more week 3 (erin)

Hello!
I had a really good couple of days at practicum so things are starting to turn around as I had hoped. Yesterday Carli and I went to a health clinic in a neighbouring town, Buwunga. We met with a nurse and my coworker was asking how it was going. They have not had any medication for two months! And they don't know why none has been sent. Also the head nurse is not interested in mental health patients and so she is not bothering to see them or make any effort to help them set up a clinic day. We were also able to speak to the sub-county chief about what services are provided for children with disabilities. The main thing that I learned was that only a few people go to the meetings and they are always men because the women are not able to speak out in front of men especially relatives. So they don't get to participate in decision making.

We visited two homes, one was a girl with cerebral palsy. She seemed very healthy and happy. She is cared for by her mother and brother, but they still consider her an orphan because there is no father, interesting. She has a wheelchair that is a plastic lawn chair fit into a metal frame with wheels. Very inventive, serves the purpose well. She smiled when Carli and I held her hands. The second home was a girl who could not walk. Her legs were folded underneath her but she is very capable. She is able to walk with her hands and she cooks and washes her own clothes. What is interesting to me is that a 9 year old is cooking and washing her own clothes even if she didn't have a disability. The children grow up very quickly here. I was surprised to hear that she goes to school and the children there treat her nicely. All that I have been reading the last couple weeks was how disabled children, especially girls, are often the last ones in the family to go to school and that they are treated poorly. So it was good to see her so happy.

Then we went to Kitengesa to the school for deaf children. That was fun. They were on holidays but some of them don't have families to go home to so they were still there. It is a boarding school with 85 children. They each took a turn signing for us their names and they even gave us "signing" names. I will have to show you mine when I get home. They climbed a tree and gave us some fruit which were similar to little yellow plums. We also bought huge pineapples from an old man on the side of the road who was pushing his bicycle loaded down with bunches of them. Probably on his way to the market. The pineapples here are so sweet..mmmm.

Today I went back to the Vocational School for Children with Disabilities. I apparently came in the middle of a meeting for the whole school and this silly dog was following me everywhere and it made everyone laugh when it sat at my feet. It's previous "owner" was white and it seems to take a liking to other muzungus. My practicum supervisor (who happens to be sitting next to me in the internet cafe) introduced me to the computer class who are the ones who speak the best English. So we sat and talked...a bit awkward at first because we were all shy. But I showed them pictures I had in my wallet of Scott and I, Mom and Dad, and of course Spirit. They think it is really funny to have a picture of a cat because they are basically just wild here. And Scott, apparently it is illegal to keep dogs as pets except for police officers. Also, the nursing students just about split a gut when I asked them if people in the villages eat dog..apparently that is like asking us if we live in igloos. Oh well...I think I'm getting used to being laughed at :)

So after we talked for awhile they showed me around the school, their dormitories, their workshops. They introduced me to every child (they're actually young adults). I learned a bit of sign language. They climbed the trees again and gave me a bunch of avocados. Then we played a board game that was similar to frustration or trouble. And luckily I had stuck my dominos games in my bag from Auntie Jutta and taught them to play. It was good. A perfect simple game. So I left one box for the girls and one for the boys. They want me to come back to the school on Friday because on days where there is no power, they have nothing to do. So I just asked my supervisor and it is ok. We will talk about some more serious things I think that day, now that we have a relationship. Some of them seem a bit worried about their work experience they are doing next week as they have never worked before.

Better go, the computers are making funky noises, doesn't sound good. I think power's coming on and the generators go wonky.