Recapping Uganda

[Chris] Nine weeks in Uganda and it’s already over (pics from Gulu). That doesn’t mean the whole thing went fast – Emily will tell you with confidence that it did, in fact, not go quickly at all (I seriously must have the most amazing and supportive wife in the world). For me, the first week went the slowest. After I enjoyed a couple pleasant days learning my way around Gulu, catching butterflies, and meeting people - I got sick, so the week lasted forever. Seriously, I hate feeling nauseous; if Emily told me she never wanted to have a baby because she might be nauseous for a few weeks, I would be okay with that - seems legit to me. Fortunately, I didn’t die or tear my esophagus. Also fortunate was that Emily was able to get me some meds for nausea and send them with Liz. In hindsight, I’m also glad I didn’t yet know there were mice living in the couch I laid on during the days that week.

Leaving Gulu

Sigh. Last post from Gulu town… It has been a fitting departure – me and my suitcase, on a boda, in the rain and mud, heading to the post-office bus where I’m sitting now. I’m feeling the proverbial bitter-sweetness that accompanies dramatic transitions such as this. I’ll miss the people and way of life but look forward to not being the focus of attention and getting some alone-time. I’m a solitary creature and there is really no escaping people here – even going on a run out of town requires that I be in the right mood to absorb the attention brought by my whiteness. The attention isn’t all bad though. I love the reception party every time I get home – a dozen neighbor kids run toward me after one spots me and sounds the “Chris!” alarm (video). In a semi-orderly fashion they each give me a high five with their own flavor. There are, of course, the quintessential as-hard-as-I-can fives but there are some that insist on being consistently gentle, and there are a few that are sticky more often than not.

Week...uhhh...idk

Coulda sworn I wrote something last weekend but I guess not. Last weekend everyone else on our project left. I have to say that it was a bit weird to see them all drive away as I walked to go get copies made for the next day’s work. It also made me realize my time here is wrapping up. I now only have a week left of work, a little traveling, and then I’m heading home.

Trip Highlight & Wk3 for the Intervention

This time I’m going to start out with the personal side – because this morning will definitely be a highlight of the trip. This morning I ate a granola bar, cut my hair (by myself!), and went for a run. It was a nice cool night with a little rain (of course) and the clouds have hung around all morning – so it was humid, but not too hot or sunny. I ran out of town and took a new road. At a certain point the road split into three paths – one double track and two 2-feet-wide paths, one of which followed old, abandoned railroad tracks. At the intersection there were three older people talking - one of the men on a bike asked if I was lost. Grateful to come across someone who spoke English after trying some roads that led nowhere, I asked him which of these roads went the farthest. He told me to follow the railroad tracks and how to loop back to Gulu.

Second Intervention Week

The second week of our intervention pilot is over. This week we actually started teaching some of the parenting skills. So far, they haven’t really picked them up – this might be because of a combination of things but it is all good information in this process of feasibility testing and cultural adaptation. We aren’t introducing new skills this week so hopefully they will have more time to practice and home. We also had a few more focus groups. We had one with fathers, one with 18-25 year olds, and [an unplanned] one with mothers.

First Intervention Week

The first week of the intervention went well – the women were really engaged and interested and we have learned a lot about them, the struggles they have, their strength and resilience, and things we need to change before coming back. The most powerful and moving thing so far was a meeting we had on Saturday.

Upside: Intervention - Downside: No Water

The intervention started yesterday with 14 mothers. They all thanked us for being there and seemed interested in the information – hopefully that interest stays for the next month. Four of the mothers brought small children who walked around from mother to mother. Two came over to me at different times and plopped down in my lap – one was even generous enough to try feed me. The energy in the room was good even though we had some logistical things, like consent, to get through. The counselors translating for us were great and everyone is optimistic it will go well.

