Make sure to check out my Final Reflections Vlog I made about my Uganda trip!!!!
Hey guys! Not much happened today so this will be a short post.
We had a group meeting today with our supervisor and figured out we needed to go back out into the field one more time so we will tomorrow.
Tonight my good friend Monica brought her traditional African costume to try on! It was gorgeous and so cool! They wear them to formal events like weddings, for example. Check out the pic below (don’t mind my hair.. it was a long day haha):
You guys! It finally hit me that this is our last week at Ndejje University!!!!!!!!!
I am very excited, but also very sad because of the friendships I have made. Ugh, I’ll address this problem once I get to the end of the week 😐
So today hopefully was my last day in the field. The past couple of weeks we have been doing needs assessments and we hit the last subzone yesterday! Going to the field can be exhausting. We have to walk so much and up and down so many hills to get to my community. So the weight I have lots on this trip I can dedicate to the field LOL. Walking back, my friends Monica, Carol, and I stopped so those two could purchase some mangos for themselves. As we were walking up, this sweet girl ran up to me shouting “muzungu” and gave me a big hug! For those of you who don’t know, muzungu is what they call us white people, or foreigners. So as we walk by, we have heard it constantly. I might as well get it tattooed when I get back 😂 This little girl was so smart though! She was probably about 3 years old so not quit in school yet. They learn English throughout their school years but they learn Luganda from their homes prior to school. So they speak both Luganda and English here! This little girl was trying so hard to repeat everything I was saying in english, and it came out so clearly! She was even saying my name which is hard for my fellow Ugandan students to even say (they just call me chey for short cause it’s easier). 
Later tonight, we went to fellowship which was so neat for the culture experience! They have church on Sundays, then fellowship on Monday and Friday nights. We have a couple of friends that go every week and have been asking us to join, but we have just been so busy but I am glad we had time to go tonight! It was so much fun. The vibe of the worship was incredible with all of the singing and dancing. Here’s a video:
Today we went to Chimpanzee Island!!!!!
It was SO cool! We took a boat ride over to Ngamba Island where the chimpanzee sanctuary is. The boat ride was about 45 minutes across Lake Victoria (which is the second largest lake in the world, first being Lake Superior in the USA) and while boating across that, we also crossed the equator! Now, on Saturday we will actually be going to the Equator where the sign is so that will be more official 😉
So once we got to the island, we got complimentary tea and coffee which is pretty common around here. After that we learned about what the sanctuary does and some facts about it then he took us to where they get fed! They get fed 4 times a day in different areas of the island where it’s caged. Speaking of, you all probably think they are in small cages, but a majority of the island is actually open and available for the chimps to roam around.
Here’s a video of what it looks like where we fed them:
As you can tell, they knew it was time to eat!!! If we wanted to feed them, it was 20,000 shillings ($5 USD) and by time I paid to do it the food was pretty much gone!!! That is ok though because the money went towards the sanctuary.
After the feeding, we got to talk to the vet and learn about what he does with the chimps every year. I think there are 49 chimps on the island, 46 were brought it and 3 were born in the sanctuary. They actually implant the chimps with a contraceptive to avoid having more, but some of them pushed it out and ended up becoming pregnant! Crazy smart.
Oh! One more thing to mention, sometimes the chimps escape!!! Like I said before, they are crazy smart. So if it happens, a whistle blows and we are supposed to gather at this point, and if the chimps are still running towards us, we have to start walking into the water so they do not attack us. That did not happen, but man that would have been an adrenaline rush if it did! While we were feeding them, one chimp actually had a long stick and was poking it through the wires trying to escape! I tried to catch it on video but was not fast enough. Smart smart smart!!!!
Overall, this was a fun little surprise trip we got to take with some of our Ugandan friends from the university! When I say surprise trip, I forgot to mention that we were supposed to paint a health center today but the paint was not ordered so our teachers quickly planned this fun adventure!
Today we competed in a National Woodball Tournament!!!!
SO: the day started at 5:30am… yes, you read that correctly, 5:30AM!!!! We had to meet at 6:15am to leave to drive to the Mandela National Stadium in Kampala. It was such a lonnnnnnng day! We got there and registered but there was so much confusion, it seemed very unorganized but I think to them, it was perfectly normal. Before the ceremony started, we got to practice a bit, but that was chaotic because we weren’t sure where to practice and felt as if we were in everybody’s way. After a little practice, the ceremony started. This was a big event because it was the 10 year anniversary game. Here’s a little history lesson: woodball started in China, and Uganda was the first African country to adopt this sport. So some representatives from China were at the game because it was a big event. With that being said, the opening ceremony was soooooooo long, over 2 hours! At that point, we were all starving and exhausted already cause we had been sitting out in the sun a majority of the time.
Finally, when the ceremony ended, we were trying to figure out lunch plans, but were told we had to start playing. Some of us represented team USA, and the other half represented Canada. Not sure how that got decided but we went with it, haha. So we were each playing with different people from different teams which was intimidating because we didn’t know them and some were way better than us, considering we just learned the sport 3 weeks ago. Let me say, I was exhausted. I was not playing well at all and literally dragging myself around. I was hot, hungry, and tired. It was not fun lol. After awhile, a faculty member from Ndejje University got us for lunch and the people I was playing with were not happy I was leaving, but at that point I had not eaten in 7 hours so I had to go!
After lunch, we got to play doubles with eachother and that was so much fun! I enjoyed playing with my fellow SIUe friends more lol. After being re-energized with food and more water, I was ready to go and was playing so well!
After about a 17 hour day, we finally made it back to campus. I was so tired and cranky at the end of it, I was just ready for bed!
