I've started a Picasa album with some pictures of training in it...I have more pictures to upload at a later date...but I'm running out of internet time!
Here's the address...I hope it works!
http://picasaweb.google.com/sera00em/PCUgandaTraining#
Showing posts with label Pre-Service Training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pre-Service Training. Show all posts
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Week 4: Site Visit
This week we went on our site visit to the Masaka district, about 2 hours south of Kampala. We arrived at the Kampala taxi park around 2:00pm on Monday. We quickly found a bus to take us to the town. Ven, our language instructor went with us, so she was a huge help in getting our transportation sorted out! Transportation in Uganda usually doesn’t leave until the entire vehicle is filled (or over-filled), so we waited close to an hour, hour and a half for the bus to fill. I bought a bottle of water out the bus window while we were waiting because the interior was boiling! So many people in a small place made it pretty stuffy. Walking between the busses were vendors selling anything from food, drinks, jewelry, soccer balls, ties/handkerchiefs, and household goods. They are quite persistent and if you don’t pay attention to them they’ll grab your arm and say “Nnyabo! Miss! Muzungu!” The ride was pleasant, I slept for about half of it, my head on my backpack – we sat with our bags on our laps the entire ride. We arrived in the town and made it to our “hotel,” checked in, and found some food. We met with David Paradis (spelled wrong, I’m sure…), the PCV we were shadowing that week. We saw where he worked most of the time and just chatted with him for a little bit over drinks. He has two “jobs”: he works at an orphanage for his primary project and for his secondary project he works at a training center.
We woke up early Tuesday morning and had breakfast at the hotel (not the greatest food…) and went to a place Ven had found for language study. After language, we went to David’s friend’s home to build a clay stove. It was quite an involved process. We had to gather a bunch of anthill soil (anthill soil works best, for some reason I forgot), break it up, add chopped grass, water and mix it into clay. David supervised his students build the stove. While they were doing that, I helped, along with some others from my group prepare lunch of sweet potatoes and matooke. Yum (note the sarcasm).
On Wednesday, we had our usual language in the morning at the same place as before (we’d hold it here all week). In the afternoon David took us to a nearby fishing village. On the way there, we passed a pretty horrible accident. A MAC truck (think semi/dump truck) had run head on into a matatu taxi (like a bigger minivan type taxi that is all over Uganda). It had probably happened less than 5 minutes before we arrived on the scene. There were people on the side of the road with blood pouring down their heads, arms, and legs; there was a baby on the side of the road just sitting and crying…I didn’t see anyone attending to it, so I don’t know where it’s mom was…; and you could see the front passenger just hanging out the door…I’m pretty sure he was dead (along with the driver, whom we couldn’t see). It was pretty bad.
The fishing village is off the coast of Lake Victoria and is really in a beautiful spot. Unfortunately, the people are horribly poor and HIV/AIDS is prevalent. Fishing appears to be a lucrative trade for the village; one day can bring 30,000 shillings (we get 35,000 per week). However, since fishing must be done at night, the men have nothing to do during the day and therefore spend all the money on alcohol, drugs, and women. All of the children were stunted, underweight, and had extended bellies. We brought with us a little 7 year old girl, Josephine, from the orphanage that David works at with us. She came from this village and her father and little sister still live there. It was really heartbreaking to see her reunion with her father. It was probably 10 in the morning and he was completely drunk and didn’t even acknowledge that she had returned. Her little sister was much happier to see her and never left her side. You could really see how stunted Josephine was when she stood next to her little sister. Her sister was only 3 years old, but they were the same height.
On Thursday we visited David’s orphanage/tech school. It wasn’t what I expected. There were only a few structures, and they weren’t in the best shape. The dormitories were minimal and only some of the students had mosquito nets. We visited with some of the women who work there and toured the grounds. David had built a garden to help feed the students, but it was quite some ways away and the rains had yet to come, so the future of the crops is a little shaky right now. David told us that the orphanage should be spending around 100,000 shillings for food, and right now they can only afford to spend 80,000. This leaves the children eating a lot of porridge. Still, it’s better than they would have gotten on the streets or at home.
It was interesting to find out that most of the “orphans” living there still have living parents. Many of them were taken/given up from their homes not because their parents died, but because they were not being adequately cared for, like Josephine.
On Friday we went to Masaka town to visit another PCV, Lisandro, who works at a baby orphanage. It was interesting to see the difference between the two. Lisandro’s organization seems to have more money and therefore the children get more/more nutrition food to eat. He showed us several of the children who were disabled and several who arrived severely malnourished and are now well on their way to better nutrition. One of the disabled children at the orphanage he found on the side of the road covered in her own feces. Somehow she was taken in by the orphanage and is doing well. When she first arrived, she was solitary and refused to play. Now she’s playing with the other children and much happier. A teacher works part time at the orphanage and is trying to get some of the older (5-6yo) children ready to begin school.
After we went to Lisandro’s organization, we went to the Masaka market, which is much nicer (less crazy!) than the Kampala market with about the same quality of goods. I really liked Masaka a lot and would love to be placed near it (or in it)! I found some really pretty fabric that I’m either going to make a dress out of or a skirt for swearing in. I’m thinking a dress…I got soooo much fabric! Haha
We returned to Kampala on Saturday and I spent a lazy day in town. We went to an internet café, and just lounged around Garden City (a large shopping center) for most of the day. I had some really good chicken pizza and caught up with some of the trainees.
I’d been feeling sick for several weeks so I bought some medication the med nurses suggested in Kampala but that didn’t seem to work, so now we’re trying other options.
We woke up early Tuesday morning and had breakfast at the hotel (not the greatest food…) and went to a place Ven had found for language study. After language, we went to David’s friend’s home to build a clay stove. It was quite an involved process. We had to gather a bunch of anthill soil (anthill soil works best, for some reason I forgot), break it up, add chopped grass, water and mix it into clay. David supervised his students build the stove. While they were doing that, I helped, along with some others from my group prepare lunch of sweet potatoes and matooke. Yum (note the sarcasm).
