my days in Masaka (Mitra)

Here I am in my dream land and doing my dream work, after many years of dreaming to be here and experience Uganda first hand. I have two placements; I work in the school where children with disabilities come to learn and the other in the Masaka Regional Referral hospital in the maternity ward. My first day in the school for children with disabilities was an amazing experience. I was overwhelmed by the amount of love and excitement that I received from the children and some of the faculty.
It was not easy to see the circumstances that the children have due to the lack of equipment and resources. My supervisor in the school is the most amazing woman I have ever met in my life. I feel so ashamed of myself when I am around her. Her strength is inspiring; her compassion to others and her job is beyond my comprehension. We do a lot of outreach together. My first official Monday with her, we took a stroll around the village and she helped me to understand some things about their way of farming. I learned how to plant potatoes and how to pick them. I also learned a lot about taking care of banana plants and how you cut the grandmother branch after she gave all her food in order for the new baby banana branch to grow. All the time that we were walking children were following us and they were so happy to take pictures with me and whenever I showed them their pictures they were so happy laughing and pointing at each other on the picture. They were furtively touching my skin since it is different than theirs.
We visited two houses, one was an elderly man very sick who is living by himself since his wife passed away and he does not have any children. He is not taking any medication because he thinks he is be-witched and medication is not going to help him. As I was sitting there and watching her patiently feed him and make sure that his bed is dry and comfortable, I wondered if any of our neighbors back home would do the same thing to each other. The sense of community and feeling of responsibility towards each other in Masaka is amazing. It made me think about home where most of us don’t even know our neighbors.
In the other house we visited an elderly man living with his son who has mental and physical disabilities. The son was so happy to see us and his excitement brought smiles to our faces. We sat there for a while and talked. He told us about his life and what he’s done for the last few days. In the meanwhile my supervisor helped in clipping the boy’s nails as I took pictures of this selfless act of compassion. The father could not start his fire because he was old and weak, so my supervisor did it for him. We said our goodbyes and left. The whole drive home I was thinking about the community and how much Ugandan people value it. They don’t have much but whatever they have they share it with each other.
This is for my dear friend Malia who could not be here with us. we miss you and we know that you are here with us and can see everything through our eyes.
It is amazing to be here and experience this!!!!!!!!!!!!