For the past few days we have been living as one with nature on an adventure through the real, untarnished Uganda. We began our journey on a long and winding road like the Grand Canyon - Uganda edition. After 14 hours on this road, our organs feeling like scrambled eggs we arrived at our final destination, Bwindi, where we set up our tents. Camping being a new experience for most of us, we were fascinated by the noises of nature at night.
We awoke the next morning eager to begin our trek to the gorillas through the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. This forest comprises one of the world's most diverse ecosystems. One of the reasons for the biological diversity is the fact that this forest lies directly on the equator. Because of this geographic location, these mountains were mostly spared the hardships of the ice age. It is one of the most densely packed forests I have ever seen. (I was pleasantly surprised, when we found porters for our water and sunscreen that one of the porters was a woman. It was remarkable to find that in this particular culture a woman was allowed to hike up mountains with 8 pounds on her back). We finally got set up and began our climb. After reaching the first base we were joined by a tracker who helped machete a path straight to the gorillas. As I set eyes on my first gorilla I had never been so excited in my life. He even came up right in front of us and started posing for photos. We continued on hiking through the forest that remained true to its name till we had seen the whole gorilla family including the gigantic and frankly quite terrifying silver back. I wanted to stay and live with the gorillas but the red ants made it clear that we were only visitors in their forest and we had clearly over stayed our welcome. Covered in red ants and their bites but completely infatuated and in awe at the gorillas we hiked back down the mountains.
The next couple of days we moved camp sites to Queen Elizabeth National Park. We safari-ed day and night on a quest to find the lions which we finally discovered on the morning of our last safari. The vast expanse of untouched land, home of all these animals was enchanting.
We began our treacherous journey back in a daze. We arrived at the guest house completely filthy and exhausted but completely happy.
On Sunday was a day dedicated to shopping and going to the markets! All the goods and materials there are so beautiful and unique. it's amazing to see how the products reflect on the culture. Anyway, the last two days we volunteered at a teenage health clinic, Naguru. At Naguru, they teach people about practicing safe sex and how to do that, test for HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and other common STD's or diseases in Africa, include pills or treatment for diseases, and provide a counseling service. We were able to go into the laboratory and see how they check for each of these diseases/infections. To test for Malaria, each patient puts a tiny amount of blood onto a slide to go under a microscope. A healthy slide should just contain red blood cells and no added structures. A slide that is infected with Malaria will have small reddish/pink dots all around. If there are more dots in the slide, than that patient is severely infected and needs intense treatment, death is a high possibility. (A high number would be 10-30). A slide with not as many dots, 3-9, their treatment is simpler and the chances of surviving are more likely. To test for HIV/AIDS there are two main processes that both are using serums. The first one is a strip with blue on both sides, and two clear, tiny squares in the middle. The serum is placed at one end of the strip and it moves to the squares. If only one square changes colors, then the patient is HIV negative. On the other hand if both the squares change colors than this shows that the patient's antibodies contain HIV. Only when both squares change colors is when the next step occurs. The next test is similar to the other strip but shaped differently. Serum is also placed on this strip, and most of the time the two strips will agree with each other. That is when the patient is confirmed being HIV positive. However, there are times when the two strips don't agree and a tie breaker is used. I was told that in each given day, about 1/10 of the people tested come back HIV positive. Imagine counting every 10 cars in rush hour traffic, one of those cars would carry a person with HIV/AIDS. It's horrible to think that so many people are infected with this disease because of not taking safety precautions. I believe that if the people were more educated in how to not spread HIV/AIDS and protect themselves, then the amount of people would greatly decrease. There was an very odd poster that I've noticed all around Uganda. It says, "Married couples more likely to have HIV." Automatically, i thought that Uganda is posting false signs. I guess being raised in a country where people typically don't sleep around while they're married and in a country where HIV isn't as popular I didn't fully understand this poster. But I soon learned that it\s very common to have more than one partner here. Therefore, it either the husband or wife have HIV/AIS then it's very likely to pass it onto to another person if he/she finds another partner to sleep with. Also, married couples tend to want children and it's know that if the mother of a child has HIV/AIDS than the child will also accumulate the disease. AS you can see, this is a very big issue because if the future generation, the kids, are getting this disease too, then the