Email 2 Uganda 2008
Email Number 2
Kampala, Uganda
February 9, 2008
Hi,
We didn’t plan to send this so closely behind the last one a week or so ago, but there are a lot of things happening, so we want to update you and also send a few more photos.
After we returned from here 4 years ago, one of our close friends from Reach Out had a child and honored us by asking us to name her, (Hannah), and then a year or so later, a second who we named Jesse, and just 7 months ago, another boy who we named Benjamin. So, we are their jaja, (grandparents), and we have now seen them for the first time. We are attaching photos of them.
It was also very nice to see all of the physical and systems improvements that we developed at Reach Out still in use.
We have been working quite hard and putting in long hours, but doing well. We have produced a number of templates, provided ideas, participated in helping to develop future courses of action, etc. Hinda is spending most of her time in the clinic, and Peter on the organizational development side. The medical clinic is extremely overcrowded, essentially like trying to put 2 kilos of stuff in a 1 kilo can, and so we are trying to come up with solutions ranging from establishment of satellite clinics to opening a new larger one. The clinic has been crowded for a long time, but CRS, (Catholic Relief Services) is requiring them to add 400 more clients in order to get more money, this seems to be the way things happen here. In order to get more money to provide services you are required to add more patients, no thought is given to whether you have the capacity to add more patients, but since there is always a need for more money, you add more patients, somehow. This is basically a physical impossibility, so Hinda and the staff have quite a challenge.
We usually eat local food at work provided by the agency, (matoke – boiled and mashed plaintains, posho – a porridge made of maize, rice, beans, a bit of meat or chicken for a sauce, and cassava. Lots of starch, a bit bland, not at all like West Africa where the food is quite spicy, but is fine. For many of the people at KCCC it may be the only meal of the day, so it is quite filling, and it gives us a chance to sit and interact with all levels of staff. Plates are piled high and people wonder why we only have a little bit. Peter is trying to keep his figure and for me, I don’t like it very much so I take only a little, maybe I will loose a pound or two.
The area where we work – Kamwokya as we mentioned before is basically a swamp, and from the main road descends steeply. There is no drainage, open sewers which people often use either as their toilet, or to dump their bodily and other wastes, and so last week there were 6 cases of cholera there, which in the simplest terms is really dangerous. But as in many places in Africa, little gets done to improve these poor communities, and KCCC is trying hard, but progress is very very slow. Don’t worry about us, we are fine and the office is at the top of the hill no where near the swampy area.
Since we can’t get CNN or BBC on our TV we watch Al Jazeera, which doesn’t really seem much different than the other two. Our other choices are 3 or 4 stations with evangelists, or some Ugandan language stations, so it is Al Jazeera and lots of reading.
We have probably told you before, but when you are the only two “muzungus” (whites) in a room or street full of M’afriks – blacks, you are reminded once again of how many African Americans feel when they are the only ones with white Americans, and it is good to be reminded from time to time, and help us to appreciate how other people feel by walking in their mocassins.
Our laptop had been acting up, so we had it serviced, and the diagnosis was that it was full of “pests”. Now there are no more pests, and it is fine, although we are not sure what these pests were.
Driving here – we rented a small car very cheaply – requires a daily dose of an anti anxiety pill. Drivers and passengers alike just hold on and open their eyes only occasionally. There are cars, motorbikes, bikes without lights, people in the middle of the road, passing on either side of you, pot holes the size of sink holes, etc., but being New Yorkers, we know how to push our way in and drive as aggressively as the Ugandans. I (Hinda) don’t drive, I just keep my eyes closed and feel relieved when we finally get to our apartment.
We have just started making plans to take a few trips around the country between now and the time we leave, and you will see some photos from there during the next few months.
Even though it is not the rainy season, it has been raining quite hard which floods communities as the one we work in, and increases diseases and also malaria mosquitoes which breed in standing water, so our clinic is seeing more malaria. For a while Uganda was in the lead in Africa in reducing HIV/AIDS, and unfortunately, it has fallen behind,
One of the unfortunate things about the violence in Kenya, is that many Kenyans who had to flee their homes and villages, (more than 300,000 now), have been living in refugee camps where those who have HIV/AIDS do not have access to their drugs and so they will soon become resistant to them, and then what? Not a good scene.
So, there are lots of problems left to solve, and we have a spare bedroom, so come on over. Uganda is a nice place and the people are great!
We have been following the primaries via Al Jazeera and the local papers, and so we are keeping up there.
Have you ever eaten in a parking garage next to the cars pulling in out? We have, and it is a little different than the places we normally eat, and of course there is noise and exhaust. So where did we eat? I Love NY, and we had pizza – good, and bagels – good, in Kampala of all places.
We will end here by saying that our power goes off several times a day both at work and at home, and because the fuel is so costly because it all has to come through Kenya, and not a lot is getting through, it is too costly to run generators. So as one of our Ugandan friends said, you eat dinner by candle light and then to bed.
So on that note, good night!
Love and Hugs,
Katende Peter and Nabuuso Hinda
PS I know this is really long but wanted to tell you a little story. We have befriended a couple of American physicians and a nurse who are here teaching at the medical school for a few months, one of them is an orthopedic surgeon. We had dinner with them after their first day at the medical school. The surgeon, Jim, told us he was very excited to be in the operating room, scrubbed and ready to give his knowledge to the Ugandan surgeons. Everything was ready and he could see many operating room lights on the ceiling, so he said, “ok, let’s turn the lights on and start”. Everyone just looked at him and then told him the lights did not work, so they operated with one ceiling light. He had a hard time but everyone else was used to it and did just fine. How spoiled we are to think the operating room lights might work!!
