Global Youth Service Day -Uganda

Killer Number One

This morning before I left home, I watched the last of two DVDs that I received from the Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN) in February this year. IRIN is part of the United Nation’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The DVD, “Malaria -Killer Number One” is a documentary highlighting the malaria emergency in Ethiopia, one of the places hardest hit by the disease. The documentary also focuses on new cures, preventive action and interventions by the international community, which seem to bring a glimmer of hope to many affected by the disease! It seems odd how I failed to watch this DVD when I received it at first a couple of months ago simply because my notebook couldn’t recognise the DVD whenever I inserted it into the slot. For a while there, I thought it was a “no-use” DVD and almost threw it out in the trash but for some unknown reason seemed to hang on to it, packing it with me wherever I went. It was therefore quite surprising when it actually played after I reluctantly tried it out in another player today. (Note to self: I need to get my notebook player looked at!) Ethiopia could well be another Uganda for all I know, after watching that DVD. It was very touching! At some point a very sickly patient is shown during a very adverse stage of malaria with medical officers standing around her bed as the head doctor gives his diagnosis of the condition. You can almost touch the doubt written all over their faces as to this woman’s chances of survival. And I think the doctor puts it quite politely when he says, “I think her chances of survival are, errrr… below 50%”. The only other place that I know where ‘death’ would be implied so tacitly is Uganda. So like I said before, that documentary could very well be on Uganda. Matter-of-factly I’m considering taking it with me to the meetings tomorrow. Perhaps someone or some people could learn a thing or two as well. Watching this documentary also renewed my zeal for participating in the malaria awareness service project because as it is, I saw another face of the monster that is malaria! And I’m more determined that this monster must be defaced. But even then, it takes collective effort.

It is quite a challenge juggling my daily responsibilities at my place of work with my new role as coordinator of this GYSD service project. But for God, I can’t say exactly how well I manage to pull it all off. Just yesterday I had to cancel an evening meeting with some dear friends because I thought I wouldn’t have the time then to go through the other sections of the 100-page planning toolkit. It’s a small price to pay however, especially in the hope that at the end of it all, there shall be tens of children and youth in this small village who shall be implementing various strategies to keep the number one killer at bay. And as they do that save a few more shillings for their families that would otherwise have been spent on malaria-medication, to buy them a new school uniform or have a second (and third) square meal each day too. The thought of that cycle warms my heart so and at the end of the day, gives me more zeal to juggle my responsibilities ably the next day. Surely, I cannot wait for April 27th.

I’m at my work-desk right now where I’m supposed to be reviewing a financial work-plan for the next quarter and pass on my comments for the same. I’ve had to put that on “pause” for now because I’ve been dealing with spreadsheets all morning and the human brain can have its limits too at times. Blogging seems to work wonders as a stress-reliever so here I am again. I keep on interrupting this with intermittent phone calls that I have to attend to and one of those calls is informing me of an urgent need to go by the GYSD – Uganda “control centre” before the end of the day, which invariably, also signals the beginning of the weekend in this little nation. People go into the overdrive here during the weekend. Therefore, if you get such a call, you must attend to it, lest you risk losing that piece of information to the following week, which for most people begins the next Monday (not Sunday!). Tomorrow, when most people shall be enjoying the start of their weekend, I shall be again in a little obscure village, off the Kampala-Masaka highway, co-facilitating a community session on malaria awareness, prevention and fundraising through youth service. Later, I am also scheduled to guide the service week action planning along the GYSD aims of:

1. BUILDING the capacity of an international network of organizations that promote youth participation, service, and learning.
2. EDUCATING the public, the media, and policy-makers about the year-round contributions of young people as community leaders around the world.
3. MOBILISING youth and adults to meet the needs of their communities through volunteering.
4. LEARNING and sharing effective practices in youth service, youth voice, and civic engagement globally.

Reflecting once again on the Muzinda service project, I can’t believe how better informed and passionate I have become of the malaria situation in our world today, over the past 14 days especially. It’s surprising, even to me, that I am now quoting accurate facts and figures off the top of my head about malaria. I hope after next week, it can be some of those children and youth in the new club in my shoes because by then I shall have gone back to my more mundane duties and responsibilities as a DW, BM and SE.

And in other news, my colleague at the YSA office in D.C., Nandini Assar, has (finally) sent in that long-awaited communication, just as I prepared to call it a day today. It reads in part: “…Thank you for bearing with (me), and (I) wish you every success in your project…” I didn’t lose a moment in forwarding it to my colleagues here. Certainly signals a good service week indeed of contributing to decreased productivity and mortality rates as a direct result of malaria in this little village.

“To walk the journey of one thousand miles, one must start with one step” -Chinese proverb