Bitter sweet ending

This is our farewell blog entry. SO much has happened in the last few weeks of our project, but unfortunately we had no electricity for a long period of time and had to conserve our computer time for report writing, etc.

We have all left Mbarara: Hershel and Rocky are in Tanzania right now and I am currently in Kampala. It is so strange to be away from our ‘home’ for the past 2 months. We had a wonderful time there and I am so sad to be leaving my friends back in Mbarara.

The last weekend was so good: we spent some time preparing to give out goats, and Leanne and Laura started giving out goats. We were also fortunate that Hilda was able to organize some children from the parishes to come and we gave them some clothes, shoes, frisbees and letters from children in Canada. It was incredible: no matter what size of shoe we gave a child to try on, they said it fit immediately, even if it was obviously too large or too small. They were also very excited to play with the Frisbees and were keen to write letters back to the kids in Canada. I think it was a wonderful experience.

We also finished up working with the paravets, having the supertrainers meet some of our partners in town and do a training session at NARO. They were excited, as was I, about partnering with an organization that they could share information with, and do training sessions with in the future when we leave.

I also spoke with Dr. Lagu Charles, the vet at NARO, and he advised me that in the future we should make sure that we talk to the paravets and beneficiaries first before we start a project. He suggested that we ask them how it can be sustainable and how they will carry on the work after we leave, so that they take some ownership of the work. Otherwise, he said that they would think it is the mzungu’s work and nothing would be done after we leave. I think we emphasized this to the paravets, but that it is a key point to pass on to future Vets Without Borders volunteers.

Lastly, in the past few weeks we have experienced Ugandan generosity and hospitality. We were invited to several places for dinner, mostly at the paravets, and they made so much delicious food. And it was very special food, as we were served meat which most people eat once a week, if that. On top of that, they all had gifts for us. It was so touching, and I was moved by their formal speeches to wish us farewell.

It is beyond words how much the people here have touched our lives. We all have such good memories to take away with us, and aspirations to keep in contact and possibly return, hopefully soon, to see everyone again.

Bitter sweet ending

This is our farewell blog entry. SO much has happened in the last few weeks of our project, but unfortunately we had no electricity for a long period of time and had to conserve our computer time for report writing, etc.

We have all left Mbarara: Hershel and Rocky are in Tanzania right now and I am currently in Kampala. It is so strange to be away from our ‘home’ for the past 2 months. We had a wonderful time there and I am so sad to be leaving my friends back in Mbarara.

The last weekend was so good: we spent some time preparing to give out goats, and Leanne and Laura started giving out goats. We were also fortunate that Hilda was able to organize some children from the parishes to come and we gave them some clothes, shoes, frisbees and letters from children in Canada. It was incredible: no matter what size of shoe we gave a child to try on, they said it fit immediately, even if it was obviously too large or too small. They were also very excited to play with the Frisbees and were keen to write letters back to the kids in Canada. I think it was a wonderful experience.

We also finished up working with the paravets, having the supertrainers meet some of our partners in town and do a training session at NARO. They were excited, as was I, about partnering with an organization that they could share information with, and do training sessions with in the future when we leave.

I also spoke with Dr. Lagu Charles, the vet at NARO, and he advised me that in the future we should make sure that we talk to the paravets and beneficiaries first before we start a project. He suggested that we ask them how it can be sustainable and how they will carry on the work after we leave, so that they take some ownership of the work. Otherwise, he said that they would think it is the mzungu’s work and nothing would be done after we leave. I think we emphasized this to the paravets, but that it is a key point to pass on to future Vets Without Borders volunteers.

Lastly, in the past few weeks we have experienced Ugandan generosity and hospitality. We were invited to several places for dinner, mostly at the paravets, and they made so much delicious food. And it was very special food, as we were served meat which most people eat once a week, if that. On top of that, they all had gifts for us. It was so touching, and I was moved by their formal speeches to wish us farewell.

It is beyond words how much the people here have touched our lives. We all have such good memories to take away with us, and aspirations to keep in contact and possibly return, hopefully soon, to see everyone again.

