They were all very young (18 - 19) and just ready to go to Uni (their word, not mine). We had tea with them and invited them for burritos in our house next week. After this, one of the teachers guided us to a dance and singing practice that was amazing. The children had just learned a song and the female voices were very much in tune (sorry boys, you still need some work). They were very soft and soothing and I even got goosebumps. The dances from the girls were fantastic and they could give Shakira a good competition with the shaking. I thought that their hips were going to break a couple of times from all the movement.

This weekend was the big Nile rafting trip and it all started with a very dusty boda boda (motorcycle) ride to the campsite, which was about 7 km away from Jinja and took 10 minutes. The driver was insanely fast, but I made it in one piece. There were awesome views of the white Nile from the dorms and we had time for a couple of Nile Gold beers before sleep. The action on saturday was intense with a 20 minute ride on a bus to the departure site and a selection of a team since there were 5 boats available. Of course I took the one that wanted to flip the most and other 6 people (including Mike the Zimbabwean guide) joined in. I only survived without falling until the 1st grade 5 rapid and I was thrown out of the raft alone. I didn't have any idea of orientation until I finally made it to the surface for the second time and a safety kayak kept me up. I later on found out that I just flipped backwards and the raft passed above my head. The next grade 3 was also terrible and once again I was the only one to fall off... what can I say? I am just too tall for these things I thought. After lunch I changed sides and I made it through some falls (literally a 14 foot drop across rocks) without falling and then it was just mayhem for the rest of the day since the full boat flipped twice. The last one was the worst of it since it was supposedly the world's largest grade 5 rapid that can be rafted commercially. Its name: BAD PLACE. I hit my lip on someones helmet, but I would do it in a heartbeat. It was an amazing experience that could only be topped off with a very cold Club beer at the pickup place. Since it was somebody's birthday we finished the day with a shot of Zappa (they light it like Sambuca) and two shots of Olmeca tequila. Unfortunately there are no pictures of this, but I will try to find the video that somebody else bought of the whole adventure. The first one just tasted like warm mouthwash with liquor and the other two were ok, except for the lack of lime. I am now in Jinja in an internet cafe finally catching up on emails since last week and still savouring the orange chocolate cake that I just ate at Flavours cafe.

I am staying tonight in Iganga town to watch the World Cup final and see how Spain lifts the trophy!!! VAMOS ESPAÑA!

Lusoga words of the day: Tubonagane lelo = See you later today
Emesa = Table (is this not related to Spanish???)

Is still 4th of july for a couple more minutes in Kampala. We got to see the fireworks at the US recreation club even though the ex-pat environment from official workers is not really the thing that accommodates best with my personality. We also got to walk for quite some time and eat some rice pilau in a small restaurant. Tomorrow Gibson and I are planning to go to the Uganda Museum and check the requisites to climb Mt. Elgon, which should take us 4 days after the end of the UVP program. It should be a really cool to that with other 5 people at the beginning of August.

The village had an interesting experience yesterday with our family planning day and the supposed building of a fence around a bore hole. At the end the villagers didn't show up for the fence but promised to do it by themselves today and also collect some money to do mechanical repairs before it completely breaks down. It gives me hope for the sustainability portion since it means that they are using their local resources a lot and not depending on the Mzungu.

New batch of arepas was made yesterday with an improved thinner version and more handling of the dough. They came excellent to my taste and to the delight of our cook and even one of my team members. An interesting story happened during the Uruguay-Ghana game due to the African excitement from everybody. We got to see it in box seats! Translation: It was so packed that we got a handle of a couple of soda bottle plastic boxes and sat on them for the whole lenght of time among a hugely packed balcony. As you may imagine the sad faces were rampant after the end of the game. So far I have not watched much of the soccer due to the lack of access in Bunio, but I will definitely stay the night in Iganga to see the final.

Like you hear it! I made arepas in Bunio yesterday based on posho, which is just corn flour (pronounced fla by the locals) and water. I got a little piece of chicken wire mesh and place it in top of the charcoal oven and voila... AREPAS. Only our cook tried them but I had no problem eating the four of them (I even have pictures that I can show later).

This week was really rewarding because we spent a lot of time cleaning the water sources and the effects of the work are really tangible. On monday we cleared the brush from the natural spring and made the trenches bigger for a faster flow to the swamps and on thursday built a fence around our close by bore hole. We also spent wednesday teaching the children in the muslim school about hygiene and sanitation as well as STDs and HIV/Aids (they had no problem about us mentioning condoms which was really good!). I have to leave right now due to logistics planning for my trip to Kampala tomorrow!