AHHHH, I keep forgetting to write

So washing clothes by hand is not easy. Let me start with that. I just spent the better part of two hours washing clothes by hand and my hands are killing me.
Anyway, let me first apologize for not writing here on a more regular basis. The amount of work that I have taken on for this new research in Uganda is more than I even imagined it could be. I spend my day divided between making phone calls, driving, conducting interviews, trying to learn the language, and talking with students (a.k.a. teaching). It is taking a lot more time than I had expected but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I absolutely love doing this kind of work and doing research in this amazing country and can’t wait to be able to come back and share my experiences with everyone.
To give you an idea of what I am doing this time around. I am conducting a health needs assessment at the request of a local community health clinic. This means that I am traveling to different counties that border the are that the clinic is in, visiting houses in those areas, talking with them about their health issues and concerns, and trying to figure out how they go about dealing with those complaints or concern. This information will then be used to provide suggestions and/or recommendations back to the clinic so that they can better serve the community.
The population I am working with is interesting. First of all they are one of the poorest, if not the poorest, community in all of Uganda. Though I do not know the exact amount, but I am finding an annual income of about $20 U.S. for a family of 6. Not looking so good. In addition, these communities are surrounded by lakes and swamps which is complicating the whole mosquito and thus malaria burden that this community is under.
The roads I take to and from site is what one would expect when “4-wheeling” in TN or better known as off road. Especially when I am trying to reach a particular house or village, the roads are non-existent and therefore we set out on foot for much of the day. The landscape is scattered with cash crops like sorghum, corn, and cassava and overall is very flat. Spattered here and there you will see some trees, but not many, and the low lying areas are largely blocked off to trap water for rice cultivation. There are scatterings of extremely large boulders that form large mountain areas where primates seem to like to hide out and then plague the local communities by eating their crops. This is Africa people, beautiful, gorgeous and absolutely indescribable. If you google a map of Uganda and find the lakes that lie east-west, I am at the eastern most lake of that chain. Yup, and loving every minute of it.
There are many challenges here but few that I didn’t already expect. I feel that we are going to be able to do amazing things here. More importantly I am meeting amazing people, able to help in so many ways, and doing amazing things not only for the people and those amazing friends that I am making on the way, but also for myself.
I hope to be able to post more later but I am not going to promise when. I will just say that I will do it soon.

Asodo ber (see you soon in Ateso, the local language)