Running in Uganda!

Sunrise during dry season on one of my morning runs

I have never done much running in my life before I came here in Uganda. I really have never been a fan of running in general but since I have been working on trying new things that I decided back around November to run in the Rwanda International Peace Marathon. I started out training for the ½ Marathon, as I knew I would not have time to train for a full plus the thought of running a full makes me want to chop off my feet. So training for the ½ Marathon started and I would get up at 5:15AM and would be out running by 6/6:15AM. The roads get too busy and hot after 7:30AM and I like my privacy as I am huffing and puffing along. It started off really great and I was having fun and making great distances.

                                                                                                    

Uganda is very different when it comes to running, there is something about it that just makes you want to run, run, and keep running. I would run every other day just to help my joints that do not like running and help me not get to the point of ‘oh why do I have to get up and do this!?” It helped a lot with keeping it fun.

Another Sunrise

After I came back from Italy in December (I didn't run at all during that time due to the cold), I had no drive and I really was not in the groove to run anymore. I would run here and there but nothing was ever consistent. Finally, April rolled around and I went okay this is dumb you need to run at the end of May, so I started training again and developed an issue in both hamstrings that made me very uncomfortable and nervous about them snapping and ending my short lived running career, I cut back on the amount of running and the ½ was out of the question so I focused on doing a simple 5K.

Finish line of The International Peace Marathon

After a couple weeks, I finished up my final training and then headed south on a bus to Kigali, Rwanda. I had time for two training runs after arriving in Kigali and after six months of running on dirt and trails, running on pavement for the first time was very interesting. I can tell you, I enjoy running trails and dirt way better then street running.

T-Shirts!

This past Sunday, I did run the 5K in the Rwanda International Peace Marathon. At site I was running around 25-28 minute 5K and my goal was to get in around 26 minutes. There was a lot of stress and frustration that morning and the sun at 7AM was already blazing after a week of cool almost chilly weather. Kigali is land of 100,000 hills and the whole 5k was nothing but going up a hill or down a hill. I ended up coming in just under 30 minutes and I am not going to lie there was a lot of frustration and disappointment at that time but looking back on it, I PR’d and ran my first 5K overseas and should be very happy and I am.  

It Was Hot!

Start of the race out into the street

Everyone who came down from PC Uganda finished the ½ marathon or the full marathon all had the same thing to say ‘wow that was tough’ but there was a lot of joy as it was a lot of firsts for people. It was a wonderful experience to run my first 5K overseas and I learned a lot of that. Looking toward the future but I think I will focus on trail running and would like to run longer distances in the future!

At the finish line after my run

Let Girls Lead In Uganda!

This past weekend (May 1 – 4) was one of the best I have every experienced here in Uganda. I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the first ever Let Girls Lead and Girls’ Voices Initiative workshop that took place in Kampala.  I cannot tell you enough how amazing it was to be a part of and I feel so lucky to have had our organization attend. I learned so much and also met some amazing people who are working to make Uganda a better place for women and girls. It was so inspirational.

Priscillar, myself, and Gift

Winnie Gift and Nsemerirwe Priscillar both 14-years-old from Kyebambe Girls Secondary School in Fort Portal and both scholars of The Kasiisi Project attending the four day training with me. For both Priscillar and Gift this was a new and exciting experience. Gift had never been to Kampala before and Priscillar had only been to the Kampala bus park. When we arrived at the Silver Springs Hotel one of the nicer, Indian run hotels in Kampala – they were in awwwww. (The hotel was lovely and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to put out the shillings to stay there). The girls had some culture shock when they got to the hotel and I had to show them how to use a shower and they needed a little reminder on how to use a toilet. The room also had air conditioning that took them some time to get used to it. They also got to try a lot of different foods which ranged from American, Indian, to Ugandan. It was for sure the best food I have had here in Uganda. They had a mochachinno machine and chicken that was not boiled to death. Priscillar also got up the nerve to swim in a swimming pool for the first time, something she was terrified of but ended up enjoying it greatly.

