 I bought a car! It's a two-door 1997 Toyoto RAV4. Japanese cars are by far the most popular here and there are a lot of companies that import used cars from Japan. While this car is definitely old, because so many people here drive Toyotas, and RAV4s in particular, it's really easy for mechanics to work on them and replace parts where needed. A Ugandan friend helped me find a trustworthy car dealer and negotiated on my behalf in an attempt to avoid Muzungu prices. Before deciding to buy the car, I had Jon, a mechanic frequently used by a few CHAI staff check out the car so I knew what I was getting myself into. He said that while the car was definitely old and needed some routine maintenance, it would do the job. The car dealer agreed to fix a few things that Jon pointed out needed to get done right away (new front windshield, new spark plugs, new air filter, fixing the A/C, adjusting the drive belt, and a few other small fixes).  The purchasing process took a full weekend because I paid in cash and had to deal with daily ATM withdrawal limits. I've never paid millions of dollars (read: shillings) for anything before! Even with the conversion rate, this has been the biggest purchase of my life. And it's one that didn't allow for my usual few hours of internet research...yes, I spent more time thinking about buying a mop than this car... Expats come and go so often, that I'm not too worried about selling my car at cost when I leave Uganda. If I can keep it in good shape, I may even be able to make a small profit - we'll see!
I consulted a few of the CHAI drivers and other expats here before going through with everything to ensure that I understood what I needed - a sales agreement, receipts for everything (since I was going through a dealer), and the log book which changes hands with each owner. Because I don't have a work permit, I can't legally put property under my name. Since obtaining a work permit can take months, and in some cases, up to a year, I'm here on a "special pass" which is like a 3 month temporary work visa. So, like most of the other expats in the office, my car is registered under my coworker's TIN (tax identification number) Number. TIN Numbers (yes, that's repetitive) are used during any official transfer or registration of vehicles and/or land. After leaving my car with Jon for a few days to really make sure everything was good to go, we gave the car a real test by taking it up to Sipi. We survived the weekend journey safe and sound! I'm excited to have the freedom to get around the city more easily - having a car makes getting together with friends, doing groceries, and running errands SO much easier. While I'll still do my fair share of boda riding, come rainy season, I'll be really glad I have some wheels of my own. This blog has been a fun way for me to not only document my time here, but also stay engaged with all of you back home. So, thanks for reading! So far, I haven’t had any zero page view days which is a great incentive for me to keep writing and posting! According to the statistics that Weebly provides, I’m getting about 5-10 unique visitors each day. A few shout-out to my loyal readers out there…Mrs. Thompson wins for having my blog linked as its own icon on her iphone home screen and Mia comes out on top for most blog comments! I’ve started adding “categories” which are essentially tags for each of my posts. For those new to the blog, this can make it easier to sort through posts so you don’t have to read from the beginning. I’m looking forward to traveling more within Uganda and the region, so stay tuned for more “travel” posts and photos with my real camera. On the radar…Sipi Falls this weekend, Jinja and the Nile next weekend, and then a big trip to DRC / Rwanda / TBD with Katharine and Liz in March! See below for a map of Uganda. Emily and I were brushing up on our East African geography yesterday over Skype so I realized it might be helpful to share a map here as well! Entebbe is where the airport is - the drive to Kampala is anywhere from 1-4 hours which means you have to leave well in advance of any flights. Jinja is the big hot spot for kayaking and rafting - there's a big Nile River Festival this weekend so a lot of people are heading there for the weekend. Then, Sipi Falls, where I'm going this weekend is just northeast of Mbale. I recognize a lot of these other cities through the data analysis I've been doing, so it's nice to be able to get an understanding of where our work is being piloted / implemented as well!  Check out the gallery below to see where I spend my days. The CHAI Uganda office used to be the (big) home of the Iranian ambassador. Almost everyone is out in the field helping with a training this week, so it looks empty, but usually we have around 50 people here each day! The office is open more or less 24/7. Andrew lives in a smaller house in the back with his family, so for those of us that don't have office keys (like me), we can call him and let him know we're coming if we need to get let into the office. Last Friday, I was working late, so I left my bag at the office since I didn't want to bring my laptop to the bar. On Saturday, I "ran" to the office from my apartment and ended up showering here (all the bathrooms have showers since it used to be a house) before meeting some friends nearby for lunch. [Click the arrows in the top right to scroll through the photos] CHAI is undergoing increased scrutiny these days as the Clinton family remains in the spotlight. While my day to day work seems removed from what’s going on at home, it’s evident that Hillary Clinton’s political role affects what is considered an acceptable funding source. I’m interested to see how the outcome of the election will impact CHAI, and the Clinton Foundation more broadly.
In case you were wondering, James Blunt is still on the radio...in Uganda.
