Murchison Falls 7/6-7/8

This weekend was great! We got to see lots of amazing animals and even did things I'd never imagine I could have the opportunity to do. But that's not to say it went smoothly or according to the plan.

First, we had decided to leave at 7 am. Our hope was to avoid the traffic in Kampala. Unfortunately, the car we hired didn't get to our house til around 730. I'm quickly learning how unimportant time is to people outside of America. After we managed to squeeze 8 people into a 5 person car, we filled up, did a little maintenance on the car and finally headed out around 9. 

The 6 hour drive was a little tight. We made a few stops for bathroom and snacks and finally arrived at our "hotel" around 3. It was a group of huts that were located outside the park. They looked pretty nice. I was even shocked to see that they had running water and electricity. I felt like I was living in the lap of luxury!

From there we had to deal with a lot of confusion about our accommodations, things we wanted to do and see and the plan for the next day. We did have a little down time while we were waiting for park officials to come and help us. Of course when girls get together, you can count on some good gossip. Unfortunately, Julie had planned different things than we wanted to do. It was hard to explain what we wanted and for her to explain what she thought was best for us. Needless to say tempers got a little heated at times. Too much togetherness can be a bad thing. 

We finally decided on a plan for the next day. We would get up early, drive into the park, do the early safari, eat lunch, do a boat ride and possibly hike the falls depending on the time. 

Well that plan didn't work out exactly as we imagined either. Again, we got a late start. But we managed a game drive that ended up being absolutely amazing!! We saw elephants, giraffes, antelope, baboons, and so many more animals. After that, we headed to a nearby restaurant for lunch. We were pleasantly surprised to learn they served American food. I treated myself to a hotdog and a piece of chocolate cake!

After lunch, we all went on a boat ride down the Nile River. There we saw many different birds, hippos, and the breathtaking Falls. The 3 hour boat ride was nice and relaxing. I never thought I would get used to seeing a hippo just lounging around.

Even though we were supposed to leave Sunday night, we all decided that driving back at night was not the safest idea so we opted to stay one more night. In retrospect, that was a terrible idea. After dinner Cari, Jordan, Amber, Rebekah, and myself retired to our hut, which had enough room for 12 people.We went to bed around 10:30 so we could get up and leave about 5:30. Unfortunately we were woken up around midnight by a swarm of ants. First they were attacking Cari and Amber. After they showered, we came back to inspect the room only to realize there were thousands of them all over the walls and floor. They were mostly attacking the top bunks. We realized it seemed they were afraid of the light so since we didn't know where neither Juliet nor the manager were staying, we turned the light on and hoped for the best. That lasted about 2 hours. We all were now confined to 3 beds and the ants were taking over. Then we heard people close by making a lot of noise. Jordan braved the darkness and saw that they were being attacked too! We were finally able to find the manager who gave us keys to a different room so we could try to get an hour or two of shut eye before we left.

The next morning we headed out early. We had talked the driver into taking us to the Rhino Sanctuary which was on our way back. We met a Rhino named Obama (1 parent from Kenya the other from America) and got to stand about 20 feet from them. This was different from the safari, in which we had been confined to a car! 

Afterwards, we made a stop to buy fruit and ate lunch. We ended up getting back about 4 pm and mostly rested for the evening. Biti had been kind enough to do our laundry for us, so we didn't have to worry about it when we got back. We just took our stuff to our room and got ready for the hospital.

First Day in the Main Operating Theater 7/5

As to be expected, we completed another first today...watching surgeries in the main operating theater. We decided to get there a little early to be sure we didn't miss anything. Still not sure if that was a good or bad decision. The first procedure we saw was what he called an evacuation after a partial abortion. The woman was rolled into the theater, placed on a table completely naked and the procedure was performed. There was a lot of blood that went everywhere. Again, it didn't seem like there was much respect for her as a patient. The surgeon also seemed a little brash. He had one of the more abrasive personalities. Guess that's just something I'll learn to deal with.

Afterwards we saw him do a hernia repair which we correctly determined to be an indirect hernia! That glorious moment was immediately crushed when he asked us to name the boundaries of the inguinal canal and we couldn't get them all. Better brush up on my anatomy ASAP!

Because there was a break in the major surgeries, we all headed to the minor theater. There we saw a few catheters being placed as well as some wound care. Then we got word that Dr. Waiswa had a few C-sections to perform so we made our way back to the main theater. The first two seemed to go smoothly but the last one was a still born. Based on the smells and the way people reacted, the fetus had been deceased inside the mother for a while. It was a lot for me to handle so I called it quits for the rest of the day. Maybe as I get further along, I'll get better at dealing with the emotional stuff.

