Soccer: a language of the world

Hey Guys,

I guess it is week four and our invention is still strong. We see
about 60 women daily. So far, I feel that it has been a successful
intervention. Many mothers are really excited to see their baby on the
ultrasound machine. Unfortunately, some mothers find out they have some
complications including many fetuses in the breech position. Also we
have seen some women who believe they are pregnant but the ultrasound
scan reveals that they are not pregnant. When reading their body
language, I gather that they are very sad and perplexed at this
conclusion. On one occasion, there was a mother who did not know her
unborn baby had died. It was heartbreaking for her to find this out
We created a survey to establish baseline data that highlights what
the needs are in the community. It has been a pain to get that started
but finally it is in full swing. Furthermore, some of the students
started conducting focus groups. While I doubted the use of the focus
group at first, I believe that it showing some of the cultural reasons
behind the findings of the survey.
At one of the health clinics we work, there is a nearby refugee camp
housing people from Rwanda. These refugees came to Uganda through
Tanzania. Last year, I did not have a chance to see a camp so this is a
new site for me. A group of students including me visited the camp on
our break from the intervention. It was interesting to see the
make-shift houses (more like tents) and I wondered how these people
lived. After all, they are squatting the land. We ended up playing
soccer with most of the kids. Thank God that I'm blessed with the
knowledge of the game and some (very little) skill. Soccer has always
been a good way to reach out to the community. More to come later.

-Peace

To the Villages

Hey Guys,

We are right in the middle of our Safe Motherhood Interventions at the
villages. We are going to the villages to help the nurses bring free
antenatal care to pregnant mothers in the health clinics. Our first day
away from the hospital and there were at least 100 pregnant mothers
wanting to get some free health care. Unfortunately, we did not have
enough time to examine that many mothers. Hopefully, they will return
next week. Things are great though. I was working in the ultra-sound
room and taking blood pressures. The villages were more similar to
Bundibugyo than Mbarara which isn't surprising. However, the landscape
had more grass and less bush to it. Again this comes to no surprise
because cattle raising is popular in the area. Today, I worked with a
group of students to finish up the surveys that we have been working for
greater part of a year. We are hoping to pilot on Thursday but it might
be a stretch due to the language barrier.

Hope all is well,
Peace.

Going out to the villages

Hey Guys,

Things are great. We are about to start the intervention in the villages
and prepare to start carrying out the survey in villages. The group
decided that we should have the local MUST (Mbarara University of
Science and Technology) students carry out the survey in the local
languages. That way we don't have to translate on the spot. This is
designed to eliminate some time. I'm really excited to see the villages
because I believe they will look similar to the Bundibugyo. However, we
shall see.

Until Later,

Mbarara Area

So this is definitely a bigger place than last year, of course I really
knew that going into this program. It is a pretty big town full of shops
including electronic stores, internet cafes, and lots of restaurants.
The roads are mostly paved at least the main roads are paved. We saw the
market last Saturday which was HUGE compared to Bundibugyo. I'm exciting
to go to the outreach health clinics this upcoming week. I'm wondering
if these sites will be similar to Bundibugyo last year. We shall see.
Things are fine and everybody is in good health and good shape. More to
come later....

Peace

SAFE MOTHERHOOD

Hey Guys,

Sorry for a late post but I just got internet last night. I hope this
goes through. Anyway, we have begun the safe motherhood intervention
here in Mbarara. This intervention is designed to draw expecting mothers
to a local hospital in hopes that we can prevent complications in birth.
We use antenatal care including an ultra-sound. We kicked off this past
Monday and it was quite a site full of fanfare. Many locals government
official even the areas Parliament Member ( kinda like a Member of the
House in the states) was there. It was really cool because it gave me
more of an insight to Ugandan politics. We even marched in a giant
parade to spread the word about Safe Motherhood. We are continuing this
intervention in the town area for the rest of the week and then we are
going to surrounding villages next week.

Peace

Going Back To the Land of Crested-Crane

Hey Guys,

I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon and beginning my journey back to Uganda.  I should arrive in Uganda in a few days. I'm excited but still slightly nervous but that always the case for me when I'm about to travel.

Peace