The radio here is an eclectic mix of throwbacks - don't hate it.  The quickest way to get around Kampala is on a "boda boda," or motorcycle taxi. They can cut through the jam and take you door to door to door which is really convenient. You can get a boda at a "stage," which is essentially any street corner, sidewalk outside a popular bar / restaurant, etc. One of my boda drivers told me that they actually register their stage with the police / government, which surprised me. While you may hear horror stories about boda accidents / robberies, I haven't had any issues yet (knock on wood). Here are some tips I got about riding:
 Since it's not safe to walk around at night, I have a few bodas that know where I live and will come right to my gate to get me. I can see them approach from my balcony, and run down once they're here. I usually spend 3k-6k ($1-$2 USD) on bodas. It's kind of a gamble. Sometimes I negotiate before I get on (if I take one from a stage), but I find that if I hand them a sum I think is fair upon arrival, usually that works out. Every once in awhile, drivers will be fussy because they know they can rip off expats, but it's not work arguing over 30 cents here and there. The cheapest mode of transportation are "matatus" which are Toyota vans - you can see a bunch in the left of the videos below. I haven't taken these yet because I have no idea how to figure out where they go, but I think you pay about 500 shillings (~15 cents). There's a driver and a "conductor" who will lean out the window and yell at people / try to find passengers. You tell the conductor when you want to get off (say "parking"), and they'll pull over. While safer from a physical standpoint (during the day), petty theft can be common and the vans aren't always in good shape some sometimes they can break down. Here are some video clips shot from a car to give you a sense of traffic in Kampala!
I'm feeling a lot less transient these days now that I have my own apartment. It's about a 10 minute drive from work (up to 20 or so depending on the jam). My neighborhood is Bukoto, which is adjacent to Ntinda, where I was living in CHAI housing last month. I have no idea what my address is, but here in Kampala, everyone uses landmarks to describe where they live. Gas stations are commonly used because they're big and well-lit at night, so they stay noticeable. When I tell people where my apartment is, I will first say it's in Bukoto near Froebel School. It's hit or miss if people will know that because it's not on the main street. If they at least know Froebel Street, that's a start. If I'm getting blank stares, then I will direct people by saying..."coming from Kololo, take Kira Road past Kabira club. You'll pass a sign that says Kadic Medical Center and soon after it will be on the left. You'll see a small blue sign that says "Link Inn." Slope down there. Then continue down the street until you pass Froebel School and see another "Link Inn" sign. Turn right and then my gate is on the right." The easiest thing is to just send a pin via Whatsapp. I'm sure I do actually have an address, because I get a printed water bill each month that somehow has a unique identifier...nonetheless, I don't think anyone gets mail to their houses / apartments. Instead, you'd use a PO Box which is what most organizations use as well. I've successfully gotten one Christmas card in the mail (thanks Japh!) so my confidence in the postal service is increasing. There are definitely some safety concerns about me writing about and posting photos of my apartment, but I'm fairly confident that anyone nobody reading my blog is actually in Kampala. And that anyone in Kampala that doesn't already know where I live (friends / CHAI drivers) would never be able to load my blog given the cost / speed of internet / data connections.  I have one roommate, or flatmate, as they would say here. She works for One Acre Fund and is actually based in Western Kenya (Kampala is closer than Nairobi), so travels very frequently. I'm excited for her to come back in a week or so, but in the meantime have befriended the couple across the hall. They both work in development (UN / some German foundation?) and seem great! They also have a tv... :)
There are also some lizards / geckos keeping me company. I'm pretty sure they live above my closet (either in the top cabinets or between those and the ceiling). I can hear them scratching around / making some sort of lizard noises...not ideal but harmless and much more desirable than cockroaches. Sometimes they leave me some droppings but so far, nothing major. Another perk of living here is that I now don't have to clean my apartment. I did do a pretty intense mopping / de-molding of the fridge when I got in last weekend. But now, Christine will come twice a week. She works at a few other CHAI apartments too - we all trust her enough to leave her a key to our place which means we don't need to be home when she comes to clean. Christine has three kids: a daughter and two sons. Isiah, her youngest, is just two months old, but he's big! She brings him with her and he's a happy camper except when he wants to eat (which is often). When he's on his stomach, he can lift his head to look around which seems advanced for a 2 month old. I feel like he'll be able to roll over soon. I met Isiah last week when we were working from Ina's apartment. Glad I had a napping buddy :) Apologies for the silence! All my plans for updating my website and writing about my field visit were foiled by excessive amounts of food, Season 5 of Homeland (read: Taylor Swift movie), and Baby Robert. I’m back in Kampala after a few great weeks at home in California. I felt sort of like I did around Thanksgiving Break freshman year of college. I was excited to return to the comfort and familiarity of home. By comfort, I don’t really even mean unlimited wifi, going places alone in the dark, or stable electricity. I was most looking forward to seeing people that I knew and knew me – making friends is exhausting! The two weeks before traveling home were busy with launching a large data collection exercise for both our Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) and Provider-Initiated Testing and Counseling (PITC) projects. I helped develop a training where we explained the processes and excel templates that we had created. The goal of this exercise (still ongoing) is to collect data on infant and pediatric volumes, testing rates, yields, entry points, and more at select facilities across the country. This data will serve as the baseline that we’ll measure our progress against over the next 3 years (on a quarterly basis). Having just come from a Deloitte project where I was in charge of helping with the cost baselining for a large separation, I’m feeling comfortable with why we’re collecting this data and how we’ll use it. I’ll be in charge of developing a dashboard where we can look at the data dynamically to pull out trends, identify areas where there are some quick wins, and ultimately define the indicators (essentially metrics) that we’ll set in stone to measure against. Most of these we’ve already defined since we needed to understand what data we wanted, but we’ll need to be flexible given the quality / availability of data. I set off to Luwero with two data collectors, Jennifer and Daisy, and our driver, Lastone. We were one of nine teams that traveled between one to six hours to reach health care facilities around the country. With the “jam” (traffic), the 50 mile drive north took between 1.5 – 3 hours. The drive was relaxing and the roads were great (I got lucky with my placement) so in between my naps, I enjoyed the scenery and getting outside the city for the first time.