That night, we got a little treat. Cari and her boo decided to go into town for some yogurt. Jordan and I tagged along for this little love fest, partially crashing the "date." We went to the market and the first thing we noticed was how big it was. They had just about everything. Jordan and I bought a chocolate bar,a huge lemon cake, and soda all for less than 10,000 Uganda shillings which is about 4 dollars.

On the way home, Jordan pointed out all of the stars we could see in the night sky. It was so much clearer here than anyplace I've ever been. It's one of those sights that you wish you could find a way to capture and show everyone. Once we finally got back home, we packed and got ready for our weekend getaway.

We Finally get to Spend the Day with the Doc! 7/4

Today was amazing for more than one reason! First, it was the Fourth of July at home. True it's a day to celebrate our independence but for me it meant my family didn't have to work...which meant I got to talk to them. But first I had to make it through another day.

And trust me when I say I more than "made it through." We (all 5 of us) found Dr. Charles Waiswa as he was heading into the maternity ward for rounds. Amber and Rebekah had spent time in the OR with him previously, so he seemed more than happy to have us tag along. Each ward is broken up into three sections. The first houses post-operative patients, the second holds medical patients, and the third is for infectious cases. We saw lots of post operative C-section patients. Some of them presented with a fever, which he said was most likely malaria and not another serious infection. It seems that here, being sick with malaria on multiple occasions is almost expected.

We also saw him do a vaginal exam on a patient. In the US, we certainly have a different definition of privacy. Because all of the patients are held in the one large room, a thin screen was brought in and placed at the foot of the bed. Draping of the patient didn't happen either. This may be due partly to differing ideas and opinions regarding nudity and the female body but I was still a little caught off guard.

Another thing that caught my attention was after the exam, I saw Dr.Waiswa actually wash his hands! Maybe it was the germaphobe in me but I had noticed that hand washing was not a common practice, at least not to the extent I was used to.

Dr. Waiswa was very patient and a good teacher. He went through and explained many of the notes in the charts. We even saw him use a fetoscope. It's amazing how little technology there is available to help with patient care, and how the nurses and physicians work around it. He also informed us of the high rates of obstructed labor. He said it mostly was a problem because women tried to deliver in "lower health centers that don't practice traditional medicine and lack resources."

We stayed at the hospital a little longer, then made it home for a late lunch. After lunch, we met up with Rebekah and Amber and went to the Internet cafe. I was able to chat with my family which was amazing! Unfortunately FaceTime wasn't working...well that might have been a good thing because I might have cried if I would have actually seen them. 

All of us girls also took a little time to plan our weekend trip. We decided to go to Murchision Falls (MF) National Park. Jordan and I had planned a safari for our last week to the same place. But Juliet was offering to take us. It was a little frustrating trying to work out the details and change our plans. We were originally planning a 3 day trip and Juliet was offering a 2 day trip. After a little back and forth, we decided to forgo our original plans and go with Juliet and hope for the best.

A day apart... 7/3

So even though Jordan and I had vowed to stay together at all times, we broke this promise today. Juliet called the airport and my bag had finally arrived from Cairo. So that meant missing one day at the hospital to make the 4 hour trip to Entebee. It was overall an uneventful trip. Our car was bombarded a few times by people selling things from street meat and fruit to sunglasses and toilet paper. The trip took longer than expected because of all of the traffic in Kampala. It was nice to drive through the capital again and see it when I wasn't so delirious and emotionally drained. It didn't look as bad as I had remembered it. 

We got the bag and headed home. On the way back, we made a few stops. First we returned Sam #2's passport and phone that he had left in the car. Then we stopped at a restaurant for lunch. Needless to say I was paranoid about eating. The only food I had eaten this far was prepared by Biti and was vegetarian. I didn't think I was ready to go all out and be crazy adventurous so I just stuck with some kind of vegetable broth and rice. 

Nothing else too exciting happened. Once I got back, we mostly spent the evening talking with the family.

Day Two: Treatment Day and ABCs 7/2

We spent our second morning again in the pediatric ward. We saw 2 of our nursing student friends. They took us around the hospital again and gave us a few more introductions. I think they will be really helpful. Each ally we can earn, the more likely we are to gain the trust of the other nurses and physicians, not to mention the patients.

