Finally some photos... thanks to Gary!

Well I started yesterday actually DOING some stuff at the clinic up here. This whole week is the Village Health Team (VHT) training that i wrote about the other day. Basically there are 16 Community Health Educators (CHE's) in the village right now. They are being given further training to be VHT members. This just means that they are getting a more formalized training to do the job they were already supposed to be doing, but now they'll have more knowledge and be more efficient. A big part of VHT is recording everything in a Village register and keeping an updated map of all the households in the village and their status (like if anyone has been born, died, any pregnant mothers, or children under 5 in the residence). The role of the VHT is to go around to all of the households and talk to people about community health issues. Some of the biggest ones here are:
-ante natal (pre natal) care for pregnant women
-immunisations for children
-malaria prevention (i.e. insecticide treated nets)
-sanitation (washing hands, keeping a rubbish pit nearby but not near where food is prepared or stored, having a bathing shelter, clean clothes, etc.)
-knowing when to go to the clinic and advising people to go there

So basically the training so far has gone over how to make a map of their village (or their assigned area of the village), how to use the register, how to make the monthly summary report of their talks with the households, how to give talks on specific subjects. Later in the week, training will also include danger signs, how to take vitals, and other stuff (I haven't finished reading the packet yet myself!)

Honestly, the training is pretty simple, but the main thing is, I have gotten some insight into how the Ugandans teach. Its a different style than in the US. A lot of question and answer. The teacher will say something like "So then when you are sick, where do you go? The clinic!" There is a lot of this answering their own questions as they go. Its just kind of the way people talk here. Training starts at 10 every day this week, goes till 11 then a half hour tea break. Then another workshop from 11:30 to 1:30, lunch is from 1:30 to 2:30, and then an afternoon workshop from 2:30 to 4:30. All times are negotiable! They always start with a prayer and everyone introducing themselves. Most of the names are Christian names so they are pretty easy to remember, by the end of today I knew the names of just about everyone in the group.

The teachers are pretty great. Anthony and Patrick are two of the Ugandans who are teachers (I think they also work for the clinic in some capacity?) Patrick is just wild. The first night I was here, Doug and I went into the village to get meat for Kaiya, Doug and Lisa's dog (they brought her over from the US!) and we met Patrick, he was a little drunk by then, and Doug goes, this is our volunteer, Christine. Patrick goes, "Madame! You are here till May 3!". He sucks up information like that like a sponge and doesn't forget anything.

Yesterday a pastor named Richard who Lauren met over the summer came to help on his day off. He's from the Bududa area where the other clinic and the Arlington school are, and is just great. He also runs an orphanage (kind of like a school here, orphans here are considered anyone with only one parent, so not like orphans at home), coordinates the CHE program in Bududa, is involved with the Arlington school and the clinic there and is a pastor! He is very passionate about helping people to help themselves. We had a really nice talk over lunch yesterday about not just getting people to donate money to projects here, but how that money is used - to educate people.

I guess I should post some pictures since Gary was kind enough to assist me in figuring out how to do so from the ipad (welcome the BlogPress iPad app)... here is the view to Kenya from my second day here. I went for a walk with Sarah (works at the clinic) and Joseph (one of the CHE's) to this field... where you can see Kenya (insert "I can see Russia from my house" joke here).


The hills in the back are KENYA. Cool. Next this is my guesthouse I am staying in (this is the back of it, the doors we use to enter):



The door to my "apartment" is the second one from the left. The first door (from left) is where other volunteers will be staying. As you can see I'll share a porch with them, and a kitchen and bathroom (the bathroom is the blue door off of my porch, by the window). The other half is Doug and Lisa's side.

This next one is some locals drinking this really gross looking fermented porridge stuff they drink. Imagine alcohol that makes you hallucinate but looks like mud, and you've got an idea. They LOVE this stuff.


There are more of them drinking out of another pot of it behind where I took the picture from. Wow. Gross. Finally, how about the sunset from my back porch tonight. Pretty sweet huh?


Hoyas play at Seton Hall tonight... at 3 am my time, so I'm gonna have to check that score in the morning. Until next time...

-Posted using BlogPress from my iPad