Retrospections

Today we essentially finished our contribution to the clostridial vaccination as the second (booster) round is done. In addition to vaccinating, we have been taking blood samples for Brucellosis testing and distributing seeds. Each beneficiary received a mixed package of fruit and vegetable seeds including, cabbage, carrot, dodo, tomato, swiss chard, and papaya. We also handed out two species of forage trees for goats, to improve future feeding… Funny how human health and animal health is almost identical… You get out what you put in.

Today, we tackled one of the largest parishes and went around in three separate teams even though we only had 2 vets. One of the paravets was so competent last time, that we sent that one out alone to complete some vaccinations. This paravet is HIV positive and hasn’t been well lately. When I asked that paravet how s/he was feeling, a “comme ci comme ca” impression was given. Minutes later, we went to the local drug store where one of our beneficiaries was flat out on an IV quinine drip for malaria and very ill. All around us are reasons why people don’t live to the ripe old age of 70 something that Canadians enjoy. Instead, here, survival is a challenge physically, mentally and biologically. Impermance is a reality that we all must come to accept at some point in our lives, whether we are religious or not.

Francis and I finished our section early and went to his birthplace (in Kasaana where we were) where a “give away” party was being cleaned up. A bride was given away as property, as they have been for a long time. I sat down with the locals in Francis’ uncle’s house and greeted them in Runyankore and they thought I could speak their language briefly. After eating some cow’s hoof and matoke, discussions broke out. One young man asked me for a job and I told him that I could provide no job, but one idea is to get his hands on a device that can squeeze the juice out of sugar cane… Coca cola seems to be the only one capitalizing on that here and now. Then, I asked the men (women busy working) about their thoughts on drinking goat’s milk, as I knew this was a touchy topic. Some laughed, but after the young man, which I’d previously discussed it with went off listing reasons, they listened quietly in a drunken daze. Some benefits of having dairy goats are that people on small farms (most Ugandans) can raise a dairy goat with their land’s productivity whereas, they couldn’t a cow. Goats can handle dry conditions better and can eat a wider variety of food… The milk is just as nutritious as cows’ milk and they are easier/safer to handle. As I mentioned, these men were drunk and likely contribute little to the farm most days. It seems overwhelmingly true that in general, the women do the work here. Of course, there are exceptions.

Nemesis Overpopulation

Yesterday in Kitooha I was driving some of our paravets towards the next beneficiaries house and I asked them some questions to gain an understanding of the local mentality. I asked, “What do you think will happen if each woman continues to have 10 children each?” They replied that everyone would be more impoverished. I then asked how many children they each want to have and their answer was as many as possible. Francis described the Kasaana parish to me as it was when he was a child, as a jungle with few people and buildings in good shape . Now the landscape is dominated by matoke plantations and grass hilltops for grazing. Essentially, the only standing trees are for fruits or fire. What is the carrying capacity of this land and what future do these people have if their goals are to have as many children as possible?

They described how a man will leave a woman for another if she doesn’t produce many, many children. There are many underlying social norms that drive the culture here and only as we finish our time here are we beginning to understand the complexity.

Vets Without Borders with Hilda (Ugandan), Global Vets and of course Max the dog at FAOC.

Grim days

This morning I began to realize that everything is not really how you perceive it. I was running along the road, with the word mzungu ringing in my ears wherever I went. And usually when I am running during the week I see children walking to school, and they smile so widely when I greet them in the local language. Some of them even run alongside me, laughing because everything us mzungus do is strange. Of course they are not out of breath as I usually am running up the hills, and they are usually running in their bare feet!
This morning, however, I saw many people, unsmiling, and several of them who had disabilities and some who did not seem to be mentally present. I noticed the tattered clothes and worn condition of the children’s outfits. It seemed that all the negative aspects of the living conditions were highlighted to me this morning. They were probably there before I just didn’t notice it!
My friend here in Uganda asked me if I would really like to know everything that goes on in Uganda. We are here, only for a short period of time really, and we have seen only the tip of the iceberg. There are so many undertones of every day life that we are not aware of. I had to think when he asked me that question. Do we really want to know what’s going on, or do we want to see things from a personal perspective of how they should be?
It seems as though each day your outlook on life determines what you see. If you are in a positive frame of mind, everything seems to be right with the world, and when you are in a negative frame of mind you find a lack of hope in the world.
Often times we have the feeling that we work and work and still we see no results. But if you think this way, you will give up and not pursue further action. When we are running our training sessions, even if one beneficiary gets something out of it, I think we are making a change. We have to start somewhere.
Compared to home, things happen a lot slower here, but we must not underestimate the impact we are having, although having a realistic perspective is also key. It is the same as at home; you are not going to change people’s minds and attitudes overnight, it takes a lot of convincing and good solid evidence before they will change their management practices.