Yesterday we went home for lunch around noon, but today we were talked into staying for treatment. We weren't exactly sure what we would be doing or what exactly treatment was but we agreed. The first thing the nurses had us do was call out the patient names and pass out charts. You can only imagine how funny it must have been to hear us butcher these names. Next, we watched as everyone lined up. The nurses had a tray full of medicines that were to be mixed in certain amounts and given to the patients. From my perspective, it seemed chaotic and unorganized but everyone else seemed to handle it just fine. I just have to keep telling myself there is more than one way to do things.

After lunch we headed back to the hospital and visited the small operating theater. There we talked to a local medical student who explained the ideas behind circumcision as a way to combat the high HIV rates. He said that most of the time, circumcisions aren't performed on men until they are approaching adulthood. We also learned about the ABCs for reducing HIV risk...Abstinence, Be faithful, and Condom use.

Then we headed over to the female ward, which houses patients 5 and older. A few of the students we met the day before introduced us to that ward. They took time to explain some of the patient charts and even took us to see patients. I even got to see a femur fracture patient and attempted to intelligently look at a few x-rays. 

At the end of the day, we headed home just in time to miss the downpour. When we got there, Biti even taught us how to make chapati. It is a local dish which reminds me of a fried tortilla. Since it was raining, the entire family was huddled in the living room talking and spending time together. Definitely gave me a moment of homesickness but all in all, it was a pretty good day.

Another new development was Cari and her new boo Ivan. She gave him her number and he seems to be pursing her pretty hard. He seems nice and romantic but like we told her, it's probably partially a game he runs on all the volunteers.

General Impressions so Far...

Since I've been here all of 2 days, I felt it was the perfect time to just give a summary of a few things I've noticed. Those of you that know me well know that observing is what I do best. You also know that this list can't even begin to cover everything but its a start.

1. We get fed a lot! I'm not sure if its polite to feed guests extra or what, but the portions are HUGE! Not to mention we are constantly being offered a snack.

2. The food is better than I thought it would be. It's mostly carbs (pasta, potatoes) and we usually get some kind of fruit at most meals which is really fresh and delicious.

3. Everyone thinks I'm from Uganda. Even on the plane ride over people were asking if I was visiting family. Not necessarily a bad thing though.

4. People we've met so far (other students, family members, neighbors, friends) are really helpful. They are also super friendly!

5. The living conditions aren't as bad as I expected. Of course I'm sometimes a negative Nancy but I think I'm adjusting to bucket showers and no running water...and a few "creature friends" I've seen.

6. I've mentioned it many times but this unplanned, spontaneous way of living is taking some getting used to. But for the next 4 weeks, I better suck it up and go with the flow.

7. The hardest thing so far is not being able to talk to my family. I call my parents multiple times a day and at least text my fool of a brother. But only being able to talk to them when we go to the cafe is frustrating.  Hopefully ill make it through.

8. Language is more of a problem than I though it would be. Most people speak English here but when we are in the hospital, many of the patients come up to me and ask me things in the local language. Not to mention some of the spoken nuances get lost in translation.

First Day of "Work" 7/1

Jordan, Cari, and I got ready for our first day of volunteering in the hospital. We were taken to the hospital byJuliet. We didn't (and still don't) know a lot about her and what her role is. But the walk to the hospital was...interesting. We passed lots of children who kept shouting "mazunga" or white girl at Jordan and Cari. Nobody seemed to notice or care that I was walking with them. We also saw lots of goats and chickens just roaming around. Once we got to the hospital, we were given a brief orientation before deciding to spend the rest of the morning in the pediatric ward. The hospital is set up like open corridors. It has wards for pediatrics, males, females, and maternity patients. There is also a main operating theater and a smaller theater. A few of the other buildings house clinics for ART (anti retroviral therapy), family planning and things of that sort.

Our morning in pediatrics was pretty uneventful. The physician wasn't there so we spent most of our time reading the patient charts and interacting with the nursing students. School here is pretty different from back home. Students spend two and a half years studying nursing. Then if they want to complete a medical degree, it requires an additional 2 years after that. 

I also was able to spend part of my morning talking to the nutritionist. He told me about the high number of cases of kwashiorkor (shout out to the biochemistry lectures from school) and the difficulties in getting parents to adhere to recommended diets. Interesting to know adherence problems aren't just a US thing.

After a long lunch at home (over an hour), we headed back to the hospital. At least for me, I enjoyed the afternoon much better than the morning. I met one of the nursing students, Yosmas, who was extremely helpful. Well that was after he "stole" my water out of my pocket. It was all in good fun I suppose because he made up for it by personally walking me around and touring me through the hospital. He took me to the lab and pharmacy and made it his point to introduce me to his friends. He, like most people, was interested in how/why I was black but not from Uganda. It made for an interesting and brief history lesson. I didn't mind though. 

