I have heard back about my
final placements for both my homestay and organization and I am very happy with
where I've been put! My home away from home will be with Margaret Namagembe and
her family. As detailed by FSD:
"Margaret’s family
home is located in Bwala, Katwe Butego, which is about ten minutes walk from
Kitovu Mobile offices where you will be working. Their house is a permanent one with
indoor plumbing and electricity. There are three bedrooms, an indoor kitchen,
and sitting room and dining area. It
is in easy reach of Masaka town."
From this description it sounds
like I won't be directly in town, but in one of the neighbouring village areas.
I will have indoor plumbing, but I'm not really sure what that means in the
African context. It could mean that there will be some running water in the
sinks, but I doubt that would extend to a shower or flushing toilet. In
addition, though there is electricity running to the house, by all accounts
there are frequent power outages throughout Uganda so it will not be as
prevalent as it appears on paper.
Margaret's family
consists of herself (a single mother) and her two children (a daughter aged 11 and a son aged 6). She
also cares for two dependants who are both students, a boy aged 18 and a girl
aged 16. The final member of the household is a 24 year old house helper. I
can't wait to meet them and learn about Ugandan life and culture from them. I
am sure there will be so much to learn and take in and I hope I'll prove useful
around the house.
As for my work situation, as
mentioned above I have been placed with an organization called Kitovu Mobile
AIDS Organization (check out their website here and
FSD's description here).
It is a well-established NGO (it was started in 1987) with about 65 employees.
They have three main branches: health, community development, and youth and
education. I am assuming I will likely work with one or both of the latter as I
don't have much health care experience. This is exactly the type of
organization I was hoping to be involved with. I think that its size and
experience will provide me with a lot of information about development
practice, and they are diverse enough that I will be able to try out a few
different things to get a feel for different areas of development.
The community development
branch focuses on farm schools (teaching youth sustainable agricultural
practices) as well as organizing and facilitating self-help groups. The youth
and education branch is focused on providing support for OVCs (orphaned and
vulnerable children) through care and education.
The organizations broad
objectives are listed as:
Kitovu Mobile aims to create an
empowered community with the ability to cope with HIV/AIDS and its impact.
To improve the quality of life of people affected by HIV and AIDS, Kitovu
Mobile works with communities in the areas of prevention, care, support and
capacity building. Their specific objectives are the following:
i. Improve the health of people
living with HIV and AIDS
ii. Improve the coping
mechanisms of HIV positive people
iii. Improve the standard of
living in the organizations targeted areas
iv. Improve access to
counseling services for traumatized orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs)
v. Build stronger resilience
among OVCs through education and life skills
vi. Improve agricultural
production and use of available natural resources among households with OVCs
that have dropped out of school
vii. Strengthen ability of
target groups to deal with the psycho-social and economic consequences of
HIV/AIDS
Pretty good goals, don't you
think?
Now that all of these logistics
have been settled, it is starting to feel much more real. Before, I was going
to Masaka, Uganda to stay somewhere and
do something. Now,
I'm going to Masaka, Uganda to stay with Margaret's family and work to improve
the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS through Kitovu Mobile.
Let the adventure begin!
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