On Wednesday, we had our usual language in the morning at the same place as before (we’d hold it here all week). In the afternoon David took us to a nearby fishing village. On the way there, we passed a pretty horrible accident. A MAC truck (think semi/dump truck) had run head on into a matatu taxi (like a bigger minivan type taxi that is all over Uganda). It had probably happened less than 5 minutes before we arrived on the scene. There were people on the side of the road with blood pouring down their heads, arms, and legs; there was a baby on the side of the road just sitting and crying…I didn’t see anyone attending to it, so I don’t know where it’s mom was…; and you could see the front passenger just hanging out the door…I’m pretty sure he was dead (along with the driver, whom we couldn’t see). It was pretty bad.
The fishing village is off the coast of Lake Victoria and is really in a beautiful spot. Unfortunately, the people are horribly poor and HIV/AIDS is prevalent. Fishing appears to be a lucrative trade for the village; one day can bring 30,000 shillings (we get 35,000 per week). However, since fishing must be done at night, the men have nothing to do during the day and therefore spend all the money on alcohol, drugs, and women. All of the children were stunted, underweight, and had extended bellies. We brought with us a little 7 year old girl, Josephine, from the orphanage that David works at with us. She came from this village and her father and little sister still live there. It was really heartbreaking to see her reunion with her father. It was probably 10 in the morning and he was completely drunk and didn’t even acknowledge that she had returned. Her little sister was much happier to see her and never left her side. You could really see how stunted Josephine was when she stood next to her little sister. Her sister was only 3 years old, but they were the same height.
On Thursday we visited David’s orphanage/tech school. It wasn’t what I expected. There were only a few structures, and they weren’t in the best shape. The dormitories were minimal and only some of the students had mosquito nets. We visited with some of the women who work there and toured the grounds. David had built a garden to help feed the students, but it was quite some ways away and the rains had yet to come, so the future of the crops is a little shaky right now. David told us that the orphanage should be spending around 100,000 shillings for food, and right now they can only afford to spend 80,000. This leaves the children eating a lot of porridge. Still, it’s better than they would have gotten on the streets or at home.
It was interesting to find out that most of the “orphans” living there still have living parents. Many of them were taken/given up from their homes not because their parents died, but because they were not being adequately cared for, like Josephine.
On Friday we went to Masaka town to visit another PCV, Lisandro, who works at a baby orphanage. It was interesting to see the difference between the two. Lisandro’s organization seems to have more money and therefore the children get more/more nutrition food to eat. He showed us several of the children who were disabled and several who arrived severely malnourished and are now well on their way to better nutrition. One of the disabled children at the orphanage he found on the side of the road covered in her own feces. Somehow she was taken in by the orphanage and is doing well. When she first arrived, she was solitary and refused to play. Now she’s playing with the other children and much happier. A teacher works part time at the orphanage and is trying to get some of the older (5-6yo) children ready to begin school.
After we went to Lisandro’s organization, we went to the Masaka market, which is much nicer (less crazy!) than the Kampala market with about the same quality of goods. I really liked Masaka a lot and would love to be placed near it (or in it)! I found some really pretty fabric that I’m either going to make a dress out of or a skirt for swearing in. I’m thinking a dress…I got soooo much fabric! Haha
We returned to Kampala on Saturday and I spent a lazy day in town. We went to an internet café, and just lounged around Garden City (a large shopping center) for most of the day. I had some really good chicken pizza and caught up with some of the trainees.
I’d been feeling sick for several weeks so I bought some medication the med nurses suggested in Kampala but that didn’t seem to work, so now we’re trying other options.
Week 3: It’s a good thing I like bananas
This week continued the regular schedule of language from 8-10, tea, tech session and lunch at 1230 and more tech sessions in the afternoon. Much of this week’s language sessions focused on our upcoming trip next week to see a current PCV.
Wednesday brought more shots: Typhium IV and flu shots. My Rabies shot last week left a wonderful bruise on my arm (see the picture in the previous blog post) so the nurse got to see her handiwork! I really do suck at shots…I always either bleed or bruise and they hurt like hell!
Wednesday we also went out into the surrounding communities with our language groups to practice PACA (Participatory Analysis for Community Action) tools we learned about the previous day. Our group did a community needs assessment and a priority ranking of those needs. The community we visited was a small, poor village near the training center that had many needs. Several were: the inability to sell their goods (crafts) at market, the lack of affordable seeds this year, no way to make money since the harvest hasn’t gone well recently, a lack of youth organizations and adequate and affordable schools, lack of transportation to other towns, including the town we’re living in which is a trading center and has a large weekly market, and finally safety concerns. Apparently, this area has seen an increase in kidnappings and murders – they called them sacrifices. One example they provided was that if a wealthy individual (they said accountant) wanted to build a new house, he would contact a local witch doctor to ensure the safety of the home. The witch doctor would then take a child and either kill him/her for their blood or behead them, either way putting the bones in either the structure of the house or buried somewhere on the grounds. We really didn’t know what to say at that point…it wasn’t anything we were prepared for. We later learned that generally it happens once in a community and then the sacrifices move to another community, but as you can imagine, it was the number one concern for the community. We didn’t have many answers for them at that time; we didn’t have much time to prepare for giving recommendations.
On Thursday we had a youth sports clinic with the PCV stationed in our town, Nick. It was a lot of fun, and while it wasn’t as structured as he had hoped, the kids had a blast playing football (soccer) and catch. We learned that it was Nick’s birthday so we took him to a local bar for a few drinks and fun.
On Saturday we had a mid-term assessment where they told us how we’re doing so far and asked us if we had any recommendations on what they could do better. My language teacher and the trainer I spoke with told me that I’m doing well; I just need more confidence in language class (which I know). I told them that I sometimes have a hard time maintaining focus in technical sessions. The Ugandan way of teaching is to lecture, lecture, lecture…that’s not the type of learning I do well! They’ve tried to adjust their teaching styles to American ways, but sometimes there’s still a lot of lecture!
Wednesday brought more shots: Typhium IV and flu shots. My Rabies shot last week left a wonderful bruise on my arm (see the picture in the previous blog post) so the nurse got to see her handiwork! I really do suck at shots…I always either bleed or bruise and they hurt like hell!
