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.

The posttests wrapped up well and all the mothers came. My preliminary observation is that the intervention made significant positive changes for most but not all. More importantly, we have definitely learned that this is feasible to run a program like this here. Now we have a ton of work to do to try get the funding (which I’m beginning to understand feels a bit like chasing your tail) to come back. That’s alright with me though, I continue to love my life and it is good exercise running in circles.

On Tuesday, an intern from vivo and I got back from a two-day safari. I’m not going to lie, it was pretty great. Seeing herds of giraffes on the hillsides felt rather surreal at times, a la Jurassic Park. We saw plenty of hippos, some crocodiles, dozens of elephants, two lions, beautiful birds, and thousands of other ungulates. We watched the sun rise over the Nile, took a boat ride to Murchison falls and hiked to the top, which was truly an awe-inspiring waterfall.

To top it all off, the first email I read when I got back said that, barring unforeseen issues, I was selected to receive a major fellowship. I’ll briefly write about it when it is finalized, but suffice it to say that I feel honored, humbled, and validated.

Maybe I’ll write more on the plane – I’ll need something to do for the next 40 hours of travel. And I'll post a link to pictures soon.