Sanyu Babies Home

                             

Last Tuesday was a bit of a rough day.  Spending our first day in the Early Stimulation Centre was disheartening.  Jen & I returned home feeling exhausted and frustrated.  So we decided that maybe snuggling with some babies would make us feel better.  We promptly set out for Sanyu Babies Home, an orphanage 5 minutes up the road where 50 children under the age of 4 live.  Turns out that hanging out here is the best cure to exhaustion - it’s hard not to be pumped while spending time with all these kids!

Our first day was so amazing.  These kids are just incredible.  It’s hard to describe, but I’ll try.  

Picture this:

You walk through a green iron gate and up a red dirt path toward an inconspicuous looking house.  As you pass to the back of the house you see that there are kids everywhere.  Everywhere.  Not sure who to go to first, you pause for a moment to look around.  As you stand there, four toddlers saunter up to you on unsteady legs with their arms outstretched, big brown eyes boring into yours - piercing your heart - as they request, “Up?”  What can you do but scoop two of them into your arms (you have two arms, afterall!) and lead the remaining two to a sandbox where you try to pour out as much love and attention on all of them as you can possibly muster.

That isn’t even half of it.  There’s a room that houses the really little babies - currently 6 of them.  I love little babies.  I’m such a sucker for their big eyes and little fingers.  On my first day, I came across baby Mary, a teeny tiny little girl of one month, who is the size of a newborn with eyes the size of a 2 year old.  She’s beautiful, and rested so quietly in my arms.  I fed her and she guzzled her bottle like a champ (or, like a child who is fed only for as long as the ‘mamas’ can spare).  I found it really hard to walk away after laying her down in bed.  While it’s no reflection on the mamas, as they have a really hard job caring for 50 kids, I struggled with not knowing whether this fragile little girl would be picked up if she cried in the middle of the night, or if someone would take the time to rock her to sleep, or to sing soft soothing songs in her ear, giving her the love that children need to thrive.

I find it so hard to wrap my mind around the idea that these kids have no one in the world beyond each other, and the revolving door of volunteers and workers who come through Sanyu.  

This is the dilemma that I keep coming across here in Uganda.  While in the midst of activities, of spending time with people, of engaging in conversations and getting to know locals, I am absolutely loving life.  This country is so wonderful and I feel surprisingly at home here considering it’s been such a short time.  But as I lay in the dark at night and reflect on these things I find that I become overwhelmed by the despair of so many of these situations.  Story after story after story that I hear here is full of struggle and hardship.  For me, this contrast of happy and sad is especially true of the kids at Sanyu.  To be with them is SO fantastic - they’re all such vibrant and enthusiastic kids.  But their situation is far from great.  I find it easy to get overwhelmed by it.  

Anyway, my hope isn’t to bring you down.  But I don’t think that I’d be doing justice to these beautiful, smiling faces without talking a bit about what their lives are like.

Bottom line: Sanyu Babies Home is a little haven full of smiling faces where a group of mamas and volunteers work hard to do their best for these itty bitty boys and girls. 

For the OT's out there...

There's been a lot of new things in the last week, but I'll try to pace myself so that I don't overwhelm you with one giant post!

Disclaimer: this is probably more for the OT's out there.  I apologize to all the non-OT's, and promise to make it up to you next time!

We're now done our first week of placement.  The structure of the OT department here isn't what I'd expected.  It's essentially three-tiers, with one OT.  The first level is the Early Stimulation Centre, this is where the resident OT is based, and where we spend our mornings.  The second tier is the day-school program where higher functioning kids go every day.  Jen & I will be working in the school every afternoon, taking kids out for 1:1 work.  Here special ed teachers work with the kids in a way that's (in theory) similar to the special ed programs in Ontario and based on functional skills.  The third level is Guludene, the residential day school - here kids live at the school 1.5 hours out of Kampala. These are the highest functioning kids who are more or less independent.  I don't know much about Guludene, but plan to spend a week there soon (I'm excited to see what Ugandan life is like in the villages!)

The Early Stimulation Centre is really... interesting.  I came into this knowing that OT wouldn't be what I expected, but still I'm surprised at what I'm seeing.  They have more material resources than I would have expected, but have only one OT who has had 2 years of post-secondary training.  While the essentials of OT seem to be there (emphasis on functionality, working with the family to set goals, occupation-driven goals) they come out in very different ways.  For example, every morning there is an 'ADL session' where all of the kids are sat in front of a mirror, and one by one they are forced to brush their teeth - even those who are nowhere near capable of doing this independently.  It made me cringe.
It's been a struggle to figure out how best to use our skills while respecting the fact that this is a different culture (broadly speaking and in terms of the workplace culture), and simulatenously keeping in mind that I will only be here for 6 weeks.