The Goat Train

One of the objectives of our project is to identify people and their families who will be next in line to receive goats, and then provide goats to them. So far mostly local meat goat breeds have been distributed. Last week 16 of these local meat goats were given out to 8 beneficiaries.

We have also been trying to identify beneficiaries that want and have the capacity to care for dairy goats, which require more intensive management. Milk from dairy goats can provide much needed dietary supplementation for children, women, and immunocomprimised or HIV positive individuals. When well managed dairy goats can be used to produce wealth for beneficiaries when extra milk not consumed by the family is sold or via selling dairy goat offspring, which command a higher market value than meat goats. In our parishes, there is a stigma against drinking goat’s milk (versus cow’s milk) mostly because it is largely a novel concept for most people in Uganda. For different reasons, dairy goat introductions to the parishes have been met with challenges and varying degrees of success. Some beneficiaries have simply not been managing the animals well – feeding them improperly, failing to keep them zero-grazed (bringing all their food to their pens to reduce disease acquired during grazing), or failing to keep breeding records or failing to even breed them at all.

Just as beneficiaries have been selected to receive goats, the paravets that we are training have been selected by their communities to help them manage their goats into the future. Like the beneficiaries, the paravets are community members, but in addition to receiving goats themselves they are also trained in livestock husbandry and then equipped with tools to manage their own goats as well as those of their community. Beneficiaries and paravets are often widowed parents, usually mothers or grandmothers, often with orphan children. Many of the paravets are widowed as a result of AIDS and some are HIV positive themselves.

One HIV positive paravet recently stepped down from her position as she was too busy with other pursuits. The other day I paid her farm a visit to inspect the dairy goat that she was given. In most cases dairy goats given out to beneficiaries have not yet been producing any milk either because they have been too poorly managed, are simply not being bred, or are still not mature enough to produce milk. This dairy goat was a welcomed successful exception. The paravet had been taking excellent records of her goat. Five months earlier her goat kidded a healthy male and has been producing milk ever since. She kept daily record of morning and evening milkings that showed that during the first few months between 2-5 litres of milk a day was being collected. Not only was this milk an important supplement to her own diet, but also for her many children.

It has become evident that despite all our efforts here with our Ugandan goat project only a little of what we accomplish may actually be sustained into the future. But it is stories like that of the paravet above that give a glimmer of hope that what is being established here by our efforts, from those before us, and by those that will come to contribute in the future, will continue to provide benefit to the local communities long after we are gone.

Pig training day with Purinari, Hilda, and company.
Dancing with the beneficiaries after training session in Kyera.
Goat pass-out ceremony.

