June 7th

Last night, a group of us sat around the fire (yes- FIRE- Uganda gets really cold in places apparently) and chatted for a long time. We covered lots of international development topics, HIV in the States and abroad, gender, equality, politics... most of my favorite subjects :) One of the founders of the Entusi Center and I geeked about gender for a long time- we were both Gender Studies nerds in college. It was great to connect with people on that level and challenge ideas and push boundaries. Those are my favorite kinds of conversations. We chatted a lot about gender dynamics in Uganda and Matthew told me that many - most- of the women (and some of the men) who are employed in Uganda have to sleep with their bosses to keep their jobs. I can't even begin to fathom what it must be like to be a woman in Uganda, particuarly in certain communities. We've watched little girls- some look about 4 or 5- carrying huge canteens of water long distances, up hills, in the rain... and we've seen how hard the women work. Most of the agricultural work in Africa is done by women, which is a huge misconception. We tend to think of agriculture work as "men's work" but it's women who do all of the labor. Agriculture, laundry... And then have to provide food for their families and husbands. We asked a Ugandan Ministry of Health worker how the eating arrangements work and husbands get fed first, followed by children, and then mothers/women. If there's no food left, it's the women who don't get to eat. 

How do we address these gender inequalities- particularly as they are wrapped up in values that are so integral to the culture? Education certainly has to be key. Educating and empowering women to take charge of their own bodies, lives, communities, and future... Unleashing a generation of intelligent , courageous and empowered women. That's what I want to see. 

Anyway. 

Today Emily and I went to town to run some errands for the Women's Retreat (the women arrive tomorrow!) and to visit some of the Entusi staff's wives in the hospital. Manager's wife, Helen, is in the hospital with their third baby and she has been there for almost a month waiting for it to come! Manager's name is Reagan but many of the staff like to be called by their title- Manager, Chef, etc. Anyway, Manager showed us the private wing of the hospital where you can stay if you can pay. You get your own private room and it looked comfortable enough. We brought Manager's wife and Gilbert's wife a bottle of Fanta and two loaves of bread each. Raymond told us that is what you take people who are in the hospital. Apparently orange Fanta is the drink of choice when you're sick. After visiting Helen we all wandered to the public part of the hospital where Gilbert's wife was a patient in the gynecology wing. She is pregnant with their first child and apparently is having some complications. We met her family and they told us she is getting better. They invited us into the gynecology wing, where there were about 8 beds with women, stacked almost on top of on another. Everyone waved and smiled at us and they all scooted over so we could sit down on the bed. We told them we didn't need to sit but they insisted, and we all crowded on her bed. They told us that when family comes to the public part of the hospital there are no accomodations for them so they have to sleep outside in the cold. As we were sitting and talking (although Gilbert's wife doesn't speak English) Gilbert's mother-in-law brought Emily and I each a large plastic coffee mug filled with what looked like muddyish water with black and brown flakes in it. They told us it was Ugandan Porridge. We found out it was water from the lake, boiled (I hope), and then sorghum is essentially fermented in it for three or four days. Raymond told us it's 30% alcohol. We each took a small sip and then both tried to share with people around us. We didn't want to be rude or offensive, but I have absolutely never tasted anything like that in my life. It was certainly alcoholic tasting, but then  it also had this bitter, vinegary taste. We did our best to take small, small sips and continue chatting. They then brought us this huge bucket of water to wash our hands and fed us pineapple. And they insisted we eat the entire thing by ourselves. It was just such an experience. To come to this hospital to visit patients and then to be treated with such hospitality... and to see all the people sitting out on the grass, holding their babies, doing their laundry, eating their lunch... As we walked back to the car, the women insisted we have another pineapple and tracked down a man with a bunch of pineapples on his bike and had him cut it right there for us and put it in a bag. I'm so glad I went to town today. It was such a small experience, but it was so meaningful.