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| That's me sorting out my questionnaires |
Today was a GREAT day. Firstly, I received an email this morning from
the dean of University of Mbarara informing me that my research proposal has been
approved by the local ethics committee. Yes, my proposal has finally been
approved, 30 days after it was approved by the University of Iowa ethics
committee and exactly 38 days after I landed into the country. I am beyond
happy. Now I can start thinking about how I am going to do things (I need a work plan). My initial
plan was to interview 65 people (50 parents/guardians and 15 healthcare
providers) in approximately eleven weeks. Now I am left with only about six
weeks to do all 65 interviews. While 65 doesn’t sound like a huge number,
anyone who does research understands that recruiting 65 people can easily take
more than six weeks. The recruitment process can take a long time because not
everyone approached may be eligible or willing to participate in the study. So
it possible that I may approach well over a 100 people and only get 50
participants or less. Apart from the difficulty of recruiting people, there are other things
like participants withdrawals and such that may delay the study. Though I have very little time left to
complete the study, I am pretty sure I can still pull off 65 interviews in six
weeks. I will just have to work at a very fast paste, which I don’t mind doing.
After all, I’ve been slacking since I got here so some hard work wouldn’t hurt.
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| This house is like a mini mansion |
Secondly, I’ve been blessed with a host family here in Mbarara. Dr.
Juliet (my staff advisor) and her husband have asked me to move into their
house for the remainder of my time here. I can’t thank them enough for having
saved me from the struggle of living in hotel rooms. Don’t get me wrong.
Staying in hotels is fun and adventurous; however, the loneliness I felt while
staying there is not worth the fun at all. I am so used to living with other
people. I’ve lived with my family most of my life, and when I wasn't living with
them I was living with friends or relatives. With that being said, living alone
in a hotel was like torture to me. Plus, it was starting to get a little too
expensive. I was spending $50 a day for a king size bedroom. This is the
standard price in this town for a room that comes with breakfast, hot water,
DSTV (satellite TV), mosquito net, and most importantly, security. Cheaper
rooms normally include one or two of the things listed above, but not all of
them. Frankly, I could live without the TV and breakfast, but hot water,
mosquito net, and security are a must have. In addition to the $50 I was
spending on hotel rooms every day, I was spending about $10 a day on meals ($5
on lunch and $5 on dinner) and about $5-10 more on miscellaneous things. At the
end of the day, I found myself spending about $70-80 everyday. Dr. Juliet has
done me a huge favor by asking me to stay with her and her family.
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| The backyard |
Actually, let me rephrase that. I won’t be staying with her family. I
will be staying with just her. Her family doesn’t live here. They live in
Kampala (Uganda’s capital city). A few years ago, her husband was offered a job
in Kampala and the family had to move there. Dr. Juliet’s husband and their
three children moved but she stayed behind for employment reasons. While they
live in Kampala, she lives here in Mbarara all alone in a huge five-bedroom,
three bathroom house. The house is like a mini mansion. It is so big that it becomes scary. I personally
wouldn’t live in it alone, but she obviously doesn’t mind. Kampala is only 4
hours away though, so she manages to travel to there every weekend to visit her
husband and kids.
When I got to the house, she took me to the guest room and told me that
it will be my room for the next six weeks. The guest room is like a mini studio apartment in
itself. Inside there’s a queen size bed, a couch, a huge
armoire, a radio, and a TV. It also has a private bathroom, which I am so
grateful for because this way I don’t have to be in Dr. Juliet's way. The only thing
it’s probably missing is a kitchen. The first thing she told me when we got to
the house was that I could stay with her under one condition. She said I have
to buy my own food because she hardly ever cooks, therefore she doesn’t keep
any food in the house. “That’s it”, I thought. Getting my own food is no
problem. I was afraid she was going to say something else. I’m not sure what I thought it would be, but I didn’t expect it to be good. Dr. Juliet seems like
a chilled person. She is definitely kind. She didn’t have to welcome me into
her home, but she did. I am so grateful for her kindness. I am looking forward
to spending the rest of my time here with her.
That's all I have for now.....until next time!
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