TASO: Day 1

So much to tell in only a short period of time! My first weekend in Masaka at my host family’s house at its high points and its interesting points. First, my host dad comes home on the weekends and the whole dynamic of the house changes. My host mom becomes a lot more quite and reserved, the children eat on the ground on a mat, and when the house-girl wants to speak to him she kneels until he tells her she can approach him. He is very serious and demanding. He slept all day Saturday and I only really saw him when it came to eating or watching tv (maybe Uganda isn’t too different from America? haha). On Sunday I went for a very long walk because I decided to find a secluded route away from the main street before I start running, of course I was with another girl. We ended up doing an interesting hike through this humid bog and up this high hill. I came home muddy and red as a tomato! I keep forgetting that not only does my Malaria medicine make me more susceptible to the sun, but the sun here is so strong because we are on the equator. Lesson learned. I am farmers tan central over here! My family ended up not going to mass because they held this very intense business meeting in the barn while my host dad was home. They spoke about prices and what not, they wouldn’t tell me anymore than that. The house-girl/manager of the farm then asked if I wanted a tour around. FINALLY! She let me walk through ALL of the chicken coops and told me I could touch them. I kindly refused having images of homeland security asking me if I was around a farm at all during my trip...of course I wasn’t! Then we went to see the 59 pigs, normal. But holding a one week old piglet was something I couldn’t refuse! There is also a farm of beans, matoke, maize, eggplant, and potatoes. Oh they also sell their eggs, make their own wine to sell, make sweaters for school uniforms, and everything else you can think of. However, today is the most exciting news to report. Please parents, family, and friends don’t freak out. My first day at TASO they asked if I wanted to work in the lab. I thought maybe to do paperwork. No. They actually gave me gloves, a lab coat, and a mask to handle the blood samples. I was taught how to do HIV testing, Malaria, TB, Pregnancy, and Syphilis testing. They gave me so much responsibility within thirty minutes. As excited as I was, the strips coming out positive brought me back to reality. To me, the strips and tubes just had numbers on it but I couldn’t help but to think of the person whose life is about to change forever. I wanted to know what they looked like, if they had a family, how old are they, etc...We then had to fill out the paperwork corresponding with the results and I was able to see. Some were old but some were very young. It really put everything into perspective of where I am coming from and how different my life could be if I was born into their reality. When one is HIV positive, their CD4 cells have to remain above 200, but if they fall below they contract AIDS and their body is no longer able to fight off simple illnesses. One of the tests came out with a CD4 cell count of 12. It is all so exciting and exhilarating to be here but more of a humbling, reality check. The lab techs really liked me and requested that I not be moved around to another area but my boss wants me to visit every office in TASO to see which I prefer. Tomorrow we do community outreach to rural villages that are too far for people to walk. They are soo remote that we have to travel by motorcycle, which iv heard is an experience I can’t pass up on these dirt roads. I am sure there will be soo much excitement this week and I will write soon. I hope everyone enjoys the holiday and relaxes a bit! I miss everyone and love to hear your kind words/comments (shout out to Mom, Dad, Shannon, and mystery writer?). 

Ahhh they also made me eat three grasshoppers!! Not too bad but not good. 

At the Equator!

WATCH THIS VIDEO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyT_bYUUG6o

Starting My First Weekend!

Hey Everyone!

I feel like there is always something new happening here in Masaka that I find interesting! On Wednesday we went to a farm that is a sustainable organic farm that not only creates/thinks of new ways of sustainability and practicability but they teach the local farmers what they discover. It was literally the largest piece of land that was not flat but dropped down deep into a jungle-like pond area. It was extremely beautiful and they grew anything and everything you could think of! An example was that they had chicken coops that were lifted from the ground and they used the droppings to be put in the pond for flies to go to where they would put their larva in the water and act as food for the fish which then reproduce and create more fish to sell! That was just one example of how everything they did there was connected and had a purpose. They also had a HUGE herb garden for not only cooking but for herbal remedies that they would teach people about. I have never seen more rosemary in my entire life! 

