July 11 to August 10, 2016
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| GHSP OB/GYNs! |
Orientation started with a room full of 59 new GHSP volunteers (physicians and nurses), 6 Peace Corps Response volunteers (spouses ala Dennis), a 4 month old SEED-ling that will be heading to Tanzania in September, and all of the Peace Corps and SEED staff. It was incredible to be in a room filled with people about to embark on the same adventure, in Liberia, Malawi, Swaziland, Tanzania, and Uganda. Dr. Vanessa Kerry, an intensivist physician at MGH as well as mastermind behind SEED and the partnership with PEPFAR and Peace Corps, started the day off warmly welcoming everyone, introducing the history of the program, and the tremendous growth since its inception in 2012. The later morning included all volunteers sharing who they were, where they were from, why they joined, and what was the most unique thing they had packed to take along the journey. The major theme was coffee paraphernalia, followed by knitting/crocheting, color by numbers, etc. However, the best was a GoGirl toilet device for almost all unknown situations (Google it!). The day ended with a happy hour for everyone including the SEED board of trustees, a great opportunity to get to know both fellow volunteers as well as the backbone of the organization stateside.
Tuesday followed with more sessions on what to expect in country, current teaching methods in Africa, and the start of several lectures on clinical management of not-so-common to the US but oh-so-common syndromes in Africa. The surprise came around 5pm when Vanessa announced that her dad, Secretary of State John Kerry, was planning on stopping by shortly. Whatever your political inclinations, it was a truly inspiring speech addressing the global need for health education and change, with an apropos quote from Nelson Mandela, "It only seems impossible until it is done." With those words of inspiration, Dennis and I took the evening to tour the capital on foot. From the White House to the George Washington monument, on to the reflecting pool and the Lincoln memorial. The best surprise was coming across a large monument of Albert Einstein. The discovery was so fitting in that my first medical journeys to Africa, inspiring a love for global health, were through the generosity of the global health program at my alma matter, Albert Einstein College of Medicine (AECOM). Dr. Carol Harris and Dr. Gerry Paccione, thank you for your inspiration and investment in the medical students! The night ended with a delicious meal at Founding Farmers, with an amazing fig and prosciutto homemade bread. Yum!
The week continued with
more orientation, working on the ever expanding to-do list, making
new friends, and preparing the ABOG Oral Board Case list. And of course
time to catch up with the wonderful Natalie Shanks, who is working in DC at the NIH! A fun and filled
week. The weekend was a welcome reprieve from orienting, with a road trip
up the East coast to NYC. We took advantage of the drive, with a stop in
Philadelphia for the famous Philly cheesesteak from John's Roast Pork.
NYC was then filled with friends, food, repeat. Thank you to the
wonderful friends that were able to come out and see us, and to Matthew and
Javier for your hospitality. The drive back had another stop in Philly to
catch up with the lovely Berger family, and finally meeting Miss Molly, a
brilliant 2 year old and budding scholar. |
| Team Uganda |
The next week flew by
with more orientation, preparations to leave, and a final happy hour on the
rooftop of one of the George Washington University buildings overlooking the National Mall. The night before
our departure, we were sent off with a delicious all-American cheeseburger
dinner prepared by Katie and Tom, with special guest Matthew who flew down from
NYC for the evening to join for dinner. Frequent flyer miles :)
On Thursday July
22nd, with 5 checked bags packed up and carry on luggage in tow, we took off
from DC for Uganda - the next chapter in the adventure!
After a weather delay in the Addis Ababa
airport, we finally landed in Entebbe, Uganda near 3pm on Friday July 23rd.
As the bags finished rolling out on the conveyer belt, our team
realized that nearly every person was missing a bag, or two, or four.
There is nothing like filing a missing luggage claim form at Entebbe
airport to quickly immerse you into Ugandan culture. Fortunately we got
wind that the bags were likely coming on the next flight a few short hours
away. Solution? Hang out and drink the local brew while
awaiting for the luggage to arrive on the next flight. All missing bags did show, leading us to the next adventure of navigating Kampala traffic on a Friday evening. Who knew it could take 45 minutes to drive 3km? After all of the travel, delays, missing bags, and traffic, the whole group was happy to arrive at the Kolping Hotel in Kampala...three hours later. Dinner was ready and waiting for us at our 9pm arrival, which we all enjoyed before quickly heading to bed.Saturday through Tuesday involved - yes, you guessed it - more orientation to the country. Between new bank accounts, work permits, Peace Corps telephones, mosquito net and water filter distribution, medical officer appointments, safety and security briefings, educational lectures, as well as setting up MiFi (little device that transmits WiFi wherever you go) it was a busy few days.
Orientation in Mbale was complete with an 8 night/9 day homestay with a local family. Our host "mom" was Grace Namonyo, a lovely business woman who runs a home decorating store near the central market, in addition to keeping up her own garden and other food production. The types of food we discovered on the compound during our stay included papaya, avocado, passion fruit, potatoes (called Irishes in Uganda), beans, rosemary, sugar cane, rice, hens for their freshly laid eggs, and goats. While we were staying with Grace, she acquired a male goat to accompany her female goat, so she will likely get more kid goats in the near future ;) Grace is assisted with all of the duties by her niece, Charlotte, when school is not in session. Grace was a wonderful host, making us breakfast filled with watermelon, pineapple, papaya, passion fruit juice, toast, eggs, cereal, coffee, and ginger spiced tea every morning. She would then drive us to the designated meeting place for the day. On our arrival home we would prepare dinner, learning how to prepare the local dishes like posho, matoke, chapati, ground nut sauce, and even pork acquired from the market, while we also taught some international dishes like a veggie filled Italian pasta, vegetable curry, and the favorite breakfast food of French toast. Charlotte introduced us to Ugandan style music, soap operas, and her favorite cooking television show. 