Wednesday we also went out into the surrounding communities with our language groups to practice PACA (Participatory Analysis for Community Action) tools we learned about the previous day. Our group did a community needs assessment and a priority ranking of those needs. The community we visited was a small, poor village near the training center that had many needs. Several were: the inability to sell their goods (crafts) at market, the lack of affordable seeds this year, no way to make money since the harvest hasn’t gone well recently, a lack of youth organizations and adequate and affordable schools, lack of transportation to other towns, including the town we’re living in which is a trading center and has a large weekly market, and finally safety concerns. Apparently, this area has seen an increase in kidnappings and murders – they called them sacrifices. One example they provided was that if a wealthy individual (they said accountant) wanted to build a new house, he would contact a local witch doctor to ensure the safety of the home. The witch doctor would then take a child and either kill him/her for their blood or behead them, either way putting the bones in either the structure of the house or buried somewhere on the grounds. We really didn’t know what to say at that point…it wasn’t anything we were prepared for. We later learned that generally it happens once in a community and then the sacrifices move to another community, but as you can imagine, it was the number one concern for the community. We didn’t have many answers for them at that time; we didn’t have much time to prepare for giving recommendations.
On Thursday we had a youth sports clinic with the PCV stationed in our town, Nick. It was a lot of fun, and while it wasn’t as structured as he had hoped, the kids had a blast playing football (soccer) and catch. We learned that it was Nick’s birthday so we took him to a local bar for a few drinks and fun.
On Saturday we had a mid-term assessment where they told us how we’re doing so far and asked us if we had any recommendations on what they could do better. My language teacher and the trainer I spoke with told me that I’m doing well; I just need more confidence in language class (which I know). I told them that I sometimes have a hard time maintaining focus in technical sessions. The Ugandan way of teaching is to lecture, lecture, lecture…that’s not the type of learning I do well! They’ve tried to adjust their teaching styles to American ways, but sometimes there’s still a lot of lecture!
Week 2: I’m starting to dislike Tuesdays
On Monday the community health volunteers (that’s me) went to the local health center (HC4, District health center) to see what it’s like. It’s quite different than the doctor’s offices back home! There’s one doctor and only a few nurses and they serve close to 100 patients per day. Since there’s only one doctor, he has to do administrative duties in addition to his medical practice. They’re stretched pretty thin. One nice thing about the medical system here is that all childhood immunizations are free. However “free” is a relative term. The cost of traveling to the health center frequently often limits which families can receive the free immunizations. Many families don’t receive them or don’t complete the schedule leaving children vulnerable to preventable diseases. The center also does HIV/AIDS testing and distributes drugs to positive patients (also “free”), has a once-monthly dental clinic (which is more extractions than preventative dentistry), a diabetes clinic, a small inpatient wing, and a maternity center. They have built a surgical theatre, but a lack of funds has prevented its opening. It seems that many projects in Uganda go uncompleted due to a lack of funds. I’ve seen multitudes of unfinished houses and structures. They at times seem to outnumber the completed buildings. Something is always under construction.
Tuesday once again brought the medical nurses who gave us Rabies #2 and meningitis shots. We also had a discussion, including skits, of proper first aid procedures. I’m really not good at all at getting shots and have started to dread Tuesdays :(
On Saturday we had a “class” with our language groups cooking at one person’s home. We all went to Zach’s homestay early that morning (around 9am) to begin cooking lunch. Cooking in Uganda is quite different than cooking in America. There aren’t any stoves or the regular equipment we’re used to, including knives that actually cut! We attempted to make tortillas, but that failed tremendously. Ven, my language instructor, made some amazing chapattis instead. We also had boiled matooke, rice, beans, guacamole, shredded chicken, passion fruit juice, and mozzarella cheese, our one luxury…and it was glorious! Haha. We made way too much food, but it was great anyway.
On Sunday a group of us went to Kampala. It was a nice change from the everyday stuff we do. We went alone, so we had to figure out how to get there and back safely! Luckily, another PCT, Lizz, had been to Rwanda before and knew her way around African transport. There were around 16 of us so we were able to get a whole matatu to ourselves. It was a tight fit, but it’s not a long drive at all. Before we got off the taxi, we arranged with the driver to pick us up at Garden City, a shopping center (mostly for wealthy Ugandans and Muzungus – white people or foreigners – like us) and drive us back to town instead of us walking to the taxi park, which was a ways away. I spent the day being lazy, and it was wonderful. We found a coffee shop in Kampala that kind of caters to Muzungus…it was opened by an ex-pat and has American and European style coffees and snacks/breakfast-y items. I had some really good green tea and a delicious croissant. After that, we went to an internet café where I was able to open many internet windows at once! Yay! I set up my twitter account to post on my blog sidebar by text message so now I’m able to give short little updates for only 220 shillings! Lucky you :)
After the internet café we went to a nearby pizza place (Pizza Inn, which is in the same building as the Chicken Inn and the Creamy Inn – ice cream) for lunch. It’s not too expensive, only 9000 shillings (4.50$) for a fairly large cheese pizza. It had started raining when we were in the internet café and had let up for a few minutes while we walked to the pizza place. After we got there and started eating, the rain started up again. Unfortunately a few of our group got unexpectedly stuck in the rain and were a little soaked by the time they met us at Pizza Inn.
After lunch me and three others went to the nicest hotel in Kampala to have some drinks and relax. It was a nice way to spend the afternoon. We met as arranged at Garden City at 5, and our taxi was not there. We called him and he said that he got delayed and to meet him on Kampala road so we started walking. He wasn’t at the new meeting spot and several other taxies pulled up trying to get us to ride with them. We had arranged to spend 2000 shillings on the ride back to town, but we got one of the other taxies down to 1500, so we took that one instead of our guy, who never did show up. He texted Lizz later that he was arrested by the traffic cops and that’s why he wasn’t able to pick us up! Who knows if that’s really true or not…it was a nice day anyway!
