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.

The young adult group was incredible – they had so many great ideas about what needs to be done and they have that youthful, optimistic belief that they can facilitate real change that many people forget. They talked about their struggles – like not having money for school fees and living alone with and providing for younger siblings and cousins – and they talked about the current issues they face. For example, for a few minutes they debated whether the war against the rebels or the current war against AIDS was/is worse. These are people who experienced the war too – one said that he slept in the bush every night for a while and that he often thinks of his two best friends who were killed – and he thinks the war against aids is worse. (AIDS in Uganda is rampant – and recently found to be even worse than thought – one mother told us that she feels like people either have AIDS or haven’t been tested and don’t know that they have it.) I’m brainstorming whether or not I can try do a few more of these focus groups with youth before I go because we only scratched the surface.

Living in Gulu town – …power is dependably inconsistent… I went on a nice 10k run this morning… I love coming home from the office now because all the kids run up for high fives or to hold my hand – and now I hear, “Chris! Chris! How are you?” “Chris! Chris! Bye.” I found a huge snail, a few praying mantises, a huge locust, and caught some more butterflies. I’m looking into safaris since I’ll have 3 or 4 days to travel but they are crazy expensive, ugh. I’m feeling fairly local now – I know where most things are, know all the local food, buy most things from roadside ladies or little shack kiosks, and I’ve got this boda boda thing down. The two keys to bodas (motorcycle taxis) are (1) that you know a couple good ones to call at night and hope they are available, and (2) if you take a random one you have to talk about price before getting on so that you know the price and, more importantly, to try make sure they aren’t drunk.

I think that’s all for now!