Week 7

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Time flies when you’re having fun! Week 7 was comprised of home visits with the hospice team, nutrition seminars, baby deliveries, 2 movie nights and a group trip to Rugazi. No other QES group has visited both community sites as a whole but we feel it’s important to experience both places for ourselves. We set out for the 2 hour trip to Rugazi on Saturday morning at 9:00am in a 14 passenger taxi van. Upon arrival we headed to King Fisher Resort for the afternoon then onto Volcano Safari Partnership Trust for supper composed of guacamole, tortilla chips and fire grilled pizza. On Sunday morning we trekked to the Twin Lakes and took a walk through town. We then visited a resort new to us all; Parkview. We had the entire resort to ourselves enjoying exceptional service, pool side lounge chairs, a spectacular view of Queen Elizabeth Park and supper in the resort’s upper loft deck. On Monday we paid a visit to some very special girls at Trinity Preparatory School. Look forward to hearing about this event in a future blog post. We returned to Mbarara on Monday and continue to progress our work within the hospital, hospice and community.

Hey all, Rene here…

The week has been slower than most, with finding little to do in the hospital we are now searching for community organizations to help at. Friday morning myself and Taylor found ourselves testing our “African time” limits, as we waited 3 hours at the hospice and ended up doing nothing. Both well versed in the tests of “Indian time” (from our northern nursing placements) we took this three hours of waiting to have a long overdue catch-up session. As the hospice staff had their 3-hour uncalled meeting we sat in the straw hut discussing life as the breeze flew threw the hut. We discussed our time here in Uganda, our future planned time in Tanzania and lastly talked about the formation of our registered nursing careers. DARN IT WE ARE DONE SCHOOL, soon enough we will hold the letters of RN after our names. Often, I find myself forgetting this as I enjoy the chaos of Uganda.

Returning to Rugazi, the 7 of us load into the 12-seat taxi van which quickly fills to about 20 or 25 people. The front two rows filled with Ugandans that sit on top on each other, with Sydney caught in it all, and the back two rows having us six comfortably seated. It left me questioning the privilege we have and the perception we are giving the few Ugandans in the taxi. I wasn’t alone in these thoughts, we all felt it, and Taylor has summarized the feelings we share surrounding privilege (see her great writing piece below).

Arriving back to Rugazi brought back fearful feelings of being dropped on the road side, to not knowing where the heck we were and just how we would adjust to things. But these feelings faded as we walked with our fellow QES scholars to the twin lakes, and children began yelling “Tye…Ren”. Taken by surprise it was welcoming and left us feeling as though we impacted the community and did valuable work. Although me and Tye were quick to realize how little we missed the dungy living quarters, lack of running water, and constant power outages was something we never grew fond of. As we drove away from Rugazi this time, we new it could very well be our last time here. “Thanks for all you taught us and Sayonara Rugazi”.

Kailee

Over the past seven weeks, we have come to learn that if you are labeled as Mzungu you will be treated as such. This includes having multiple eyes on you wherever you go, getting ask to pay double what a typical local would pay, and never expecting to establish an authentic relationship with a person. However, this past weekend our assumptions were proven wrong, thanks to the genuine kindness we received from a stranger. His name was Evans.

After a wonderful day at Parkview resort soaking up the rays, cooling off in the pool, devouring a delicious meal and enjoying the mesmerizing view, we were ready to head back to the Rugazi Health Clinic. While waiting for the four Boda drivers we called to come pick us up, we become immersed in a conversation with one of the gentlemen hanging around the reception. Little did we know he was the manager of the resort and a man we will forever be grateful to. Since we were not staying the night at the resort, Evans extended his hand and offered us a second option. He told us, “His father always said, when you have guests over and you cannot offer them a bed, you offer them a ride”. Evans was whiling to go out of his way to drive us back to the Health Clinic, not expecting any favour or payment in return. We were overwhelmed with the kindness and generosity this man was giving us as we had not come across this type of treatment yet, while in Africa. We graciously took his offer, compensating the Boda drivers who made the journey to come get us, and piled into the van that would safely take us home. When we reached our destination, Evans left us with words, I am sure none of us will ever forget. He said, “Do not build money, build relationships”. Theses six powerful words will resonate with us for many years to come, along with the impact that comes from simple acts of kindness.

