The Future of Our Partnership

July 16, 2019

From Rashmi and Lily’s perspective:

Today was our second day in the office and we have already been given more responsibility and learned more about RAHU’s operations as a whole, which is awesome for us! In the morning, we finished up working on the assignment that Herman gave us yesterday, which was to organize and input the contracts for the Kyaddala tv show. After that was completed, we were called into a small meeting with Gilbert, the Chief of Staff at RAHU and our main contact, and Bata, the Head of Communications here. In this meeting, we shared GlobeMed’s mission as a whole organization, and the general mission of our chapter in our partnership with RAHU. We also explained how our club meetings and fundraising campaigns are run when we are at school, and how we spread information about RAHU and their projects as well. Gilbert was happy to explain their general expectations for us as interns in the office this month, and some of their expectations about the growth and continuation of our partnership as a whole. He also explained to us how they fund field work here, which is a big part of how they facilitate and support their programs. In summary, they request money from donors who can be anyone from government Ministries, other NGO’s (non governmental organizations) or CSO’s (civil society organizations), or clubs or insitutitions like ours. When requesting the funds, they typically match the target donor to a specific project so that that donor is maybe only funding one or two projects through RAHU that they also have an interest in. Once the donations are approved, the RAHU finance team heavily documents and budgets where every penny is being used in that project, including if they need to send money with their employees who are out on field work assignments for food, gas, transportation, housing, etc. Most of the time, fees that can be paid ahead of time, such as hotel costs, are paid directly from the finance department in the office so that they know exactly how much was spent and have a receipt for their records. After Gilbert gave us the rundown on some of the internal operations of RAHU, Bata stepped in to explain some potential projects for us to work on during our time here, and his expectations for the information we should collect while out in the field ourselves. Rashmi and Lily are heading to the north western province of Yumbe midweek next week to participate in interviewing and training some new peer educators for a project that RAHU is starting in the area. 

We realized yesterday that there was going to be a partial lunar eclipse tonight and that we could see it in Uganda, but the US would miss the whole thing, so we all decided to stay up to see it. The eclipse started around 11pm, reached its maximum coverage around 12:30am, and ended around 2am. We watched it outside from around 11:30-12:30 and took photos as best we could, but really just enjoyed the moment in the beautiful nighttime weather, listening to all the sounds of Kampala while we watched. 

From Aayush and Mariam’s perspective: Mbarara, Day 2

Nyakabare and Ihunga Health Centers

Location 1: Nyakabare Health Center II

Today we visited two health centers, Nyakabare Health Center first. Here, there were only 3 peer educators with one or two others who worked there, but could not attend. The same procedure of giving the peer educators a chance to explain what difficulties they were having at the health center and what they may need from RAHU to resolve those issues was done with Zeporah, the head of Peer Educators in Mbarara, taking the lead. 

The first difficulty they mentioned was that the condoms box was constantly empty, and when they asked to have more condoms delivered, they never came due to transport issues. They also reported a shortage of supplies, including tool kits and menstruation supplies. After discussing some of the challenges that the peer educators have been facing, we discussed updates and ways to help. The general updates included HIV information sessions which would cover how to prevent HIV, HIV testing, health outcomes, and door-to-door outreaches. 

Helen emphasized cooperation as this is a smaller group of peer educators (3-5), and communication with HQ by sending pictures and updating on social media. She also mentioned the importance of utilizing the SautiPlus system and new smartphones. In general, the consensus was that there should be no excuse for lack of communication as all Peer Educators are getting new phones from RAHU.  Furthermore, she urged the peer educators to talk to Emma and Ziporah for updates with new supplies. Jaliah urged the educators to study the environment they’re going to: “You need to find new ways to refer patients to the health clinic. You are worried about a team member who is lacking in motivation so it shows you care and have communication with each other.”

Similar to yesterday’s class, Paul introduced the new e-referral SautiPlus system. In this area, the new system did not work well because of a problem with solar energy and charging computers on a daily basis. The new and improved system relies on mobile phones that have maintenance and charging kept at a minimum. 

Location 2: Ihunga Health Center II

The Ihunga Health Center, at the top of a mountain, had a number of different services offered and challenges of their own. The Lead Peer Educator stated that there was a gender balance (3 boys and 3 girls) which helped them reach a larger audience. Some activities here included condom demonstrations and active participation from the youth. Some of the challenges included a lack of supplies such as books, poster paper, new games to bring children in, menstrual pads. Nurse Profit, the health worker in charge, gave a brief overview of the services offered at this particular clinic. She mentioned HIV counseling, SRHR support, and referral to other clinics and hospitals. She also made a point to say that there were not many places in the area to treat STI’s or prescribe medicine for people who are infected. Some additional challenges at Ihunga are the lack of pregnancy testing and HIV testing offered, both of which rely on blood drawing and analyzing services, and the location of the condom dispenser because the health workers felt like the condoms weren’t being utilized due to inconvenience in the location. At this particular health center, RAHU was more focused on the general lack of resources available there and how the services offered can improve or expand as opposed to the other health centers where they were setting up the new SautiPlus system with the peer educators there.