number of people infected will never decrease. One more interesting thing, is that the Ugandan government has somehow tried to cover their numbers on infected people so that outside nations will see an improvement and want to build more schools, roads, sewers, etc. So as a group on this trip, we were introduced to another type of volunteering. It wasn't all fun and games the last two days, we did the "dirty" work. What we had to do was separate pills. The staff is so overworked at Naguru that they generally don't have time to do this. However, it was a job that's been needing to get done for over a month. The reason it's so important is because when the staff are handing out pills to the patients, the line is super long, because it takes about 1-2 minutes to separate the pills per bag. Imagine trying to grade school papers every week, but you never get around to it. Then the pile keeps growing and growing, which takes forever to finish grading them all. So, we were happy to help and finish about 3 months worth of pill supply. What we had to do was count out a certain number of pills and place them in a bag. For example, there are a total of 1,000 pills in each container and we would have to pick 30 and then place it in a bag. It's definitely not the best job to be doing but it's one that benefits Naguru in a huge way. The other main project that we did at Naguru was cleaning off a tent. It was filled with mud, dirt, and trash. It looked like a shirt that someone attempted to tye-dye, but ended up missing to many colors and ending in a dark brown. Or another example of what it looked like was after someone goes ATVing through mud, water, and dust, their entire body is covered with dirt. Anyway, to clean this tent we used some water, buckets, and brushes. It was not an easy thing to do, since all the dirt had been sitting there for probably a month. So, with all of our might and strength we scrubbed the tent. We poured some water on it, scrubbed some more, added some soap, and it looked pretty clean. Out of nowhere the water supply just turned off. This is was the challenging part, when you have to get rid of dirt with no other resources. We used the water supply that was on the tent already and had to go from there. We definitely could have finished the entire thing in a little over an hour, but because of our limited resources, it took 3 hours! It was so difficult, in the heat, washing up against the mud, and trying to rub-a-dub-dub. It really was a challenging task since the brooms kept breaking, the hose kept breaking, and the water continued to not work. But when we used the resources we had, we were able to finish the job! One thing that I forgot to mention when we were volunteering with PEDN, there were some cases where the girls were left behind and not being treated equally. We were playing a soccer game, and of course as usual the boys were hogging the ball and not passing to the girls. So I took charge and started encouraging the men to pass the girls. The refused, nobody listened, and just ignored me completely. It didn't bother me that they weren't listening, but the fact that the boys thought they had more power over ALL of the girls on the field. Now don't get me wrong, the girls weren't as active but that was mainly because they knew they would never touch the ball. From that, I just got so mad that they the boys thought they were better than the girls. The only thing that sets us apart is our sexuality. Coming from a place were equality is taught and practiced, I literally could not handle watching the girls get thrown around like a dish rag. I then went over to a couple of the girls and ask them if they get treated fairly and equally compared to the boys. They said that it's not fair that the boys get more rights than them. They think that they should all be equal and given the same opportunities. I could tell that the way they said it, was one of the first times they spoke up. It's a harsh subject here because the thought of everyone being the same isn't accepted in all places. To change this, we came into a circle and talked about giving everyone an opportunity to touch the ball. We made a new rule that said for every time a boy touches the boy, a girl also has to touch the ball before another boy can get it. The girls were elated and the guys I think were more shocked. It's little steps like this that are able to make a difference!
Today we spent the day again at Naguru. Unlike yesterday, we were able to visit one of the labs where all the diagnosis takes place. The laboratory is maintained by one lab technician who treats the blood for antibodies to check for syphilis, HIV/Aids and malaria. We were able to view through a microscope what the malaria parasite looks like. We witnessed how the centrifuge splits blood into serum and solid blood cells. The serum is what undergoes the tests as drops of the serum is placed on different strips that will give the positive or negative test results. To test for malaria the process is slightly different. The solid blood cells are put on a glass plate of the microscope and blue die is applied to the blood cells. When you look under a microscope, if there are any red dots remaining, these red dots are the malaria parasite. The average number of malaria parasites (red dots) that a patient with a not yet deadly malaria has in the sample of blood is three to six. When the number of parasites increases past twenty, the patient needs to be put on a drip right away, and may not end up surviving. Otherwise, the patients are given the tablets of medicine and treated in this way.