week 5

This week we had a lot of fun! Things have been moving along well, but it still feels like we have a mountain of tasks to tackle. On Monday, I went to Kaberebere to seek out some goats to give to beneficiaries. It was more of a wild goat chase, but still fun to be out in the field working with our co-workers Joseph and Hilda. I also worked with the global vets girls on a silage project. They worked all day chopping grass by hand, and at the end of the day I, Hilda and Joseph spent about 3 hours helping them. We chopping napier grass with a machete on a tree trunk into ¼” pieces and we only filled less than a quarter of the silage pit with chopped napier grass. I felt like it was a lost cause, but the girls filled me with ambition and hope.
On Tuesday, we had training on how to manage dairy goats in the morning, and then a celebration for the day of the African child in the afternoon. Three schools participated and we had some speeches, the kids sang some sad songs about losing loved ones to AIDS, then we had some fun games at the end. I organized a relay race where the children put on two articles of baggy, adult clothes, and had to carry an egg on a spoon to the end and back, then switch with their teammate until all four team members were finished. They were shrieking with excitement and it was hard to keep them under control.
Wednesday, Rocky and I spent the day in town while Hersh did the dirty work in the field. We got supplies, did some brucella testing of the goats we were to buy for the beneficiaries, and visited our friend Godwin, a principal of a local primary school.
Thursday we did meat goat training in the Kyera parish. It was also a rewarding experience, as the beneficiaries had a lot of knowledge and we had a lot of fun doing skits for them, and interacting with them. The ladies sang and played the drums after we arrived, and were waiting for everyone to show up. In Africa, you set the time to start as 9am, and some people don’t even show up until 11am! It is amusing and also difficult when you are planning an event. We gave out two meat goats each to 8 beneficiaries in the Kyera district, the newest addition to the project. They were so grateful and we had a ceremony where formal speeches were made, we said a few words to the women, and as is tradition, we participated in some dancing and singing. We met a very smart boy (man) of 21 years old who knows a lot and can speak many languages: in addition to many Ugandan languages he knows French, and he knows English better than I do. He taught me a few sayings including ‘be good to your friends on the way up, because you will meet them again on your way down’.
On Friday I spent the day with Innocent and Purinari in Nyamuyanja looking at pigs with them. It was also very rewarding to work with the paravets as they had no previous training in pig medicine. I am looking forward to the next week and to find out what adventures/challenges we will meet.

Pictures

Hershel taking a jugular blood sample for Brucellosis testing in goats before they are bought. Brucellosis is an important reproductive disease of goats and can be spread to humans.

Hershel kidding around...

Dr. William from the District Veterinary Office with a herd at the Goat Breeding Workshop for local farmers. This Workshop focussed on a breeding nucleus where bucks would be sent to be exchanged between regions in order to maintain genetic diversity (prevent inbreeding).

Some of our beneficiaries in their land on a hot, lovely afternoon. Amazing how quickly they can get around barefoot on the rocky slopes.

Pam working with FAOC and paravet to vaccinate a goat against Clostridial disease.

Rocky, a quick draw...

Hershel and Janet, one of our excellent paravets on the way between farms, with cold vaccine in hand.

Ugandan people

It has now been 3.5 weeks since I arrived in Kampala. And we have been working for 3 weeks. The time has gone by incredibly fast, probably because I am enjoying myself so much. This week was very exciting, on Tuesday I was up and in town by 8am ready to pick up the vaccine. I was elated that it had finally arrived and that we were finally going to be able to vaccinate. The vaccinating days were so fun, the paravets being very helpful and doing a great job. They all have proved that they listened at the training session.
The aspect of our life here that I enjoy the most is the people whom we have met. Hilda, the program officer, is an amazing woman. She is truly an African woman, working so hard every day. The women here work extremely hard, when I go for runs in the early morning I find them all working in the field while the men go into town to work (or do whatever else to keep busy). And here, they do not have the luxuries that we have when cleaning, cooking and farming. Each time we make a meal we have to start the charcoal stove, which takes at least 15-20 mins (not like turning on a stove burner), then you have only one little stove (about the size of a stove burner) to cook on, so usually we make katoga, which means everything together in one pot. The other day I also washed our car with Milton, a friend of ours. He was insistant upon helping me, and so we drove down to the lake and hand washed the car, with a cloth and bucket and hand soap: no fancy pressure washer. It took some time to make it look nice, especially to wash off the stubborn red dirt that we accumulate during our field work.
Doing laundry is also a workout: no washing machines my friend.
Although everything is a lot of work, it makes you appreciate what we have and realize that we don't need a lot of the tools that we use. As long as you have a lot of time and a bit of patience.
Some mornings I get up, help Hilda sweep, do my laundry then start the charcoal stove and boil some milk from the milk man for African tea. I like being an African woman, and hope that when I return home I will appreciate the luxuries we are blessed with and remember how strong my African counterparts are.

