Day 2: Makarere

Before I left for Uganda, one of my suitemates warned me "Get ready for your mind to be blown". I didn't really take her words too seriously because I was born and brought up in India and thought I had seen/heard it all. But today - even though it didn't involve meeting any of the children or people that we talked about - blew my mind. Maybe it's because I've spent most of the past three years at Yale - far far away from the land that taught me to think about people less fortunate than me, as much as (if not more than) I think about myself - but I was amazed by the will power, passion and drive of most people who work at Makarere University School of Medicine.

We were lucky enough to meet with Dr. Sadigh before leaving Yale and he arranged an amazing array of speakers who talked to us and shared their experiences with us. Dr. Sadigh is involved with the Yale - Mulago Partnership - which sends Yale residents and interns to Mulago Hospital here in Kampala. He spoke to us about the present situation of HIV/AIDS and answered a lot of our questions. The other speakers included the Dean of the Medical School at Makarere and residents from Yale. The residents spoke about why they are working here and what they hope to achieve in the time that they spend in Uganda. Listening to their stories almost convinced me to be pre-med but unfortunately I don't think I'm that strong. One of the residents broke down while talking about the things that she saw today (her first day) and it suddenly made everything so real for us and definitely helped us prepare for what we're no doubt going to deal with for the next week when we visit HAC and Cosma.

We also met a lady who works for Sanyu Babies - an orphanage that provides healthcare for abandoned babies. She gave us several examples of abandoned children and it was one the most painful things I have heard in a long time. Maybe when we come back from HAC, if we have time, we will visit the orphanage and help out for a while... because like she said, sometimes all the babies need is someone to hold them and make them feel loved.

All of us were amazed by the strength of the people in the room and somebody finally asked them what keeps them going when everything around them is so depressing. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when most of them answered that it was their religion that gave them the strength to continue and and hope for a better future. But one of the doctors from Makarere, replied that though his faith did play a big role, more importantly, he knew that behind every abandoned/suffereing child, could be a brilliant teacher or a doctor or an activist. Turns out he himself was an orphan and through the generosity of a Canadian philanthropist, he was able to study, go to medical school and become one of the best doctors in the country. And so he works day in and day out, so that some other child may have a better life just like he did. I have heard stories like this in the past, but here was real living example in front of me, and like I said before, it blew my mind.

After a wonderful lunch, a few of us then met with students at the Forestry School of Makarere. Being an Environmental Engineering major I was really interested in learning about the environmental problems Ugandans face. We exchanged views on best practices to convince people of the reality of climate change and talked about the frustration of being environmentalists. One of the great things about meeting these students was that, right after meeting the doctors, I was almost feeling silly about being SO obsessed with the environment. For a brief amount of time I caught myself thinking - it's pointless, people won't listen and maybe that's okay... why should they care about the environment when they don't have food, they are dying of AIDS and so many other diseases. But the moment I started talking to Godfrey and his friends, I was reminded of the bigger picture and of how environmental degradation is already leading to poverty and diesease and it infact the root cause of a lot of problems that doctors treat.

We then walked around the beautiful campus of Makarere for a while, observed the huge Malbou Stocks - birds which are native to this part of Africa and then got into our Matatu to get to our next destination. Amal's Uncle is a human rights activist and we drove to his office and met with his team of workers. We learned about the human rights activist Protection program and of the lenghts they go to to stand by those fighting for various different kinds of human rights.

Overwhelmed by this point, we were headed home but then got stuck in a "jam" - aka traffic - and were told that it would take n hour and forty minutes to get home. I was really impressed with how well everybody took that news and turned the waiting time into a fun game where we exchanged embarrasing stories. Thankfully, we took a detour, managed to escape the traffic and found a great place for dinner and then spent some time together as a group with our Ugandan friends.

Tomorrow morning we're leaving for the village. It's supposed to be a four hour, dusty, bumpy ride and I cannot wait. I'm responsible for waking most of our group up so I'm going to go get some sleep now.

More soon! (though we probably won't have internet for the next week so I'm not sure how that's going to work)

Goodnight!
Chandrika Srivastava

Favourite quote of the day:
"Just the fact that you are alive, should give you the courage to come and help"
- Dean of Makarere Medical School