The Runners of Uganda (Tye):

Each morning I wake up at 7:00 and hit the pavement for my daily run with Kailee, my trusty sidekick. My early start time affords me a cool morning breeze, sunrise, low vehicle traffic and interaction with local children and shopkeepers on their way to school or work, respectively. These people smile brightly when they see muzungus coming their way. The children yell out, “Hellloooo muzungu, how are you!?” to which I reply, “Ndiaho!” Their smile widens with realization that this strange muzungu can speak their language. Many of the children have become brave and offer me their hand for a high five when I run by or simply start picking up their pace and run along side me in their sharply pressed school uniforms.

We often encounter other joggers out to improve their physical fitness. We have met a men’s running group comprised of doctors, engineers and business men with whom we have visited and ran alongside. The group meets twice per week for a 1.5 hour run and they host their own races as organized races are few and far between in Uganda. We also see a number of women out running, some individually others in groups. The commonality between runners in Uganda is that we support each other. Runners and casual walkers alike clap for us, congratulate us on being active and toss out words of encouragement. We happily return the support with our own words of encouragement.

All of the gals have been working out in their own right- some practicing yoga, doing strength workouts in the backyard, hitting the gym or going for a walk. Carting home groceries, arms full of bags from the market, is a workout in itself and something we do on a daily basis. Our training will culminate on July 22 when we take part in the 2017 Uganda Color Run for Pediatric Cancer. The race is a 5km jaunt where colours are splashed on racers every kilometer. When we signed up for the race, confirming the distance, the race organizer said “the course spans five kilometers, give or take a few miles.” In reviewing the course map we may be running a half marathon but that’s just the reality of running a race in Uganda! Our entire QES group has signed up for the race and we will update you in a few weeks as to how we make out.

Is Privilege a Bad Word (Taylor)

I have been working as a nurse in East Africa now for two months. During this experience, I have been immersed in communities, living as they do with no plumbing, running water, electricity or internet. I was more than happy to live like this because I wanted to try and understand the lives of my patients and I knew that I was going to receive a wake-up call about how privileged the life I lead in Canada truly is.

But this wake-up call was not served to me by the community I worked with as I initially thought it would be. It was the tourists I grew to detest that made me reflect on what it means to be white in this globalized world.

I took my weekends as an opportunity to take a vacation from the bedbugs that lived in my sheets and to continue my quest for a hot shower. During these trips, I would go to museums, pay for nature hikes, spend the day at a resort pool, or partake in other typical mzungu tourist activities.

These were the only moments during my time in East Africa that I was surrounded by other foreigners. Their bubble of safety kept them far from my work and village unless they felt brave enough to venture out for a genuine experience at the market or pay a significant amount of money to track gorillas.

On these weekend trips, I was immersed in the lifestyle of the 1%. I would sit on benches and observe them, pick apart their behaviour and demeanour, desperately searching for any way I could differentiate myself from them.

They came in luxury safari vehicles, and I sensed that they felt it was an accomplishment to be in Africa as a white person. It was as if they had landed in an uncharted barbaric land and doing so spoke to their sense of adventure, bank account balance and ability to travel authentically.

My workdays showed me how rare privilege is in this world and my weekends displayed how the few who do have it are unaware and waste it. Seeing this made me sick but it forced me to take ownership of my privilege and realize how inescapable it is.

Being here in this drastically new environment has taught me that you need to work with the things that make you uncomfortable, you grow from the friction. And just as I have a new appreciation for things that have always been in my life such as hot showers, toilets, food availability and bug-free beds I want to learn how to be grateful for the privilege that is inherent to me.

I am a white university educated Canadian; I cannot run away from that. I want to believe that being privileged does not make you a bad person. It is out of my control. I was born into it.

At the end of the day rejecting my privilege will not make me a better person. I want to use my status in society to help others, and this cannot be done if I am concerned with how my privilege affects others’ perception of me or if I opt to ignore it and view myself as an equal.

Privilege does not need to be a bad word, the dirtiness associated with privilege comes when individuals are ignorant or try to fight it. Acknowledge your privilege and do something with it.

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