Tuesday once again brought the medical nurses who gave us Rabies #2 and meningitis shots. We also had a discussion, including skits, of proper first aid procedures. I’m really not good at all at getting shots and have started to dread Tuesdays :(
On Saturday we had a “class” with our language groups cooking at one person’s home. We all went to Zach’s homestay early that morning (around 9am) to begin cooking lunch. Cooking in Uganda is quite different than cooking in America. There aren’t any stoves or the regular equipment we’re used to, including knives that actually cut! We attempted to make tortillas, but that failed tremendously. Ven, my language instructor, made some amazing chapattis instead. We also had boiled matooke, rice, beans, guacamole, shredded chicken, passion fruit juice, and mozzarella cheese, our one luxury…and it was glorious! Haha. We made way too much food, but it was great anyway.
On Sunday a group of us went to Kampala. It was a nice change from the everyday stuff we do. We went alone, so we had to figure out how to get there and back safely! Luckily, another PCT, Lizz, had been to Rwanda before and knew her way around African transport. There were around 16 of us so we were able to get a whole matatu to ourselves. It was a tight fit, but it’s not a long drive at all. Before we got off the taxi, we arranged with the driver to pick us up at Garden City, a shopping center (mostly for wealthy Ugandans and Muzungus – white people or foreigners – like us) and drive us back to town instead of us walking to the taxi park, which was a ways away. I spent the day being lazy, and it was wonderful. We found a coffee shop in Kampala that kind of caters to Muzungus…it was opened by an ex-pat and has American and European style coffees and snacks/breakfast-y items. I had some really good green tea and a delicious croissant. After that, we went to an internet café where I was able to open many internet windows at once! Yay! I set up my twitter account to post on my blog sidebar by text message so now I’m able to give short little updates for only 220 shillings! Lucky you :)
After the internet café we went to a nearby pizza place (Pizza Inn, which is in the same building as the Chicken Inn and the Creamy Inn – ice cream) for lunch. It’s not too expensive, only 9000 shillings (4.50$) for a fairly large cheese pizza. It had started raining when we were in the internet café and had let up for a few minutes while we walked to the pizza place. After we got there and started eating, the rain started up again. Unfortunately a few of our group got unexpectedly stuck in the rain and were a little soaked by the time they met us at Pizza Inn.
After lunch me and three others went to the nicest hotel in Kampala to have some drinks and relax. It was a nice way to spend the afternoon. We met as arranged at Garden City at 5, and our taxi was not there. We called him and he said that he got delayed and to meet him on Kampala road so we started walking. He wasn’t at the new meeting spot and several other taxies pulled up trying to get us to ride with them. We had arranged to spend 2000 shillings on the ride back to town, but we got one of the other taxies down to 1500, so we took that one instead of our guy, who never did show up. He texted Lizz later that he was arrested by the traffic cops and that’s why he wasn’t able to pick us up! Who knows if that’s really true or not…it was a nice day anyway!
Week 1: Homestay and first week of real training!
On Monday we moved out of Lweza and went to our training town where we put some of our stuff in a storage room and met our homestay families. I’m staying with a first time family with 6 children, the youngest being around 8 and the eldest 24. They all live in our compound, which is pretty nice. The youngest is still in Primary and others are in Secondary. I think only two of them go to University in Kampala. The mother works at home and the father drives for the Ministry of Education in Kampala. They seem really nice and anxious to please me; we’re both figuring out this homestay thing together right now.
The week consisted of language from 8-10, break for tea at 10, and lectures the rest of the day with a break for lunch at 1230. We had two more shots on Tuesday, rabies #1 and yellow fever. We also were issued bikes on Tuesday. They look really nice, but we’ll see how much I’ll ride it. The roads are much different than the roads back home, bumpier and less stable, and I’m convinced the drivers, especially the boda boda drivers (motorcycle taxies) want to kill me. I walked it home. It’s about a 40 minute walk each way to the training center, and I really like the walk – lots of people to see, the landscape is beautiful – so I don’t think I’ll miss riding the bike or mind having a longer trip each day. On the walk home I noticed many trainees with bike problems – chains coming off, peddles falling off the bike mid-ride, etc… I guess the bikes weren’t as nice as we thought.
On Saturday I did laundry for the first time. What a process! I miss my washer and drier! We wash everything by hand here and it’s quite time-consuming. But my clothes are relatively clean, although it’s nearly impossible to get all the soap rinsed out and hand washing tends to stretch things out.
The week consisted of language from 8-10, break for tea at 10, and lectures the rest of the day with a break for lunch at 1230. We had two more shots on Tuesday, rabies #1 and yellow fever. We also were issued bikes on Tuesday. They look really nice, but we’ll see how much I’ll ride it. The roads are much different than the roads back home, bumpier and less stable, and I’m convinced the drivers, especially the boda boda drivers (motorcycle taxies) want to kill me. I walked it home. It’s about a 40 minute walk each way to the training center, and I really like the walk – lots of people to see, the landscape is beautiful – so I don’t think I’ll miss riding the bike or mind having a longer trip each day. On the walk home I noticed many trainees with bike problems – chains coming off, peddles falling off the bike mid-ride, etc… I guess the bikes weren’t as nice as we thought.
On Saturday I did laundry for the first time. What a process! I miss my washer and drier! We wash everything by hand here and it’s quite time-consuming. But my clothes are relatively clean, although it’s nearly impossible to get all the soap rinsed out and hand washing tends to stretch things out.
Week 0 - Travel
These are post-dated as I’ve been negligent in posting blogs. Therefore, please begin by reading the blog titled “Week 0 – Travel” first.
After a quite frustrating drive through Philly construction (thanks Kim!), I arrived at the hotel for staging. I was nervous walking in the doors; what would my training class look like? Who would they be? Would they like me? Would I like them? The first people I saw were Chase and Nicole. I immediately felt better. I had talked to Chase online before staging so I felt like I knew him at least a little and Nicole was as cheery as ever – which instantly put me at ease. They had already eaten lunch – I arrived nearly an hour and a half later than I expected to – but I was starving, so they agreed to accompany me to a nearby Starbucks where I had tea and a sandwich.
