Alliance Week 2018 

Yeah, the one organized by the entire Sexual and Reproductive and Health Rights Alliance of Uganda

Last year, 2018

From the 29^th of October to the 2^nd of November

In Mayuge district

This was my first one

I mean, I had heard about it a few years ago but had never been actually part of one

So, a lot happened as you can imagine

But I’ll share what stood out the most for me!

The numbers of people that came out to be a part of the Alliance Week

My eyes saw a lot of them

Now, I’m guessing this was the highest attendance by far or somewhere in between, for all the years that this week has existed

The number of people that came through to the health-camp

Those were very many….every day right away from Monday to the very last day, Friday

There is a story I’ll share with you about a lady I spoke with on Thursday afternoon as she got back from the medical tent

I was touched!

The number of young people in school that we interacted with

They were sooo many, their schools alone were also many and cooperative, too

Peer educators, those I knew and didn’t

All available in large numbers, at your disposal

We, all owned the Alliance Week

Now, I’m not speaking at the level of the individual organisations involved here….I speak from personal level

My job entailed me to be on the look-out all week as the celebrations went on

And I could vividly see that people had their hearts deep in this thing

No second-guessing of their decisions

The eagerness of our colleagues from the Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights Alliance of Kenya, to blend in and learn

They were really into this activity, always hands-on and on stand-by for the next activity or series of activities

That’s initiative only taken by somebody that wishes to learn

Could it be that this kind of activity has never occurred in Kenya? I don’t know…will probably have to ask around for some answers

Exercise of restraint by the people I interacted with

If you’ve organized or been a part of celebrations like these,

You do know and appreciate that many things won’t go according to plan

And therefore, many things that may not be intended to be said, will end up being said – end to end

For some reason, I didn’t see much of that

I don’t know if this was a conspiracy by everyone I met or interacted with to be at their best behaviour

Or not

The storm was relatively calm

Many young people knew a thing or two about menstruation

I can see you rolling your eyes like ddduuuhhhh

But let’s try an exercise here….stop any random 10 people

Ask them anything to do with menstruation

And observe closely

Tell me what you noted

Am I right or wrong?

I toured Eastern Uganda to say but the least…all the way from Jinja to Mayuge and everywhere in between there

I didn’t know many places here till 2018

The Alliance is what I have to thank for….

Damn, I made many many new friends

Sssoooo many

I believe I lost count on Monday evening

You can imagine how many I had made by Friday evening when I left for home

Re-uniting with old ones, such as Henk Jan Bakker

Wow….it had been a long time since we last had a chat

The sunsets and the rain

As always, they added some colour and fresh air to the whole scene

The photo moments….aaahhhh

I’m very sorry for the photo-bombed moments

Not my intention at heart

I kkknnnooowwwww…. I did that, a lot!

Being able to view the entire Alliance Week in photos and on my PC

By this, I mean, I had admin access to all the photos and videos recorded in the Alliance Week

It felt so good having a 360-degree view of the whole thing, all-week

I save the best for last, always

The food….

It was more than finger-licking good….it got to a level of paying for my meals in advance

There was no way I was missing my daily serving of spaghetti, avocado, chicken and groundnut sauce with crown mushrooms in it

That’s how much I was prepared for the Alliance Week, tummy-wise

Aaaahhhh….looking forward to the one of 2019