super-white-stars

After our first real big day in the field we are all tired, dirty and smelling of goat, but satisfied from a great day of hands-on good-feeling work. We set out in the morning in a convoy of two vehicles along with the Global Vets crew who will be joining and assisting with our efforts over the next three weeks. Their help was much appreciated as we realized today how big of a mission will be to vaccinate (twice 3-4 wks apart) and tag all of our 1600 goats. If this many goats were all on one farm as is often the case with livestock in Canada, this could easily be done in a day. However, there are only a few goats owned by each beneficiary and each family seems to live down a distant, barely passable red dirt path. Then, when we arrive at where the goats ought to be penned we learn that we are to wait while the goats are gathered up from surrounding pastures. So, although we accomplished much of what we hoped to, even with the extra crew, we still fell short of our goal and realized that vaccination will take an extra few days longer than planned.
During our rounds throughout the parishes we’ve been greeted with openness and generosity by the locals. Often, the amount of attention that we get here in Uganda, especially in rural areas, just because we are white is not only a little overwhelming, but also mystifying. The children especially go wild every time we ‘Muzungu’ drive by. It often feels as if we are Hollywood stars driving past a crowd of screaming fans. Except we have not acted in any movies or had any records go platinum. We just happened to be born with lighter skin pigment and are fortunate enough to be born into a stable, wealthy nation. If a real, famous and black celebrity like Micheal Jordan or Morgan Freeman were to drive by these same children, there would be no response from the kids at all as they would probably just assume them to be fellow Ugandans, instead of the white-skinned average westerners that they get all riled up for. Francis, our local interpreter and FAOC accountant, put it well today by jokingly asking whether he would receive the same response from children were he to visit Canada. More likely to a Canadian child he would just represent another adult that all their parents have warned their kids not to talk to, not because he is black, but because he is a ‘stranger’.

Visits to Millenium Village and Godwins Junior Christian School

Thursday May 28

After meeting with Dr. Louis Aziku, the veterinarian in charge of livestock in the local United Nations Development Programme Millenium Village we went there together. The Millenium Village seeks to improve many aspects of society in areas identified to have the greatest need. In Ruhira, the UNDP's involvement supported schools, health centres, road infrastructure, water catching, and building infrastructure for animal management.

Although I'm sure the people in this area's situation has improved substantially, I question how sustainable such high inputs by the UNDP are? Dr. Aziku mentioned that family planning is an important part of health centres. However, with already dense subsistence farms blanketing the landscape and disproportionately large numbers of children, overpopulation strikes me as a concern.

With Dr. Aziku, we visited a few well built goat demonstration pens, built by UNDP and owned by local farmers. Dr. Aziku filled us in on how the farmers work their farms and the different forages fed to goats. We interviewed some farmers to get an idea of how much labour and time is required to feed his goats. One farmer reported that he spends 1.5 hours per day feeding his goats. (By bringing feed to goats in the pens, there are exposed to fewer worm eggs and other diseases)

Friday May 29

A week before, we were eating lunch in town and met Godwin, a principal of a school who invited us to visit his school. As we chatted with him we discovered that he has his own orphan children, in addition to the hundreds he supports with his work.

On May 29 am we went for the Friday assembly which involved outdoor prayer songs via microphone, synthesizer and musically talented teachers. After some time of song and prayer, Godwin introduced us and we described how we are Canadian Vet Doctors and visiting Uganda to help orphan children by helping goats in the hands of those who care for orphans. Godwin asked who of the children is an orphan and a dozen or so hands went up. Pam and Rocky mentioned that I play guitar, and they suggested I play a song... so I played the Hornby Song after describing where Hornby Island is. The children and teachers sang along (unlike North Americans tendencies) and seemed to enjoy it. Towards the end, Godwin mentioned that goat's milk is very healthy and invited us back to teach some nutriation and other subjects.

In Uganda, goat's milk is not very common and somewhat taboo to drink. There is some work to be done in order to create demand for goat's milk among the local people and in the cities. Such education is one of our next challenges. Today (Sat.) we found out that the delivery of our vaccine is slightly delayed...

Training Day Pictures

Due to spotty internet access we've had some trouble uploading pictures.... Let's see how many we can get going now. This first picture is of us with FAOC staff and our paravets shortly after doing our training session on vaccination. The day was a great success as Pam described...