In other news – it seems Gulu is having a water crisis. I guess we haven’t had water coming to our place for a week and we have now used up our tank. The pumps where we can fill jerry cans are running out of water and even the places that charge for water are running out. We can still find bottled water to drink but someone is going to have to drive to fill cans for showering and washing dishes. Unfortunately, because we have indoor plumbing at our house we don’t have an outdoor latrine either – so we will have to start walking to the vivo office to use the outhouse. And last night, before we knew how bad it was, it was pouring and we weren’t even home to collect water. Oh well – life living in Gulu :)

Another Brief - but Less Urgent - Update

Great and unexpected news - the little grocery store had dairy products today! It is amazing the joy brought on by yogurt and the number of meal possibilities that open because of butter. Also noteworthy - I went to a nightclub with the counselors last night, rode on a boda, and played soccer with the neighbor kids this afternoon.

The intervention starts tomorrow!

(In case you missed it - here is the reason for traveling to Uganda.)

Extra Brief, Somewhat Urgent Update

...two people, lots poison spray, one broom, one sandal, 15 minutes, and a lot of gross feelings later we have averted our first kitchen-counter-cockroach experience.

Seriously, these are one of the few things that get to me.

Training Complete - Quick Update and Pictures

Today we finished the four day training in family counseling for the vivo counselors. It went really well and we are actually going to offer a little more training and ongoing consultation while we are here. They are dealing with some really sad and complicated cases. Hopefully the training was beneficial to them but I can say that it was certainly great to be a part of for Liz and me.

Ugh, I'm sick

Lest you think this is glamorous… I think I got the flu. The night watchman said he thinks it’s the “collusion of the water,” but I think it’s the flu. Not that the flu is fun anyways, but it makes the constant smell of trash in the streets (there’s obviously no garbage pick-up), the smell of burning plastic (they burn most of the trash), and the lack of electricity to run a fan for 2 days that much worse. On top of that, I have taste aversion to half of the new foods I’ve tried now – hopefully that won’t last.

I’m not sure how often I’ll have this much time so I better take advantage of it…

Gulu is great – I really like it here, even if it isn’t as remote as I’d prefer. The drive to Gulu from Kampala was long and fairly rough but nice. It started a few hours late because the van was overheating and we had to find a part. On the drive we (the driver and I) crossed the Nile River – which starts from Lake Victoria, saw some baboons and monkeys, and picked up some fruit from vendors along the way.

Chris in Uganda

[Chris] My travel to Uganda is for a research project testing the feasibility of a parenting intervention for traumatized and under-resourced communities. If you don’t know, I’m working on my Ph.D. in Couples and Family Therapy (same area as my M.A.) at the UofM and my primary research interest is systemic interventions for communities affected by mass, interpersonal traumatic events. If you aren’t familiar with northern Uganda you can find lots of info online (especially with the recent increased attention to Joseph Kony). I also highly recommend the documentary War Dance, which tells the story of three children affected by the LRA. The children in the documentary are Acholi – the same people with whom we will be working.

CO Backpacking: "I could die now...or...now!"

[Chris] This is the story of a trip in August 2008 to the Mount of the Holy Cross Wilderness in CO with Emily, myself, and our friend, James. It’s an exciting one if you haven’t heard it before. I can't believe it was 3.5 years ago!

Most of the trips Emily and I take have the primary goal of seclusion; we often judge the success of the trip, at least in part, by how few people we see. This trip was different though. Our friend James said he needed more danger and adventure in his life and he said he wanted to accomplish something. Well I suppose I can’t take all the credit, but this trip delivered in the danger and adventure categories.

Mount of the Holy Cross

Emily and I had already done a trip in Pictured Rocks earlier that summer so we thought this would be a good opportunity to do something different. We left early in the morning, got to Denver by dinner time, had dinner with our friend Alex, and then drove the rest of the way to the trailhead. We slept by the car that night and got going in the morning. The plan for the first day was to hike over half-moon pass, down to the stream, and up to one of the lakes underneath the cirque (Lake Patricia). The next day we would try reach the summit of Mt of the Holy Cross (a 14er), and the third day we would hike out. I guess our trip didn’t vary too much from our plan, but the way it happened wasn’t exactly as expected.

Well read posts on Chris's therapy site

[Chris] Here are some "popular" posts on my therapy site from 2011: Posts of 2011. We will post something soon about our recent trip to Chicago as well as try write about one of our previous backpacking trips. Just so little time before classes start back up!