Goofing around on Photo Booth

The girls the first night at the hotel

Let Girls Lead and Girls’ Voices Initiative works on grassroots campaigns, leadership, and promoting girls rights with governments and United Nations Leaders. It is also focused on Girl-Centered Advocacy for the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

Gift with a former Uganda MP

Discussing Early Marriage

38 girls from across Uganda ranging from 10 to 19-years-old attended along with 20 women leaders all looking for the goal of making sure young girls are included in both the Post-2015 Development Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals which will be put into place in September at the United Nations general assembly.  

Working hard on their projects

Gift and Priscillar will bring their skills and knowledge back to their communities and educate 20 other girls about leadership, advocacy, and the Girl Declaration. Priscillar has already done an activity talking with girls at her church about education and leadership. Gift is brought the importance of education to her community last week. 

Talking about the UN

At the end of the workshop, the girls presented different solutions for four issues that the girls agreed upon that are currently affecting Ugandan girls: Education, Sexual Harassment, Early Pregnancy, and Early Marriage to officials from UN Woman, UN AIDS and officials from the Ugandan government, and various women organizations in Uganda that advocate for women and young girls. 

Gift and the women organizers

Priscillar and the women organizers at the closing BBQ

The girls had so many different stories about their lives here in Uganda and also the women leaders who many have started their own NGOs or work with organizations that help women and also girls. During the trainings of the chaperons I was in ah of how strong and passionate these women are about helping change things in Uganda and I learned so much from them in the short time we had together. I also made some friends that I cannot wait to get to know over my time here. 

The Girl Declaration created by girls around the world

It was such an amazing experience with so many stories from Gift and Priscillar, showing me their communities’ problem trees they created and also their life timelines that gave you a real insight into the every day life they live here. Seeing those two girls stand up and tell the whole group of 50 plus people press included who they are with confidence was so inspiring, I may have cried a little. Most importantly they got to learn about how they can make chance in their communities and even at the national level.  

Check out www.LetGirlsLead.org for more information on girl-centered advocacy. 

Here are two different links about Let Girls Lead and the work that has been doing on around the world to change how girls are seen in the world.

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Making-a-difference/Change-Agent/2015/0313/Let-Girls-Lead-helps-to-reform-a-marriage-law

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2015/feb/26/girl-activists-child-marriage-malawi-let-girls-lead

On The Frontline - Fighting Malaria In Uganda

According to the World Health Organization, "in 2013, malaria caused an estimated 584,000 deaths (with an uncertainty range of 367,000 to 755,000), mostly among African Children." 198 million cases of malaria were reported to the CDC in 2013. With those numbers, that means a child dies every minute from malaria and most of the deaths are children under the age of five years. Hospitals records show that malaria is responsible for 30 to 50 of the all the outpatient visits in Africa. However, the United States sees less than 20,000 cases per year and most of them are from tourist who return home with Malaria. Here in Uganda, Malaria claims the lives of 70,000 - 110,000 Ugandans a year.

So what is malaria may you say? Well, Malaria is a life-threatening disease that is transmitted from infected mosquitoes to people. Not all mosquitoes carry the parasites; it is the only ones who are infected. It is something that affects people around the word in countries that have not been able to get to a point where they have removed most of the mosquitoes that carry it like the us has.

Below is a map of the Ugandan Malaria Transmission. As you can see Fort Portal is in the low transmission level yellow.

In the Kabarole District there are not many mosquitoes and the ones I do find are slow, large, big, and easy to kill. They are also not the ones that can carry malaria - those have checkered colored legs.  During the dry season there are only a few and during the rainy season there tends to be more of them but only when it is dry for a couple days after a big rain. I am currently in Kampala and I see a lot more of them buzzing around. Fort Portal is higher up in altitude and also cooler in climate, which mosquitoes do not like. Fort Portal is around 55/60 degrees currently. 

The Ugandan Government did a national bed net distribution a little over a year ago but of course most people never got them (either people sold the bed nets, gov’t officials made people pay for them when they were suppose to be free, they never got to people deep in the villages, or they were sold them for profit and so on). Most people I talk to do not use bed nets or they have one bed net for the whole household. The funny thing about malaria here is that most people get it but most people do not get tested or only go to the doctors when it gets really bad so there is not a very clear idea of if someone actually has malaria. They also view everything that makes them sick as either malaria or the flu.

