This one's for my dearest Carebear. This is a Ugandan tea plantation, just for your comparison to the Indian variety. Note the presence of the random trees growing tall above the tea, scattered seemingly randomly...did we ever figure out what that was about? It seems like the Ugandan variety grows more densely and maybe isn't as tall, whada you think?
22 June 2008
forgot this one....
This one's for my dearest Carebear. This is a Ugandan tea plantation, just for your comparison to the Indian variety. Note the presence of the random trees growing tall above the tea, scattered seemingly randomly...did we ever figure out what that was about? It seems like the Ugandan variety grows more densely and maybe isn't as tall, whada you think?
Kampala Whirlwind photos
Kampala streets in the dark - not a great shot, but gives you an idea of how dark it is and the lack of street lights...craziness
Thursday morning view of Kampala from the porch where we stayed overnight.
This is how we started off what would be a long, busy, important, encouraging and disappointing at the same time, day.
The Uganda Nurses and Midwives Council - Jennifer took this around 11:30am as she left to go pursue actually getting something done (and boy did she ever get something done!). I continued to sit for another 3.5 hours...I sat right inside that window on the right edge of the photo...I had no idea at this point what was in store for me in this interview, neither did I know I was going to be there for another 3.5 hours...I probably wouldn't have been smiling...
Yep, this is their mission statement - to protect the Ugandan public from renegade foreign nurses such as myself...
Friday morning we stopped here for a pastry and coffee before heading out of town...I don't know if you've had the experience in other countries of going to such a place and salivating because the delicacies in the case look sooooooo yummy, and you decide to splurge on one and it tastes like cardboard?! Well, this is NOT that kind of place - the delicacies in the cases actually taste as good as they look, it was such a wonderful culinary experience :) I got a sausage roll (piece of sausage wrapped in pastry dough - sooooo good, and protein rich too mom!) and then Jennifer and I split an apple turnover - so moist and delightfully yummy...
The Kampala haze as we headed out of town.
Fast food Ugandan style. Chapati (tortilla looking thing wrapped in a piece of notebook paper), gonja (a banana look-a-like, sweet potato taste-a-like, very yummy), and muchomo (chicken kabob of sorts that was very tastey). And then of course the t.p. stuck in the dashboard for less than ideal potty experiences on the road.
View from the Bundibugyo road as we drove over the mountains back into the district.
"snaps" from everyday life
This is Lydia in action :) One of two sisters that are Pat's "children" who come to stay with her most every weekend. Lydia loves to sing and dance - here she's showing you one of her moves!
Lydia I have affectionately nicknamed "spaz-o" because she's kind of a spaz - but check out this smile!
Me and spaz-o yesterday morning - I was still in my PJ's
My turn with the fake eye - again in the PJ's and with bed-head and all - I've given up on only posting somewhat flattering pictures of myself...there aren't many and well, this is where I'm trying to portray something of everyday life here, and mornings before changing out of your PJ's and brushing your teeth and doing something with your hair are real life :)
African version of the iron - charcoal inside - Joshua the tailor was leaning over this little "chimney" apparatus blowing gently inside to fan the flame/heat the charcoal up in preparation for ironing his handiwork.
View from the top - just in case you doubted that it was charcoal inside...
Used clothe-ez rack in the market - those sticks hanging from the rod are hangers - ingenious!
I think I've posted a picture like this before, but one afternoon I was struck with the beauty around me as I walked back to the house from the cho...who gets such a bathroom experience?!
Autoclave - sterilizing instruments from the operating theatre at Nyahuka Health Center...in the States, autoclaves are the size of a whole room, and notice that this one is sitting on top of a charcoal cooking "stove" as a heat source! Hopefully it's getting hot enough!
