May 'Mayhem' :)

To put it simply, I am in a state of recuperation…hehe! Since the first of May, life here in Uganda has been a whirl-wind of events. To begin, that first week in May was the last day of classes back home at The University of Montana…which meant for me, I had to get final reports submitted for the 12 International Studies and International Internship credits I was registered for…then I could graduate on May 15th. Also the first week in May began the long-awaited workshop PROMETRA Uganda was to host on training in documentation, assessment, and promotion of traditional medicine. Also that first week, I was in the process of changing my airfare ticket in order to extend my stay here in Uganda into July of this year! For sure the month of May began with a hectic schedule on the agenda! First thing first, I was able to submit all my paperwork back home at The University of Montana…on time…only after late nights of writing and waiting for internet connection to be good. Then I moved on to extending my airfare ticket. What I have to say about that is…the cell service situation in Uganda is completely different than that of the United States. You pay for airtime as you go, which is kind of like paying for minutes, but not on a plan. You can buy anywhere from 500 to like 5,000 Ugandan Shillings worth of airtime at a time…so then your phone has that amount of airtime for each call you make. Depending on the network you are using, your calls can cost like 200 to 600 UGSH for like a two minute call (maybe I am exaggerating…I don’t know…hehe). So imagine a 10 minute call costing you at least 5,000 UGSH (about $3.50)…it can add-up with time. There are little ways around the system…for example the Warid network does a pakalast thing where if you have 1,500 UGSH you can send in a text that then activates your phone for 24 hours of free calls to other Warid customers. Now I will stop rambling and get back to the issue of changing my airfare ticket…hehe…the process entailed making an international collect call to Orbitz…I made the first call/attempt…after 10 minutes my phone cut-out on me…not enough airtime. I quickly bought more…redialed the number and made the second attempt…this time the number was not going through…I was being told ‘this number does not exist.’ Now it was getting close to the time for work, so I put the call attempts on hold. Half the day passed…I decided to make another attempt…after having stocked up on airtime to be sure I would have enough this time…expecting to be on the phone for at least an hour. The call went through to the teller…he began looking up airline schedules and such…like always putting me on hold for 10 minute (plus) increments at a time. After having decided on the best ticket/date/time…I was about to confirm the change when I ran out of airtime once again! So I decided to wait till the evening to try again…being sure this time I was I would be fully stocked up on airtime! The evening finally came…to make a long story short…I made the call and was to the same point as previously when the phone cut-out on me again! This time it was not because of airtime, but rather the service just decided to end…blahhh! So basically in the end…I was unable to finalize the transaction from my end in Uganda, but rather had to have someone from back home do it for me! It all turned ok…I am now to return July 26th! After that little mobile adventure, I turned to focusing on the workshop that began officially on May 7th. To give a little background…PROMETRA Uganda hosted a nine day Workshop and Training on Documentation, Assessment, and Promotion of Traditional Medicine at Buyijja Forest School. International delegates from India, Sri Lanka, Japan, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Netherlands, and United States as well as over 20 local traditional healers from within Mpigi District (all trainees at PROMETRA’s Buyijja Forest School) all attended the workshop/training. The workshop/training consisted of learning exchange visits to traditional healers’ homes, training on documentation and promotion of traditional medicine, a visit to PROMETRA Uganda’s traditional healer forest school and a graduation ceremony for over 50 traditional healers, meetings with the Ministry of Health, National Drug Authority, THETA, Makerere University Botany Department, and the High Commissioner of the Indian Embassy, a visit to Msindye Hill (Dr. Sekagya’s spiritual hill…there was lots of dancing dancing dancing…all Buganda style :)), policy briefing for traditional medicine and practice, and lastly a press release. In short, the workshop/training was a BIG success and helped mobilize advocates for traditional medicine throughout Africa and beyond. Throughout the workshop my job, along with one of my PROMETRA colleagues, was to report on all activities/events daily. It turned out we did that and much much more…but all in the success of the workshop and PROMETRA Uganda :) All us PROMETRAns ended up being very very very busy throughout the entire workshop…running here, running there, fixing things, setting things up, organizing, documenting, preparing, etc. etc. etc.! After those nine days at Buyijja and the workshop mainly ended, all us PROMETRAns along with the international delegates traveled back to Kampala for the press release, which marked the official end of the workshop! Early early the next morning delegates flew home…while us PROMETRAns began a short period of rest and recuperation before going back to work the following Tuesday…to then travel back out to Buyijja for the weekly forest school training. As I think you all have seen, the entire month of May…so far…has been full of hustle and bustle, hard work, some stress, but excitement and huge amounts of success! The workshop was a big accomplishment, I have officially graduated from The University of Montana with a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology, and now I am staying in Uganda until July 25th. Things are GOOD! As of today, work has calmed down some…just finalizing reports for the workshop and deciding on the right time for me to start-up my research again…as well as planning a little graduation party for me! In two of my previous blogs I described graduation parties for two of my PROMERTA colleagues and explained how excited people here in Uganda get when someone graduates from a University…well when everyone found out about my graduation, they said we must must must have a party and CELEBRATE!!! The plans are not yet finalized, but brainstorming is in full swing…hehe! I will be sure to keep you all posted! Well I think that is all I have for now. Until next time! Oh and sorry for the delay in posting!!! Hope all is well back in the states and anywhere else you may be!

Keep the spirit alive – Ann Kyamulabi