Hey guys! this is going to be a short post, just me telling you the highs and lows of my day today 😊
High: eating MAC N CHEESE and SALAD for dinner!!!!!!!!!
Low: feeling 5 months pregnant after eating all the mac n cheese and salad 🙃🙃
My professors bday was today so we went to their house to have dinner and her husband and son came yesterday and brought kraft mac n cheese for us to make. It was such a fantastic surprise that even made some of us cry!!! Pure joy:
Hey!
I don’t have much to say for today unfortunately, just another day!
Starting out: Our team was supposed to meet at 7:30 am but you know, Uganda time and they didn’t end up showing up till after 8:15… I could have slept for another 45 minutes, ha!
Yesterday morning was a cold one and it looked like it was going to rain so I checked the forecast and it said 100% all day, so we decided not to go out into the field because we did not want to get rained on! Well, it ended up not raining till later at night…..
Oh the weather…. unpredictable even on the other side of the world!!!
Later we had woodball practice and then we went to the market because we found a lady who sells street meat and chips (french fries)! One odd thing about the chips is they tried to put spaghetti, beans, cabbage, and meat in the bag. Yuck!!! I guess i’m a plain jane cause I didn’t want all of that haha!
Sorry today wasn’t as interesting, but I had to post still, my mom was worried since I am a day late on my blogs haha!
Here’s a photo of the chips!
Today we didn’t go out into the field but we did go to a local government hospital with the faculty of Ndejje University! We had the opportunity to tour Nakaseke Hospital and get a visual on all of the services they offered. After the tour, we had a long meeting where there were 2 presentations that were given by hospital staff. The first presentation was about the health care system in Uganda and the second was about medication management. Both very interesting! One major difference I noticed off the bat between the US and Uganda is the layout of the hospital. They do not have private rooms, so when we were touring, we were walking through rooms that had multiple beds and it was not private at all. I sort of felt bad walking through there and looking at all the sick people laying in the beds! Here’s a photo my teacher sent us of the pricing in Uganda shillings (divide the number by 3,600 to get USD): 
When comparing to the United States, they do offer a lot of the same services throughout the hospital. They even said in the delivery wing that c-sections were more common (about 70% of births). They average about 1-2 babies per day.
Here are some random statistics that we learned about Uganda:
Just like some hospitals in the United States, the services this hospital offer depends on the equipment they have and also the availability of medications. They mentioned how they could serve a lot more people if they had more updated equipment and the NICU is one part that could use that.
We even talked about the health education part of the hospital! They service: family planning, nutrition, drinking water, sanitation, immunization, prevention/control of diseases, drug abuse, and first aid kits at home. The only thing that shocked me about this is that they don’t have a certain staff member to do this. It is just whoever is available to learn it and teach it. With this in mind, I can see how it could be harder to educate and promote health.
One thing that surprised me was the layout of the hospital and how small it was for the amount of people they serve. This hospital serves about 2 million people per year (about 4 districts). Touring yesterday, we had to squeeze past people and were a little tight at some points, which made it hard to hear the guy who was speaking during some parts.
Overall, touring the hospital and learning more about the Uganda health care system was a fantastic learning experience for me and I really enjoyed meeting all of the staff members, and also sharing this experience with my professor and also the faculty of Ndejje University!
Musiibye Mutya nno! (good evening)
It is about 5pm here and the day went by very slowly. It sure is a Monday!!! We are about 2 weeks in working in our field groups here at Ndejje University. With that being said, I am going to talk about my experience thus far with my group members!
So we are in groups of about 12 members, 2 of us from SIUE, and the rest from Ndejje University. I am going to talk about a time when culture has played a role in my teams interactions.
One ongoing situation is that everyone here is on Uganda time! This basically means they show up at least 30 minutes later than the scheduled time, and it is still perfectly okay. This is something that is hard to get used to because we are taught to be punctual back in the United States and usually to show up early to important events/meetings. Now, I tend to be late to everything. My mom can vouch for that and she constantly reminds me I will show up late to my own wedding, lol. But, while here I have actually either been early or on time to all of our meetings, but no one ends up showing up till way later! This is something we have talked to our team members about, but they are so used to it just like we are used to showing up on time. This has not caused any conflict because it has not been a big deal, but they have been showing up closer and closer to the scheduled time lately, so it is nice 😉.
One barrier that is difficult for us Americans in our group is the communication. Here, they speak Luganda but English is taught in school at a young age. When we go out into our community, the other students speak to the elders in Luganda because they do not know much English. It is hard to get information from the other students because the conversation just flows with them, so it is harder for them to stop and translate every single word that is spoken. I am not sure if this is something that could be resolved, but we are trying our best🙂
I absolutely love my field group and am happy with my placement! We all get along very well and are connected on social media sites and whatsapp, so we will maintain communication even after we leave Uganda. They are a great group and accept the difference in education that they have received and our education. I am learning something new everyday from my group members and I know they are learning from us also, so it is a fantastic opportunity!
Here is a photo of Arné and I with a couple of our group members:
Hello!
Sunday’s are usually our chill days, so we didn’t do much today which was nice after our long day yesterday🙂
We went to our teachers house again tonight for dinner and they were going to make spaghetti again but the whole town ran out of tomato paste!!!! SO, they invented a “pizza” pasta. Tomato’s, green peppers, onions, a little leftover tomato paste from last week, and pepperoni with elbow noodles. I am probably missing an ingredient or two, but you get the just. It was so tasty! And then they surprised us with some homemade banana pudding for dessert! I am SO full wow.
Below I’ll post a photo of the yummy pasta! Maybe you can look and see if I missed an ingredient or not 😉
UGANDA miss me when I'm gone.... 