Staging started soon after and, if I may tell the truth, was a little boring. We did some get to know you activities, made posters of our fears and excitements (I contributed an elephant squishing a man with a laughing spider on the elephant’s back – a metaphor for our fear of the unknown, of course) and Nicole contributed teaching a monkey how to dance while drinking beer (in the excitement column). We also did skits demonstrating the appropriate responses to certain scenarios. It was a long day.
After the staging activities ended at 7, we were free to be on our own. We received a generous allowance to cover our needs until we arrived in Uganda and to cover any travel-associated costs getting to Philly. It was more than enough. Our pockets weighed with cash, we decided to have a nice dinner and all meet at a local bar to really get to know each other. I went with a group that decided on a nearby sushi restaurant, which wasn’t as good as I had hoped. We then spent the rest of the night poorly singing Karaoke and having a good time before our 18 hour flight(s) the next day.
We left Philly bright and early the next morning. I was a little late getting up – slept through my alarm like I usually do! – so I had breakfast by myself. I wasn’t feeling well, nerves I think…I’m not a good flier, so I just had a light breakfast. After checking out, we all piled our luggage in the conference room we used for staging and tied a piece of red yarn on our bags (checked and carryon). Patrick, our staging coordinator, said this was a Peace Corps tradition and that he still had his red yarn on his luggage. We then piled in the busses and were on our way. The staging team wasn’t going with us so we were on our own to get on our flight in JFK. The previous day we had elected team leaders to generally be responsible for getting us through check-in and onto the appropriate flights. I was a little nervous checking in since they were being a little strict at the counter, but my bags weighed in right at 80 pounds and I made it through security fantastically.
Since we left so early that morning we had a good four or five hours before our flight departed. I had a nice sandwich with some of the group and sat around in the terminal watching Flight of the Concords on someone’s laptop. The flight took off around 40 minutes late (at 6:20), but we mysteriously arrived in Brussels on time. I sat next to a guy in his 20s from Brussels on the overnight flight who drooled in his sleep and would randomly wake up and talk to his friends in the row in front of us. I didn’t really sleep much that flight, so I was pretty tired when we arrived in Brussels.
We only had about an hour and a half before our next flight would take off, so we all scrambled to get through security and find our gate. Once we found where we needed to be, I went off with some of our group to find some coffee and something to eat. Good God the Brussels airport was EXPENSIVE! Ouch. Good thing we got so much walk-around money in Philly! Haha
The flight to Africa was much nicer than the flight to Brussels. The seats had much more leg room and we were all sitting relatively close to one another. On the American Airlines flight, we all had window or middle seats so we were spread out along the length of the plane. My 30-ish pounds of carry-ons were no problem for the Brussels flight, despite what the website said about only 13 pounds being allowed. The flight was pretty nice. Although we did have one snippy flight attendant who obviously thought he was better than us. The food was pretty good too. I had a curry chicken dinner with some potato/veggie thing that was pretty good. We got chocolates, cheese, crackers and cookies in addition. Had a glass of white wine too. For our snack they gave us some pretty good sesame seasoned snack mix and I got a Dr. Pepper…my last one :(
We arrived first in Rwanda to let some people off and pick up new passengers; we just sat on the tarmac the whole time, but I can now say I’ve been to Rwanda too! Haha. During that time we all went to the bathroom to freshen up – 18 hours is a long time to be on a plane and none of us were too pretty right then! I brushed my teeth and used some wet wipes they gave us to wash my face. After a short flight (about 40 minutes), where they fed us again(!), we arrived in Entebbe, Uganda. After we got through security and gathered our bags (they all arrived!), we met Larry, the director, his wife and his daughter, and Garry the administrator. They welcomed us to Uganda and helped us get on the busses to our training center for the first few days.
After we arrived at Lweza, we each grabbed rooms and had a late (mid-night) tea and went to bed. Despite our late arrival, we had an early morning. Breakfast on Friday was from 7am to 830am and then we had class time the rest of the day. We had an introduction to the staff, an introduction to the program, a safety and security briefing, a medical session with the nurses about malaria, and our first survival Luganda lesson. Despite the fact that the majority of us would not be learning Luganda for our site placements, we all received a small amount of “survival Luganda” to help us when we’re in training (in a Luganda-speaking area) and whenever we’re in Kampala, the capital. I tried to learn as much as I could since I had an inkling that I’d be in the Luganda group after speaking to a couple of the staff members, but I’m not very good at language. Today we also got our first two vaccinations: Hep A #1 and Hep B #1 – ouch!
On Saturday, we had a long day of interviews with the placement staff and Luganda lessons from 8am to 5pm. In my placement interview they asked me many questions such as: do I like children, am I able to ride a bike for a long time, would I have any problems working for a faith based organization, what sort of activities am I interested in doing, do I have any experience with computers, with accounting/business, etc. I answered that I do like children and would very much like to work with them for my assignment as that’s where my experience lies. The majority of my jobs in the past have been with children and I feel like that’s where I might be most effective. I also said that I have very little experience with computers (besides the basic stuff) and am fairly ignorant in business and accounting. I feel like my interview went well.
We then had a session with some current volunteers on homestay living since we’d be going to our host families in a few days. That session made me a little nervous since we discussed several scenarios that didn’t seem to appealing. Besides eating alone, which I was prepared to do since Ugandans typically eat dinner close to 10pm, we also discussed what to do if your family experiences domestic abuse, etc. I think they were just trying to give us worst-case scenarios, but it wasn’t the most reassuring session.
On Sunday we got our first experience in Kampala. Wow. It’s one of the most insane cities I’ve ever been too. I’m sure there are rules that must be followed when one is driving on Kampala roads, but I’m not sure the drivers actually know what they are and certainly never follow them. We were darting in and out of traffic, squeezing our way through stopped busses, etc. We also toured the big market in Kampala which was equally insane. They have a lot of really cool stuff, but the market really intimidates me! The aisles are really narrow – barely big enough for a single person – and people shout at you from all sides and grab your arms…I’ll have to come back, but maybe when I’ve been here longer!