Peace Corps Volunteers in Uganda and around the world are always educating people on Malaria as it is one of our main goals as health volunteers to lower the rate of infected people. We work to provide people with information about what to look for, treatment options, and also looking at ways of preventing malaria. My first second term health talk will be about Malaria in June. In Peace Corps, the whole month of April all the way through May 15^th is the Peace Corps Malaria Challenge with its Stomp Out Malaria campaigns. This is when PCV’s get points and awards for doing various activities and events that engage the local people in malaria prevention. I have had the opportunity to be a Malaria Champion for the West and Southwest, who keeps track of the activities and points PCV's do in the communities and I have to say I am so impressed and proud of the volunteers who have done activities they are amazing and so inspiring! According to Stomp Out Malaria Peace Corps Uganda, "Collectively, Volunteers and their counterparts reached a total of 18,053 individuals, and an additional 11,039,800 through mass communication channels." We are planting the seeds of change one individual at a time. SO COOL!

  

I love my bed net just like I love my pit latrine. I sleep under a bed net every night as it keeps the mosquitoes, spiders, and any other creepy crawly thing that comes along in the night away from me as I snooze! Many of our fellow PCV's have gotten malaria one time or another here in Uganda but all the West PCV's myself included have yet to get malaria (I don't plan on getting it while I am here) but even though the Fort Portal area does not get very many mosquitoes that does not mean we won't be there to help and educate in anyway we can. Malaria needs to be stopped.

Happy Fighting And Ending Malaria Month!

Peace Corps Youth Technical Training

At the beginning of April, my counterpart Patrick and I along with two students had the opportunity to attend the first every Peace Corps Uganda Youth Technical Training in Mbarara. They were designed to get youth from all different backgrounds and cultures thinking about about issues they face daily in Uganda and come up with ways to tackle them. One of the ways was students and youth lead clubs at schools and in their communities.

Kayesu Moureen from Kiko Primary School and Busiinge Kenneth from Kyanawara Primary School attending with Patrick and myself. Below are some photos from the event! It was a great time and the kids really enjoyed all the experience they gained from that one week in Mbarara.

Moureen and Kenneth

Both of the kids got to learn about permagardening a great way to create gardens that are sustainable and profitable for communities.

The Whole Group From Across the West and Southwest Uganda

Patrick Digging The Permagarden

The Group Of KFSP Schools - Kyakatara, Kyanyawara, Kiko, and Kigarama Primary Schools

The KFSP Group

Working On Presentations

Demonstrating What Type Of Club Each Of The Kids Will Be Doing

At The Equator

Celebrating Earth Day In Uganda

The Kibale Forest Schools Program staff and U.N.I.T.E for the environment along with other environment conservation organizations gathered together to celebrate Earth Day in Bigodi.

The day started off with a football game with Nyabweya Primary School and Bigodi Schools. Of course they forgot to tell us that they would be pulling girls from the Bigodi secondary schools so it was slightly unfair but our primary girls did a fabulous and had some great saves and we only lost 6-0. I guess previous years had been 19-1 and 18-0 all won by U.N.I.T.E... am I the only one who sees a pattern here? Anyways...

Nyabweya Primary School Girls Football Team

After the football match, we headed over to the KFSP stand which the conservation education section of KFSP talked with kids and adults about the environment and the water project.

Patrick and I handed out STOP Malaria pictures for children to color and did a couple handwashing demos and did a few talks on Malaria with groups of children and also repaired bed nets.

Hope and I Coloring!

KFSP Staff

It was a great busy day getting to meet other environmental conservation organizations from the Fort Portal area but getting to hang out with children who normally do not get to color or do fun activities was the best part of the day.

KFSP Staff Photo L to R: James, Pamela, Myself, Max, Dr. Emily, Patrick, James, and Hope.