The weekdays were packed with language lessons and meetings. Each day started with a 1 or 2 hour language lesson with our Peace Corps language and culture trainers, Rachel and Silver. They are both amazing and patient teachers, helping us pronounce and understand the Lumasaaba language and culture. They were also in charge of our daily schedule, and deserve so much credit for taking us around to so many places and introducing us to so many people in Mbale!
Thursday July 28th we were introduced to our bosses and counterparts at a day long meeting. There we reviewed our goals, expectations, and created action plans for the coming year. The day finished with a large dinner at the fancy Wash and Wills Hotel and Restaurant in town, where we also met with hospital and medical school administration and staff. Friday involved a tour of the hospital and further introduction to the hospital staff, a preview of our brand new apartments that were in the process of being constructed, as well as a trip up to the local synagogue - one of the only in eastern Africa - to meet the congregation and the rabbi turned member of parliament Mr. Gershom Sizomu.
Saturday was an adventure day, complete with a trip up to the top of Wanale Hill (the major hillside and backdrop to the east of Mbale) and a hike to a beautiful waterfall cascading down the side of the steep hill. Along the way we were greeted by the locals of all ages. They would laugh when we would respond in Lumasaaba. Along the way we saw farms of carrots, potatoes, onions, bananas, matoke (plantains), and so much more. We saw gerry cans being used in a variety of functions, from carrying water to being cut in half to make a sled to cascade down a small hill. One little boy who was carrying his younger sibling and 3 gerry cans nearly his size quickly dropped the cans and posed for a picture once he saw the camera. On the way down the mountain, our matatu (taxi van) encountered a large crowd of at least 100 participants who were dancing, singing, and parading to the cultural grounds - for more, read on! Once we were back in town, it was time for a tour of the local market. The gentlemen took a tour of the grocery store and food portion of the market, while the ladies found gorgeous fabric and visited the tailor to have outfits made for the swearing in ceremony. While their parents were working, a group a kids were playing nearby. The resulting picture is what happens when teaching Ugandan kids to take a selfie :)
The Sunday of the homestay was our one day off from Peace Corps duties, and a chance to explore the city with Grace. We started with Sunday morning church, where our language and cultural trainer Rachel was also singing in the church choir. After meeting some of Grace's extended family and friends, we were off to the market to meet some of Grace's local suppliers, including one gentleman that routinely has more rare foods including radishes, bok choy, spinach, zucchini, and other not-so-Ugandan produce. We were then off to the local cultural grounds, that were preparing for a large festival weekend celebrating the circumcision of boys around 18 years old to mark the transition into manhood. This is a huge local festival that occurs from August through December of every even year. The men are caked in mud and accompanied by a large crowd from their village waving tree branches as they dance and celebrate on the march to the grounds. At the grounds themselves, there is a carnival atmosphere with tents filled for booze, food, and games with both traditional and modern pop music blasting from all directions. There are also traditional mud huts with grass roofs where the various clans will stay, as well as an isolated mud hut where the circumcision will occur. The grounds were also preparing to receive both the Ugandan as well as Kenyan presidents the following weekend, who preside over the opening weekend. Want more information? This is a great clip of the grounds, history, culture, and events.
Monday was a busy day meeting the main participants in the regional department of health and department of education. With each of the meetings alongside a wonderful presentation by Dr. Jayne Byakika-Tusiime, a Ugandan epidemiologist with her PhD from UC Berkeley, we discovered that maternal mortality was a priority for improving in the region as the rate is incredibly high at 680 deaths per 100,000 live births (the US is embarrassed by a recent increase in maternal mortality to 23 deaths/100,000 live births currently). The rest of the day was shorter as all non-clinical staff were on strike as they had not received a pay check nor the promised pay raise from the government in over 3-4 months.
On Tuesday we trekked to Tororo, the site of Busitema University's main campus, in order to meet the Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Mary Jozzy Nakandha Okwakol. We went a bit out of the way when heading home to visit the border crossing to Kenya at Malaba. A guard took us on a tour through the gates to "no-man's land," the area between, yet not belonging to, either Uganda or Kenya. No pictures were allowed though - sorry! The next evening we had a lovely dinner with all of our host families to say thank you for the week. After sunset we lit sparkler candles and sang happy birthday to Julia Taylor, the nurse extraordinaire (with an amazing life story) who was celebrating her 70th birthday with us in Uganda.
Thursday was back to Kampala for a few more days of lecture and orientation. The highlight was a visit to the Ndere Cultural Center on Sunday August 7th. There a dance troop including dancers from all over Uganda, as well as neighboring Rwanda and Burundi, perform local dances and highlight the unique cultures. The best was the Burundi drummers - 14 drummers balancing their instruments on their head while they walked perfectly down stairs and into formation, kicking high and maintaining balance while performing a riveting drum cadence.
With orientation nearing the end, we were gearing up for swearing in on August 11th - stay tuned!
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