The Big Training Day

Yesterday we headed out of Mbarara to the village of Kiberebere to meet with the paravets from all of the parishes and do a one day training session on vaccinating. We are planning to vaccinate around 1600 goats in the next week upon the arrival of our vaccine in Mbarara.
Immediately when we arrived at around 10am there were a bunch of people gathered outside the hall. My stomach was churning with butterflies as I wasn’t sure how they would receive our presentation. They were very happy to see us, and extended a very warm welcome to us when we arrived. A few spoke English, most spoke only a little but their smiles and gestures said it all. We started out chatting, then we sang a song for them that we had made up about Kaberebere, which means ‘let them come and see for themselves’. It is a really cool name. They sang along with us, and then once everyone arrived we moved into the hall to start the training (the people from far away took longer, and we are on African time so nothing starts at the time you set).
With the help of Hilda, Francis, and our friend Sajja who acted as our translator, we had a good discussion about sudden death in goats. We explained to them in a simple manner what we are going to vaccinate against, and how. It is difficult to explain such a topic as clostridial disease to someone who does not speak English, and who has not learned in depth about the immune system. They were very good though and when we asked them questions after each concept, they all responded with correct answers. And they asked us some very good questions, which means they were absorbing the information as well as understanding and attempting to figure out the process themselves.
We had a wonderful lunch made by a local woman named Margaret, who made matoke, sweet potatoes, cassava, g-nut sauce, dodo, bean sauce and many other local dishes. The paravets all ate with their hands, but we wimped out and used forks. There were some real characters in the group. All of them were very sharp, but a few of them were really keen. Innocent, a paravet from Nyamuyanja parish asked a ton of questions. And Ibriham is another very swift learner. We gave them some dewormer, and every time they were grateful to us they would clap 6 times, put their hands together and motion towards us, sending us their thanks. We would then respond by opening our arms then drawing them in, as if we were hugging ourselves, to accept their appreciation.
About the end of the day there was a paravet named Nakate who made up a song about us, in which she thanked all the Canadian vets for training the paravets. It was a beautiful song in Runyankore, the local language. We talked a bit more with them about some of the issues they are facing, and what further training they would like, which we said we would be happy to work on.
The best part of the day for me was when we asked the paravets if we could have a hug before they left, and they all laughed and came up to us for a farewell hug.
At the end of the day when Hersh, Rocky and I were reflecting on the training session, we all agreed that we were so impressed with the enthusiasm and learning capabilities of the paravets. It is exciting that we will be working closely with them in the next 2 months.

Simon Says

At the end of our first week on the project we were given a reminder by a well spoken local Ugandan named Simon that we met at a tea house than we ought to see his country from beyond the confines of our project. I had mentioned that essentially we arrived into Uganda and hit the ground running in terms of getting right down to work on our project. In a way I was proud to be able to say that I was not simply a tourist and was here to contribute and do ‘important’ work. Yet Simon had a different perspective. He was concerned that too many ‘Muzungos’ (foreigners) come to his country with similar, altruistic objectives and so are often exposed only to what he deems as the uglier side of Uganda – poverty, HIV/AIDS, ect… . When these expatriates go back home they report of their experiences, and as a result, Simon explains that Uganda is too often portrayed to the rest of this world only in this negative image. Simon encouraged us to remove our heads from the dirt and go explore the beautiful parts of Uganda that he and his countrymen are so obviously proud of. Not that we were going to forever ignore the fact that there are Parks teaming with African flora and fauna within a short drive of our base here in Mbarara, but there is nothing like a little local encouragement to help us appreciate Uganda for all that it has to offer.
So, this weekend we visited Lake Mburo National Park to get our first exposure to the wilds of Africa. You know you are in Africa when zebra and impala are darting across the red earth road on which you drive! In the park we met up with Dr. Siefert (wildlife vet) and the Global Vets crew who were working on projects such as tracking down and trapping an injured Leopard. We spent the night tenting in the park, but unlike Hershel and Pam, I came unprepared with only a flimsy blanket (courtesy of Air Canada) - I was to learn the hard way that African nights are starkly chilly compared to the day. Aside from trying to make my miniature blanket stretch across my shivering body, I spent much of the rest of the night listening to warthogs snorting outside the tent and to branches snapping and rustling, wondering whether each rustling bush might shortly turn into a lion visiting my tent. But surprise, I made it through the night with no lion induced injuries. We had a blast in the park and are now ready to get back to work here in Mbarara.