Kampala, Uganda
February 9, 2008
Hi,
We didn’t plan to send this so closely behind the last one a week or so ago, but there are a lot of things happening, so we want to update you and also send a few more photos.
After we returned from here 4 years ago, one of our close friends from Reach Out had a child and honored us by asking us to name her, (Hannah), and then a year or so later, a second who we named Jesse, and just 7 months ago, another boy who we named Benjamin. So, we are their jaja, (grandparents), and we have now seen them for the first time. We are attaching photos of them.
It was also very nice to see all of the physical and systems improvements that we developed at Reach Out still in use.
We have been working quite hard and putting in long hours, but doing well. We have produced a number of templates, provided ideas, participated in helping to develop future courses of action, etc. Hinda is spending most of her time in the clinic, and Peter on the organizational development side. The medical clinic is extremely overcrowded, essentially like trying to put 2 kilos of stuff in a 1 kilo can, and so we are trying to come up with solutions ranging from establishment of satellite clinics to opening a new larger one. The clinic has been crowded for a long time, but CRS, (Catholic Relief Services) is requiring them to add 400 more clients in order to get more money, this seems to be the way things happen here. In order to get more money to provide services you are required to add more patients, no thought is given to whether you have the capacity to add more patients, but since there is always a need for more money, you add more patients, somehow. This is basically a physical impossibility, so Hinda and the staff have quite a challenge.
We usually eat local food at work provided by the agency, (matoke – boiled and mashed plaintains, posho – a porridge made of maize, rice, beans, a bit of meat or chicken for a sauce, and cassava. Lots of starch, a bit bland, not at all like West Africa where the food is quite spicy, but is fine. For many of the people at KCCC it may be the only meal of the day, so it is quite filling, and it gives us a chance to sit and interact with all levels of staff. Plates are piled high and people wonder why we only have a little bit. Peter is trying to keep his figure and for me, I don’t like it very much so I take only a little, maybe I will loose a pound or two.
The area where we work – Kamwokya as we mentioned before is basically a swamp, and from the main road descends steeply. There is no drainage, open sewers which people often use either as their toilet, or to dump their bodily and other wastes, and so last week there were 6 cases of cholera there, which in the simplest terms is really dangerous. But as in many places in Africa, little gets done to improve these poor communities, and KCCC is trying hard, but progress is very very slow. Don’t worry about us, we are fine and the office is at the top of the hill no where near the swampy area.
Since we can’t get CNN or BBC on our TV we watch Al Jazeera, which doesn’t really seem much different than the other two. Our other choices are 3 or 4 stations with evangelists, or some Ugandan language stations, so it is Al Jazeera and lots of reading.
We have probably told you before, but when you are the only two “muzungus” (whites) in a room or street full of M’afriks – blacks, you are reminded once again of how many African Americans feel when they are the only ones with white Americans, and it is good to be reminded from time to time, and help us to appreciate how other people feel by walking in their mocassins.
Our laptop had been acting up, so we had it serviced, and the diagnosis was that it was full of “pests”. Now there are no more pests, and it is fine, although we are not sure what these pests were.
Driving here – we rented a small car very cheaply – requires a daily dose of an anti anxiety pill. Drivers and passengers alike just hold on and open their eyes only occasionally. There are cars, motorbikes, bikes without lights, people in the middle of the road, passing on either side of you, pot holes the size of sink holes, etc., but being New Yorkers, we know how to push our way in and drive as aggressively as the Ugandans. I (Hinda) don’t drive, I just keep my eyes closed and feel relieved when we finally get to our apartment.
We have just started making plans to take a few trips around the country between now and the time we leave, and you will see some photos from there during the next few months.
Even though it is not the rainy season, it has been raining quite hard which floods communities as the one we work in, and increases diseases and also malaria mosquitoes which breed in standing water, so our clinic is seeing more malaria. For a while Uganda was in the lead in Africa in reducing HIV/AIDS, and unfortunately, it has fallen behind,
One of the unfortunate things about the violence in Kenya, is that many Kenyans who had to flee their homes and villages, (more than 300,000 now), have been living in refugee camps where those who have HIV/AIDS do not have access to their drugs and so they will soon become resistant to them, and then what? Not a good scene.
So, there are lots of problems left to solve, and we have a spare bedroom, so come on over. Uganda is a nice place and the people are great!
We have been following the primaries via Al Jazeera and the local papers, and so we are keeping up there.
Have you ever eaten in a parking garage next to the cars pulling in out? We have, and it is a little different than the places we normally eat, and of course there is noise and exhaust. So where did we eat? I Love NY, and we had pizza – good, and bagels – good, in Kampala of all places.
We will end here by saying that our power goes off several times a day both at work and at home, and because the fuel is so costly because it all has to come through Kenya, and not a lot is getting through, it is too costly to run generators. So as one of our Ugandan friends said, you eat dinner by candle light and then to bed.
So on that note, good night!
Love and Hugs,
Katende Peter and Nabuuso Hinda
PS I know this is really long but wanted to tell you a little story. We have befriended a couple of American physicians and a nurse who are here teaching at the medical school for a few months, one of them is an orthopedic surgeon. We had dinner with them after their first day at the medical school. The surgeon, Jim, told us he was very excited to be in the operating room, scrubbed and ready to give his knowledge to the Ugandan surgeons. Everything was ready and he could see many operating room lights on the ceiling, so he said, “ok, let’s turn the lights on and start”. Everyone just looked at him and then told him the lights did not work, so they operated with one ceiling light. He had a hard time but everyone else was used to it and did just fine. How spoiled we are to think the operating room lights might work!!
posted by Peter and Hinda Schnurman at 11:59 PM
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