Kampala Whirlwind, vol. 1
I don’t really know where to start. I suppose if you’ve already read Jennifer’s blog (link on the side) you know most of the details…I’ll just add a bit to fill in my side of the story…
Tuesday (17 June)
18:30 or so: Jennifer calls and says, “I’m in.” She had finally talked with our UNICEF contacts and confirmed a meeting with them for Thursday morning and therefore confirming the usefulness of her coming to Kampala with me. I was really thankful and looking forward to traveling with her and the connections/experience she was bringing to the trip (ie. place to stay for free for two nights, a vehicle to travel in, more knowledge of the city than I have, etc).
Wednesday (18 June)
06:30: Every Wednesday morning we have team prayer meeting. I’m not usually very thrilled about getting up because, well we all know how much I like the early morning hours, but afterwards I’m usually glad I went. Every week there are two people assigned, months in advance, to lead prayer and share their prayer requests and what has been on their hearts and minds as of recent and have the team pray for them. This week Ashley and I were on the schedule, so it was really good timing. I explained what little I knew of what was awaiting me in Kampala, and how I was feeling about it, and everybody prayed for me and Jennifer and our trip.
8:30: Off to the health center after packing the last few toiletries in my bag. I was so thankful for Nick and Katie’s help (two of the 3 interns here this summer). They came down and weighed all of the kids on the ward while I packed up a couple of boxes of supplies/meds for the nurses to use while Jennifer and I were gone. Then Nick kindly stepped into Basime’s role in ART clinic, handing out numbered charts to patients as they came into the clinic, and Basime came with Katie and I over to the area we do Nutrition clinics in, and I set them up to hand out and record the food given to ART moms/kids. They got started and off I went, thankful to leave the ward in Margaret and Olupah’s hands, and Nutrition in Basime and Katie’s hands, and Nick to help pick up some of the slack in ART.
11:15 or so: Jennifer at the wheel of the Bart-mobile, Melen and baby Jonah in the back, we come to a smoking halt near the office of the King of the Batwa (pygmies). I stood with the car while Jennifer went off to make a phone call and a jerry can of water…meanwhile the inebriated mechanic with all his henchmen sat around under a tree trying to convince me to sit down on a stump in their midst (which I refused which in turn made them all laugh, I was glad as always to provide some comic relief). The mechanic asked about my father and how he was doing…I clarified that he wanted to know if my father was good, and wasn’t in fact telling me that his father was doing well. I assured him my father was doing just fine, and he seemed happy to hear that. He then asked about my “mummy” and I assured him my “mummy” was doing just fine as well, and thanked him for asking. He then suggested that it would be a good idea for me to take a Babwisi husband. I reassured him that I didn’t think it would a good idea and he persisted a while but when his English ran out, he gave up. At one point, when boredom took over the group after they ran out of things I was doing and saying to laugh at, they went over to the car and opened one of the caps on something under the hood and dark brown thick liquid began shooting straight up in the air like a volcanic science experiment…they jumped back and watched until it finished spewing and then put the cap back on…it didn’t seem to be a good thing that they seemed as surprised as I was about the dark spewing liquid. I was glad to see Jennifer heading back to the vehicle so we could progress in a constructive manner towards some sort of end…the end was that we did get it cooled off and running again, off we went only to come to a halt again going up the mountains less than a half hour later…so we waiting for Scott, feeling really bad about him having to come all the way to rescue us and trade vehicles.
1430: off we were again and pressing on to get to Kampala at a reasonable time
1930 or so: it’s dark, and the road is full of potholes that seem to creep up on you just when you get back to a reasonable speed, causing you to swerve or take the hole straight on, which means that other vehicles on the road are also swerving unexpectedly and slowing and speeding up randomly, plus everyone is home from their work or school during the day and walking on the road, laughing and shoving each other in a joking fashion that isn’t so funny when you’re driving along in the dark and trying not to hit them or the potholes. Then there’s cows and goats and chickens and children and dirt piles and cars stopped with “flares” that are just leafy branches placed in the road, not really very effective in the dark...so driving became teamwork with Jennifer and I discussing what is where in the road and both trying to discern what is what and what is where…
2030: Kampala, not any easier in the dark than the road leading to Kampala is in the dark. The teamwork driving continued with “Is this a lane?” “I think it could be” “Can you see a traffic light anywhere?” “No, but there’s a policeman over there fwho looks like he should be directing traffic but instead is looking at his watch.” “I think I’m just going to do what the guy in front of me is doing.” “I’d say that looks like a good idea. Oh, watch the bike, and there’s a boda.” “Can I go now? How’s it look that way?” “Looks good, wait no, um, almost, go NOW.”
