Continuing our Explorations

July 27, 2019

Lily and Rashmi’s perspective:

Up and at ‘em at 7am again today! We packed up and headed out for Yumbe, stopping at a small supermarket for breakfast today. Today was the second and final day of peer educator interviews. First, we drove back to Yumbe Town Council sub-county and stopped at the Yumbe Health Center IIII. The interviews were supposed to be conducted here, but there were a lot of people being treated there and a large refugee population staying at the health center as well, so there was not enough available room for us to be able to interview people. Ibrah, Victor and Savior managed to find a restaurant that would let us use one of their rooms to do the interviews, so we instructed people to move there instead. We interviewed a little over 20 people here as well, from various villages and sub-counties within the Yumbe district. Again, it was very interesting to hear similar stories of people’s passion for community involvement and wanting to create positive change within their own villages, even though they came from many different walks of life. During the interviews, Rashmi and Lily were able to head back to the Yumbe Health Center IIII to conduct an interview of their own with the Medical Superintendent of the HC and the Deputy Director about the importance of creating youth-safe spaces and providing youth friendly services to those in their community. They had some very interesting things to say, especially about the necessity of involvement and support from organizations like RAHU. On our way back to Arua, we stopped at the Lodonga Health Center III to interview three candidates who had not been able to make it to the Town Council interviews. We were surprised at how massive, and how spotless, the health center was. They had a different buildings for every ward (ex. One for maternity, one for out-patient services, etc), which was different from every other health center we had seen thus far. We wrapped up these interviews relatively quickly and everyone was equally excited to be done the tedious process and to have all 25 new peer educators selected for training this upcoming week! 

On our way home, we drove through a HUGE thunderstorm. It’s still hard to believe how skilled the drivers here are between all the potholes on the unpaved roads and the crazy, unpredictable weather. NJ drivers have something to learn, that’s for sure. At home, we all went out for a quiet dinner at another local restaurant which had reeeeally good food. It was another night of beans, rice, matooke, and greens. Rashmi’s stomach is finally starting to feel better (thank goodness), and she was able to get a local energy drink for some electrolytes with dinner. Afterwards, we both crashed around 9:30-10pm, tired from another long day of work. At least tomorrow is Sunday and we can sleep in!!

Aayush and Mariam’s Perspective:

Because we left for Mbarara soon after we got to Uganda, we never really had the opportunity to explore Kampala as a city. With Rashmi and Lily out in the field, we decided to go see some of the attractions nearby. We slept in, and set out around 12pm for Acacia Mall. Acacia Mall was in the heart of Kampala, near Quepasa (the restaurant we went to for Karis’s birthday last week). We hadn’t eaten at all that day, so we had brunch at a restaurant in the mall called Cafesserie. The place was really nice, with really good food! Mariam got a sandwich with smoked salmon, avocado, and cheese, while Aayush got pancakes and fruit. 

With our stomachs full, we explored the mall. The mall itself was not very big, and had no more than 25 stores. We didn’t really get much, except a couple of books that sounded interesting and some clothes at a department store. Then, we decided to watch a movie at the movie theater in the mall. Being huge Marvel fans, we saw the new Spider-Man movie (in 3D!!). I won’t give much away but I highly recommend it!

With the day pretty much over, we set out for dinner at a nearby restaurant called Mediterraneo (despite the name, it was not Mediterranean food but actually Italian). Mariam got Penne Gorgonzola and Aayush got tomato basil pasta. The food was also really good, but Aayush though the place was a little too boujee (other guests were wearing formal attire while we were in joggers/jeans and a shirt). Paul, RAHU’s Innovations Analyst, also met up with us because he was in the area. After finishing dinner, we left to come back to our apartment. We got a good night’s sleep and were ready for another day of exploring Kampala tomorrow!