After our visit of the laboratory we went back to our task of sorting pills, managing to finish almost all the pills that they will be using this session. At this point..I think I can go straight into the pharmaceutical industry as I have found my calling..counting pills.
After an hour or more of sorting pills we proceeded to the outdoors. On a large piece of land lay a tarp..the tarp is actually a tent. This tent needs to be put up, however the tent is too dirty to be built. Our task was to come in and make the tent spotless. At first, from far away, it seemed like a manageable task...once we were closer, this tent was actually gigantic. We were able to experience a true miracle being able to make half of the tent spotless (a completely relative term seeing as all we had was 2 buckets of water, three brooms, one squeegee, and a baggie of detergent). Something that we had not thought of upon laying eyes on this tent..was the fact that water is truly a rarity, making this no easy task.
Upon finishing, I can say that I have mastered the art of making do with what little resources I have.
..also, we have come to appreciate that perfection in these scenarios is not a plausible idea..neither is it plausible to emerge from this process with a millimeter of clean skin left.
Today we were put to work at Naguru. Naguru is a Teen Health Center that provides both sexual education and medical treatments for sexually transmitted diseases (HIV/AIDS, Syphilis) , and other common diseases found in Uganda such as malaria. There is also a family planning wing, and and counseling available to all teens. This center is pioneer in every way, and it was truly amazing to witness all the goings on within Naguru. Teens can come and obtain birth control, condoms, emergency contraception, and every type of protection available. Also, for those teens who do get pregnant there is counseling and parenting sessions where the appropriate prenatal vitamins can be obtained.
Naguru caters to every need of a teenager in Uganda as far as we were able to see. We were not able to interact with the teens at the clinic but were able to see the types of material used to educate them in sexual matters. In this country, sex can be a matter of life and death, and as a result no issue is too taboo to address in sexual education. This is made evident by the bluntness and graphic quality of all educational material.
The reason we were unable to interact with any of the teens in the center is because we were put to work doing something, though much less interesting, much more useful to the overall functioning of Naguru. We were asked to sort thousands of pills (what will stalk to the clinic for 4 months) into different baggies, in different doses. This took us about 3 and a half hours and we barely had finished half of the pills. This tedious labour to us sometimes takes weeks to complete, as only one nurse or doctor (whoever has a free hand..or minute) to divide and distribute.
However the gratitude of the staff at Naguru was unthinkable. Something that to us can seem so little a task, will help them tend to so many more teens a day.
After this long day of pill sorting..we will definitely be having dreams of counting pills for days to come.
