Hello hello!

It’s been a very action packed and exciting two weeks here in Uganda… as Brooke already mentioned we had a lovely first-hand encounter with the health care system as I enjoyed a delightful couple of hours at ‘The Surgery’ hospital here in the city. Although I am fairly certain I have never felt sicker I did learn some important lessons from my little adventure with dysentery… first of all, never again will I bypass the oral rehydration salts aisle at MEC. I specifically looked at them a few days before leaving Toronto and was impressed by the number of flavours but chose not to include them in the suitcase of pharmaceuticals and first-aid paraphernalia I brought with me. Poor choice. World Health Organization issued rehydration salts do not include flavouring of any kind and the result is a solution that tastes remarkably like ocean water… not exactly what one is looking for when they are trying to recover from a totally flushed out system. Brooke can attest to the general level of disgust on my face each time I tried to take a sip. There are pictures of my pathetic attempts at drinking but those will not be making a blog appearance. Second lesson was that it is much cheaper to get sick here than it is at home. 12 pills of antibiotics here cost a grand total of $1.50 Canadian… I’m pretty sure it would have been at least 30 or 40 times as expensive back home. Definitely a welcome surprise as I took out my visa and prepared myself for a massive bill. All in all the entire visit with doctors fees, lab fees, and prescriptions came to less than $40… no complaints there. ☺

Aside from our health related vacation the past two weeks have been busy finishing up the writing and editing of the Juvenile Justice Report and starting on preliminary research for the next FHRI report on people with disabilities. What I really wanted to share today though has nothing to do directly with our research but has nonetheless been one of the most memorable experiences for me personally in the past two weeks.

Last Thursday we had the opportunity to attend a one-day conference on the theme of minority rights in Uganda. I think one of the reasons the conference stands out so significantly for me is that it raised a number of issues that I had personally been contemplating over our first month of work. Among these were discussions related to what it means to be a “human rights defender”, the “professionalization” of human rights activism, and the idea that human rights are a western import. Another central theme that emerged from the discussions was the idea of human rights work within the context of a religious state. Although it was a conference addressing minority rights in general much of the focus was dedicated to the specific issues facing sexual minorities in Uganda. Coming from a country whose approach to sexual minorities has been among the most liberal in the world it has been interesting for me to see how many people in the human rights field draw the line of what they are willing and able to defend along religious lines. The inextricable link between tradition, culture, and religion on the perception of human rights is one of the key things I have come to understand during our fellowship. The conference was attended by representatives from an incredible diversity of perspectives ranging from self-identifying individuals and activists from the LGBT movement, to religious based human rights organizations, to non-religious NGOs and civil society groups. The most amazing aspect of this conference was the honest and candid nature of the discussion and the tolerance by all members for the opinions and perspectives of others. By the end of the day I truly felt like everyone of us came away with a heightened awareness and appreciation for the views of all sides and it was incredible to be part of such a vibrant and progressive dialogue.

I think that is all for now - I hope you are all having similarly incredible experiences on your fellowships and I can’t wait to come together in September and share stories and adventures in person.

Take care.

Ash.