Kampala News

KAMPALA CONTINUED…

Well, I truly owe you all an apology for my lack of communication! I am posting about my time here in Kampala as I am on the verge of my departure from Uganda.

The time has flown by and I can’t believe I leave in a few days. It has been a busy time and I am looking at my remaining days and hoping I can get at least all the necessities done before I travel.

I would say that overall my time here in Kampala has been positive, although not as productive maybe as I would have hoped. It has been good to be exposed to two more settings where OTs are involved and see the way things work and the impact that can be made. I feel like my contribution has really not been that significant, but I hope that in some way I have had a positive influence. The OT I work with at Mukisa has been wonderful and we have enjoyed working together and seeing clients. The set-up and structure of Mukisa appears to work remarkably well and I have been so impressed with the work that is carried out through this Foundation. The dedication and commitment the staff have to the mothers and children is so inspiring and admirable.

For me personally, I would say the highlight of my time client wise has been working with a toddler who has various OT related issues, one of which was a lack of independence in feeding. Eating independently had been a goal they had for her for several months prior to my arrival. When I arrived the goal had not been reached. After several long lunch- time “battles” and nearly giving up hope of any progress… she suddenly decided to co-operate. She has been very stubborn, but being that she was up against my stubbornness I eventually won the battle;) We have made progress to the point that she is able to pick up the spoon (not yet able to scoop food onto the spoon) and bring it to her mouth to eat. Unfortunately, at times the food does spill off before it reaches her mouth which usually elicits a rather exaggerated frustrated reaction from her. Recently she even managed to achieve placing the spoon down properly on the plate after taking a bite instead of dropping it or waiting for us to take it from her. She also is now able to hold her cup to drink independently! Still not quite fully independent but in time anticipate she will get there.

Things at Mengo have been a bit more challenging to handle. Many of the children there have rather difficult behavioral issues to manage. Also, the resources to work with are lacking for this client population. However, I was asked mainly to provide suggestions and input more from an organizational perspective there. I think I have been able to provide at least some helpful ideas as far as changes that could be made both from the therapy scheduling to the modification of the physical environment. Again, I knew going into this last part of my time in Uganda that the amount I would be able to accomplish in both places in this short space of time would obviously be limited. This has also been further limited by being sick for several days as well as moving my Uganda departure up due to medical insurance coverage logistics. I think from a personal perspective though, it has given me more respect for the work of the OTs in these areas as it is definitely not an easy clientele to work with in many regards. I think I also have realized that for myself I don’t see that pediatric work is where I would want to be long-term. It has been good to gain this insight here though, as in Canada often pediatric work is hard to obtain.

KUMI RETURN- FINAL FAREWELL

I made a trip to Kumi on the 17th to fulfill my promise to say a final farewell before leaving Uganda. I was disappointed that I was not able to connect with everyone I had hoped to see and visit with, but overall it was good to be back to have closure to my time there. It was sad though to see that the hospital is still declining and looking more dilapidated than when I left less than 2 months ago. Staff are also still struggling while they wait for salaries to be paid. I had a mixture of emotions both while I was there and as I re-hashed not only this past visit but my 7 months spent at Kumi Hospital. I know it is only natural to have some regrets and wish I had done some things differently. Unfortunately, it appears the Friday prayer times for the hospital situation has not continued. However, from comments made when I initially left Kumi it was something that people did seem to value and appreciate at least for the time we did meet. It is hard to explain to people why I am leaving before my intended departure date, but I also think that the people who comment on me not having completed my one year yet are able to see the logic behind my leaving.

