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Published: April 1st 2013
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Sorry, this blog post is long overdue. I’ve been here for almost 3 months now… time is just flying by! I’m still having my ups and downs about being here, but the ups totally outweigh the downs. I’ve learned so much about myself and just non-nursing things (like farming, business, and setting up a co-op, things that I would never have looked into myself but find very interesting.) I’ve learned about the nature of people, how I like to work, qualities needed in a good leader, and how to really work as a team. How I don’t need to rush to move on to doing the expected things in life, because they’ll come when they’re meant to. This knowledge has mostly come from the other volunteers, all of whom are absolutely amazing, smart, talented people who are ridiculously nice and funny and easy to get along with. They’re almost all from England unfortunately, but it gives me a great excuse to go there and visit!
My downs are primarily because the projects I’m trying to implement are not as effective as I want, and I’m regrouping. I’m really glad I decided to come to
Africa for so long because I do have the opportunity to see my projects through- and this unfortunately has taught me a lot about the unpleasant side of public health. Although I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, knowing the people that are letting you down makes it harder. For example, I’ve spent a decent amount of time in schools doing education about hand washing and putting up tippy taps. The teachers are always extremely grateful, and I ask them their plan for maintaining them to try to get them to take some ownership. Most of the time when I audit them, however, there is either no soap or no water. I talk to them about it, and they apologize and give an excuse. It’s frustrating to an extent, but at the same time I understand that it’s not something that they’re used to. You’re asking them to spend money on something where the consequences are not visible. Also, many people believe in spirits and witchcraft here, and believe that sickness is a result of someone hexing them. While not everyone believes it, it is a barrier to making people understand the importance of hand washing.
I was trying to run a healthcare ambassadors group that isn’t really working. The concept was to teach small groups of people about relevant community health issues, and then have them teach the rest of the community. The concept works, and while we require them to teach only 5 people per week, one guy went above and beyond and taught 17 people about brucellosis, a disease they get from meat and animal products. We’ve been having a hard time getting people to attend though because the whole concept of Big Beyond is providing knowledge to people, not handouts. The people here are used to getting lunch or money from white people who come here and do work. Because we don’t, they are less apt to come. Also, when they come they are taking time out of planting or harvesting their crops. They harvest frequently, using that food not to sell but literally so they have something to eat. While some get the importance of health and disease prevention, they can choose to come to a meeting to sit and learn or have something to eat that day. I know what I would choose, so I get it. It’s
still frustrating regardless to be putting time and effort into something that isn’t working well, so I’m planning on reworking the concept so it’s more feasible, but I’m not quite sure how to change it yet,
Outside of that, Joe (the other health volunteer) and I ran a health fair last Sunday. It went really well, and we taught roughly 60 people about brucellosis, nutrition, hand washing, hygiene, etc., despite having to start 1 ½ hours late due to rain. We did a bunch of other miscellaneous projects as well, like educating the butchers in town about brucellosis and going and asking all the porridge makers if they boil the water they use in the porridge they are selling. One man gave us some bananas before our schpeel, saying that I’d offer you some porridge but I don’t boil the water, so he was essentially trying to bribe us or something. So we’ve had some successes... Slow and steady…..
I went Gorilla Tracking on Saturday (3/23)!!!!!! It was so so so cool. I went with one other volunteer, Joe, and our group was just us, a guide, and 2 men
with guns in front and behind of us. We walked up and down the sides of hills through Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. It was raining a bit, which was really neat because it’s actually a tropical rainforest so I felt that I got the full experience through that. There were no paths, and the guides had to cut down plants in front of us to clear the way at times. We jumped over big holes, crouched under fallen trees, and needless to say, I fell over like 15 times and almost slid down the hills. I pretty much fell in 2s because I’d fall and then would laugh so hard that it’d happen again 5 feet later. I got my foot stuck between some branches that that were covering a hole we walked over, and Joe literally had to lift me out. It was the best adventure. We finally arrived at the gorillas roughly 2 hours into our tracking. We were literally 6 feet away from the female gorilla. We also saw a silverback (the daddy gorilla), 2 adolescents, and the cutest baby ever. We got to see the baby doing exercises on its mom’s back, and Joe swears it pooped
in its hand and threw it, but I didn’t see that.
Yesterday I spent the day in Rwanda, basically just chilling at a hotel with my friend Kate because I needed to renew my visa. At the border, I saw my first truly malnourished child. She was in her mom’s lap, and her arms were about the width of a quarter, though she was about 3 years old. She was twitching a bit, and I’m not sure if that was because she was malnourished or because she had another disease. It was quite sad, but at the same time made me grateful that the area I am staying in has children that are comparatively healthy.
In addition to all the trips and scheduled events, I’ve had an amazing time just hanging out with the other volunteers, having random Wednesday night parties and fires and walks to different areas.
In terms of my real life, I don’t really know where it’s going right now, and it’s scary but liberating at the same time. I know I’m going to look back later and wish I was
again in a spot with so much freedom and lack of responsibility for anything other than myself. I definitely would appreciate prayers on that front though!
Miss you guys-- see you in about a month!!!!!
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