Everything Looks Better in PowerPoint

Today Elizabeth, Leigh, Rachel, and I presented our project plans to the management team of the Rakai Health Sciences Program.  The team includes some of the preeminent researchers behind pioneering HIV/AIDS research in Uganda - like this, and this, and all of this.  Needless to say, I was a bit nervous.  Luckily, everything looks better in PowerPoint! Actually though, the meeting went well and our work is underway.

Lake Mburo National Park

We got up early on Saturday morning to head to Lake Mburo National Park.  This is a relatively quiet park, since tourists generally head to the larger ones like Queen Elizabeth, and it was fantastic to explore.  Visitors used to have more free reign over their where they went, but a few years ago someone was mauled by a offended water buffalo so you can't walk anywhere without an armed ranger.  Even though we did indeed see a water buffalo, we lived to tell the tale.  All photos by Oh MG.

Godfrey, our trusty tour guide, surveying the grasslands during our hike.  We literally just pulled over to the side of the road and started walking through the field.

Spotted while walking: ZEBRAS!  They aren't scared of humans and just stop eating and stare at you as you approach.  Mbruo is the only national park in Uganda that is home to zebras.

Hiking up a huge grassy hill.

The four of us at the top.  Please excuse the mom outfits.

View of the park from the top.  Using binoculars we were able to spot zebras and a herd of impalas.

Lake Mburo itself.  It was a cloudy day, not great for photos, but great for hiking.

At left, a trail made by a hippo when lumbering through the grass.  At right, an actual hippo wallowing in a marsh.

Two of the many warthogs we came across.  They are quite cute and have a tendency to run through tall grass with their tails straight up.

An impala.

A water buffalo.  After snapping this photo we quickly drove off since we didn't want to risk offending him.  Pretty badass.

Summer Reading

Things get pretty quiet around here at night and we've had ample time for one of my favorite pastimes: summer reading!  Even though it's the same as reading any other time of the year there's something nice about making a list of books I want to tackle in the summer.  Up until a week before I departed I had planned to bring six hefty books to get me through the summer, but as the pile of items to bring with me ballooned to an unreasonable size, I had to re-think things.   

Driven by anxiety about not being able to carry enough books, I bought a Kindle.  As a bibliophile I had an incredibly guilty conscious as I hit the purchase button.  I have to say it hasn't been that bad though.  I finished my first book on it last week (Erik Larsen's In the Garden of Beasts - verdict: not as good as DITWC but still interesting) and am on to my next one (Randy Shilts' And the Band Played On - very appropriate for working at an HIV research center this summer).  I don't think it will be a permanent switch though.  Despite John's insistence that I buy no more bookshelves, I'll be back to my book buying and collecting ways back in Brooklyn.  For now I'll pretend I'm one of these people relaxing with a real book.  Like President Obama I want to tackle Team of Rivals soon.  Very annoyingly the Kindle addition is more expensive than a paperback version.  What gives?

1. Via Kate Spade Tumblr. 2. Via Skokie Public Library. 3. Via Tomboy Style.

Also, check out my friend Jen's post on vacation reading.

Week in Review #19

Loving the lush greenery around our new digs!  Photo by Leigh Bernstein.

So happy we made it to RHSP this week and got our summer projects started.  Sure to have my work cut out for me - I finalized my research question today though.  It's almost time for bed here in Kalisizo since tomorrow we are getting up bright and early to head to Lake Mburo National Park for the weekend.  Hoping to see some zebras and go on a guided hike.  Have a great weekend all!  Stay cool NYC and have a good first day of Celebrate Brooklyn!

Hello from the town of Kalisizo

On Tuesday morning we drove down from Kampala, the bustling capital of Uganda, to Kalisizo, the town in which we will be spending our summer while interning at an HIV/AIDS research and treatment center, the Rakai Health Sciences Program (RHSP).  Over Tuesday and Wednesday we settled into our accommodations (a lovely guest house), went on a tour of the various units at RHSP, met our summer supervisors and discussed our projects, and even went dancing in the nearest town with our new co-workers.  After all that activity it was nice to get a day off today - it is the Ugandan national holiday of Heroes Day, an event commemorating heroes of the guerrilla war of the early 1980s.  Below check out our new digs and what we've been up to.  Photos by Oh MG and Leigh Bernstein.

On our drive south we crossed over the Equator.  Nothing like having one foot in the northern hemisphere and one in the south.

This is our new street.  RHSP is about a ten minute walk away and we are staying in a guesthouse used to house visiting researchers.  There is a lovely housekeeper named Tao here who makes our meals and takes great care of us.

Overview of our new neighborhood.  RHSP employers over 400 people and is comprised of a series of buildings which include a state of the art lab, clinic, operating theater, research library, and the offices of many researchers.  Here we are following our guide Goretti on a tour of all the facilities.  The town of Kalisizo is small and dotted with houses that are nestled among banana, papyrus, and corn crops.

Blood samples waiting to be analyzed in one of the RHSP labs.  Not only is blood taken to ascertain someone's HIV status, but patients receiving antiretroviral treatment (ART) have their blood consistently tested to monitor CD4 levels and have their treatment regimens modified.

Part of our tour included a trip through the operating theaters for which we had to don scrubs.  Looking good, aren't we!

A sign directing patients to the clinic where hundreds of people receive ART as well as medicine for opportunistic infections that are a side effects of HIV (like TB and malaria).  The biggest clinic is here in Kalisizo but RHSP also runs 13 satellite clinics in various villages, some of which are much more rural.  My project this summer will consist of traveling to the various clinics and talking to service providers and patients about their experiences ... and then doing qualitative analysis and writing a big report on what I find.

Me, Elizabeth, and Rachel in front of our house.  Two of us have rooms on the left and two of us have rooms on the right.

The bandas, lovely thatched-roofed and open-air structures in the middle of the RHSP compound.  Many meetings are held there and we have been told we can use them as our offices for the summer - not a bad place to work!

Jinja Highlights

A few more tidbits from our time in Jinja and the drive back.  We were only in town for one night and two days, but we fit a lot in!  All photos by Oh MG.

Below left, Leigh and I with Nile Specials - a Ugandan beer.  At right, the view overlooking the Nile while enjoying a pot of coffee.  Thumbs up to both Ugandan beer & coffee.

Boy and cow at a Jinja crossroads.

Pretty self-explanatory ... the Source of the 4,000 mile long Nile!

Climbing on a boat to literally go to the source of the Nile - where Lake Victoria meets the river.

Rachel, Elizabeth, and Leigh in front of the concerete marker indicating Mile Zero of the River Nile.

Tea plantations on the drive back from Jinja.

Photos from a stop at Ssezibwa Falls, a spiritual site where people leave offerings and consult traditional healers for advice and luck in marriage, childbearing, business deals, and harvests.