Today we also found out our language groups. I was right; I am in the Luganda group. There’s me and 8 other PCTs (Peace Corps Trainees) in my group: Jon, Zach Mayo (there’s 2 Zachs), Courtney, Mary, Colin, Amber, Heidi (my roommate in Philly), and Chrissy (my roommate at Lweza).
After a quite frustrating drive through Philly construction (thanks Kim!), I arrived at the hotel for staging. I was nervous walking in the doors; what would my training class look like? Who would they be? Would they like me? Would I like them? The first people I saw were Chase and Nicole. I immediately felt better. I had talked to Chase online before staging so I felt like I knew him at least a little and Nicole was as cheery as ever – which instantly put me at ease. They had already eaten lunch – I arrived nearly an hour and a half later than I expected to – but I was starving, so they agreed to accompany me to a nearby Starbucks where I had tea and a sandwich.
Staging started soon after and, if I may tell the truth, was a little boring. We did some get to know you activities, made posters of our fears and excitements (I contributed an elephant squishing a man with a laughing spider on the elephant’s back – a metaphor for our fear of the unknown, of course) and Nicole contributed teaching a monkey how to dance while drinking beer (in the excitement column). We also did skits demonstrating the appropriate responses to certain scenarios. It was a long day.
After the staging activities ended at 7, we were free to be on our own. We received a generous allowance to cover our needs until we arrived in Uganda and to cover any travel-associated costs getting to Philly. It was more than enough. Our pockets weighed with cash, we decided to have a nice dinner and all meet at a local bar to really get to know each other. I went with a group that decided on a nearby sushi restaurant, which wasn’t as good as I had hoped. We then spent the rest of the night poorly singing Karaoke and having a good time before our 18 hour flight(s) the next day.
We left Philly bright and early the next morning. I was a little late getting up – slept through my alarm like I usually do! – so I had breakfast by myself. I wasn’t feeling well, nerves I think…I’m not a good flier, so I just had a light breakfast. After checking out, we all piled our luggage in the conference room we used for staging and tied a piece of red yarn on our bags (checked and carryon). Patrick, our staging coordinator, said this was a Peace Corps tradition and that he still had his red yarn on his luggage. We then piled in the busses and were on our way. The staging team wasn’t going with us so we were on our own to get on our flight in JFK. The previous day we had elected team leaders to generally be responsible for getting us through check-in and onto the appropriate flights. I was a little nervous checking in since they were being a little strict at the counter, but my bags weighed in right at 80 pounds and I made it through security fantastically.
Since we left so early that morning we had a good four or five hours before our flight departed. I had a nice sandwich with some of the group and sat around in the terminal watching Flight of the Concords on someone’s laptop. The flight took off around 40 minutes late (at 6:20), but we mysteriously arrived in Brussels on time. I sat next to a guy in his 20s from Brussels on the overnight flight who drooled in his sleep and would randomly wake up and talk to his friends in the row in front of us. I didn’t really sleep much that flight, so I was pretty tired when we arrived in Brussels.
We only had about an hour and a half before our next flight would take off, so we all scrambled to get through security and find our gate. Once we found where we needed to be, I went off with some of our group to find some coffee and something to eat. Good God the Brussels airport was EXPENSIVE! Ouch. Good thing we got so much walk-around money in Philly! Haha
The flight to Africa was much nicer than the flight to Brussels. The seats had much more leg room and we were all sitting relatively close to one another. On the American Airlines flight, we all had window or middle seats so we were spread out along the length of the plane. My 30-ish pounds of carry-ons were no problem for the Brussels flight, despite what the website said about only 13 pounds being allowed. The flight was pretty nice. Although we did have one snippy flight attendant who obviously thought he was better than us. The food was pretty good too. I had a curry chicken dinner with some potato/veggie thing that was pretty good. We got chocolates, cheese, crackers and cookies in addition. Had a glass of white wine too. For our snack they gave us some pretty good sesame seasoned snack mix and I got a Dr. Pepper…my last one :(
We arrived first in Rwanda to let some people off and pick up new passengers; we just sat on the tarmac the whole time, but I can now say I’ve been to Rwanda too! Haha. During that time we all went to the bathroom to freshen up – 18 hours is a long time to be on a plane and none of us were too pretty right then! I brushed my teeth and used some wet wipes they gave us to wash my face. After a short flight (about 40 minutes), where they fed us again(!), we arrived in Entebbe, Uganda. After we got through security and gathered our bags (they all arrived!), we met Larry, the director, his wife and his daughter, and Garry the administrator. They welcomed us to Uganda and helped us get on the busses to our training center for the first few days.
After we arrived at Lweza, we each grabbed rooms and had a late (mid-night) tea and went to bed. Despite our late arrival, we had an early morning. Breakfast on Friday was from 7am to 830am and then we had class time the rest of the day. We had an introduction to the staff, an introduction to the program, a safety and security briefing, a medical session with the nurses about malaria, and our first survival Luganda lesson. Despite the fact that the majority of us would not be learning Luganda for our site placements, we all received a small amount of “survival Luganda” to help us when we’re in training (in a Luganda-speaking area) and whenever we’re in Kampala, the capital. I tried to learn as much as I could since I had an inkling that I’d be in the Luganda group after speaking to a couple of the staff members, but I’m not very good at language. Today we also got our first two vaccinations: Hep A #1 and Hep B #1 – ouch!
On Saturday, we had a long day of interviews with the placement staff and Luganda lessons from 8am to 5pm. In my placement interview they asked me many questions such as: do I like children, am I able to ride a bike for a long time, would I have any problems working for a faith based organization, what sort of activities am I interested in doing, do I have any experience with computers, with accounting/business, etc. I answered that I do like children and would very much like to work with them for my assignment as that’s where my experience lies. The majority of my jobs in the past have been with children and I feel like that’s where I might be most effective. I also said that I have very little experience with computers (besides the basic stuff) and am fairly ignorant in business and accounting. I feel like my interview went well.
