As per usual Monday habit, here I am back to you with the happenings of my last week in Kalongo.

For those of you that started reading since the beginning, you may recall a picture of our wonderful cook Cecilia, due to delivery anytime soon...this soon finally arrived and it is this new bundle of softness called...Alessia!!! Yes, this time no short version, this little girl is actually called like me!!

In this first picture Francesco holding Alessia while sleeping... 

...and Alessia with Cecilia, her mum:

On a totally different note, on Thursday we had the visit our the Italian Ambassador in Uganda, Stefano Rejak. He started his service as new Ambassador in Uganda three weeks ago and he then decided to travel around North Uganda to pay a visit to the places where the Italian presence has an impact on the commnity, through non-profit organizations mainly.

You see him here below welcome by the students of the St. Bakita school in Kalongo:

Here having lunch with the Italians in Kalongo:

And here his entry to the Dr. Ambrosoli Memorial Hospital, where the students from the Midwifery School welcome him with songs and music, with the typical kindness that always characterized them:

Signing of the Visitor's Book...

..and the donation of some gifts. The Ambassador and his staff left then in the evening after having paid a thorough visit to the Hospital.

This past Saturday...it was PARTY time!! The medical staff of the Hospital organized a Welcome Party for the new Japanese surgeon that will spend some months here offering his services for the Japanese Red Cross. The medical staff also was so kind to add me in the list of Guest of Honour, and let me sit next to the "important" people!

Songs were played to celebrate us ...

...and then, we opened the dances!!! And of course I did not stop until the music was shut down at night!! 

And I was particularly happy because...I finally found my dancing partner!!!
Oh yes...even this is happening in Kalongo!!!

We all had a lot of fun and, other than dancing myself, for me it was amazing to observe the guests dancing the local acholi music...so charming!!

Tomorrow I will go visit Kitgum, which is a nearby city, getting soon ready for a week end of action: visit to a park...then I will prove you why people say Uganda is the Pearl of Africa!

Afoio!

Here I am back with some new stories from the past week.

The week has been rather quiet. During the day I am now up to full speed with my work, while the week nights are pretty much like everywhere: it's not that there something to do every single night (unless you're in NYC of course!).

Nonetheless, Thursday night Francesco and I have been invited to the house of Florence, one of the staff of te Hospital, to celebrate the 13th birthday of her daughter Paska.

Being present at a birthday party here in Kalongo has been another, additional beautiful experience to learn more about the local culture.

All the guests were sitting in chairs and/or sofas around the main table in the centre, where we were initially served food and then cut the cake, as the tradition wants!

You see in the picture below Paska beautifully dressed in red, with two friends of her, just before the cut of the cake.

After that it was the moment for Paska to receive the presents the guests brought.

A chicken (yes, a chicken still alive...you can imagine my astonished face when I saw this!):

A present from her lovely mum:

And finally a present that Francesco and I brought (or better Francesco since the invitation to the party caught me unprepared so I did not have anything ready, unlike Francesco, who is the master of efficiency and things about everything!):

As initially said, the rest of the week passed by quite smoothly, until the week end arrived!

This week end we were not blessed as the one before with sun and clear sky the entire day; actually, it has been raining cats & dogs for the entire of Saturday, which I spent inside...marking the assignments in mathematics that the girls of the St. Theresa have solved (see previous posts for details on this).

As you can see...a LOT of assignments for me to mark, but I made it and it was actually a really enjoyable work. The students are impressively good in mathematics, and this is thanks to the high teaching standards for which some of the schools here in Kalongo are well known in the all of North Uganda.

Sunday was spent with a nice walk with Francesco and Nighty, one of the students that just graduated from the Midwifery school, around the fields in Kalongo.

But before going into the details of our walk, I would like to introduce you to our...lunch in few days!

This goat has been the present of some students of a nearby school to the Comboni Missionaries in Kalongo, to thank for the end of the academic year. 

The afternoon has been spent for some relaxing walk here and there, observing animals, here below a mum duck with her littles:

White fields of cotton, with the mountain of Kalongo in the back:

And beautiful fields of sunflowers too:

Finally, after about two hours of walking around....we deserved a cold, refreshing soda at the Paradise Hotel!!