Both the drivers and data collectors seem to have experience working with CHAI on a fairly regular basis. Even though I was technically there “overseeing” the data collection, both Jennifer and Daisy had experience visiting sites, obtaining registers, and interpreting the data (why there might be gaps, when missing data could be recorded elsewhere, etc.). Sure, I knew the excel templates inside and out, but I had no idea how to even find the main office at the facility where we were supposed to announce our arrival to the “in-charge.” I think the MoH alerted the facilities that we were coming, but communication channels aren’t always smooth so we made sure to introduce ourselves and explain why we were here to collect data.  As you might imagine, all the record keeping is done by hand in these large books called “registers.” The registers are provided by the MoH and there is an extremely lengthy instruction manual that details what should go in each field of EVERY register. It’s a really comprehensive document that is honestly better than most “how-to” guides on process / documentation I’ve seen. We spent our days sitting in the records room with Sister Kathy who was in charge of all documentation at the facility. Just going through the Outpatient Registers took the three of us just over two full days to complete. Luwero is a Health Center IV and had about 40,000 outpatient visits in 2015!! I think this is a lot for a Health Center IV which is the categorization just under a hospital. I’m not sure if this is still accurate as it’s from 2009 – but this Guardian article explains some of the different types of facilities in Uganda. We were only focused on recording data about pediatrics, but from reading through the different diagnoses in all the outpatient registers, the most common reason people were coming to seek treatment was for malaria and (upper) respiratory tract infections. It was interesting to see how the facility was setting goals and tracking progress on their own through hand-drawn charts. I was told that Luwero won an end of year party for being one of the top facilities in the district or country, so I don’t think this is common at the facility-level. It seems that accountability and goal setting tends to be done by the MoH or even more often organizations like CHAI and other IPs who are held accountable to their donors / funders.  On the way back, we stopped by a few roadside stands to buy fruit. For smaller fruit (oranges, passion fruits) vendors tend to sell them by the “hip” – which is a measurement equal to a little basket. I only really wanted two passion fruits but ended up with about 15, which cost me just under two bucks. Then, we drove by some meat and fish vendors selling all sorts of fried goodness. It smelled delicious and I REALLY wanted to have fried chicken and chips (fries), but I had just gotten over a stomach bug earlier that week so felt it was better to play it safe, especially with long flights in my not so distant future. This stomach bug is also the reason I will continue to take my malaria medication for the duration of my trip. On a scale of 1 to Nicaragua-food-and-water-poisoning I was not even a blip on the radar, but a few people scared me by asking me if I had any malaria symptoms (feeling weak, fever). I didn’t, but even the thought of getting malaria after forgetting a few malaria pills made me realize that since I don’t experience any side effects and I already have all the meds, I may as well just take them. Most expats I’ve met aren’t taking malaria medication unless they’re doing more remote travel (like gorilla trekking) since it’s apparently not great for your body and it only reduces your risk of getting malaria anyways. Did you know, though, that if you have malaria you can never give blood? I’ve never donated blood because I’m too small, but in the event of a family member / friend needing a blood transfusion, having had malaria makes you ineligible. Okay…enough of that tangent…
Getting to go on a field visit was extremely helpful in understanding the context and day-to-day of health workers in Uganda. It was also fun getting to know a few Ugandans outside the office. After a few hours together, Daisy told me “you’re not like other muzungus,” which I took as a big compliment. I asked her why and she said that compared to other muzungus she’s interacted or worked with, I was more relaxed and joked around with them. I think this is due in large part to how easy I’ve found it to get to know, relate to, and socialize with all the Ugandan people that I’ve met. “Muzungu” is the Lugandan word for white people – a coworker explained that this would include Asians but not Indians (maybe because there are so many Indian Ugandans) and exclude black expats. I am eager to take advantage of similar opportunities in the coming months, even if it means my eyes will go blurry from inputting data all day. I guess the life of a BA is never truly that far away… |
AuthorI'm eager to learn about the world around me and find that travel (and food) is one of my favorite ways in which to do so. 
Archives
May 2016
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed