Day in the Life of an FSD Intern

Sleep - one of my favorite things as you now know - is often interrupted by an overeager rooster or a dog fight here or there, or an extraordinary amount of birds. Putting that aside I am usually up, mosquito net neatly tucked away and getting breakfast around 8:00 am. Recently it has been tea g-nut spread and bread or fried eggs, or crazy weird and dense but awesome fried pancakes.

Nine weeks has been plenty of time to develop a routine. My workday officially starts at 8:30, but let’s gets real; this is Africa. Twice I have shown up and been the only one until after 9! So around 8:25/8:30 I start to mosey up the road to ORUDE.

Internet access, lots of space, and a free and filling lunch buffet. ORUDE is pretty awesome. I've been spending a lot of that time researching community development, branding strategies and team building activities.

After lunch things get a little exciting. I hop on a matatu to Nakabango Stage right by my Sacco. It is a quaint space with electricity, but no Internet. Adjusting our program to be a training of trainers has simplified work so much. I began traveling the 40 minutes to Marusacco only twice a week and meeting our brand managers there – cutting our transport costs in half! Otherwise I spend my time running errands, making copies, picking supplies and ordering our Marusacco polo shirts (which hopefully will be completed today!!), or attending the occasional FSD workshop.

Matatu home and the day’s work is done! It would not be unusual to see the other interns from Jinja and myself on the patio of Mayfair hotel after work stopping in for something to drink, or at space café using some free wifi, or at a new favorite – Moti Mahal Indian Restaurant! Recently I found a great gym across town, but if I can’t make it out there I usually get enough exercise doing curls with baby Solomon. I don’t know anyone who likes to be upside down as much as that guy!

Tea time around seven starts to close my day and I will sit around with my family and talk about our days, or we enjoy some TV programs – when electricity allows. Dinner is served by ten – ten thirty at the latest. A brief rocking of baby Solomon and I crash – especially since I started walking everywhere, stupid rising petrol prices.