This is all for my past week in Kalongo. See you soon!

Ale

Sunday was another intense day! Being in a Hospital in Africa, nearly 15 babies are born every day. Chatting here and there, some midwifes whose I became friend with, thought it was unbelievable that a woman my age has never seen a delivery (it is? I guess in our culture I am definitely on average, but not for their culture!), so I accepted their offer of being present during a delivery. And so I did.

The result was amazing, there you go little Ale. 

The mum decided to give to the baby girl my name. Given the high number of children/woman, the choice of the name is one of the last things that are decided basically and not much time is spent on that decision either. So, little Ale, welcome to our world!

Not satisfied yet with all the happenings of the day, I reached some of the students in the primary school next to the Hospital and thought them some…mathematics! 

They were really good at solving the problems I prepared for them so for tomorrow I promise them I will give them some assignments to work over the week and next week end we will correct it all together!

It is now Monday evening at the time I am writing. A new week has begun; work is taking most of my time, looking at financial data from the last years, strategic plans, etc. Because this experience in Kalongo is amazing for so many aspects: the relationships with the people here and, ok, I am still an MBA, the “fun” that comes from participating with my work to some of the strategic decisions of the Hospital.

Afoio!

Ale

Saturday morning was a day planned for…hiking activities! I asked Francesco to come with me to the top of the mountain that dominates Kalongo. He agreed and, in the two days before the trip, every time a member of the staff was hearing about our Saturday plan, he/she was planning on joining too!

So, allegedly a group of two, we then became a team of thirteen people (some students, some people from the administration of the Hospital, some teachers from the nearby primary school)!!!

Alarm clock set at 6am (which is rather EARLY for me for a Saturday morning!)...

at 7am we were all on the path to the peak...

 and, slowly slowly...

, we finally made it in about two hours (this is the view of Kalongo from the top)...

“Someone” was tired (especially since it was my first hike after nearly five years!) and fell asleep...

…but then, all awake, we celebrated our little victory!

Last week 40 students of the Midwifery School associated with the Hospital took their final examination. The entire week you could actually feel the level of tension in the air, when you were jumping into some of the students under scrutiny, they all look stressed out…but, oh well, we all know that special feeling before an exam!!

Finally Thursday everything was done and completed so the students and their teachers decided to organize a last second party to celebrate the end of the year. At the party there were all the students and the program was including, as always, and so pleasantly good local food and amazing dances played with the typical musical instruments…the one below is a picture taken during the so called “Bull Dance”…the name is a total program by itself!

Just look at the student in the front of the picture: that is all the energy that comes out after a period of such tension!

The Midwifery School of Kalongo is one of the most renowned in the entire country for its high level of preparation of the students so, CONGRATULATIONS LADIES! Well done to you all!

Professor Alberto Grando, dean of the SDA Bocconi School of Management, has kindly sent a note in regards to my support here in Kalong, I copy them here below:

Dear Alessia,
I would like to really thank you for your choice of generosity.
I am particularly happy that you decided to continue the service provided in the past by other master and MBA candidates. These kinds of initiatives are fully representing the spirit of solidarity of our School: practicing the values in which we all believe!
All the best,
Alberto Grando

As I wrote to you last, Sunday morning I went to the market. I guess there is not much to say about this. The pictures below show you Francesco and the Administrative Secretary of the office while walking to the market in the centre of Kalongo.

An overview of the market which is basically divided into a section with fruits and veggies and another one with clothes.

I bought some local vegetables there and decided then to cook my first pasta in Uganda with the help of Cecilia, our cook! Result was good and approved!
Cecilia is a lovely lady that has been the cook here for so many years. As you can see from the picture, she is due to deliver within the month and she told me that if it is going to be a baby, she will be called Alessia...nice one eh?!

Sunday afternoon, after the n-th rain I went with Francesco to St. Theresa school where the little girls taught me the numbers in the local language, and I taught them the ones in Italian...little by little by the end of my stay here I may know some sentences!

We went back last evening after work with the map of Italy to show them where we live. They were so enthusiastic and curios about Italy!