We then had a session with some current volunteers on homestay living since we’d be going to our host families in a few days. That session made me a little nervous since we discussed several scenarios that didn’t seem to appealing. Besides eating alone, which I was prepared to do since Ugandans typically eat dinner close to 10pm, we also discussed what to do if your family experiences domestic abuse, etc. I think they were just trying to give us worst-case scenarios, but it wasn’t the most reassuring session.
On Sunday we got our first experience in Kampala. Wow. It’s one of the most insane cities I’ve ever been too. I’m sure there are rules that must be followed when one is driving on Kampala roads, but I’m not sure the drivers actually know what they are and certainly never follow them. We were darting in and out of traffic, squeezing our way through stopped busses, etc. We also toured the big market in Kampala which was equally insane. They have a lot of really cool stuff, but the market really intimidates me! The aisles are really narrow – barely big enough for a single person – and people shout at you from all sides and grab your arms…I’ll have to come back, but maybe when I’ve been here longer!
Today we also found out our language groups. I was right; I am in the Luganda group. There’s me and 8 other PCTs (Peace Corps Trainees) in my group: Jon, Zach Mayo (there’s 2 Zachs), Courtney, Mary, Colin, Amber, Heidi (my roommate in Philly), and Chrissy (my roommate at Lweza).
Sunday, August 9, 2009
I made it!
I'm at Kampala in an internet cafe. I don't have much time, but I wanted to update you all on how I'm doing.
I'm having fun in Kampala, but we're walking everywhere and it's a little crazy here! Too many people and absolutely NO rules of the road. You just walk through traffic whenever you want to cross the street and dodge buses and motorcycles (boda bodas). Everyone shouts "Muzungu" at us when they see us and everyone wants our attention. It's crazy, but a great experience. It sure takes some getting used to, but I like it so far. It's nice to be out of the training center for a bit.
We should find out tonight who our homestay family is for training and our language groups. I like the language so far (we're all learning "survival Luganda" right now) and despite how it looks on paper, it's easy to learn so far. We'll see how it is when I actually try to talk to people who speak it in real time, not the slow stuff we practice in class. I went for a hike with some other volunteers yesterday and we meet many people on the road who wanted to talk with us so we got to practice our greetings and such. The walk was really interesting to see the types of houses people live in - gated homes with private swimming pools right next to little shanties.
Well that's all the time I have right now, my time is running out. I'll try to post some pictures next time I'm on!
I'm having fun in Kampala, but we're walking everywhere and it's a little crazy here! Too many people and absolutely NO rules of the road. You just walk through traffic whenever you want to cross the street and dodge buses and motorcycles (boda bodas). Everyone shouts "Muzungu" at us when they see us and everyone wants our attention. It's crazy, but a great experience. It sure takes some getting used to, but I like it so far. It's nice to be out of the training center for a bit.
We should find out tonight who our homestay family is for training and our language groups. I like the language so far (we're all learning "survival Luganda" right now) and despite how it looks on paper, it's easy to learn so far. We'll see how it is when I actually try to talk to people who speak it in real time, not the slow stuff we practice in class. I went for a hike with some other volunteers yesterday and we meet many people on the road who wanted to talk with us so we got to practice our greetings and such. The walk was really interesting to see the types of houses people live in - gated homes with private swimming pools right next to little shanties.
Well that's all the time I have right now, my time is running out. I'll try to post some pictures next time I'm on!
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Training
I got an email from the Uganda desk yesterday with welcome letters from the Uganda staff (in Uganda) and the Country Director (CD) Larry, an updated packing list, a few thoughts on electronics, a homestay questionnaire, and a training schedule, which I'm going to share bits of with you now! (aren't you lucky?)
Pre-Service Training
Overview of Training Schedule -
The Pre-Service Training follows a community-based approach. This means that, after a few days gathering at central points for large sessions, we will then begin to hold our sessions in the communities, in smaller groups, using the trainer houses, or places where community members gather. It emphasizes hands-on training and learning by doing. You will practice working with community groups to enable you to get acquainted with Ugandan learning styles. The initial weeks of training are as follows:
Arrival/Week 1 (Aug 6-11):
Overcoming jet lag and conducting individual Program Managers and Medical informational and familiarization meetings:
This week involves community entry, as Trainees begin to understand how to communicate with their Ugandan families and communities. We will explore Uganda's history, issues of community development and the Volunteer's role in that development, personal health, and cross-cultural issues. The focus is on community entry skills and techniques, the concept of HIV/AIDS at the global level and the Ugandan situation.
August 6: Airport arrival, transfer to the Training and Conference Center and a welcome tea.
August 7: The CD will welcome us and the Peace Corps Medical Officers (PCMOs) will introduce us to the medical program and give out Medical Kits to us. Thereafter, the Safety and Security Coordinator will give us some security tips. Activities will also include an overview of Peace Corps Uganda by the CD, the Role of Volunteers in Development (RVID), and Introduction to Project Plans by Project Managers. In the afternoon, we will have a session on Introduction to Uganda by the Cross-Culture Coordinator. Also, there will be individual meetings with the Program Managers, the CD, and the PCMOs. During the same period, there will be 'survival' Luganda lessons - the language commonly spoken in central Uganda. A small amount of walk-around money will be given to help us buy some few personal requirements.
August 8: Interviews will continue as necessary, running hand in hand with the survival Luganda lessons. PCMOs will give us rabies shots. In the afternoon, we will have the chance to listen to people from phone companies, and be able to purchase a mobile phone if we wish.
August 9: The day's activities include an introduction to homestay living with a panel of current PCVs to help us prepare for the intricacies of life with a Ugandan family. The PCMOs will have a session with us on food-water preparation and diarrhea.
August 10: We will have a Safety and Security session in the morning. Thereafter, we will depart the Training and Conference Center for the town of [town name omitted], at the [pre-service training center], where we will meet our Ugandan host families. At 2:00pm we will depart to our lodgings of the next 8 weeks with our home-stay family.
August 11: We will return to [the pre-service training center] in the morning by 7:50am to start our Pre-Service Training. We will do language and have a session on bicycle maintenance. Bicycle transport may be our major means of transport once a Volunteer and we will be expected to demonstrate our competency in riding and maintaining a bicycle during training.
