What the heck I'm doing in Uganda

Originally, I wasn't going to blog about my summer in Lugazi because I thought it might be too time-consuming. And I've never really blogged before and I'm still not sure I completely understand the point.

But the gajillion personal emails I've been writing to friends and family got very repetitive. Plus, I found the posts I was already doing for the Musana Jewelry blog kind of fun to do. Especially the photos. So I'm giving it a whirl.

I promise not to be too wordy or preachy or annoying. This "setting the stage" post will be my longest, I swear. Mostly, I'll just include snippets and snapshots ("Hey! That's the name of this blog!"). I understand reading is hard for some of you fidgety folks out there.

So. This summer, I am interning with Musana Jewelry in Lugazi, Uganda, a small, nonprofit organization that employs women to create jewelry for sale in Uganda and the United States. These artisans come from disadvantaged backgrounds and have struggled over the years to make ends meet. 

In addition to employment, Musana aims to improve their skill sets to make these women more employable in the future and help them achieve their personal professional goals. Areas in which they receive instruction include finance, literacy, computers, and professionalism. Musana also provides them with knowledge about the health issues that greatly affect their day to day lives, from preventing the spread of diseases like typhoid to cooking more nutritious meals for their families.

Before going back to school in the fall for a degree in public health, I wanted to spend a little time working in a small community to get a better idea of the public health issues faced by individuals, particularly women, from a developing country. I hope the experience will help better  focus my global health interests in my grad program. At Musana, my assignments / goals include:

• Creating a public health curriculum of 16 lessons, consisting of units in nutrition, women's health, sanitation, and disease prevention. I will lead an hour-long class each week, beginning this Tuesday.
• Training the Musana women to condense and give these lessons to three women's groups in the community.
• Assisting with the administration of a family health survey in the Lugazi community.
• Helping coordinate a partnership with a local clinic, Living Water, which will offer discounted services to Musana employees and their families.

My fellow intern, Angela, will work with me on these tasks. We also hope to introduce a fitness aspect to the daily routine at the Musana workshop at the request of some of the women. We've already done a Jillian Michaels video, so we are basically well on our way to top physical condition.

I'm going to try to post as regularly as I can, focusing mostly on the goings-on at Musana. However, we've also been having tons of fun getting to know the Lugazi area these past two weeks, so I'll be sure to include documentation about our adventures and mishaps.

The Musana Jewelry Workshop,
a four-room building where all the magic happens.