I'd say the first day there was ok. One of the big things that bothered me was how relaxed everybody was. Nobody seemed to work on a tight schedule. People (students and family) were pretty much allowed to wander as they pleased. Not that any of this is a bad thing, it's just going to take a little while to get used to. Another thing that I noticed was the lack of physicians, especially on some of the wards. It seemed like the nurses were mostly running the show and the docs would be there when they could. Since Iganga is one of the more rural hospitals, this doesn't seem that unexpected.

Overall the first day in the hospital was a good one, and I'm excited to see what all we can learn while we are here.

Hello Uganda!!

Finally Made It!!!

We arrived at the airport super early Sunday morning. Needless to say, we were feeling a mix of emotions. I can't speak for Jordan but I know I was tired from traveling, nervous about what adventures awaited us, anxious to meet the program coordinator, Michael (assuming he had actually made it to pick us up this early) and slightly sad that I hadn't been able to talk to my family. Another gentleman we met on our flight Sam#2 found us in the airport and was nice enough to make sure we picked up all of our luggage and met with Michael. And that was definitely a good thing, especially since one of my bags didn't make it to Uganda. Luckily, it wasn't my main bag but it had a few necessities and many of the hospital supplies. This was not the way I had imagined starting the trip. But then again, nothing was going as we had planned.  After talking to the baggage people for over an hour and being told to call the airport on Wednesday, we were finally ready to head to Iganga. Slightly delirious and partly annoyed, we met Michael, loaded our luggage in the car and started the 4 hour drive. As a way to thank Sam#2 for helping us out, we gave him a ride to his place. Sadly, he left his passport and phone in our car which we had to get back somehow.

  Since it was still dark for the beginning of our drive, I couldn't get a good look at my new surroundings. But what I did see was slightly shocking to say the least. Things looked run down and dirty, way worse than I was expecting. Initial thoughts of fear and regret ran through my mind. "Maybe I had made a huge mistake...this is not something I can handle..." But eventually, sleepiness overcame me and I dozed off.

When I woke up, we were pulling into a driveway. Michael informed us that this would be our new home for the duration of the program. As hesitant as I was, I opened the car door and introduced myself to my new host mom, Biti. We were also introduced to the  children, Sharifa and Dan. With the help of the boys (who I eventually learned to be Bekar and Joey and Kato...) our stuff was taken to our room. There, we were greated by another volunteer, Cari. Looking around the room, I was pleasantly surprised. We each had a bed with a colorful mosquito net (to protect us from malaria). In the corner of the room, there was a bathroom with a toilet. Water for the toilet and bucket shower was obtained from a pump around the back of the house. Shortly, Biti appeared again with breakfast. Even though I wasn't hungry and partly because I didn't want to be rude, I slowly ate. Breakfast seemed oddly familiar. We had buttered bread, a banana, fresh mango and washed it down with tea. After breakfast, the day consisted of mostly eating, napping and meeting people.

Late in the afternoon, two other girls (Amber and Rebekah) who are also in school with us and were participating in the program, came to meet us. All 5 of us decided to go into town. Our plan was to go to the Internet cafe so that we could let our families know we had arrived safely. Walking to the town, I noticed a lot of trash in the streets. We passed by lots of street vendors selling things from food to clothes to daily necessities. We were also getting quite a few strange looks from people. I assumed it was because I was with a group of white girls. I later found out that was only half of it. We got to the Internet cafe but couldn't get the wifi to work. Disappointed doesn't even describe how I was feeling. More than anything I just wanted to talk to my family. Luckily, we found a " computer lab" we could use. I sent an email to my family and we headed back home. On the way home, we stopped by the home that Amber and Rebekah are styling at. We met the family there and we're greeted with a special snack before dinner...Rolex. It is kind of like a sweet tortilla with a fried egg mix in the middle. Amber helped make it while we all set around on the front porch socializing. Finally we headed back home for the evening and got ready for our first day at the hospital.

We are getting closer...