2200: After dinner, exhausted we arrived at our accommodation for the night. We unloaded our overnight bags, took showers, and plopped into chairs on the porch overlooking the city and Lake Victoria, and enjoyed the beauty of the full moon’s light shining on the Lake. There was also wireless internet access and so we got to check our email while admiring the view. I went to bed praying, “God, thank you for giving us what we needed today. Tomorrow’s a big day too, please give me whatever it is I’ll need. I don’t really know what I’m going to need.”
Tuesday (17 June)
18:30 or so: Jennifer calls and says, “I’m in.” She had finally talked with our UNICEF contacts and confirmed a meeting with them for Thursday morning and therefore confirming the usefulness of her coming to Kampala with me. I was really thankful and looking forward to traveling with her and the connections/experience she was bringing to the trip (ie. place to stay for free for two nights, a vehicle to travel in, more knowledge of the city than I have, etc).
Wednesday (18 June)
06:30: Every Wednesday morning we have team prayer meeting. I’m not usually very thrilled about getting up because, well we all know how much I like the early morning hours, but afterwards I’m usually glad I went. Every week there are two people assigned, months in advance, to lead prayer and share their prayer requests and what has been on their hearts and minds as of recent and have the team pray for them. This week Ashley and I were on the schedule, so it was really good timing. I explained what little I knew of what was awaiting me in Kampala, and how I was feeling about it, and everybody prayed for me and Jennifer and our trip.
8:30: Off to the health center after packing the last few toiletries in my bag. I was so thankful for Nick and Katie’s help (two of the 3 interns here this summer). They came down and weighed all of the kids on the ward while I packed up a couple of boxes of supplies/meds for the nurses to use while Jennifer and I were gone. Then Nick kindly stepped into Basime’s role in ART clinic, handing out numbered charts to patients as they came into the clinic, and Basime came with Katie and I over to the area we do Nutrition clinics in, and I set them up to hand out and record the food given to ART moms/kids. They got started and off I went, thankful to leave the ward in Margaret and Olupah’s hands, and Nutrition in Basime and Katie’s hands, and Nick to help pick up some of the slack in ART.
11:15 or so: Jennifer at the wheel of the Bart-mobile, Melen and baby Jonah in the back, we come to a smoking halt near the office of the King of the Batwa (pygmies). I stood with the car while Jennifer went off to make a phone call and a jerry can of water…meanwhile the inebriated mechanic with all his henchmen sat around under a tree trying to convince me to sit down on a stump in their midst (which I refused which in turn made them all laugh, I was glad as always to provide some comic relief). The mechanic asked about my father and how he was doing…I clarified that he wanted to know if my father was good, and wasn’t in fact telling me that his father was doing well. I assured him my father was doing just fine, and he seemed happy to hear that. He then asked about my “mummy” and I assured him my “mummy” was doing just fine as well, and thanked him for asking. He then suggested that it would be a good idea for me to take a Babwisi husband. I reassured him that I didn’t think it would a good idea and he persisted a while but when his English ran out, he gave up. At one point, when boredom took over the group after they ran out of things I was doing and saying to laugh at, they went over to the car and opened one of the caps on something under the hood and dark brown thick liquid began shooting straight up in the air like a volcanic science experiment…they jumped back and watched until it finished spewing and then put the cap back on…it didn’t seem to be a good thing that they seemed as surprised as I was about the dark spewing liquid. I was glad to see Jennifer heading back to the vehicle so we could progress in a constructive manner towards some sort of end…the end was that we did get it cooled off and running again, off we went only to come to a halt again going up the mountains less than a half hour later…so we waiting for Scott, feeling really bad about him having to come all the way to rescue us and trade vehicles.
