Eat, Pray, Peace Corps

Mukurike Omwaka means happy new year to you all! New Year's Day and the days following, everywhere you go people were saying this, with smiles on their faces hopeful for a good new year! I was very lucky to have my first visitor here to Uganda, my good friend Anna, who spent the end of 2014 and the start of 2015 with me! We became friends and bonded, as she always tells people, while changing the diaper of one of our patients..lol. She was a nurse at cottage hospital when I worked there and we became good friends!

So, she arrived before Christmas and spent two weeks here in Uganda celebrating Christmas and New Years with me. It was so exciting to have a visitor, while at the same time stressful having to deal with all the frustrations of Uganda.....I wouldn't say this is a place on the top of the list to vacation! We began the two weeks with a safari in Murchison Falls, my first safari! My friend Jen, who is also a PCV came with us and we were put in a group with 3 others for the 3 day trip. As we made our journey first to see the waterfalls, the safari van overheated and who else knows what was wrong with it! We sat at a gas station in the burning heat for an hour, waiting as our driver kept reassuring us with a smile on his face, "everything is fine!" They always say that! As we sat there I was angry, we had spent a lot of money for this safari...thinking back, why was I surprised? It would've been a miracle for nothing to have gone wrong. I continually have to remind myself...Chelsea you're in uganda! Luckily we made it to the falls and spent the night at the rest camp near the Nile in big tents supplied with beds. There were warthogs all around the camp, staying busy getting into trash cans and looking for food. At night there were hippos that would come from the water to graze in the camp! In the middle of the night there was one right outside our tent chomping away on the grass! We did a 4 hour game drive and a cruise on the Nile river seeing elephants, a crocodile, Uganda kobs, jackson's hartebeest, cape buffalos, hippos, giraffes, hyenas, baboons and many birds. Unfortunately no lions or leopards :(

From murchison, we headed back to Kampala and spent a few days relaxing at my site in Kitanga. We then traveled to the other side of the country to Jinja in the east, and celebrated New Year's Eve with some other PCVs. Early morning on the 2nd I was sad to say goodbye but also ready to be done traveling for awhile and be back at my site!

2014 was filled with lots of happiness, excitement, new beginnings, as well as lots of frustrations. I am looking forward to what 2015 will bring and am hopeful to begin many new projects in my community!

Our cute little home for two nights

Baboon

Murchison Falls

On the Nile River, right before crossing for our morning game drive

Ferry crossing

SOMEHOW this survived our entire trip

Uganda Kob

Just havin some fun!

Our ranger

I imagine he's thinking...they cant see me right??

Waterbuck

We were told that elephants love these fruit that hang from these trees because they make them drunk!

drinkin a nile special on the Nile

The base of Murchison Falls

We got up super close to this croc...he looks so silly sleeping like this,
but we were told this is how they regulate their body temperature

Whatchu lookin at??????? (cape buffalo)

Hyena

baby giraffe

Baby baboon

Mommmmm stopppppp!!!

Jackson's Hartebeest

Black Mamba....i was seriously fearing!!!

Christmas Day! Celebrating with other PCV's

There are several different kinds of health facilities in Uganda – private and government and different levels of health centers (HC), which provide different services. The lowest level is a health center II and the highest, a health center IV, and then hospitals. Health center II’s are usually found in more rural areas and provide out patient services, immunizations, health education, antenatal care. There is no doctor on staff and they are usually run by nurses and nurse aids. They do not perform deliveries and therefore pregnant women must go to a HC III, IV or hospital, depending on the level of care they need during delivery. My HC is a level III and private; it operates under the parish and Kabale diocese, which has its pro’s and con’s. As a level III, we provide both outpatient and inpatient services, immunizations, antenatal care, HIV services, deliveries and health education. We have two outreaches in a month where we travel to hard to reach areas to provide antenatal care, immunizations, and HIV testing and counseling, as well as one immunization clinic in a month where mothers bring their babies for routine immunizations. Being as we are under the catholic church, we do not provide any family planning methods at our HC and refer patients who are interested to government health facilities. This is challenging because in a country with such a high birth rate, a typical woman gives birth to 7 children and at times is unable to afford school fees, shoes, clothing or nutritious food for these children. Now compare this number with the global average of 2.7 and the African average of 5.1! Many women don’t have the power to negotiate condom use, especially married women, as the husband can accuse her of being unfaithful. Working for a private HC, however, has it’s pros including – usually more funding available and nicer resources than government facilities which makes many people choose going to a private facility over a government one for health services. Unfortunately as a HC III, we do not have a doctor on staff and therefore cannot perform cesarean sections or surgeries. We do have a theatre ready to use, but unfortunately it is very challenging to find a doctor who will live and stay outside of a big town for longer than 4 months.

So, I have now been at my site for a little over 3 months and much of my time has been spent just getting to know people and learn more about my community. This past Saturday, I went with some of my coworkers to the all girls secondary school in our community where we provided free, voluntary HIV testing and counseling. I began by giving a health talk on the importance of testing and knowing your status, how HIV is transmitted and how you can prevent transmission. This is a sensitive topic as is, and discussing it with young, shy Ugandan girls, I thought would be very difficult. They surprised me, however, and asked many questions and were actively involved during the talk! We tested nearly 200 girls and not one tested positive, which is amazing! It was a great day spent getting to know the girls and learning their interests, seeing their school and dormitories, and meeting some of the teachers who I will hopefully be able to work with in the future. Im looking forward to spending a lot of time with the youth in my community because they are the future of this country!

Here are some statistics for Uganda that I thought might be interesting:

- Population = 27.7 million (expected to increase to 130 million by 2050)

- life expectancy = 58.7

- 7.3 % HIV prevalence (highest in central Africa)

- number of people living with HIV = 1.5 million (est.)

- population growth rate – 3.1% (world avg. 1.2%)

- only 20% of married women between age 15-49 have access to contraception