My introduction to Uganda

If there was one single day that I've learned the most in my time at the school of public health, it would be today, through a long conversation with a classmate, Jane, from Uganda. It was a profound experience at every level, intellectually and emotionally, as a mother and as a public health researcher, as an American and as a "foreigner" at the same time.

Where shall I begin? Maybe I should tell you a little bit about my friend. Jane is a PhD student at Berkeley on Fogarty Fellowship (training award for researchers in the developing countries to come to the US to do HIV-related research). She is a mother of three children, aged 15, 8, and 5--all are in Uganda with their father while their mom pursues a PhD degree. Jane is a pharmacist by trait and has been involved in a lot of clinical trials back in Africa. This is her third year at Berkeley. She tries to talk to her children a couple of times a week.. (Suddenly, the thought that I'll get to see my children within two weeks seems too good to be true!)

I've been wanting to have lunch with her. I wanted to learn about the daily lives of Ugandans, their problems and aspirations. In my mind, through my readings both in and outside of public health, that part of the world is represented by the following: heat, hunger, internal (tribal) conflict, infectious diseases, unemployment, and most of all, poverty. All of these are very remote from my life just because I've lucked out to be born in the right place at the right time. Jane was patient enough to withstand my constant, two-hour-long questioning. I guess we relate well with each other because we are both moms away from our children, and I share her passion for work in the developing countries.

As it turns out, the above-mentioned problems are pretty much all there as we speak today, except for maybe hunger (the country is 100% agricultural so even though there's not much to do and no money, some basic food's grown as long as the soil is not too barren). Besides AIDS, malaria, TB, and a host of infectious diseases prevail the country. Every time I think of TB, I remember my father's stories of watching his siblings dying from TB infection. I realize how close I personally am to these horrible and yet completely preventable diseases. And these diseases are far from being eradicated. There's a lot waiting to be done.

The ethnic cleaning in northern Uganda that took place in the 80s and 90s and to some degree today left a violent legacy. Jane spoke of children mutilated (with ears and lips cut off by rebels) and snatched to be front-line soldiers, children who lost limbs from land mines, orphans.... No one has yet had the time to estimate the psychological damage.

I also asked about the role of churches in Uganda, seeing that all of my African classmates have Christian names. Jane estimates that 40% of the country are protestants, 30% Catholics, and about 20+% Muslims, and the rest traditional African beliefs. She thinks the churches play a tremendous role in community-building and in upholding values and faith. One aspect that made me angry at the Catholic Church was its staunch position against birth control and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. As far as I see, in a context where the population is plagued by the horrible disease of AIDS, discouraging condom use is simply immoral and irresponsible.

I also asked her perspective on potential solutions to all these problems. What are the root causes of illness and disease? What can she, the West, the UN, and foundations such as the Gates Foundations, and people like you and me do? I learned about the ethical issues of western researchers conducting trials in Africa (of which there are numerous), the problem of sustainability in research and programs, and her dreams of making some difference. She said she had no desire to stay in the US, as so many brilliant African scientists leave their countries. She actually had the option of bringing her children here, but she and her husband decided that if they were educated in the US, they may not relate to their roots and may eventually turn into Americans, something she desperately try to avoid. (What a difference in mentality from most Taiwanese parents that I know!!)

Of course, I was also very curious about her experience living in the US. During this part of the conversation, I did have to remind her that Berkeley is by no means real America. This came as a surprise to her. But I see that it helped explain some of her confusions between what we are learning at school and what she observes in daily life. For example, the obesity epidemic is the single most important public health topic today in the US, with soaring number of obese people at all age levels. Well, you just don't see that here in Berkeley, with some many walkers, runners and bikers and organic foods. Another thing is she was surprised to see was the low attendance rate at churches, as she doesn't know the existence of strong and powerful Christian communities throughout the US. (Somehow mega/evangelical churches don't go well with Berkeley attitudes.) On a lighter note, this well-educated native speaker of English had NO clue as to who Elvis Presley is! She asked if it was a classical musician! So I truly lacked a better way to introducing Memphis!

Above all, I found one comment Jane made to be most intriguing: She wonders why Americans seem so unhappy and some many are depressed. She said that in the face of extreme poverty, war, diseases, people in her country are generally upbeat and joyous. So what makes so many Americans so depressed? Why are we so depressed when we have so so much?

Something weird is, by this point, I was getting a little "Americanly" depressed. I think about my passions and my hopes to do something. I think about these children. Our children. The future of our world. The fact that we conveniently live in separate worlds to worry about our own problems as if they are the only problems we know that exist. I think about how I often would avoid learning about news that would make me upset. And yet, I am sitting with this woman everyday in classrooms, in a way her problems are not that far from mine. Today, she was my best teacher. That much I know at least.