Day 7 and 8: Settling in

I have felt so much better these past few days. I owe many thanks to my friends that have kept my spirits up in this first week. J You guys will never know how much the comments and facebook messages meant to me during this adjustment phase. It was rough but I know it will only get better from here. I have felt so much better since starting at TASO on Monday. The 3 things I will be focusing on during these 3 months are: gender based violence programming, post-conflict programming and discordant couple (google it) reporting. The people here at TASO and Uganda in general are SO friendly and helpful. They are quick to help and make sure we feel welcome at all times.

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Tuesday, one of the program officers Robert Kidando went through what they need us to do in order to help them report on gender based violence among their HIV clients. So we’ll be focusing on that topic during the month of June. I really feel we will be able to contribute to their goal of exposing the fact that some women are having trouble accessing TASO’s services because of pressure and violence from their spouses. I’ve also loved coming into work because our office in TASO is also right next to where the Drama group practices their songs, dances, and plays that are therapeutic for them and also help educate people about HIV/AIDS. I’m going to ask if I can record them one day and post that. They are so talented and I love the traditional music.

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Today was a national holiday in Uganda (Martyr’s Day), so we didn’t have to work. There are two other girls from the Biritsh Columbia University (in Vancouver, Canada) who are doing a program through their school that brings them to work with TASO for 6 weeks in Mbale. They live with a host family here and so the young guy (Alan) who lives in the house took us around Mbale a bit today. It was pretty fun because we went to the Sports club in town played some pool and chilled out a bit. The view from there was gorgeous (like it is everywhere in this country)

After that we went back to the house and the ladies there cooked for us. It was SO delicious! The best Ugandan food I’ve had since I’ve been here! After watching DVDs of The Secret Life of American Teenagers (an ABC family show that apparently Alan is obsessed with watching) for a couple of hours, Alan took us down to the river that runs through town. It was so so hot but it was beautiful to see more of the town and its natural beauty.

He said he would go to Mt. Elgon with us and take us to the waterfalls that are there..I can’t wait!! It was cool getting to talk to Alan about Ugandan culture and their views about a lot of things. HE also asked me a lot of questions like whether I ever met David Beckham (lol), why Usher, Jay-Z, and Beyonce don’t ever some to perform in Uganda (lol), and why some ignorant people think Africa is one big country instead of continent, I am really starting to feel like I am going to love this place and even miss it when I’m ready to leave. I even think I’m getting used to the cold showers. It feels great after walking in the hot sun during the day. I’m just going to remain positive, relish this experience and grow from it. I know I’m going to return to the US with a whole new perspective on EVERYTHING.

Random thought: Another thing that has been highly entertaining during this time is the Nigerian movies and TV shows they show here in the guesthouse. I mean they are pure comedy. I know everybody has at least one Nigerian friend. You MUST ask them to watch one of these movies. The acting is so extra (like people are always yelling lol), the video and sound quality is terrible, the music is so random (like it doesn’t match the scene going on), and the story lines are hilarious. I have thoroughly enjoyed watching these here. lol