One of my biggest challenges is knowing that there's so much more that could be done for some of these kids, and while I can put all of my time and energy into doing this while I'm here, the reality is that as soon as I leave things will likely go back to the way they were before.
I didn't anticipate this kind of culture shock - OT culture shock.  This is mostly driven by how badly I want to see these kids thrive.

While there will be challenges, there will also be big rewards - I'm sure of it.

Some of those have been as simple as Thursday afternoon play time.  Every Thursday the kids from the school gather in the yard to play some kind of big group activity.  This week it was playing 'cat and mouse' with a parachute - kids and teachers alike cheering on the mouse and running around like mad people!  Great fun!
Then on Friday afternoon as a treat the teachers held a giant dance party outside during a rainstorm - all of the kids came out and danced their faces off.  I'm embarassed to say that a lot of these kids have signifcantly better rhythm than I do.  And MAN they've got moves!  It was such a treat to get out there in the midst of this pile of kids and dance with them while the rain was pouring down (unfortunately no pics of these - those would have been goodies!)


On a non-OT related note, last night was our first night on the town.  Went for a great dinner with some friends we met at Sanyu Babies Home, followed by a quick stop into a renouned bar for some dancing.  The night was young by Ugandan standards, but we were tired so it ended early.  Tonight, though, we're going out prepared.  Starting the night late and ready for some amazing dancing (man, these people can DANCE!  My Dutch blood isn't doing me any good on the dance floor - but it's great to get out there and be surrounded by people who can move like this!)

For Dadsie & Steph - made me think of you! :)

FYI

Some interesting numbers for you:

2 - number of times we've run out of water
3 - number of nights we've lost electricity
.25 - number of dollers for two giant avocadoes
15 - number of dollers for a package of pre-made cookie dough
4 - number of near collisions
countless - number of potholes in the roads here
0 - number of spiders I've seen (thank goodness)
4 - number of beautiful sunsets watched from the porch of our guesthouse
2 - number of days of work so far
2 - number of minutes left on my internet connection!  So I'll have to fill you in on those 2 days of work next time - because man oh man there's a lot to say!!

xoxoxo

Kampala

Things really have worked out for this trip.
Finances have come through from left and right, allowing this poor student to trek across the world.  Yesterday we met with Patti, our department head.  She's a British woman who's been living in Uganda and running the OT department for 18 years.  While gazing at beautiful, lush countryside out our windows, Patti filled us in on her end of the story while we journeyed from Entebbe to Kampala.  She told us about how the head medical doctor had refused to sign the consent forms that enabled us to come, citing that the forms required the hospital to be responsible for our actions, inside the hospital grounds and out. Patti was sure that this was incorrect, but when she went to find her version of the forms, the office had been broken into and the papers were strewn across the mud-filled road - unreadable.  She tried to email Donna at the end of December to inform her that Jenn & I would be unable to come to Uganda, but twice the email bounced back to her inbox, unsent.  A few weeks later new forms came in the post, the proper forms.  Patti returned to the head medical doctor, again asking him to sign the forms.  This time he agreed!  So, while Jenn & I were at home packing and getting hit up with vaccines, there was a solid chunk of time where we actually weren't supposed to be coming here!  Patti says, and I agree, that we were meant to be here!

We're now in Kampala - what a CRAZY city!  We've settled into a guesthouse that's situated on the hospital grounds (the orphanage fell through, but we'll still be heading over there one night/week to play with the cutest kids in the world - and really, the people here are the most beautiful people in the world).  The grounds are a really nice respite from the bustling streets of the city, and to top it off it's stuck right on the top of a hill, looking West over the city.  So at night we sit on the porch, drink a Nile beer, and watch the sun set over the city.  I love it.  It already feels comfortable.
Tomorrow is the first day of work! I'm really excited about it - but keep being warned by people that this will be nothing like OT in Canada.  Patti says that this is one of the best OT departments in Eastern Africa, but if it were in the UK, it would be closed down.  Really, it's the kids that I'm looking forward to though.  The facilities might not be the best (also, apparently the whole department got flooded over the weekend after a faulty plumbing job), but it's the kids and the staff who will make the experience unforgettable!

xoxo

p.s. pictures to come when we find an internet cafe that isn't really, really slow.  I can't wait to show you guys this city! :)
 

Best. Flight. Ever. (and first impressions)

We were both a little nervous getting ready to leave for Uganda - it always really starts to sink in as you go to board the flight.  No going back.  I foolishly had two coffees to calm my nerves, and as we got on the tram to the plane I was literally jittering (with either caffeine, nerves - or more likely, both).  But standing on the tram we got to talking to two men from Oakville, Ont. who were headed back to Uganda for their 5th or 6th trip - they kept telling us how much they absolutely loved it there.  Whew!  Okay, starting to thnk at this point maybe it wasn't toooo silly deciding to take off to Uganda!