Today we went back to work. Our first stop was at a Teen Health Center called Naguru. There we sat in on a very graphic instructional video for the start and learned things such as how to put on a condom. We were then split into different work groups to help out on jobs disparately needed by the clinic. The other five kids were set up at a medical table sorting the medicines applied at the clinic. However, I was lucky enough to be one of the Doctor's assistants. It was an experience i am not likely to forget anytime soon. I mostly pushed papers for the morning, but i was able to learn so much more. In his office, i was able to see him administer tests for HIV Aids and Malaria. He said he receives about forty Aids patients a day, while he received only ten Malaria patients a day. I was the one to enter in all the data for the information required to receive the examination. But also, this doctor took upon himself to teach me all the things that he was doing. I learned how to figure out what blood type someone was, i learned how to perform both the Malaria and HIV Aids tests, and i even got to look into his microscope to see a persons blood infected with Malaria. When looking in the microscope, everything was a grayish purple (because of the dye he dipped the test slide in) and to distinguish if a person has malaria, you look for tiny red dots that have a hazy grayish/purple smudge next to it. The first case had about five of these markers, normal for an early stage of malaria, unfortunately, a later one had at least twenty of these dots which made the doctor groan a bit because that would require the patient to receive heavy treatment to survive the disease. Although i had lots of fun, i am sure my friends had LOTS more fun sorting our the pills to put in packages for the storage room. (kidding). Anyway, we got to go to a classic Ugandan lunch, Italian food! It was nice to get some nice warm pasta into our system after all the other new flavorful food we had tried so far on this trip. After we had finished, we went to a Museum that housed much of the anthropological and archaeological history of Uganda. We got to see many of the tools and clothing and other items that were used in ancient past. They also had a really neat outdoor exhibit that housed 15 or so huts that mirrored different tribes in Uganda. Many of the guys found it difficult to lay our hands off of the weaponry just waiting for us to play with. After a brief history lesson, we ended our day early to come back to the Kampala Guest house and just get to see Portugal beat North Korea by 6-0. -Ben
This morning we had to do some recovering from the Nile. So we got a couple hours to sleep in! However once we caught up on some sleep we were off to another place to volunteer. It's called Dwelling Places. Their main mission is to rescue children from the street, rehabilitate them, give the kids an education, teach them the necessities for living a sustainable life, and relocate the child's family. The kids range anywhere from a couple years to 18 years old. This organization believes that every child should have an opportunity to grow up with the security of a family and in a loving lifestyle. However when I heard that I questioned the statement. Last year I volunteered with an organization in Israel,Elem, who also saves kids from living on the streets. I learned that most of the time the kids are on the out on their own because their home was more dangerous than the street. Each of the kids situations differed but some may have been sexually abused, beaten, or somehow treated poorly. On the other hand it might have been because the family was unable to bring in enough money to buy food, water, etc. No matter the situation, once a child is exposed to street life it completely changes his/her view on the world and it also challenges them to make life changing decisions. Therefore, when I heard a representative from Dwelling Places say that 90% of the children saved go back to their original home I could only wonder if those children would runaway again or if their parents would continue to harass them. On a happier note, we went to the center where the kids live and spend most of their time. As soon as we pulled up, all of the children started to scream, jump up for joy, instantly smiled, and said hello 50 times. I'm not sure how often these kids get visitors but it was an amazing feeling to be welcomed into a place like that. I felt like a new born puppy who everyone wants to see, pet, and play with. The moment I stepped out of the car, I had little kids grabbing onto my legs, girls holding my hand, and laughter poking out of every corner. At first I introduced myself to all the kids and they all repeat, "Jes-sica?" Then I got pulled away and asked to play net ball. It's the same thing as basketball minus the dribbling. We quickly divided into teams, in about 10 second, and the game was on! This version was definitely not as intense as my basketball games in gyms. There was something very interesting I observed when we were all playing net ball. Not one person was excluded, everyone shared and passed, and it was more for fun than competition or the satisfaction of winning. I don't even think we kept score at all. In my opinion, I think this is a good model for showing the difference between greed and generosity. America has the reputation of greed worldwide, whether this be true or not, it's still something constantly talked about around the globe. For example, look at the amount of food we consume compared to any other country in the world, or the amount of gas/oil we use, or the amount of consumer goods we import. =These number continue to grow and grow. Compared to any other nation, America tends to consume the most. yet, our population isn't the largest in the world. For instance, China or India both have an enormous population but use less than America. It's shocking to think about this information just by comparing a basketball game from Uganda to America. I then walked around a little, and found a girl sitting all alone struggling to figure out a crossword puzzle. I sat by her side and asked if she needed some help. She didn't even respond, but I could see that in the back of her eyes she was desperate for some attention. So I proceeded on and asked her if she wanted to talk or if she just wanted some help. Her response was, "I've been staring at this paper for quite some time and I still haven't figured out what to do with it." I explained what a crossword meant and how to do it. Together we began by reading the questions. I soon realized that all the questions had to do with Jesus, God, and sinning. My religion didn't matter that point whether I'm Christian or not, you just got to go with the flow. It's funny, because when we left I told the other kids in my group what I did and they all gave me a funny look. In my head, I was thinking if I couldn't accept this girl for who she is, she wouldn't have learned today. Plus, if she didn't accept me for my background, I would of have had some difficulties teaching her about crosswords and answering different questions. This thought sparked another topic, that people tend to automatically judge a person even before getting to them. For me it wasn't about what she believes in or what she was wearing, the main thing was that I was able to teach her something new. After we completed the entire puzzle, she thanked me and said that she's been wondering how to solve it for a long time. A smile appeared and from that small moment I saw her gain more trust in herself because she was able to accomplish something special to her. This was a shared feeling because it's truly significant to watch someone grow a little baby step in just 20 minutes.
