First week in Uganda: Initial Impressions

I have been so warmly welcomed!  

I am really enjoying my past few days at JCRC. Thursday and Friday were mostly days of introduction, finding all the offices, and knowing where to go. 

Today was my first real day at JCRC and it was fantastic. I am super excited about this year and I feel it's a great fit.

I shadowed Dr. William Tamale, a fantastically friendly MD, and saw many HIV study subjects with him. I also spent time with Sister (and nurse) Resti (sp?) and learned about her perceived challenges of emergency situations and how the clinic functions in the reception area.

I will laugh at myself right now because during lunch, there was some liquid on the floor that I didn't see and FELL in front of...oh...pretty much everyone that works there. 

After that, though,I felt like I was in the right place when a nurse commented to me today, "We have been waiting for you for so long, nurse Brooke. We want you to make suggestions so we can get better."

A highlight of my week had to be my boda (motorcycle) ride, with helmet of course, from Kampala to Lubowa. 30-45 minutes of streets filled with goats, people, motorcycles getting around any way they can, and little motorcars. And a few real bikes. This is not controlled chaos. THIS IS PURE CHAOS. Total price (although it was priceless, really): about $5. And I'm sure that was a muzungu (white person) price, too.

This weekend, I was in Kampala enjoying a party for outgoing and incoming Uganda GHC fellows, both casually at an outgoing fellow Rahul's amazing abode and formally at the Fairway Hotel with a GHC-sponsored event. It was great to meet everyone and I know we have big shoes to fill.

I have a million notes that I took today from lessons learned and a million ideas floating around in my head already! 

Soon, I will be moving out of my temporary UN-style housing into a 2-bedroom furnished house in a compound living only with Ugandans! Perfect for hosting, so please consider a visit!

Stay tuned for more!

Traditional matoke, a smashed plantain dish, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matoke)  plus cassava, eggplant, and sweet potato. Yum! I am continually surprised by the multitude of vegetarian options, many of which are Indian-inspired. 

Mushroom gravy in a leaf!

Crane-the national bird-in the lawn after the quick shower (but not technically the Crested Crane http://kabiza.com/kabiza-wilderness-safaris/blog/crested-crane-is-the-national-bird-of-uganda/) 

THALAS project house (USAID project)

More JCRC "blocks", or buildings

Training center

View from JCRC

Adult clinic that I worked in today

Nurse Brooke has an office!

I currently live up this road to the right by "Quality Shopping Village"

Made it to Uganda!

I made it, friends. A post about the end of the GHC training is coming shortly, but first, my initial impressions of Uganda.

After logging 18 hours on 2 planes, I made it to Kampala. And the level of exhaustion was quite high, but I was still in good spirits as I waited in line for about an hour to get my tourist visa. For your reference, Kampala is 8 hours ahead of CST.

I was greeted by Annie and Michael, employees at the Joint Clinical Research Centre (I will refer to this as JCRC from now on) and I went off with my co-fellow, Kakeeto. I immediately realized I was somewhere different when I saw the steering wheel on the right hand side of the car and we started driving on the left. Threw me off a little bit even though I knew to expect that.

There is such lush land surrounding the airport, which was filled with old, out-of-service planes, perhaps war planes, that looked like they had been sitting for a while. I saw houses and buildings with what looked like Peruvian construction, mostly made of tree trunks, and I saw signs with "Rolex", the famous chapati bread snack here made with eggs and more.

Nose ring came out immediately when I realized I was being brought to the office first before settling down. I felt extremely disheveled after such a long flight and a bit embarrassed to be meeting people after having been traveling for over 24 hours, but thrilled to see a part of where I would be spending my next year. So much to explore. I met Ann, the person with whom I had been coordinating and organizing over the past few months, and she is wonderful.

A few slightly traumatic experiences thus far: On the way here, I lost $400 cash. Might've come out of my fanny pack where it was stored on the plane. And I went to the grocery store without and sense of cost of things or how much money I had brought ($1=2550 shillings), so I was at the grocery store and I bought more than I had cash for. The cashier had to void many things and yelled "VOID!!" to have the manager come over and void my items. After she voided items, it still came out to 400 shillings (about 16 cents) more than I had cash for and she yelled "VOID!" again. And no dollars accepted there. I laughed inside as the line of people waiting to check out grew behind me. Oops.

JCRC was much larger than I thought it would be, and it looks like a palace watching over the rolling hills of Lubowa, an area just outside of Kampala, where I will be staying.

I am staying with Hannah and Erin, 2 women from the University of Madison for the next week, while they figure out my housing. It's really close to work and in a gated community. I'm happy to be able to check out my housing and give my 2 cents before they choose a place for the year. This temporary place is really posh with hot showers, a refrigerator, and washing machine......what?!
Definitely did not expect that. Many UN workers live here with their families. This does not come cheaply, however. The three bedroom I am staying in was negotiated down to $1,200 USD/month. I love that the major shower concern is the occasional gecko that comes running out from behind the wall. Surprising, but not super dangerous.

