There and Back Again

9 January 2017

New year, same(ish) me.  I’ve been MIA for a while for lots of reasons: no power, no motivation, too busy with work, traveling across God’s green earth, and going home for the holidays.  It’s really been a whirlwind and in some ways, the wind is picking up, and I’m just trying to stay on my feet.

I’m back sitting in my Ugandan house trying to readjust to being covered in mosquito bites and sweating most times during the day after being home in Western PA for nearly 3 weeks.  I didn’t think it’d be such a change, but when I was home and forgot that we owned a dish washer and blankly stared at all the Tupperware in my fridge not remembering why I opened it in the first place, coming back was harder than I thought it’d be.  Also, I forgot the local radio stations, I thought that was weird.  Also again: driving through the Pittsburgh tunnels is anxiety inducing when all I can think is “Holy crap, we’re all really close to each other going really fast and this is how Princess Di died.”  Things that were familiar were my mom’s hugs, Yuengling beer, and flannel sheets on my old bed.  Didn’t hurt that mom recorded a bunch of Jeopardy! episodes for us to watch with tea and peppermint sticks.  Being home was pretty blissful.

Don’t get me wrong, I love not having to shake from the cold that I’m no longer used to in this endless summer land in which I live, but my house seems extra empty even with cuddles from Bilbo after being in PA for a while.  I have approximately 7 months left (OK, more like 6 and a little) to be done mid-July to be home in time for Dan’s wedding, and I’m sure the time here will fly just like the last 19 months did.

 

It's time to start pulling up my tough-girl pants and getting to work.  I have a library to finish.  Mom sent me off with old materials from IUP library like those checking-books-out cards and a stamper thing and a 3-hole punch to prep the books for a legitimate cataloging system at Biikira Girls.  All the teachers are receiving training on how to be a school librarian since the school can’t afford to bring someone in full-time.  It’s time for painting and making sure the shelves are finished and closing the grant and cleaning and making a new sign above the door and maybe a new door or at least curtains. 

It’s time to start meetings up again with the PEARLS.  I have hopes of bringing in a teacher from the school to co-facilitate lessons with me.  I’m hoping there will be a central training for the DREAMS project to which I can bring this teacher, get her certified in running a club, and have her start teaching health topics.  If that can happen, I can slowly back out and let the teacher run the meetings from now on instead of me.  That way, when I leave, the club can continue and more girls can come in as others graduate, and it’ll be a super cool time.

First group of graduated PEARLS members with their certificates

It's time to finish training the health staff on the necessary computer skills needed for creating and sending reports to Medical Access.  They’re doing so well and really picking up on everything quickly, so I’m not worried.  It’s not just me anymore teaching computer lessons.  The staffers who are trained are working with those who aren’t on their own time to make sure the work gets done.

And it’s time to start thinking about the next step.  After working with my counterpart, Sylivia, and with the others at the HIV clinic, I’m really inspired to go back and study nursing.  I’d love to become an RN someday (you know, have an actual job) to eventually travel again around the world (in smaller time stints than Peace Corps) with Doctors without Borders.  Being a health PCV is great, but I’m only a mobilizer and peer educator.  I want to travel with more experience to actually treat those in medical need.  When I first got here, almost everyone thought I was a super qualified nurse/nursing instructor.  It was a shock when I told them I didn’t even know how to put an IV in someone’s arm.  So that’s the next step.  I’m currently taking some pre-req classes online to knock out some of the classes I would need to get into nursing program (it’s not like I ever needed MircoBio as a French major).  It’s going to be a challenge what with my fickle power and other work I’m already doing, but I’m up for it.

Things to look forward to: Linda!  Linda is coming out to visit at the end of the month for just over a week to gallivant across Uganda with me.  I’ve hung out with her extended family and her mom when she’s here, so it’s her time to come and eat matooke with the rest of us.
COS (close of service) conference is just around the corner in April, and then it’s 3 months to finish out my projects, close my grant, close my suitcase, kiss my cat goodbye, and start the next part.  I’m excited, and I’m ready for it. 

Thanks for sticking with me even through my hiatus.  This crazy marathon is almost done.  Kind of bittersweet how much I wish I was home since I just came back from a Christmas visit, but I know I’ll miss this place something fierce when it’s all over.  Until then, check in when you get a chance.  Write me a letter.  I love mail.

Bisous,
Kelly and Bilbo

Unimpressed by my homegrown lettuce

Trying to study for the GRE, Bo

Someone didn't want me to go home

P.S. In November, I was selected along with another PCV to represent Uganda at the second HIV Boot Camp in Lusaka Zambia!  It was an amazing weeklong conference funded by PEPFAR (the Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) and we had sessions led by them and USAID all fighting the AIDS epidemic in southern and eastern Africa.  PCVs from other posts were there as well.  It was great to see their methods and strategies in their countries to combat HIV and I’m hoping to put that knowledge I’ve learned into practice here.  Oh, and I jumped off a bridge after the conference just to make my mom’s life a bit harder.  Still alive, so it was worth it.

Victoria Falls...in the dry season

Denis, Hope, and Me at the HIV Boot Camp

About to jump off a bridge