Orientation Day 1: We Are Here

Welcome to the blog of the 2020 Uganda Childhood, Health and Society intersession program. 
This blog is written by undergraduates studying public health via a unique peer-to-peer experiential program that takes place across the country of Uganda each January. We are completing studies at Johns Hopkins University and Makerere University, and although we study on different continents, our purposes are exactly the same. We want to eliminate health disparities and create public health solutions for infectious disease as well as social and behavioral health problems.

Tuesday, January 7 was Day 1

Orientation

We bonded quickly by sharing experiences. Our program focuses on engagement in candid cultural exchange and we wasted no time sitting down and getting to know one another.


We manage to have a lot of fun doing it. Mackenzie is about to get flipped 360 degrees, in record time. This is trust!


Training Of RUral Women in Uganda (TORUWU)

This organization welcomed us into their compound for an afternoon of exposure to the successes and challenges of their organization. Run for several decades, this organization has managed to overcome multiple obstacles to provide many public health and income generating services to women and children in the neighboring community. For nine years, we have started the intersession with a visit to this organization, and it felt like a warm welcome home. Every year there are new improvements to the compound, and this year, we got to see the brand new classroom. 

TORUWU is making miracles happen in Kikajjo. This year, we got a lesson in how they manually create interlocking bricks . Each one of the bricks stacked in the background was created by someone who manages to get the lever all the way down. It isn't easy--here is short video of Ben trying it out. 







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