I had a childhood dream of becoming a doctor, so when we got this opportunity of conducting ethnographic interviews I wanted to learn from a medical doctor. So, I organized an appointment with a nurse who gave me one of her free days which was Tuesday. Her Name is Olgah she is a nurse working at Afya clinic in Kashojwa. It is a refugee owned and managed but supervised by the ministry of health of Uganda. Olgah have been working as a nurse for 3 years since she came in Nakivale, she holds a diploma in nursing and midwifery from Burundi. Her dream is to proceed with education until she reaches Phd and become a doctor. There are some of the questions that I’ve asked her which increased my interest into medical science. Do you fear death? Yes of course, even the fire brigades fear fire just as soldiers hold guns but as well fear wars. Being a life saver doesn’t mean I don’t fear death. We all fear it and it is the reason why we save lives. Why should someone become a doctor or a nurse? Firstly being in medical domain is a passion because it has money and everyone can do it but not everyone who can manage it. Imagine being a nurse when you fear seeing blood or having shaking hands then you need to be a surgeon. So it’s a passion to be a nurse and being a nurse you save thousands of lives every year.
Personal Narrative
Ethnographic Interview, by Iragi
He is called Arian. He is sixteen years old a refugee in Nakivale refugee settlement living alone. I met him where he works and requested to conduct an ethnographic interview with him and he accepted. 1, So Arian tell me more about yourself that you would prefer the world to know. I am Arian, a 16 years refugee in Nakivale working as a brick layer to feed and school my brothers. 2, Sorry do you care for the brothers? What happened to the parents? It’s a long story please. 3, Can you share it with us please? No problem. I am living here in Nakivale with my two brothers because during the war period we got separated with my family as we were running and I only remained with the two siblings I was holding in hands from the left and the right. We came to the camp where since then I’ve never heard of them though all the efforts I did to look for them and I don’t know if they are either alive or dead. And the only family that I’m remaining with is my brothers and I’m the only person to cater for them. 4, How do you manage it alone? It’s not easy but I do try my level best to manage it because I have no one to do it on my behalf, I’ve stopped schooling so that they can school and get fed, I am their only family here in Nakivale and they are my only. I do always thank God for having saved my us and I always pray for my parents and my other siblings to be alive and get united again in life. There are many kids in streets here in Nakivale working days and nights because they have no parents and are catering for their siblings and life is always hard for them and they need a good support.
Ethnographic Interview, by Joel
It was in the evening when I was interviewing my friend at school. His name is Josue. We were seated outside on the desk near our class. My friend Josue was wearing green T-shirt, grey trousers and black shoes. I interviewed him about his job. He is a porter. He told me that he wakes up every morning at exactly 7:00am and goes to work until 8:00pm. I asked him if he usually had a break; he replied: “I always have a short break from 11:00am to 2:00pm then I get back to work until 8:00pm.” He also told me that his average income per day is UGX 5000. He said again that he doesn’t love the job because it’s too hard for him and he usually faces many challenges. He said that sometimes he is forced to spend all his money to repair his bicycle when it gets mechanical problems. The spoiling of his jerry cans also is one of his challenges. These were the two main challenges he usually faces and they make his job too hard. He said also that there are some risks he faces when doing his work, especially road accidents and sickness because of carrying many things at once and others. But above all these challenges, Josue said that when he does his job, he learns hard work and he said that for him hard works leads to success. I really appreciated his courage and hard work.
