The Social Work Conference

We are back from the 7th Pan African Social Work Conference, which was hosted in Kampala - lucky for us! It was such a priviledge to be amongst so many inspiring professionals from all over the world, whereby almost half of the attendees were from Uganda or other African countries.


The days were long and tiresome, as the various workshops and presentations were often running late; though by now we should have come to accept that nothing in Africa is ever on schedule. Also, due to conflicts in different parts of Africa, it took a few people up 2 - 3 days to arrive, which made it very real and helped put things into perspective. One day which was particularily interesting, was on the theme of international justice and we learned all about the international criminal court (ICC) and the work they are doing in Rwanda and the Sudan for instance. To cut is short, it was at times very intense, but also motivating to see how many social workers still love their profession after many years of practice. Moreover, it was an excellent opportunity to network with other people from around the world. Among others, I made an interesting contact in Kampala, through whom I will hopefully be able to arrange a drumming performance at the disabled school I work at. A group of youth do HIV/AIDS awareness raising through drumming, and surely this would be a highlight for the children at the centre.

On another note, it was also a nice change to be in the big city after living in the village, with minimal entertainment and lacking facilities, so you can imagine we made the most of it!

Now I must run, as I have a HIV/AIDS presentation/work shop of my own prepared for the school. Wish me luck and talk to you again soon!

Time fly's!!!

Well, we have been here for almost a full month, I can't beleive it! I have been working in the hospital for the past two weeks and absolutely love it. In saying this, the first few days were fairly tuff, the lack of funding is very apparent. Iv's hang from rusty nails in the wall, patients are given very little to eat and if lucky some water. If there are no beds available, one must bring a mat to lay on and that is just the way it goes. Children are often struggling with malnutrition and mothers are trying to stay as strong as possible in order to support them on a daily basis. I often feel as though I am not able to provide these individuals with as much as I would like both emotionaly and financially; however I realize that by me being I am learning and educating myself about this part of the world, in which I will bring back to Canada and share with many others which I hope will make a difference in some way or another.

I must say that there is a great sense of support, I have never seen anything like it. When one mother needs to clean her sick child's clothing and leave for a while the others will make sure the child is safe and secure. It really amazes me! For instance I was working on this particular case where the baby had been abandoned for 6 days and the neighbouring mother took great care of the child during this time.

On a different note, Uganda itself is absolutely beautiful, the landscape is astonishing, so many greens. The people are fabulous and very welcoming, I have never felt so accepted and comfortable in my life. Well I must go for now, I hope everyone is doing well and I will post again in the near future.

HEY ALL

Well we are coming up to a month of being in Uganda and starting to get into the swing of things with our practicums. I'm with the Uganda Schizophrenia Fellowship and at the Masaka Hospital during some social work. I've been on two outreaches now with USF which have been a blast. I am getting to see a lot of the surrounding villages on the back of a dirt bike. Today on outreach the roads were quite muddy so the bike didn't want to go up some of the hills (which i have to say are quite large) and so there I was slipping and sliding while trying to get up the hill and Thomas (my supervisor) was walking the bike. It truly was a lot of fun but very messy. The people on the side of the road watching the mazungu(white person) falling all over the place were getting a kick out of it. Im sure it was a funny site. My runners are for sure being left behind. The clients that I am meeting are great to. They are very inspiring with all the income generating projects they have going.
The hospital is also a good but challenging experience. Its definitely tough work though, in the sense that it feels like I cannot do much and there are a lot of truly heartbreaking stories. But all the experiences here so far are going to be ones that are with me forever and will benefit the work that I do back home.
On Monday we attend the week long Social Work conference in Kampala which I am looking forward to. One of the other girls or I will update you on what is happening with that next week.
So bye for now
Shawna

One week into our practicums

Beginnings are always difficult, and so was my first week into my practicum placements. There was no time to be shy and I had to get right in there...

Monday was my first day at Uganda Cares, the Aids clinic. It went quite well and I was able to do one-on-one counselling with a few clients who speak english. Language is the greatest barrier, so I need to be assertive and continue trying to find clients with whom I can communicate or alternatively I will need to learn Lugandan...! It was testing day and out of 60 patients, approx. 30 tested HIV positive; so the situation is still very severe. Though it was a bit much for my first day, I was assigned to do post-result counselling and had to tell two people that they tested positive. Most likely I will be doing this frequently, due to the volume of people. Then on Friday was children's day and I had so much fun with the kids. They just love the muzungos (white people) and are so appreciative; how much joy a colouring book can bring!

The remaining three days I was with USDC (Ugandan Society for Disabled Children), which is completely different from Uganda Cares. Most of my time will be spent at the vocational centre for disabled youth aged between 14 and 25 yrs, where I plan on teaching some basic english and establishing a regular workshop on various social issues, such as HIV/AIDS. On Wednesday I was out in the villages doing home visits all day. It was very interesting and the countryside is absolutely gorgeous, but it was also extremely challenging (both emotionally and financially). All of the families we visited are living in extreme poverty, so it is hard to know how to respond, since the unspoken request is clearly for funds. However, I am trying hard not to be taken advantage of, and at the same time I'm looking for other ways to be helpful.

Despite all of the hardships the people are dealing with, they have a very positive outlook on life and rarely complain. Moreover, everyone is very open and willing to share. Needless to say, I am learning plenty and will have a lot of experiences to take from when I get back to Canada.