1430: off we were again and pressing on to get to Kampala at a reasonable time
1930 or so: it’s dark, and the road is full of potholes that seem to creep up on you just when you get back to a reasonable speed, causing you to swerve or take the hole straight on, which means that other vehicles on the road are also swerving unexpectedly and slowing and speeding up randomly, plus everyone is home from their work or school during the day and walking on the road, laughing and shoving each other in a joking fashion that isn’t so funny when you’re driving along in the dark and trying not to hit them or the potholes. Then there’s cows and goats and chickens and children and dirt piles and cars stopped with “flares” that are just leafy branches placed in the road, not really very effective in the dark...so driving became teamwork with Jennifer and I discussing what is where in the road and both trying to discern what is what and what is where…
2030: Kampala, not any easier in the dark than the road leading to Kampala is in the dark. The teamwork driving continued with “Is this a lane?” “I think it could be” “Can you see a traffic light anywhere?” “No, but there’s a policeman over there fwho looks like he should be directing traffic but instead is looking at his watch.” “I think I’m just going to do what the guy in front of me is doing.” “I’d say that looks like a good idea. Oh, watch the bike, and there’s a boda.” “Can I go now? How’s it look that way?” “Looks good, wait no, um, almost, go NOW.”
2200: After dinner, exhausted we arrived at our accommodation for the night. We unloaded our overnight bags, took showers, and plopped into chairs on the porch overlooking the city and Lake Victoria, and enjoyed the beauty of the full moon’s light shining on the Lake. There was also wireless internet access and so we got to check our email while admiring the view. I went to bed praying, “God, thank you for giving us what we needed today. Tomorrow’s a big day too, please give me whatever it is I’ll need. I don’t really know what I’m going to need.”
17 June 2008
"as in three days from now?"
it's monday afternoon...about 1pm. I'm home on a lunch/email break, heading back down to the health center for a meeting with some of the people that I work with on Nutrition stuff about the fact that lots of the supplies are dimishing without documentation of where they are going...not good...but that's to be saved for another post altogether. But I still should have about 15 precious minutes of internet time...
the phone rings...shoot...so I run to my room and grab the phone from the curtain rod (the only place in the house that gets reception), and run outside to the front yard to answer it...the voice on the other end is Ugandan, and indicates after I asked who was speaking, that she is calling from the Nursing Council...crap...And she says ever so sweetly that I will have an interview in Kampala "this thursday 19 June"...I couldn't understand her very well at that point, the connection wasn't great (surprise surprise). So I repeated what I thought I heard, back to her..."this thursday, as in three days from now?!" I was needless to say a bit surprised since she told me I'd have at least a week's notice when I talked to her in the Council's office 3 weeks ago.
She confirmed my fears and said, "yes, this thursday 19 June." Crap crap crap.
So there's a lot more to the story, including her hanging up on me, but apparently that's not at all rude here. The long and the short of it is that tomorrow morning I'm leaving for Kampala to be there for this interview on Thursday morning and then to turn around and come back on Friday.
Thankfully I won't have to travel alone (although I will be glad to do it sometime just because...). Jennifer is coming also, so that we can observe a unit treating severe malnutrition patients and then negotiate some with UNICEF in order to keep getting formula and supplies from them to treat the malnutrition patients we have in Nyahuka. That's another really long story which will need it's own post when the saga is finally finished.
So, that means that Jennifer and I will be driving some sort of vehicle (possibly the Bart's old vehicle which as of this evening didn't really so much start without a jump from the Pierce's vehicle - so that we can get new tires put on...which means the tires need replacing, which means that the Bundibugyo road, which is not exactly "easy" on tires could leave us changing a tire by ourselves...which I have, for the record, never had to do by myself, in the States let alone along the side of a narrow road in the mountains of Uganda) to Kampala to try to get two things accomplished....
