Mothers Union

For the three months that we are living in Bushenyi, we are staying at Kitungu Mother's Union. We have been given a partially detached guest house on the property. It has two bedrooms (with ensuite bathrooms and cold water showers), a living room, kitchen (with a stove and even a small fridge). It is bigger than our apartment, very clean, and luxurious by local standards. We are very grateful for the generous hospitality.

The Mother's Union is the rough equivalent to the Anglican Church Women in Canada. Here in Bushenyi they are very active. They have this property with a guest house, dining hall (they usually provide room and board to their short term guests) hostels, and a meeting hall. There is also a small house near ours where the doctor stays while he is working at Bushenyi Medical Centre next door.

We have only begin to hear about some of the many activities of the Mother's Union. Lillian, the Mother's Union Worker, explained to us about some of their current ministry. We are hoping to follow her around at some point and learn more about their work. They have an ongoing prison ministry in the local prison where they bring tea once a month, visit, and teach employment skills (basket making, sewing,etc) to help the prisoners learn how to reintegrate into society. They donated a sewing machine to allow the inmates to practice these skills. Here on their property they are also running seminars to teach women marketable skills such as flower making and budget planning.

They also work in the rural communities to bring communities of women together, identify the most pressing needs of the community, and brainstorm solutions. They teach hygeine programs to minimize transfer of disease, encourage the building of latrines and clean water sources, teach about food preparation and balanced meals. They also look out for children who have been orphaned and seek to help them out by finding family connections and providing school fees in some cases. To decrease infant and maternal mortality, they encourage women to save money and plan to have their children in hospitals, not in remote villages. They speak up about issues of prostitution and cross generational sex - issues of concern here in Uganda. They have a dream of establishing a safe house for women caught in prostitution if they find the funds.

We were overwhelmed with the scope of ministry currently running out of here. When we first arrived, the Mother's Union has arranged with Rotary International to provide 45 wheelchairs free of charge to people with disabilities in the community. It seems they are busy meeting the many needs of their local community. When we told Lillian that we were interested to learn how Mother's Union assisted with women's issues, she responded by telling us that Mother's Union does not deal with only women's issues - they address family issues, which involve mothers, fathers and children and they work on human rights issues. They are truly making a difference in these communities, being the hands and feet of Christ in the midst of their families and friends.

Practicals in Ropes and Restraint

Today I taught my second lecture and taught my students restraint methods for cattle. The students here are very interested in the practical application of the information that I teach them. While many will patiently sit through my 3 hour lectures, some lose interest and come and go as they please. However, they become very interested during our practical field sessions, as they hope to perform veterinary technician-like procedures, and want to know as much as possible before graduation. They were very disappointed last week when I informed them that they could not learn how to perform a c-section in 20 minutes or less.

It has become the rainy season apparently in the last few days. So we were fortunate today that the rain stopped between 2 and 4:30 so that we could safely walk down to the farm pastures and practice rope restraint. There are no shelters in the pastures, and here everything stops when it rains. Given the short torrential outbursts of rain that happen frequently, it makes complete sense to be patient for half an hour and venture forth once the skies have cleared.

Today we learned ropes and restraint techniques for cattle. They had considerable difficulty with a square knot, but fortunately most knew how to tie sliding and quick release knots. Halters are not common use here, so I showed them how to fashion a halter out of a rope, and restrain an animal by the head.

Interestingly, they have been taught to perform most procedures (castration, dehorning, lump removal), with the animal cast on the ground. The students listened intently, although incredulously when I told them that I do many procedures on animals while they are standing. I supposed if you apply enough ropes you may be able to avoid anesthesia altogether (I am encouraging them to consider using anesthesia if they are going to be dehorning or performing other minor procedures). At any rate, I suspect the students enjoyed playing cowboy for the day. They also did not quite believe that a tail jack would stop an animal from kicking.

In reality, the cows here are even more docile than our own dairy cows. They are hand milked twice daily while standing in the field with no more restraint than rope hobbles. They are grazed routinely at the sides of roads, and are used to the constant traffic of motorbikes, cars and people. The biggest danger is their beautiful, large horns. Being used to polled and dehorned animals, I treat these with the greatest respect!

