Olympic National Park

A week backpacking in Olympic National Park in July, 2012.

[Emily] Another adventure to the west coast began with a quick flight to Seattle, four days after Christopher got back from Uganda. We rented a red sports car and drove to the Hoh Rain Forest  I loved the huge trees and ultra-blue hydrangeas along the road. We made a quick stop at a Wal-Mart to buy a thermometer, which confirmed that Christopher had a fever - so our first couple days we took things a little easier than normal-Christopher paced.

After the several-hour drive to the trailhead, we ventured into the rain forest and immediately began marveling at the gigantic, moss-covered trees. Upon arrival at our creek-side campsite, Chris found the first of many banana slugs, which quickly became a game to find a bigger or prettier slug. The mosquitoes were really bad since it was warm so we spent the first few hours in the tent playing cards.

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 :)