A NOT SO NICE FAREWELL TO KAMPALA

Well, yesterday afternoon was a bit of a downer of a way to leave Kampala. I was heading home and about to get to my taxi to leave town when I remembered I wanted to take a picture of the taxi park. It is quite an incredible scene to look down on the maze of taxi vans (matatus) from the street level! Unfortunately, as I stood above it on the street just finishing taking a few pictures a boy (maybe 12) ran in front of me and grabbed it right out of my hand. I reacted and tried to grab him and yelled thief making a commotion but no one seemed to care or try to catch him! It is also more frustrating to think that he will probably just sell it to someone for maybe the equivalent of $5 or something! I was rather stunned and shocked really at the complacency of people. After talking to some Ugandans though they did say that is how most people are here in the sense that if it isn’t their property or problem they don’t bother getting involved. I was obviously really upset and kicking myself for taking the risk to take a picture in that part of town as it is not the safest place. Normally I am very careful to put my wrist strap on as well and for some reason though I thought to put it on I didn’t. I also shouldn’t have taken so long standing there as I don’t exactly blend in! I have taken several pictures along that road before though so I guess thought I would get away with it once again. It is a bit unnerving and leaves a somewhat of a sour taste in my mouth as I leave the relatively “safe” Uganda heading for the not so “safe” Nairobi in a couple of days. I thankfully had downloaded most of my pictures to my computer already so did not lose too many. There were still some significant ones on it that I did lose. I also thankfully was not physically hurt by the person except hurting myself (not seriously) as I tried to grab him and tripped over a chair that was in the way! I also had brought my old camera from Canada as a back up (though was not expecting to need it—at least not while in Uganda) so hope it lasts for the rest of my travels and doesn’t get stolen, lost or broken. I also was thinking about it after the fact and realizing that I probably would have preferred to lose my camera than to have them catch the boy and beat him mercilessly. At times thieves here can be beaten to death and I would have felt even more sick if he had been beaten. Ideally it would have been great for him to get caught and get my camera back without the severe beating repercussions. I guess it is a good reality check that I am not immune to these things happening and I need to stay vigilant in my street smarts. It is also a good reminder not to hold on too tightly (although literally this time I guess I wasn’t holding on too tightly) to my possessions and place too much value on them.

THE WHIRLWIND TRAVEL BEGINS…

Well, I don’t think I have mentioned anything on my blog about my plans for the next few months… I had hoped, but not known, if it would be feasible to do much, if any, travel outside of Uganda while here in East Africa. Those of you who know me better know that it is difficult for me to pass up opportunities to see more of this diverse world we live in. Thanks to an unexpected good tax return this year and also my parent’s generous offer to help fly me to see them in Ghana, I am going to be able to do some travelling before returning to Canada. I know some friends are interested in keeping up with my travel adventures and instead of starting a separate blog I will just continue on this one. I plan to leave on Wednesday morning for Kenya. I will stay likely at a hostel in Nairobi and check out that area and hopefully a game park. Then I will take a train to Mombasa where thankfully my parents have friends living so I can crash at their place if I want. It is working out well also that my American missionary friends from Kampala are currently doing language study in Tanzania and are coming to Mombasa to renew their visas so will be connecting with me from July 11-13. I will then catch a ride with them to Tanzania, which not only is much more comfortable and fun than a bus but likely faster or at least definitely safer! I plan to visit Zanzibar where I am hoping a couple Dutch friends I met in Kumi are still going to be, and then fly out of Dar es Salaam to Ghana to visit my parents. I still don’t have my flight booked for that yet!! I know my parents are eagerly awaiting news on my arrival date. It will be good to see Ghana again as it has been 4 years I think since I was there and I’m sure things have changed a lot. I will be leaving Accra then on August 15th for the UK where I hope to visit friends and make a quick trip to Scotland and France where I have more good friends to see (hoping my budget calculations aren’t too far out so I will be able to fit this in still). I will then head to Atlanta on August 27th to stay with my sister and her family there till the end of September to help out as she has her 5th baby-- due on September 5th!:)

So I hope that gives people at least a glimpse of what the next 3 months holds for me. I am looking forward to it, but also am somewhat apprehensive as I really don’t know how things will go and traveling alone in Africa with a fairly heavy luggage load is not always the most enjoyable way to go. I really am grateful that at least in many places I will have connections with other people. I really would appreciate prayer for my safety, especially as theft as well as dangerous road travel are ever present realities in these countries. I am praying that God would place some good Samarians and angels in my path as I’m sure there will be times I will need it!

Thanks to all of you who keep up with my blog and I really do feel badly I have not been more consistent with posts. I was expecting that I would have better internet access and connections here in Kampala but that hasn’t turned out to quite be the case. I hope to get somewhere today where I can upload some pics without it taking 30 min a picture.

Pictures soon!!