Visiting the Masooli Rehabilitation this week was incredibly enlightening and informative. The Masooli Rehabilitation Center is a part of the Uganda Youth Development Link (UYDEL).
UYDEL has several drop-in centers in addition to the rehabilitation center that serve an average of 1,600 youth every day! The Masooli Rehabilitation Center focuses on youth who have experienced trafficking, commercial sex work, or substance abuse. The center provides vocational training for the youth, and we had the opportunity to tour the classrooms today. The vocational training classes include cooking/catering, electronics repair, motorbike mechanics (boda bodas), hairdressing and cosmetology, welding classes, and construction/building classes. The youth also gave us a performance at the end featuring dancing, singing, and acting! I am so grateful for the generosity in sharing their music and dance with us, as well as allowing us to tour their facilities and classrooms.
Additionally, our recent visits to the Masooli Rehabilitation Clinic and the Twekembe Slum Project have enlightened my concept of the environmental and structural factors that affect the children and young adolescents living in the slums of Kampala. When I contemplate interventions and policy changes that would alleviate some of the health outcomes that affect these youth, I now have a better concept of their immediate needs. Professor Monica Swahn has also previously highlighted that disadvantaged youth living in the slums may frequently be concerned with their immediate needs, such as food, shelter, and basic needs of life. These immediate needs may take priority over concerns with other health outcomes.
Both the Twekembe Slum Project and UYDEL are excellent examples of addressing the youth’s immediate needs in addition to providing services that promote a better future. When discussing global health with other health professionals in the future, I now have a more thorough understanding of how important it is to tailor interventions to a community and obtain the community’s involvement and feedback. For example, an HIV intervention that is effective in other areas of Kampala may not necessarily work for youth living in the slums, given the importance of other immediate concerns, such as clean water, food security, etc. Overall, interventions globally must take into account the targeted communities and their immediate needs, just as UYDEL and the Twekembe Slum Project have done. Community involvement in the intervention development stage is one of the pillars of the core Public Health Ethics.
Overall, the experience of this trip has deepened my understanding of the fundamentals of public health, research, and community engagement. I currently am a PhD Graduate Research Assistant for Dr. Swahn, and I have been working with data that she has collected in 2014 from youth at UYDEL. Meeting the community that I have been helping write papers about has opened my eyes to the context of the environment, as well as the overall goal of public health research.
I initially thought when I embarked on this trip that I would deepen my understanding of the community, which would also strengthen my writing and analyses to help with Dr. Swahn’s work. Indeed, this preliminary thought has become true. However, this experience has provided me with an even deeper insight as to why public health is so important. I have also become more aware of the public health professional that I aspire to become. I’m incredibly thankful for the amazing faculty on this trip, especially my PhD mentor (Dr. Monica Swahn), and all of my fellow students that have participated in this journey with me.