1. A letter of approval from the Nursing Council of Uganda (following an oral clinical interview) required for my application for a work permit (and no letter no work permit, no work permit no Heidi in Uganda)
2. Signed agreement with UNICEF enabling us to receive and use their F75 and F100 formulas to treat severely malnourished children in Bundibugyo (no agreement no formula, no formula and we're back to buying boxed milk and giving oil and sugar to create a high energy milk for the kids to eat - effective but not nearly like these formulas have been).
So, it feels like a big trip. If you would, please pray that things would go well, and even better than we anticipate.
the phone rings...shoot...so I run to my room and grab the phone from the curtain rod (the only place in the house that gets reception), and run outside to the front yard to answer it...the voice on the other end is Ugandan, and indicates after I asked who was speaking, that she is calling from the Nursing Council...crap...And she says ever so sweetly that I will have an interview in Kampala "this thursday 19 June"...I couldn't understand her very well at that point, the connection wasn't great (surprise surprise). So I repeated what I thought I heard, back to her..."this thursday, as in three days from now?!" I was needless to say a bit surprised since she told me I'd have at least a week's notice when I talked to her in the Council's office 3 weeks ago.
She confirmed my fears and said, "yes, this thursday 19 June." Crap crap crap.
So there's a lot more to the story, including her hanging up on me, but apparently that's not at all rude here. The long and the short of it is that tomorrow morning I'm leaving for Kampala to be there for this interview on Thursday morning and then to turn around and come back on Friday.
Thankfully I won't have to travel alone (although I will be glad to do it sometime just because...). Jennifer is coming also, so that we can observe a unit treating severe malnutrition patients and then negotiate some with UNICEF in order to keep getting formula and supplies from them to treat the malnutrition patients we have in Nyahuka. That's another really long story which will need it's own post when the saga is finally finished.
So, that means that Jennifer and I will be driving some sort of vehicle (possibly the Bart's old vehicle which as of this evening didn't really so much start without a jump from the Pierce's vehicle - so that we can get new tires put on...which means the tires need replacing, which means that the Bundibugyo road, which is not exactly "easy" on tires could leave us changing a tire by ourselves...which I have, for the record, never had to do by myself, in the States let alone along the side of a narrow road in the mountains of Uganda) to Kampala to try to get two things accomplished....
1. A letter of approval from the Nursing Council of Uganda (following an oral clinical interview) required for my application for a work permit (and no letter no work permit, no work permit no Heidi in Uganda)
2. Signed agreement with UNICEF enabling us to receive and use their F75 and F100 formulas to treat severely malnourished children in Bundibugyo (no agreement no formula, no formula and we're back to buying boxed milk and giving oil and sugar to create a high energy milk for the kids to eat - effective but not nearly like these formulas have been).
So, it feels like a big trip. If you would, please pray that things would go well, and even better than we anticipate.
13 June 2008
Looking back on the week
a few random thoughts:
1. I think I've mentioned the plethera of smells that exist here, most of which I could do without. Well, as I was walking to the health center one day this morning, I passed the chapati corner and got a whiff of what? A diner...they say smells trigger memory more than the other senses, but this was incredible...I was totally transported to South Philly or maybe the "Family Restaurant" my brother and I stopped at in the middle of the night in Kansas on a drive home from Colorado...eggs, cinnamon, coffee...it was unbelievable. Here they make something called a "rolex" - nope, not the watch, but a breakfast/lunch food...a chapati with eggs on the inside or outside, I can't remember. I've never had one because I've never been a big fan of most varieties of eggs. But man oh man was that smell good enough for a momentary trip home to the states for an imaginary breakfast.
2. I successfully hired my own boda here in Bundibugyo, all by myself. Yep, under the same tree that the men yelled at me so obnoxiously from, I just walked up to the oldest looking boda driver and said quietly/confidently, "I need to go to Busunga." "To the hospital?" He asked with a respectful look on his face. "Yes" I said. "That will be 2,000" he replied. I agreed, hopped on the back and off we went. But the rediculous part of the story is that I was not only wearing a skirt but also a pair of pants and a slip...the things we do to avoid ridicule...craziness...Oh and I got one 1/2 of the way back too :) I was so proud of myself. They both drove safely and I was thankful.