Ticks, tuberculosis and typhoid

In the past week since we arrived in Africa, we have learned a little about the numerous diseases that are found here in the tropics. It is unreal. And I have had to venture out of my comfort zone in many instances, for example picking huge ticks off our resident dog, Max, and using the dirty pit latrines that are common at restaurants and petrol stations here. It is difficult to become accustomed to dealing daily with animals and people who have been or are currently affected by these diseases.
And yet in our country we are very fortunate that these diseases are not as prevalent. We have cold winters that break the cycle of many diseases and we have lower number s of vectors in our environment. The African people have very strong immune systems. I was having a conversation with two Ugandan men, and they were saying that they have developed immunity to many of the diseases that we are vaccinated against when we come here. The minister at the church we visited also was a world traveler and pointed out that Muzungos (white people) bring drugs when they come to Africa to prevent Malaria in case that one mosquito bites them and gives them the ominous, threatening malaria. It was quite amusing to me, that we are so delicate in this country compared to Ugandans.
Then we began to chat with a fellow with an animal science diploma at the National Agriculture Research organization, and he was telling us about differences between their local goat breeds and the exotic Boer goat from South Africa. They brought the Boer goat in from South Africa for its high growth rate, increased birth rate and good meat quality. However, they find that the Boer goats are more susceptible to parasitism and other diseases compared to the local goats.
So there appears to be a parallel between the Boer goats and us Muzungos. It is important to become accustomed to your surroundings slowly, but not totally isolate yourself from bugs with hand sanitizer, drugs and avoiding different food, etc. It is also important to not overwhelm your system, as being sick is not fun: Rocky can attest to this as he is sick today, probably from something he ate yesterday. So our adventure continues. . .

Local Visits and Building Parnerships

Here we are at the Foundation for AIDS Orphaned Children (FAOC) in Mbarara where we are based out of. Our first few days in Mbarara have been a steep learning curve of culture and project complexities. Day by day, things are smoothing out.

This morning, after a breakfast of mango, banana and whole wheat bread from the bakery, the three of us set off with Francis from FAOC to meet with organizations in Mbarara. Our first stop was NARO (National Agricultural Research Organization). We first spoke with the farm manager who described to us what NARO does. Then the animal health technician Tugume showed us the goats on the research farm and described what he does. We then spoke with the director of the Mbarara office and got down to the meat and taters of our visit. Previously FAOC had partnered with NARO and we were visiting to expand the partnership to our work with Veterinarians Without Borders now, and in the future. The front of NARO's pamphlet reads "Responding to Farmers' Needs 2009", which coincides well with our goals. In the short term, our work stems from our Clostridial vaccination program which begins next week with our paravet training session on May 26. Shortly after that, we plan to vaccinate up to 1600 goats for Clostridial diseases. The logistics behind doing this involve transporting the vaccine through Coopers Uganda from South Africa to where we are. The vaccine will be transported to Kampala (Uganda's capital) and it is up to us to have it transported in a reliable and sustainable cold chain to Mbarara. The director of NARO was very encouraging that his people could transport the vaccine for us in a cold state (which is required for the vaccine to work).

Next, we were off the the chicken restaurant where the four or us ate a whole chicken with matoke (plantain bananas) with our hands. I got to eat the gizzard and Pam scored the neck. After filling up we went to the Mbarara District Veterinary Office where we discussed different diseases in the area and partnership. The were very welcoming and offered to help in general terms. The head of the office was unavailable but we'll be back there I'm sure. Now, we have much work to do to prepare for training paravets including pamphlets and demonstrations on the to dos and not to dos of vaccination.