Library

Ankole Western Institute of Science and Technology has a library that it is very proud of. They have received a couple significant book shipments in the past year that have allowed them to develop an significant library, that should help them pursue their desired university status here. (Currently they are licensed as a college and can confer diplomas, but not university degrees). In reality, the library will be extensive once the books are unloaded out of the plethora of boxes, become catalogued and placed on the shelves. Jeff has promised to help them sort through the computer section. Unfortunately, people often donate older textbooks, and if the technologies are no longer available, these books are useless to anyone, but the librarian puts them on the shelves because, in order to be a university, the bookshelves must be full! But how much better if the bookshelves are filled with useful books. Jeff has promised to stop by someday and help organize the computer books into useful and non-useful books for the students.

I have been pleased to find donated textbooks from professors from the Ontario Veterinary College lining the shelves here. OVC has had a history of sending donated textbooks to other countries who request these texts. It is nice to see the other side and appreciate the value of the anatomy, physiology and other textbooks contributed by people that I know.

I spend a lot of time in the library since, other than the computer lab, it is the only space on campus to sit! I enjoy reading the newspapers and learning about Uganda News. The news here is all very local, so it is interesting to hear about Kenya, Uganda and the Congo from a local perspective. The library also has a dictionary in Lunyankole, which I occasionally consult to try to figure out words. I have since bought my own portable copy so I can pick up a little more each day.

Back to School

Monday (February 2) was the official back to school day for primary and secondary students in Uganda. (My college students have already been in school for two weeks) Many students attend boarding schools, so this also means packing up and saying good bye to family for 3 months. The stationery stores have been very busy, as have taxis and buses shuttling children to various schools over the weekend.

Parents and children greet this time with mixed emotions. Education is highly valued here, and children are anxious to go to school. However, being away from family for 3 months is difficult, and parents worry about how to care for children from a distance. There are 3 or 4 litanies of prayer for schools and students in the Anglican youth service book called Come and Worship, and we prayed many of them on Sunday. The Anglican church (and other churches) have also played a key role in establishing schools for children. This diocese has at least 100 different schools under its umbrella.

The other challenge for families around this time are school fees. The Uganda government has promised to pay primary school fees for 4 children per family. Families are still large here, so this means that many, but not all children here have the opportunity to go to school until the end of primary school. Secondary schools, however, cost approximately 300, 000 -400,000 Shillings/term/student (including books, pencils, and associated fees) This is the equivalent of $200- $275 Cdn. A night watchman may make 70-80,000 shillings/month. So many Ugandans take 2 or 3 jobs to scrounge school fees for their many children.

Many children who cannot afford school fees will continue to work until they raise enough to afford fees. This means starting the term late and trying to catch up. Others may eventually drop out due to lack of funds. For better or worse, bank loans are not common place here. Some of my own students have not yet shown up for class. Their classmates tell me they are still working to raise money for school fees. Last week, I met a woman studying at Ankole Western who is one of nine children. She is working in the library part time, which pays for her food and accommodation, but is not enough to pay for school fees in addition to this.

This poses a difficult dilemma for us. We are supporting the development of Ankole Western, an institution that aims to provide affordable schooling, but this schooling is not accessible to many. The Ugandan government is trying to move away from individual sponsorships, as many people rely on this lottery approach and depend on outside money to get ahead. On the other hand, when I meet an intelligent young woman who is working diligently and still unable to pay her school fees, which total $100 a month, how do I respond??

Language Lessons

Uganda has a variety of local languages depending on the region. Here in southwestern Uganda the local language is Lunyankole (Runyankore). Luganda is mostly spoken around Kampala, and other languages are spoken in Northern Uganda. English is one of the official languages of Uganda, but is mostly spoken by the well educated and urban Ugandans.

Our first language lessons here have been in speaking English. Our accent is a challenge for Ugandans, and their accent is a challenge for us. We have had to change our vowels and syllabic emphasis to make ourselves better understood. Sometime we catch ourselves speaking Ugandan English even to each other!

Ugandan English is also more British than our Canadian English. So we have learned to say Rubbish instead of Garbage, Trousers, not pants, Torch, not flashlight, and many other new British words. I did not expect to encounter an English language barrier when travelling to Uganda!

We are also learning a few words in Lunyankole. It is coming slowly. It seems there are many regional differences in Lunyankole, so we get different answers from different people!