Today we went to work at an organization called Dwelling Places. This is an organization that takes in street children and gives them a home. Their vision is that every child has a place to rest their head and a family to love them. Their mission is to take in as many children from the streets, rehabilitate these children, trace their families, reconcile them with their families and re-introduce them into their family lives.
When these children are taken in they are put into a large home where they are cared for (there are about 55 youth). Their home includes a psychiatric wing (to help deal with the traumatizing situations these children have lived through, this is the rehabilitation aspect) they speak to a psychologist and try to deal with their issues), a medical wing (to deal with the havoc that living on the streets wreaks on a child's body, and to provide 24\7 medical attention in case any child is ill), a school, and living/playing areas as in a real home. They try to make this a home for these children as much as possible. What they tell the children is that it is only a transition home, that they will each get a family that loves them in the end but in the meantime, until the family is traced they have a place to eat, learn and sleep. The teaching that goes on in Dwelling Places revolves both around teaching school matter (and catching-up those who have not been to school on math, English, science, etc), and around teaching the basics of living in a home (making beds, cooking, cleaning up, washing themselves, using a bathroom). I think the saddest thing we were told is how even when a child is given a bed to sleep in, they are so used to the streets that they sleep on the floor anyways because they are unfamiliar with the concept of a bed. This just made me think of how little these kids have, not only do they not have love from a family, but they don't even know what a bed feels like. It makes us think twice of the things we take for granted and appreciate everything we are privileged to have.
When we visited the Dwelling Places site for the children we asked about the process of reconciliation with families, and the question was asked about how often do these children find families and properly are put back into their family lives. They answered us that 90% of the children reconcile with their families and go back to their original homes. At first I was very excited, but then, once I saw the children, some only 3 years old it was hard to believe that within the year they would be back in a healthy family environment. The reasons for which these children are on the street to begin with can range from escape from sexual abuse, to being thrown out by their family because of lack of money. Having a psychologist talk with their families before the children are put back into their original homes cannot possibly be enough, but according to the director, it seems to be fine. Then we asked about the other 10%, what happens to those who no longer have a family to be traced back to? They are either sent to boarding school until they are 18 and able to live alone, or they stay in a semi-independent home where they learn to fend for themselves until age 18 with the partial support of Dwelling Places.
After touring Dwelling Places we were able to spend time with the children there. They ranged from 3 to 15 years old (the older ones were at boarding schools). I sat down with a few girls and asked them all about themselves. It is impossible to describe the joy they feel when they are able to speak about themselves. Nobody ever has time to ask them how they feel, what they like, what they do for fun. Showing the smallest interest in them as human beings can make them feel so much more positive. I decided to ask them about their dreams. One of them told me she wanted to be a doctor, another wanted to be a teacher, yet another wanted to be a musician, and finally, the youngest one quietly said that she wanted, in the future, to be happy. None of them wanted money, or the biggest house, or the nicest car, the things that in our materialistic society we sometimes put above all else. They have ambitions and hope. They believe in their futures, and this belief is transferred quickly to whoever they speak to, and with complete certainty you can believe that these kids will be able to reach their dreams.
After hearing all about themselves, and sharing a bit about myself I asked them what they loved to do. They told me they love net ball. Net ball, is what we call basketball..with a single hoop. Two teams, trying to score in one net, no complications. We had a great time playing net ball all together at Dwelling Places. No matter what they live through on the streets, it is remarkable to see that the youth at Dwelling Places never forget how to have fun.