And I leave you with a picture of the nature around Kalongo. It's a pity that my camera cannot take nice pictures at night but, the view of the stars from here, it's unbeatable!

Afoio!

Here I am back to update you all on my latest days in Kalongo.

Thursday and Friday have been dedicated to complete my settling down process. Francesco showed me the remaining wards of the hospital which I did not visited yet. I am getting familiar with the different faces and names here, people now recognized me as per “Ale”, since to make things easier, that’s the way I am introducing myself to them. I also learn some initial two words, to greet : Afoio  - which means “hi”, and afoio amate’ that is “thank you”…not sure about the spelling J

I also had a first meeting with the Chief Accountant, Accountant Assistant, Internal Auditor, etc, in order to establish some clear guidelines in regards to my work here which is related with the financing activities of the hospital (I am not going to bother anyone on this regard on the blog!).

Thursday night Francesco and I have been invited to a sitting at the house of one of the midwifes working on the hospital, organized as a farewell for two doctors that spent six months in Kalongo for their specialization. In this occasion I discover than whenever you go to someone’s home the host will share their albums of pictures and the guests are supposed to look at them, it is like sharing stories of life without talking. After everyone that was invited arrived, each of the person made a brief speech thanking the doctors for their great work here and then…the food arrived.

I cannot remember the exact names of the different plates that we ate but there was cow meat, cooked vegetables (cauliflowers, sweet potatoes, another type of potato that could resemble French fries, spinach with a peanut sauce,etc), everything was so delicious. The culture here does not allow the guest to refuse to eat at someone else’s home, but, let me tell you, there was no question I would have ever refused that food!

In the picture one of the leaving doctor with her little girls, which was born here in Kalongo.

Today the entire day has been spent at St. Teresa female boarding school, in occasion of the celebrations for the end of the academic year that here runs from February until November. Parents in colorful dresses to cheer their little girls, a lot of songs, and dances.

It was well known already that Africans have the music in their blood, but when you actually have the opportunity of seeing them dancing and singing you really feel what that means. The beat of the instruments made me move as well (for those that know me well…I have quite the music in me too!). Unfortunately here internet is not really fast, so video uploading will be a pain but I will share some of their dances once back!

Ah, by the way, for those that complains all the time that seasons are not the same anymore, weather has changed, that holds even at equator latitude apparently. November is supposed to be a dry season, but so far the sun has been teasing us during the first hours of the day, then…A LOT of rain, for longgggg!! Look at the students trying to collect raining water to drink, that is another enlight of the culture here!

Tomorrow Francesco will guide me through the local market, I will update you on that experience next!

Afoio!

Hello everyone!

After a long journey I arrived today in Kalongo: my first day…what A DAY!

This morning I have been picked up at the hotel in Kampala by Quirino, who has been helping Fondazione Ambrosoli for many years now and know nearly everyone here!

Kampala is definitely an “early morning “ city, a lot of people around really early, a lot of Taxis…which I discover are those people riding their bike along the street with a cushion on the back side of the back: that is the seat for you in case you want to option for a taxi ride!

We arrived in about 30 minutes to Kajansi Airport, ready to reach Kalongo in approximately four hours.

The landscape from the plane was astonishing: lakes, rivers, bushes, small villages, significant changes of nature flying towards north. 

Finally then arriving in Kalongo. I think there are no words that would explain the welcome that I had at the air strip. Nearly 30 students from the Medical School affiliated with the Hospital to cheer at my arrival, singing, playing bongo, dancing and donating me flowers. Again, no words would be sufficient to explain the joy I was feeling around me.

My reference and guide here is Francesco, who introduced me to the people here and show me a tour of the Hospital, from the maternity ward (always the happiest ward in an hospital!), to the theatre (surgery room ). Was amazed me the most out of this visit today? That I have seen a lot of smiles around me, from everyone, administrators, students, patients.

Few chats here and there at it is already 9:30pm here, I am sitting on my bed, surrounded by a net to protect myself from the mosquitos, since here malaria is really common.

Tomorrow early wake up and Francesco and I will have a brief with Joseph, the deputy super of the hospital, to set up a plan in regards to my work here.

That’s all for my first day, I will return soon with more pictures and some more stories about Kalongo.