June 28/June 29

So Saturday was nothing more than a travel day, but it was way more successful than our first attempt. Compared to the first time, the day started much, much earlier. We made it to the airport for our 10 am flight without a hitch. The flight was pretty uneventful and we made it to JFK safely. Our layover there was spent people watching. We were even lucky enough to meet some people who accompanied us for a few parts of our journey. Gina and Malia were two nice women who were headed to Uganda on mission work. We also met Sam #1. He was from Uganda and was flying back with us for the entire way, which turned out to be a really lucky thing. After a few hours of waiting we finally boarded our flight. Jordan and I were even sitting next to Malia, which was a pleasant surprise. The 11 hour flight to Cairo was better than expected. Our airline served "delicious airplane food," had movies and plenty of entertainment, and I was able to get a few hours of shut eye.  Once we arrived in Cairo, we had planned to hang out in the airport even though we had a pretty long layover. We had been getting emails from the US Embassy about riots that were taking place. They warned all travelers to either avoid Cairo or avoid exploring if you were "fortunate" enough to be there. But...our plans changed a little! Apparently the people in Egypt are strongly against people hanging out in the airport. So Jordan, myself, Gina, and Malia were given a voucher for a hotel room and meals! How could we say no to that?! So we all purchased our Egyptian visas (easier said than done) and headed outside to find the shuttle to La Passage Hotel. We were told the shuttle ran every 10 minutes but after running into our friend Sam#1 again, he quickly explained that people most likely told us a little white lie. After a short wait, we arrived at the hotel. (Safely despite the crazy driving over there). Being the cool travelers we were, we ate lunch, rested our swollen ankles, and walked around. We also bought a few souvenirs. Finally, it was time to head back to the airport. The last leg of our journey was also pretty uneventful...well until we actually arrived at the Entebee airport at 3:30 am.

P

Interesting Person of the Day

So this section of the blog is dedicated to the interesting people we've met along our travels.

Wednesday 6/26; The award for interesting person of the day goes to...John AKA "Sam" B. from Portsmouth, England. For a man in his 70s he was dressed to the nines, with his bright red shoes that matched his even brighter outfit. After letting him use my phone to make a local call to his niece, he told Jordan's mom his entire life story. Highlights of his life included growing up in an orphanage, living in Jamaica during British Invasion, working as a jockey, living in Thailand, and his recent vacation to the ever so exotic Hilton Head, SC. He even offered a tid bit of advice...2 pretty US girls should be careful in Uganda! Thanks Sam and we hope to read your book that is due out soon.!

Day -2 and counting!

Take 1

After months of planning the day had finally arrived. My classmate and friend, Jordan, and I were heading to Iganga,Uganda for a medical mission trip at the local hospital. Being the overly prepared girls that we are, we had checked and rechecked every detail from the itinerary to the number of vitamins we needed to last 30 days.

Unfortunately for us, we couldn't have prepared well enough to avoid the tiny obstacles of the day.  It started out pretty normal. Jordan and I were up until about 2 am packing and organizing our bags. After finally forcing ourselves to bed (even though neither one of us actually slept) we were up at 8 and ready to go. We had a few errands to run, suffered a last minute anxiety attack in subsequent purchases at Target, and ate our last meal in Raleigh. Her parents (along with boyfriend Josh) graciously took us to the airport and even carried our luggage. And when I say luggage I mean the 4 pieces that we each have (guess we overpacked a little bit). We knew that our flight had been delayed about an hour. Even with that delay, we still would have made our connecting flight in New York and headed to Cairo, Egypt with plenty of time to see some pyramids. However, once we got to the airport we were told that the flight wouldn't be leaving until 5:30. That meant no connecting flight and no pyramids. And this was after our bags had been checked and boarding passes obtained.  From there the situation spiraled downhill pretty quickly. The guy at the ticket counter was the opposite of helpful and refused to help us find another flight. So now Jordan was forced to be her assertive self and figure this out. That left me sitting and waiting patiently. My other job was to keep her from freaking out after being forced to repeat the same story to a few different airline reps.  Needless to say these people weren't helpful...they wanted us to pay $3000 and get a "doctor's note" saying that missing the connecting flight wasn't our fault directly. That was not an option. They were also telling us that we would have to pay for a hotel at JFK out of pocket, go to stand by and hope we could get a flight to Cairo, and then play the waiting game again to get from Cairo to Entebbe. Not only that, but the flights were full until July 5th and flights from Cairo to Entebbe only happen on Wednesdays and Fridays. So that option would have left us stranded for who knows how long in Egypt...and the spontaneity involved with that plan didn't sit well with 2 girls who have  extreme Type A personalities.

 Instead of just sitting there, I decided to make myself useful and get back in line to talk to another ticket person at the counter. Luckily, we found a ticket officer , who was efficient, but not too friendly, that was able to solve our problem. With a few clicks of the mouse, our flight was rescheduled for early Friday morning. So that meant a few extra days in Raleigh and a slight delay in the culture shock we are about to experience. So instead of blogging from the plane or the pyramids, we are sitting in Jordan's living room listening to rain and planning our (hopeful) last full day in the US.

P & J