Patrick Talking To The Students About Malaria As They Fix Bed Nets

Bed Net Repair

A Young Boy Coloring

More Coloring - We Handed Out Around 325 Pictures

STOP Malaria

Patrick and I Demonstrating Handwashing

People Of All Ages Came To Repair Bed Nets

This Young Girl Wanted To Show Me Her Picture

A Lake By The Name Of Bunyonyi

This past weekend, my roommate Max and I took a trip to the lake to celebrate our birthdays early. We are both May babies and with both of our birthdays coming up, we are both going to be out of town for the 15^th and 20^th or more like I will be gone both of them - actually traveling on a bus both days now that I come to think of it. So we thought okay lets take a trip now and so we went south to Lake Bunyonyi. We rented a car and Max got to experience the world of Ugandan driving with his favorite front seat driver Katelyn who finally just closed her eyes to not have to freak out every time Max got close to a motorcycle or pedestrian. He is a good driver don’t get me wrong it was just both Max's and my controlfreakness had a hard time keeping its mouths shut. I do thank him for all the driving though!

DRIVING IN UGANDA!

We drove down on Friday morning and arrived in only about 6.5 hours  (would have been 10 to 12 hours by public) with a pit stop in Mbarara for lunch at Café Ark - YUM. Lake Bunyonyi is located between Kabale and Kisoro close to the Rwandan Boarder.

Canoeing Out To Our Island

We had to canoe to get to our little island which Max was excited for and I was at first but well I prefer to not have to work for shelter and about half way I wanted to just lie down and be lazy which I did of course. It took us about an hour to get to the little island via canoe. Our Island, Itambira Island is home to a small eco camp Byonna Amagara which works to be environmentally friendly and does a great job at it. There were very few people there at the camp which was nice and we chatted up all of them. We also had a whole dorm room to ourselves. Check out their website Byoona Amagara Island Retreat

Me Paddling In The Front

Our first evening was just relaxing and recovering from traveling. I had been under the weather for most of the week so it was really the first meal and rest I had all week. They served lots of American style of foods and also American sized portions which for me was way too much as living here I have been eating way less than I do in America. Max kept making the comment of how little I was eating but for me what I was eating was perfect!

Our First Evening On The Island

The sunset behind the hills and clouds of Lake Bunyoni was wonderful and Max and I chilled just enjoying for the first time in months a relaxing weekend. We also made up our minds that we would not talk about work until we got back home and we only talked about work two times that whole weekend which was great!

Which Way Should We Go?

Ugandan Cray Fish

The next morning dawned chilly and slightly grey. Our morning walk which took us about 30/40 minutes to walk around the island. We meet a young guy who was catching Ugandan cray fish. The island is connected to another half of the island which they are building more tourist sites. After our walk we set up shop in Byoona Amagara's library and began reading as the rain started to fall. I ended up spending most of the morning reading and then going and taking a nap until lunch time as it was perfect sleeping weather.

 

Hiking Around The Island

After a wonderful lunch we just chilled in their main area/dinning room and started talking with a young man from Switzerland who was working for Johnson & Johnson doing a trial run in Rwanda and had been all over the world in his 27-years. He had traveled to Uganda when he was 17 years old and was in Gulu during the LRA control in the north. He said that was something he never mentioned to his parents. Such an interesting guy with lots of information on traveling and adventure. But also super smart working on his PhD.

I spent the afternoon reading and watching all the different types of birds around the island. There are so many different kinds and it was hard to not get distracted with them flying around or coming up to you looking for food. Lake Bunyonyi actually means 'Place of many little birds' and there are lots of little birds there as well as large ones. There are 29 different islands in the lake and it is rumored to be anywhere between 144ft and 2,952ft deep in places. It runs 15.5 miles long and is 1.4 miles wide. It was formed when a lava flow blocked the water flow at one end of the lake creating a dam. People get around via canoe or motorboat. A couple of the islands actually have people living on them with houses, schools, health clinics. One of the islands has wildlife living on it. There is one island called the punishment island were they would bring the girls who got pregnant and leave them to die there... okay it does take two to tango so where was the island for the guys who got the girls pregnant? They say they do not use it anymore but I guess you can still meet girls who where put there who knows if it is actually true or not.

The May Birthday Babies!

Well after a great relaxing weekend we paddled our canoe back to the mainland and drove back in the rain but it was a really fun adventure with my dear roommate!