Language 101
Hello/how are you - Agandi
Fine - Nimarunji (I don't know how to say I'm not fine, so we stick with fine for now)
Good Morning: orire ote
Thank you: Webele (mononga - very much)

These few words have brought many smiles to our new Ugandan friends and giggles from all the children. Somedays I am not sure if they are smiling because we are speaking their language or because of our Canadian accents!

My First Class

January 28 was my first attempt to teach Clinical Diagnostics and Ankole Western University. The university campus is currently situated on an old primary school campus. The classrooms have chalkboards and desks, but few other teaching aids. I made some Bristol board diagrams of cow anatomy to bring in for our anatomical systems review, which the students seemed to appreciate. I have 42 students in my class, one of the larger classes at the university - it is going to be a challenge to remember all the student's names.

The students were well-behaved, although half way through my lecture many left. I wondered if I was unintelligible or boring. However they came back 10 minutes later. When I asked if it was usual to take a break, they said no. My lecture slot is a 3 hour lecture on Wednesday mornings. This is a very long time to lecture!! I was hoping for it to be broken into two or three slots. So I was quite tired at the end of the lecture. Some students approached me at suggested that it was difficult to understand my accent, so I will be providing them with notes ahead of time so they can follow and ask questions if they do not understand. I also discovered that students are used to dictation, so they will write notes if I dictate them, but will not write notes off the cuff.

I finished my material earlier than expected, and shared a little bit about Canada and Canadian agriculture. I will try to work in some Canadian trivia each week during the breaks so that the students can stay focused for 3 hours.

I also started our practical lab work this week. We reviewed anatomy on the live animals and discussed landmarks for internal organs and the common names for the external landmarks. The students all wanted to know where to cut for c-sections and where to treat for bloat! I am hoping that my discussion about the need for surgical skills, suturing skills and further veterinary education will discourage them from trying c-sections on graduation, as they are not training as veterinarians, but as vet technicians! On the other hand, I understand the desire to want to help animals in rural areas when no other help is available.

So I have been working diligently over the past few days to set up lecture notes for the 12 weeks of lecture that remain. It takes a lot of preparation to make a course. I am thankful that Dr. Carolyn Langford has lent me her notes from last year. But it is too bad I will not be able to re-use my notes for subsequent classes. At least I can leave them here for future lecturers to use.

The Food We Eat

One of the many blessings of being under the auspices of the church when traveling are the Sunday dinner invitations. Every church that we have attended to date has ensured that we are well fed and watered during the day. This is greatly appreciated since our Sunday activities last from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm!

In this way, we have been introduced to many excellent Ugandan dishes. Since Uganda is so close to the equator, they have four 'seasons' - two dry and two rainy seasons. (Although we are in the dry season now and still have rain many days). This allows residents in Bushenyi to have up to 3 growing seasons/year and a plethora of fresh fruits and vegetables.

The other benefit to the climate is that most of the food available here is grown locally. This results in relatively inexpensive food for Ugandans, as the only costs for locally grown food are the input costs and labour. Since labour costs are relative to the local wages, food is affordable for most people. A pineapple here costs 35 cents, so we've been enjoying them here. Meat can be had for about $1.50/lb, and fresh milk is also widely available (although it is unpasteurized and therefore boiled before being served with tea). Imported items cost significantly more a small box of cereal is $6.

So far, we have been introduced to:

Matooke (small starchy bananas similar to plantains that are served either boiled and mashed like potatoes or fried),

Karo (a doughy starch made from millet flour that we use to pick up broth and other foods on your plate),

Dodo (leafy greens with a similar taste to bitter spinach, served cooked with onions),

Groundnuts (similar to peanuts, but smaller and less oily, usually cooked into a sauce with onions and tomatoes and served on the side or with the meat),

And I have yet to distinguish between the yams and sweet potatoes and other root vegetables that are here in abundance.

There are also many other familiar foods - potatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, carrots, green peppers, beans, eggplant, tomatoes, onions, beef, chicken, goat, pineapples, watermelons, mangoes, pasta, bread, rice and local honey. So we have been well fed during our stay so far. Jeff even found Gouda and Cheddar locally produced in Mbarara (a town about an hour away), so he is as happy as a mouse after we visit there!

I am experimenting with food here - I am trying to learn how to make chapattis/tortillas. Lillian (the mother's union worker here) has promised to show me, as all my attempts seem to be hard and crumbly. The most recent experiment was passable, and made for decent fajitas for supper.