Challenges

In the past few days, my project has really come together. I’ll be doing a continuing education on hypertension for the nurses here in Uganda. Because internet access is not pervasive throughout some of the communities/villages that these nurses are working in, Makerere University, Johns Hopkins, and the Uganda Council of Nursing and Midwifery are coming up with CDROMs to disseminate these 20-30 minute lectures given by Makerere faculty. It’s my job to come up with the framework of the content, and the evaluation process, although by the time this is implemented, I will no longer be here in Uganda. Hypertension (and non-communicable disease in general) is definitely a priority, especially since one study I found during my literature review had shown that Rukungiri district, in rural Southwestern Uganda, had a 30.5% prevalence of hypertension. Yikes!

One of the challenges that I face in this setting is not necessarily cultural (although those are present), but it’s reliable power sources. This past Saturday our power was out for such a significant amount of time, that we (the housemates) ended up going to an office to work in order to ensure power and reliable internet access. Last Saturday wasn’t the only time, the power outages come in spurts, which all becomes very challenging when you’re trying to get your class work for your distance classes done in a timely manner. One thing that I’ve learned here is to go with the flow…

Speaking of flow and challenges, yesterday I managed to  get a little time off and go with another MSN/MPHer who is working here to whitewater raft down the Nile!

Now that it’s Monday, it’s back to work!