Week 2 and 3: Field-based training
In these weeks we will be exposed to many different relevant technical areas and issues regarding the health and development of Ugandan communities which will be presented to us through a combination of classroom and experiential learning activities. We will practice community entry techniques and will learn how to work with grassroots development partners. The relationship between socio-culture and HIV/AIDS will be conducted.
Week 4: PCV visit
During this week, all Trainees will be in the field experiencing some of the responsibilities they will assume as Volunteers. We will visit a current PCV during this period using public transportation.
Weeks 5-10: Other key activities
We will be exposed to PC initiatives of Women and Gender in Development, ICT, as well as youth empowerment initiatives. All these will be integrated with improved livelihood and capacity building development activities. We will have an opportunity to experiment with Village Savings and Loans, a great tool to use with PLWAs, and small business people from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
Building Community Relationships
We will explore work opportunities using an asset based approach and how to extend PCV work to reach all the beneficiaries of the project. Overall, we will redefine our role as a development agent. In addition, we will be required to demonstrate our readiness to embark on our technical work by presenting a model workshop based on the needs assessment we will have done in a Ugandan community through a Qualifying Project.
Language Proficiency Testing
Peace Corps regards language both as a social and a safety issue. It attaches great importance to our learning a local language to enable us to integrate in the community. We will take a language proficiency test to gauge our proficiency in a Ugandan language that we will begin to learn during the arrival week.
Swearing-In
After undergoing pre-service training, we will be sworn in as Volunteers. The Swearing-In event is normally presided over by the U.S. Ambassador and Ugandan Government Officials, which formally marks the end of pre-service training. We are expected to depart for our future site that very afternoon.
The Swearing-In ceremony will be on October 15, 2009.
Pre-Service Training
Overview of Training Schedule -
The Pre-Service Training follows a community-based approach. This means that, after a few days gathering at central points for large sessions, we will then begin to hold our sessions in the communities, in smaller groups, using the trainer houses, or places where community members gather. It emphasizes hands-on training and learning by doing. You will practice working with community groups to enable you to get acquainted with Ugandan learning styles. The initial weeks of training are as follows:
Arrival/Week 1 (Aug 6-11):
Overcoming jet lag and conducting individual Program Managers and Medical informational and familiarization meetings:
This week involves community entry, as Trainees begin to understand how to communicate with their Ugandan families and communities. We will explore Uganda's history, issues of community development and the Volunteer's role in that development, personal health, and cross-cultural issues. The focus is on community entry skills and techniques, the concept of HIV/AIDS at the global level and the Ugandan situation.
August 6: Airport arrival, transfer to the Training and Conference Center and a welcome tea.
August 7: The CD will welcome us and the Peace Corps Medical Officers (PCMOs) will introduce us to the medical program and give out Medical Kits to us. Thereafter, the Safety and Security Coordinator will give us some security tips. Activities will also include an overview of Peace Corps Uganda by the CD, the Role of Volunteers in Development (RVID), and Introduction to Project Plans by Project Managers. In the afternoon, we will have a session on Introduction to Uganda by the Cross-Culture Coordinator. Also, there will be individual meetings with the Program Managers, the CD, and the PCMOs. During the same period, there will be 'survival' Luganda lessons - the language commonly spoken in central Uganda. A small amount of walk-around money will be given to help us buy some few personal requirements.
August 8: Interviews will continue as necessary, running hand in hand with the survival Luganda lessons. PCMOs will give us rabies shots. In the afternoon, we will have the chance to listen to people from phone companies, and be able to purchase a mobile phone if we wish.
August 9: The day's activities include an introduction to homestay living with a panel of current PCVs to help us prepare for the intricacies of life with a Ugandan family. The PCMOs will have a session with us on food-water preparation and diarrhea.
August 10: We will have a Safety and Security session in the morning. Thereafter, we will depart the Training and Conference Center for the town of [town name omitted], at the [pre-service training center], where we will meet our Ugandan host families. At 2:00pm we will depart to our lodgings of the next 8 weeks with our home-stay family.
August 11: We will return to [the pre-service training center] in the morning by 7:50am to start our Pre-Service Training. We will do language and have a session on bicycle maintenance. Bicycle transport may be our major means of transport once a Volunteer and we will be expected to demonstrate our competency in riding and maintaining a bicycle during training.
Week 2 and 3: Field-based training
In these weeks we will be exposed to many different relevant technical areas and issues regarding the health and development of Ugandan communities which will be presented to us through a combination of classroom and experiential learning activities. We will practice community entry techniques and will learn how to work with grassroots development partners. The relationship between socio-culture and HIV/AIDS will be conducted.
Week 4: PCV visit
During this week, all Trainees will be in the field experiencing some of the responsibilities they will assume as Volunteers. We will visit a current PCV during this period using public transportation.
Weeks 5-10: Other key activities
We will be exposed to PC initiatives of Women and Gender in Development, ICT, as well as youth empowerment initiatives. All these will be integrated with improved livelihood and capacity building development activities. We will have an opportunity to experiment with Village Savings and Loans, a great tool to use with PLWAs, and small business people from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
Building Community Relationships
We will explore work opportunities using an asset based approach and how to extend PCV work to reach all the beneficiaries of the project. Overall, we will redefine our role as a development agent. In addition, we will be required to demonstrate our readiness to embark on our technical work by presenting a model workshop based on the needs assessment we will have done in a Ugandan community through a Qualifying Project.
Language Proficiency Testing
Peace Corps regards language both as a social and a safety issue. It attaches great importance to our learning a local language to enable us to integrate in the community. We will take a language proficiency test to gauge our proficiency in a Ugandan language that we will begin to learn during the arrival week.
Swearing-In
After undergoing pre-service training, we will be sworn in as Volunteers. The Swearing-In event is normally presided over by the U.S. Ambassador and Ugandan Government Officials, which formally marks the end of pre-service training. We are expected to depart for our future site that very afternoon.
The Swearing-In ceremony will be on October 15, 2009.
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