Then on Thursday we had to make dinner for all of our host families. One request (really a requirement) is to have matoke with dinner (it is a banana-like food that is hard but you boil it and then mash it). So everyone was helping out in the kitchen, but in true Maggie fashion, I became a control freak and took over on most of the items. So I prepared the Matoke with the director of FSD in Masaka who showed me the proper way to cut it and then mash it. It was a huge success and allowed for me to meet everyones host families. The people here are soo friendly and they laugh so much whenever a Muzungu (white person) tries to speak their language. I am trying to learn Lugandan and use every opportunity to practice, which usually ends in lots of laughing at me, but what else is new? ha 

I am really starting to feel comfortable here and my family is warming up to me. I sat in the kitchen today to watch them cook dinner (they won’t let me actually help yet, but maybe soon) because I wanted to show them that I want to be treated like family. Even though the women spoke Lugandan back and forth and I could not understand them, I think they appreciated that I took the initiative to join them. This is my first full weekend in Uganda where I have so much free time so it should be interesting to see what the family does. My host father works for the government, so he lives in Kampala during the week and comes home on the weekend, so the whole dynamic of the house might change. I will update everyone about my weekend on Monday. So far my family wants to take me to church on Sunday (apparently it lasts 2 hours!) and maybe visit my host brother at his boarding school. Other than that I will be working hard on my research proposal, thesis, and development project for my HIV/AIDS organization. Have a nice LONG weekend everyone, and I am sending my love from Masaka!

Sula Bulungi (Good night!) Here is a photo with my Housegirl's (the maid) daughter, Brbra. She never leaves my side, I love it!

My First Days!!

May 20

This is the first time that I have had a chance to blog, sorry everyone! The flight over was normal, nothing too crazy happened. Some minor mistakes include standing in line for a terminal in Heathrow for an hour to realize that I was in the wrong terminal line, I left my passport at the security check point in Doha, and I sat in the Entebbe airport for 7 hours waiting for everyone else to arrive. At the airport I became very good friends with the taxi drivers and little children running around (mainly because they loved my Phillies pillow pet). The first night in Uganda we stayed in Hotel Zebra. I was alone in my own room and had to take a sleeping pill to fall asleep because of a football match between two Ugandan districts was on and everyone was out celebrating the Masaka district winning. The next day we we were going to meet our host families. So there is another Maggie intern in the group and we knew having the same name would cause some sort of problem. So when we arrived at the first house they told me that it was my family. I got out of the van, met my family, sat down and talked, gave them my thank you gifts, and even unpacked when the FSD workers came back with the van. They told me that they had mixed up the Maggies and I was with the wrong family. It was a very stressful moment when they gave me 2 minutes to pack everything back up, say goodbye to the woman I already loved, and had to meet my new family. When I finally met my family, I was tired but still excited. My host family has a chicken coop bigger than most houses back in the United States! It holds over 8,000 chickens and is three stories high and I can’t even see where it ends. They were very shy and barely spoke to me, it was extremely awkward. I do have two little kids that are fsacinated with everything I have and what I do. The little boy insisted that he tried everything (so he had to eat a tum, some gum, use deodorant, put on sunscreen and hydrocortisone, look at my earrings, and drink some Vitamin C). They LOVE my pillow pet and want to play with it all the time but I had to explain that it cannot go outside because I sleep on it. They are adorable! My host father immediately asked me questions about my studies at the University in America and told me I probably had a lot of money. I then tried to explain to him how the government and universities help students to pay for tuition if they are smart and showed that they needed assistance. He still insisted that I needed to change studies to be an engineer or an economist and that because I was rich, I could get all of those degrees. My parents then wanted to take me to town so shop at the market for food. They own a car so they decided to drive but said they had to get something fixed on the car real quick. We left at 4 and I sat in the car at this repair place until 10. It was interesting and exhausting. I was not only tired and on the verge of falling asleep but I was sweating to death in that car! When we got home I could not even think about eating dinner but they insisted I watch tv and drink coffee until food was ready. They turned the tv on to an African version of American Idol where one of the contestants sang Thriller but instead of singing the line ‘Thriller’ he sang ‘Save Life’. Right when I thought I could not keep my eyes open any longer, dinner was ready. We sat down and the Ugandan’s LOVE their carbs! They have Matoke (mashed banana like plants), Irish Potatoes, pasta (which they call something else but I can never remember), beans, maize, chopped cabbage, avocado (which they do all the time because I told them how much I love them). For breakfast though, there is fresh Mango, Pineapple, and bananas because they are all in season! When I told my host family that I was a vegetarian they looked at me like I was crazy and said ‘well, at least you eat chicken.’ When I told a family that owns 8,000 chickens that I still don’t eat chicken, they insisted that I MUST try their chicken eventually because it is the best without any ‘bad things’ in them. I have been thinking about it, but its a tough decision to eat meat after not eating it for so long. 