Along the way, we are surprising the locals with the odd word of Runyankole which we've learned. I am impressed with the diversity between and within people . The average person we've been dealing with seems to speak 4-5 languages. Runyankole is like an ongoing song between all the people here... a song, which I want to sing... HF

Arrival

Greetings everyone; sorry for the delay in posting. We have not had internet access for awhile. Since the last post, Rocky joined our group on May 15. We spent the day of May 16 driving from Entebbe to Mbarara. It was an 8 hour drive for us on some good roads, and other extremely bumpy, dusty roads with crazy big trucks playing chicken with us. We soon learned the traffic rules which were basically there ARE no rules! And when a truck is signaling towards you when you are driving towards him it means get over!! We arrived safe and sound, and met Hilda, the program officer at FAOC. She is a strong woman amidst a culture where many women do not stand up for themselves. We really like Hilda and she is going to be a great help on our project. The Sunday after we arrived Hilda took us to church. I loved it. There were lots of people singing and dancing and it was their cultural Sunday so everyone was dressed up in their traditional dress. Church here is a bit different than my church in Canada. We were there for 2 hours and the service is usually around 3 hours long. The congregation welcomed us immediately, escorting us to the front row and hugging us during a song 'I don't care what tribe you are from, you're my sister, so give me a hug'. The pastor's message was powerful, telling us to celebrate diversity, and that if your neighbour looked exactly like you, life would be boring.
There are many other things that we have been up to since, and we will begin to write posts soon. We all live at the FAOC office in Mbarara, and are meeting lots of locals. Today we were in Kiberebere checking out the field office, and visiting some contact farmers. Next week on Tuesday we are going to have a training session to train the contact farmers how to give vaccines and to properly handle them. We have a lot to prepare for, and then a lot to do once our clostridial vaccines arrive.
Everywhere we go, people are asking about Dr. Kenty. They tell us what wonderful things Dr. Kenty did, and how much they miss him. A little boy came running up to us today, asking if we were Dr. Kenty. Hershel didn't understand, and he said yes and the boy flung his arms around Hersh, so excited to see Dr. Kenty. We also met Milton, another good friend of Dr. Kenty at the Lakeview hotel. We are looking forward to teaching and learning from the women just as Dr. Kenty, and hopefully keep in touch with some of them in the future.
That's all for now. . .

Arrival and the Driving Lesson

Ahh. Arrival on the other side of the world is always stunning but enjoyable. I love change and thrive on it. I arrived three nights ago and have learned much through my experiences so far. Noteably, Frank, the owner of the guesthouse we are staying at took me for a driving lesson from Entebbe to the capital Kampala and around the capital and back. Anyone who's travelled in busy developing cities has seen the kind of swerving, multiuse, potholed chaos that occurs on all roads. I passed the test with only a knocked (folded at the hinge) mirror and dehydration as battle scars.

After rotating tires and changing a sparkplug, the Suzuki Sidekick is ready for action in SW Uganda's Mbarara district. Pam arrived last night and Rocky arrives tomorrow evening and the three veterineers are off to give something back after receiving so very much in our lives.

The biodiversity here is stunning and demanding of attention. My first morning after only four hours of sleep I awoke to a bird call that I'd never heard before. Seconds later I heard a different call. Then 4, then 7, then dozens of calls that my musically trained mind could not decipher like instruments in an orchestra. I awoke to Uganda... the Pearl of Africa they say.

Time to get schooled in soccer across the street (even though I played for 13 years).

T-minus one week.

One week till departure and malaria med priming begins and final logistics are being settled. We'll be on the African continent for 3 months and then it will be time to reimmerse into the flow of Canadian/western culture. From past travels I've observed that it is not the culture shock of arriving into a foreign country that is most difficult to overcome, but rather the shock of trying to fit back in to Canadian life on return. No matter how much I have tried to prepare myself for this, there always seems to be a difficult transition back into the organisation and routine of western culture. At the very least this may mean that the travel experience has left some sort of lasting impression, which I am sure we will all be left a version of this following our voyage to come.

Preparing for take-off

It is less than 2 weeks before we fly to Uganda, to embark on our great adventure with goats in Africa. We are extremely excited as we have been preparing for more than a year to get here. Packing seems like an arduous task and we have had so much help from friends and family members that have gone to Africa. Please keep checking our blog site for updates upon arrival and as the project progresses. That's all for now!!!