We boarded the plane, and Jenn & I couldn't get seats together, so we sat a few rows apart.  We went to sit in our seats only to find that we were literally engulfed by a Ugandan Children's Choir.  Kids from the ages of 7 to 14 who had been touring the US for the last 9 months going from place to place to sing and dance their little hearts out.  I was sitting beside Lydia & Sandra.  They were both dolls!  We spent the first 45 minutes of the flight talking about their choir, what they thought of the US, what I should expect in Uganda - it was just wonderful.  I couldn't stop smiling!  I met their choir director, Pastor Moses, who gave me his card and invited me to call him once we got to Kampala so that Jen & I could arrange to go see the kids sing!  We're currently set to go next Sunday.  I can't wait!

It was the first time that these kids had ever been away from home, and they were all clearly anxious to see their families again.  As the plane started descending the kids murmuring became louder and louder, until it was excited talking all over the place.  Then, as soon as the plane touched down they all started whooping and cheering!  It was the best landing I've ever had (though this had nothing to do with the pilots' skills... it was also one of the bumpiest landings I've ever had!)  As we taxied toward the terminal, the whole choir started chanting "East or West, home is best!" over and over and over!  It was such an incredible first impression, and such a great way to enter Uganda!

First impressions:

- it is SOOO hot here.  SO SO hot.  Like mumsie suggested, I really am giving the Rolph sweat glands a workout here!

- the people are great - You can't walk down the street without people saying hello.  Yesterday we decided that we would tour Entebbe on foot (from 11am until about 1:30 pm... probably the silliest idea ever with our lily-white skin and the hot, hot African sun).  We couldn't find our way around quite as easily as we'd hoped, but ended up meeting two men who offered to walk us to the hotel that we were looking for (a hotel with a swimming pool... a much, much needed swimming pool!).  So we walked and chatted about Ugandan politics and marraige and religion and other really interesting things for about 20 minutes.  Fred & Amos made us promise that if we came back through Entebbe that we would be in touch.  

- the landscape is beautiful.  Our guesthouse looks out over a little forest of palm trees, and there are birds everywhere.  Some nice ones... some not so nice (like these birds that are just huge and seem to really enjoy digging through the garbage - Hank, I wish you were here to help me figure out what these things are!)

Today, we're getting picked up by Patti, the OT department head, and we're off to Kampala to settle in and explore!

Hope everything's going well back home - I'm thinking about you! (also, can someone give Grandpa Wolting a giant birthday hug for me tomorrow?)

(this has been my favourite sight so far - a little junk in the trunk, even on clothes models.)

London, England

I've been to Europe now!
Jen & I had a 20 hour layover in London, England.  At first glance, this sounded like a dreadfully long time to have to wait for a flight - but then I realized that two of my long lost friends from Korea (who I literally thought I'd never see again) are both living in London!  So, plans were promptly made to meet up with them and spend a night seeing the big city.  It was a great evening, and a wonderful way to start the trip.  Definitely made it less intimidating leaving Vancouver knowing that we were off to spend a day in London, England!

                                                    

Our lovely hosts - Emma & Caroline

                                                      

Jenn & I enjoying some proper fish and chips - with our first pint of London Ale

 Big Ben

       

                                     Beautiful architechture at the parliment house

In the beginning...

So, here we are. T-3 days to Uganda.

I have these moments every once in a while where I think, "Woah!  I'm going to Africa!"  I had one just now.  I was making myself breakfast and peered into my egg carton to see only 4 eggs left. On any other day, this might mean an addition to my grocery list. This morning I realized that I will only need 4 more eggs between now and when I leave, because on Wednesday morning I'll wake up on a plane somewhere over the Atlantic ocean.

Instead of panicking I decided to take all that nervous energy and throw it into my very first blog (while eating my eggs).  This blog is something that my family has demanded so that they can keep track of my escapades while I'm away. But it's also something I'm really looking forward to keeping because I think it will be a great way to reflect back on what I'm seeing and experiencing.  Not to mention that all the travel sites I came across told me that mass-emails are a thing of the past and that all of my friends and family will much prefer reading about my trip in blog form instead.  And, well, if the internet says so, it must be true.


So, keep posted. I promise to update as much as possible. And please, keep in touch! Those who have been overseas already know this: it's so very nice to hear from the people you love while you're so far away!