I start work tomorrow and I have orientation Thursday and Friday. Friday, I will hang out with a GHC fellow that's leaving and Saturday, we are having a welcome reception for GHC fellows, past and present, in Kampala!

I will keep you updated as I get time and adjust! Sending love from the Pearl of Africa.

I think I am really going to like it here.

All packed up before heading to JFK to start my journey

Fellows waiting in the airport

Fellows from Uganda, including my co-fellow in white

My tickets!

Airport yoga in JFK before our big flight to Dubai.

Me, Devin, and Robyn in row 78!

On the plane!

My temporary room in Lubowa, complete with mosquito net and goat sounds

Kitchen

Living room

Gas stove again!

View outside of my bedroom window

View of Lubowa from balcony

Chelsea Piers, NYC, and much more

Training has been progressing well. So many speakers, and the days keep going much faster and faster.

True friendships are being forged. It's amazing to meet so many like minded people. From meditation and yoga to karaoke, we've been really having so much fun. I haven't gone out in a while, and I feel this is a really exciting time in my life.

We had a cocktail party at Chelsea Piers in NYC, and I was so excited that I got to meet up with 2 people you may remember from my other Peru blog, Sarah and Ayo, the fantastic and intelligent ladies I lived with in Ollantaytambo. Lots of networking, like minds, and exciting conversation that night. And plenty of awesome lectures, most notably Dan Heath, author of "Switch", which gave us some amazing tools to apply to helping implement change in our lives and in our organizations in which we will work. 

I was also super excited to have the conscious Zainab Salbi speak to us, (http://www.womenforwomen.org/about-women-for-women/zainab-salbi.php)  founder of Women for Women International, which helps support women in war zones and to help tell their story (http://www.womenforwomen.org). She gave me goosebumps as she expanded upon her oneness-focused global view of the world. Her father was a private pilot for Sadaam in Iraq.

Sarah, Ayo, and me reunited!

Fellow Fellows

Ashley, another nurse from Chicago that I have a weird amount in common with, and Jill, who was in my scavenger hunt in NYC

Dan Heath, author of New York Times Bestseller Switch

Sitting at a table

Activity on how to improve health care delivery

Group activity

My friend Devin, with whom I also have a crazy amount in common 

 Zainab Salbi 

Day 3 and 4: Vulnerability, Truthful Progress, the Art of Perspective, and Connections. And the World Cup, of course.

I can't believe it has already been almost a week that I have been here. I am starting to feel quite at home. We enjoyed watching a world cup game (Colombia versus Brazil) and had quite a Colombia-supporting contingent.

Day Three: Global Health and Development Overview

Today, we heard from some amazing speakers, including a talk by Dr. Mark Dybul, Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria, and Dr. Betsy Bradley, faculty director of Global Health Initiatives at Yale, who discussed various leadership theories and what makes a good leader.

With Still Harbor, we talked about how we make certain things a singular story, and this is powerful. For example, perhaps one thinks of Africa and automatically thinks of poverty and hunger and nothing else. This is a singular story that just does not encompass the multidimensional Africa and we miss out by creating these single stories that are not true. Travel helps us to expand our knowledge and redefine these limiting stories. 

On a more serious note, I found out today that my great grandmother, Fernella Myroup, made her transition yesterday. I send my love to her. It has been a rough few weeks, and I ask that you send me loving thoughts and energy at this time with so many changes and stressful events happening simultaneously. Thank you!

Part of Dr. Dybul's lecture

Dr. Mark Dybul

Barbara and Dr. Bradley

Finishing Off Day Two

I enjoyed a wine and dessert party at the end of last evening, and spent some great time with fellows.

We sang all of the national anthems from all of the countries and got to know all of our co-fellows even better. It was a blast.

We heard from Noerine Kaleeba, a fundamental piece of the African AIDS movement in Uganda and founder of TASO, a household name in Uganda, Dr. Mike Westerhouse, a primary care physician working with Social Medicine and immigrant populations in Minnesota, and Phill Wilson, who shared his moving personal struggles and triumphs with HIV/AIDS since the 80s.

"Mama B", my program director from Uganda, had a birthday yesterday!

Fellows enjoying a talk

Engaged

Jenn, USA program manager extraordinaire

Ugandan fellows

Burundi/Rwanda fellows

Our lecture hall

Fists

Sending love to parts of Africa with Noerine Kaleeba, Founder of TASO

Phill Wilson, founder of Black AIDS Institute

New friends

First co-fellow meet up

My co-fellow, Kakeeto, and me

Wine and dessert

Program associate for Uganda

My roommate Jen and me

Me and Nicholas

Singing national anthems