Another busy week

Written June 7th


This week at practicum has been quite eventful. Some days are so exhausting because of the amount of walking we do. It really makes me have respect for the people who do this walking every day and it makes me appreciate the fact that I have my own car at home. Some days we walk between 5 and 10 kilometers; and in the heat it can get pretty intense. What gets me through is knowing how much the families appreciate our visits and keeping in mind that some of these grandmothers do this walking every day, or every time they need to get to town. We had one long day of walking on Tuesday. I made the mistake of wearing jeans because the morning had been a bit cooler and I really didn’t think I was going to make it I was so exhausted from the journey. On Wednesday we stayed at the center and did some case sharing where I got my chance to talk about one particular case and brainstorm ideas on how we might intervene. It was very positive and I received good feedback on the information and background I had. We had two visitors with us for this as well; two social workers, with one continuing her studies at Makarere University. Later that day we actually had university students come to the center to visit us and learn more about the area of disabilities. For this we brought a few children to the center, one being Josephine, the girl I had reported about. The other was having a cast made which was demonstrated in front of everyone. The other was a young woman we had met the day before who had a success story to share with the group. There were about 25 students that came and once they entered to observe Josephine I was called on to give the students her background and her current issues and challenges. I wasn’t expecting to be on the spot but it was really quite easy since I have visited Josephine many times and know her case well. Not all of the students were in the field of social services or community work; some had bachelors of Arts or were studying business. It was interesting that they all wanted the opportunity to learn from our center.

On Thursday I had the chance to attend a meeting with Carli. She had been invited to a group called the International Women’s Organisation, based here in Kampala. I got to attend the meeting with her, which happens the first Thursday of every month. The group aims to empower women, give each other opportunities to share what they are doing in the community, and make friends. We met some very intelligent and pleasant people at the meeting, and it was exciting to see that Carli will be able to make some friends here since she doesn’t know many people. They had a female Ugandan author as a guest speaker who was very interesting and had much to say about writing and doing the work you are passionate about. The meetings have different guest speakers every month, and I believe the woman who invited Carli was hoping that she would speak at a meeting. I am going to send an email to the IWO coordinator and nominate her as a speaker because she has a wonderful story to tell and could gain a lot of support that way.

As it is coming to the end of my time in Uganda I am getting sad. It’s when I think of my weekend plans that I realize how little time I have left. This weekend is my birthday and we have many things planned for that, next weekend will be Queen Elizabeth Park, and after that there are only two more weeks of practicum and two more weekends. I must focus on the positive but I honestly don’t know how I’m going to leave this place. It has become my home. I can’t even begin to explain what I have gained from every piece of this experience.