Monday, the 21st, was just an orientation day into Ugandan culture and language. We also had to purchase cell phones and Wi-Fi (which is kinda expensive so I still will not be on the internet a lot unless I buy more minutes). I also experienced my first Boda Boda ride! They way that People in Masaka travel is through a Boda Boda which means motorcycle. You sit on the back and have to balance yourself to not fall off and you must never grab the driver. I was terrified, especially because it was raining very hard, but it was actually very easy because they drivers are sooo good at balancing and driving. I did, however, walk home because one Boda Boda ride a day is enough haha. Today I played Soccer, or Football, with a bunch of guys and they just laughed at me the whole time. We were playing chicken but the Muzungu (white person) was never allowed to be the chicken because it wouldn’t be fun because I was so bad. I thought I could keep up and when I did something well they would all make fun of the kid that I was playing against. Dinner is always the same and my host mother insists that I eat everything. She tries to stuff me full of carbs all day! I REALLY need to figure out a running route. 

So far everything has been a little stressful and awkward moving in and meeting my family for the next 2 months. Everyday it is getting better and I am sure by the end of the trip I will feel totally comfortable. I will blog more when I can. I hope everyone at home is safe and having a nice summer. I miss you all and love you more!

Hey Everyone!
You may or may not know this by now, but I will be traveling to Masaka, Uganda leaving May 17th and arriving back in Philadelphia July 29th at 8:10 p.m. (MOM TAKE NOTE). I will be going through the University of San Francisco's Leo T. McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good with their program and collaboration with the Foundation for Sustainable Development. I have been given the opportunity to work at an HIV/AIDS organization called The AIDS Support Organization, or TASO for short. TASO "strives to improve the lives of HIV-infected or affected persons as part of the larger effort to address the world’s AIDS pandemic. It promotes prevention, hope restoration, and general support physically and emotionally to its clients." While there, my main focus of study will be education of HIV/AIDS. I am writing my thesis on what information is being used to increase understanding of HIV, how this information is being taught (pamphlets, group meetings, theatre, art, etc..), and most importantly, how much of that information is retained and seen as important to the people of Masaka. Sorry, that was a lot of information...


Now for what I am excited about: my Ugandan family. I will be doing a home stay and living with a large Ugandan family and immersing myself in their daily lives. Here is where I will be living:


Their home is located in Kijjabwemi village, which is about 20 minutes walk from Kijjabwemi Town. The mother and father have six children and they live in what is described as a permanent house. I will have electricity and running water, but I have been told it is prone to have a lot of blackouts so bring flashlights. They have three bedrooms with one living room as well as poultry houses in the backyard (maybe I should eat meat again?...hmm).

Father: Senya Joachim. He is an Auditor.

Mother: Tumusiime Norah. She is a Businesswoman dealing in milk sales, sweater knitting and poultry rearing. 
Children:
Kansiime Claire 20 years is in senior five in boarding school at Gombe S.S.
Mugisha Gerald, 17 years, is in senior two in boarding school at Gombe S.S.
Muhwezi Chris, 13 years, is in primary six in boarding school at Bishop Dungu S.S.
Muhirwe Daniel, 5 years, is in nursery school at katwe.
Muchunguzi Julius, 21 years, is in vacation. Working and staying in Kampala.
Muhawe David is in senior four, in Boarding School at Masaka S.S.

I requested a large family because it will make me feel like I am back at home. The only problem is now I have eight welcome gifts I need to think of to bring from the States (suggestions?).

Now that everyone knows what I will be doing and where I will be, I just need to get there and will fill you all in along the way. Feel free to follow me, I will be posting once a week (not going to lie, this is part of my class requirements while I am there, I am not someone who usually blogs).

I will miss so many people (shout out to all of my family as well as my friends that are GRADUATING!) I am so sorry that I did not get to see all of you before I left but know that I will think of you guys often! Also, feel free to leave any comments or questions, it is always nice to hear from the people I love!

I love you all and will miss you! 6 MORE DAYS AHHH!