Three weeks down already… how the time flies

It is strange to think that we have already been here for three weeks although Uganda already feels like home to me now. The incredible people we meet and their hospitality has made the transition easy. Since being here in Ishaka, Daryl, Jessica and I have been busy. Our days consist of going out into the field and conducting structured qualitative interviews. I absolutely love going into communities and interacting with people. We are learning a great deal about the barriers people face when accessing quality health care. It astonishes me how open and generous everyone we have talked to have been. They are always willing to talk and have been very candid. When we are not in the field interacting with the community, we are at home creating interview guides and spending hours transcribing our interviews. While it is a lot of hard work, I feel incredibly fortunate to have this opportunity to do work that will benefit the community. After completing our research, our ultimate goal is to make recommendations to Ishaka Health Plan so they can implement these recommendations at Akashanda Health Center.

Of course our time in Uganda has not been all work. We are also doing a lot to enjoy our time here. We went to Mbarara two weeks ago and our trip was filled with a day of walking around, visiting local markets, shopping and eating great food. Mbarara is a big city especially compared to where we live so it was really great and refreshing to just enjoy the commotion of the big city. Just last night, we went to a fundraising event hosted by students from Kampala International University. We had a great time enjoying the cultural shows and skits followed by a night of dancing to local music.

Since today is Father’s Day, I want to dedicate this post to all the incredible fathers in the world who are role models to their children. I want to say Happy Father’s Day to my amazing father and to all other fathers who might be reading this post.

Thanks for reading my blog. Stay tuned for my next blog entry as I describe my time at Queen Elizabeth Park where I will be going on my very first Safari.

Take care and enjoy the pictures below.

Eyerusalem 

The delicious steak with mushrooms and onions I had at Mbarara. It is really rate to find mushrooms here so I was ecstatic to say the least.

Delicious Chapati with East African Honey and bananas for breakfast (kinda a staple here). Loving the food here clearly.

               

Incredible cultural performance by students from Kampala International University

Who would have thought that I would be enjoying a salsa performance in Ishaka, but another great performance by students from Kampala International University. I take salsa classes so this was a little slice of home away from home.