today was a busy day! woke up early to take advantage of having Hopes laptop to Skype with mark. starting the morning off well, i knew it would be a good day. Martha and I had omlettes for breakfast and then she dropped me off at Hopes, saving me the 10 min walk. I waited there for Hope who had gone to talk to the contractor who is building the new health clinic. eventually we headed out to Agonga, where Ill be running the program to see the site and the new health centre. Luckily the contractor drove us bc that beast is far! took like 13 minutes driving. meaning er 40 walking? hoping they get that bike, though the conversation is back to the boda- ugh! maybe i can be hardcore and drive a motorcycle... just dont want to pay for gas! and the excercise from biking would be awesome- though i did go to aerobics tonight (more on that later).
after seeing the site we came back to the current health centre and i met hellen who will realy be the one helping me run this program. I also met Rose, an older community member who is really the backbone it seems of the who NGO. She is the community key informant. she is the mobilizer and she gets people to come. As we arrived there was a line of children waiting to get de-worming pills and vitamin A. Mothers were there to get tetnus injections. i asked Hope a bit about that process and apparently the kids are supposed to get the de-worming tablets every 6 months but they are chewable orange goodies and they often come every month. fundingwise this isnt sustainable, but until better records can be kept, i suppose it is to happen. they do at least record each child they give a tablet to.
anyway, back to Rose. she listened to the program idea and said she would get kids for saturday! wow, this is really going to happen. we went over the plan in depth today and talked through with hellen what I will need and how she can also work to make this sustainable. basically the kickball league will be comprised of 4 teams, each will be coached by 3 youth (think 18-24) from the youth club. They will play games every weekend and on wednesday as well when they are out of school. they will practice together and coaches will also help teach kids about sportsmanship and manners. Each saturday before the games the kids will attend a workshop which will rotate health, education, community partners, and fun. The health will be nurses teaching them about HIV/AIDS, sexual and reprodutive health, hygeiene (hand washing and teeth brushing). The education will be a mix of life skills and tutoring/lessons. We will talk about leadership and pick team captains for each team, etc. community partner workshops will really be role model/career days. each workshop two members of the communiyt wll come talk about their career and how they got to where they are. the influence will be on staying in school, trying and caring about your education, and aspriring to be something. most kids in Agonga have given up on doing anything and dont try at school. hopefully these community partners can help encourage this kids and they can set some goals. the fun days will include group games and individual games like jump rope, bubbles, silly string. basically just to give them some unstructured time to play together.
The program calander is set through December, so they should be able to run this without me. The coaches will be instrumental in leading some of the workshops and i hope to prepare them for these before i leave. i will be here through the first 7 games! So this was what i spent my day finalizing.There are tons of statistics ad the likes that go with the formal progrm plan but none of you would be interested in those- i can hear the Sowos now! NO MORE! bahaha.
its been really fun to use the skills ive learned in program development for something i will actually run! makes last semester seem sooo much more useful and worth the crazy stress!
Got home today with samosas in hand for dinner! ahh such a treat! gotta lay off these or ill come back sluggish and all. actually, i saved my samosas for after aerobics at the acholi inn wth my housemate. Now. think billy blanks- tight spandex and all, with blaring african techno and a ugandan accent. THAT is what I went to tonight! glorious! then at the end we stretched to this slow, dreadful country song from the US. the change was so drastic i couldnt help but giggle. they have this m-tr and martha will go as often as she can. the people at hte hotel know her and didnt make me pay, which is nice. it was hot as helllllll and the stank was pretty vibrant! i felt like the uncoordinated musungu in a room of ugandans, but it was fun. and might even get me in shape- although it was only moderately hard. better than nothing i say!
came home and took my first gulu shower... yes, i got here saturday, dont judge, im in africa ok? i cleaned the important bits. took about 30 minutes to bucket shower my insanely long hair. dont think i really realized how long it is. luckily it will not get washed all that often. africa people!
and now i should be wrking on my program plan but im blogging to all of you. took some pictures at the health clinic today, will try to post them soon and im sure anne is dying to know what my house here looks like and all. Anne you can stalk my housemate like mom did, lol. shes my friend on facebook. music is blaring tonight- will be interesting to sleep. but im sure ill manage.
all in all, a great day! hope leaves wednesday morning, so im anxious about and feeling program ready. hellen wil be a huge help and martha of course is great for home things. she is leaving super early tomorow so i will cook my own omlette! eeek! just hope i can get the jiko to light! (caling it a jiko because I have yet to learn the acholi word). speakin of acholi, an a tye kafwonyo leb acholi motmot... ah! i do remember it! that means i am learning acholi slowly! Rose laughed hard when i told her that. Think she will be AWESOME to teach me.
afoyo my loves,
happy summer!
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