3. People here point with their lips. They look in the direction of the they they are trying to point out for one reason or another and they pucker their lips really big and gesture towards the thing with their lips...I have to keep from laughing everytime somebody does it, but I think it's cute :)
1. I think I've mentioned the plethera of smells that exist here, most of which I could do without. Well, as I was walking to the health center one day this morning, I passed the chapati corner and got a whiff of what? A diner...they say smells trigger memory more than the other senses, but this was incredible...I was totally transported to South Philly or maybe the "Family Restaurant" my brother and I stopped at in the middle of the night in Kansas on a drive home from Colorado...eggs, cinnamon, coffee...it was unbelievable. Here they make something called a "rolex" - nope, not the watch, but a breakfast/lunch food...a chapati with eggs on the inside or outside, I can't remember. I've never had one because I've never been a big fan of most varieties of eggs. But man oh man was that smell good enough for a momentary trip home to the states for an imaginary breakfast.
2. I successfully hired my own boda here in Bundibugyo, all by myself. Yep, under the same tree that the men yelled at me so obnoxiously from, I just walked up to the oldest looking boda driver and said quietly/confidently, "I need to go to Busunga." "To the hospital?" He asked with a respectful look on his face. "Yes" I said. "That will be 2,000" he replied. I agreed, hopped on the back and off we went. But the rediculous part of the story is that I was not only wearing a skirt but also a pair of pants and a slip...the things we do to avoid ridicule...craziness...Oh and I got one 1/2 of the way back too :) I was so proud of myself. They both drove safely and I was thankful.
3. People here point with their lips. They look in the direction of the they they are trying to point out for one reason or another and they pucker their lips really big and gesture towards the thing with their lips...I have to keep from laughing everytime somebody does it, but I think it's cute :)
allergies
I feel like someone turned on a water hose inside my nose...I'm allergic to something around here, not sure what yet, probably won't ever know. I thought maybe it was the new bed, but luckily I don't think that's it...but I've been sneezing like a banchee (although I do love to sneeze - has a wonderful cleansing feeling to it, at least for the first few seconds just after), and my nose has been running constantly. I had this happen a year or two ago back in St. Louis. I would be standing at a patient's bedside at work and have to tip my head back and cover my nose and make the universal sign for "wait a minute" (holding up one index finger) and run out to the nurses' station to find some kleenex (which were invariably the texture of a paper towel, so I started bringing my own box of Puff's Plus with Aloe to put in the conference room for such moments as these). It's not a good situation when your child's nurse has got to go off and blow her nose before she can return to the room. Not really the picture of cleanliness/hygiene/health :) But it's not like the kid is going to catch my allergies from me, but you can't very well explain that to them convincingly. Anyways...It was much like that today down at the health center. But TIA. Things are a little bit different here...
1. I don't know that people (Ugandans) have allergies here...they sure don't get treated for them that's for sure.
2. This is a culture in which no one has kleenex. Maybe they have a handkerchief or a piece of kitenge they use instead but mostly they just wipe/blow their noses and their kids' noses in their kitengi which is wrapped around their waist as a skirt of sorts. It's the same piece of fabric that their kids pee/poop on when they're sitting naked on their mom's laps, it's the same piece of fabric that they often hand to me to wrap their 10 cups of beans in because they forgot the bag we gave them to carry their beans home in...a very versatile piece of fabric indeed.
1. I don't know that people (Ugandans) have allergies here...they sure don't get treated for them that's for sure.
2. This is a culture in which no one has kleenex. Maybe they have a handkerchief or a piece of kitenge they use instead but mostly they just wipe/blow their noses and their kids' noses in their kitengi which is wrapped around their waist as a skirt of sorts. It's the same piece of fabric that their kids pee/poop on when they're sitting naked on their mom's laps, it's the same piece of fabric that they often hand to me to wrap their 10 cups of beans in because they forgot the bag we gave them to carry their beans home in...a very versatile piece of fabric indeed.
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