May 24 – May 25
The past two days have been fairly low key. In the morning we had arranged with a driver from the University to take us to the Equator. When we asked him, he told us that he would take just the 5 of us in the van. In the morning that was not the case. I don’t know why we were shocked that he didn’t tell us the truth. It turns out he was going to bring some Wisconsin students about 10 kilometers past the Equator and we could ride along. The ride out was a full van with luggage in tow. I guess I don’t mind too much except that the driver was already paid and just by adding us he gained 60,000 shillings. Oh well, It’s only $30 split between 5 people. It’s a bit over an hour to get there just to take a picture and look at gift shops with the same stuff that’s in Kampala for at least twice the price. Instead of shopping, we went to one of the cafes to have a little snack. Pepsi and chips with guacamole really hit the spot. Our driver returned from dropping off the students before I was finished and since he was in a hurry to get back to Kampala so he could bring his kids back to boarding school, I just grabbed the rest of my chips and hopped in the van. The ride back was pleasant because we were no longer cramped all together. There is more room in this van than a mtatu and I was miserable after a little under two hours. It made me even more glad that we didn’t take one to go to Mubende.
Once returning to town, we decided we could just barely make it to the 2:00 service at KPC before walking across the street to the market. We were a few minutes late already but right outside of the church, a woman came out of nowhere and rear-ended the van. Poor James was already in a hurry and because of us he got in an accident and was even more late than he was before. I didn’t feel as bad paying him 60,000 and we even through in a little extra. We left the scene of the accident and I think that was for the better. Even the police officers were telling us we should go. I don’t know what happens where there is a traffic accident but I’m glad we didn’t have to stick around to find out. Honestly, I was surprised it was the first time we experienced and accident with the way that most people drive.
Since we were so late, we just stood at the back to watch the children sing because it was a special children’s day. It was not the Watoto children’s choir, which is the orphanage kids singing, but they were still precious. When they were finished, the pastor asked us to break up in groups of three to pray for the children as the returned back to school. I prayed with Angella and another stranger. I think it’s amazing that people pray like that all together but in groups. It doesn’t seem like something I’ve seen in many churches back home because it gets into people’s comfort zone. I guess if you do it enough, it feels natural and normal.
The craft market was okay, but most of the shops were not open because it was late on a Sunday. We decided to just get a few things and then come back when we were finished in the hospital on Monday. For dinner, we stopped at Javas for quesadillas. We got home much earlier than usual (about 7:00) and we spent the rest of the night trying to get all of our pictures burned on a CD for Angella. For some reason it takes a very long time. We tried with the videos, but it didn’t work at all, so we just gave up after four hours.
Monday was our last full day in Uganda, but it was jut another weekday for us. We went up to the ward and I brought a lot of stuffed animals with me. I’ve tried to avoid handing them out when the wards are full because people bombard you wanting one. I made the mistake of handing out a few at a time and soon everybody was asking for one. I don’t mind giving them, but I get really upset when the same mother gets a toy and then hides it and comes back to get another one. It seems like no matter what we give, people want more. I feel bad having to say no, but I feel even worse when there isn’t enough to go around. Plus, that day, my intentions were a little different.
I don’t know if I mentioned before, but there is a little girl in the ward who has been abandoned and the nurses have been taking care of her for about a month. One nurse told me her name is Teresa and so that’s what I call her, but most people just walk by and say “baby”. She is not much of a baby at two years old, but she is extremely small and malnourished for her age. I started interacting with her last week and then decided that I would just pick her up and hold her because that doesn’t happen very often. Now that’s what I do when I feel like I’m getting in the way on rounds. I just sit with her. Today her bed was in the hallway and I just picked her up and held her. The nurses always walk by and smile. One of the doctors came up and thanked me for loving that baby. When I see her sitting in the bed I think about the experiment we read about back in psychology freshman year. Some monkeys were not allowed to have any mother’s tough, except for mechanical monkeys that cleaned and fed them. They ended up with huge psychological problems as the grew older and their social interactions were abnormal. The only time Teresa is picked up is when some nice person has time or a nurse is changing or bathing her. I figured the least I could offer was some time to hold her. The problem is every time I try to put her down she cries, and then when I leave she starts wailing. I’m sure the nurses don’t like that she’s getting used to somebody actually picking her up, but I don’t care. She needs somebody to comfort her, even if it’s only for a few days.
After we left the ward we went down to check on a child that had gotten surgery for a perforated bowel. He probably would have died within a day or two of us seeing him if he didn’t get the surgery, but since Ross and Troy had caught it on the x-ray, he was given surgery for free. He was doing a little better the day after and then got worse on Thursday and Friday. Saturday Troy checked in on him and found that he was improving, which was amazing because Ross and Rachel thought for sure he would have passed away. When we got to the surgical floor, Ross looked around and saw that the bed he was in was gone. He asked a mother nearby and she shook her head, implying he was gone. Just to be sure, we asked a nurse who went in to look for little Derrick. While she was there, I flipped through the log book and found his name. The description said that he died at 11:30 and the morgue came to take the body away. It was very sad because we were hoping this boy would pull through. It’s hard to see things like this happen because without the surgery he would have died sooner and his mom would have missed one less day of work and caring for her family at home. With the surgery, we wonder if we improved his life or made it worse overall. I think we have to say that we tried and what we did at least gave him a chance to survive, even if the outcome wasn’t what we wished. I just hope that some of the other cases that we have been a part of have a better outcome that this boy’s.
We were all depressed after hearing the news about Derrick, so we stopped at the café for a Fanta and a donut. It didn’t really make us feel better, but at least it filled our stomachs. We left the hospital and came back to the house. Then we walked to the craft market to buy the rest of the gifts we needed for people back home. It’s so overwhelming in the markets sometimes because every shop sells basically the same thing but you have to sift through to find the best quality at the best price. It’s a challenge that I have to be in the mood for I think that I should take my mom there sometime to see how she would fair. I’m guessing she would be great at it once she gets the hang of bartering for price.
At night, we stopped by Little Angel to drop off some clothes and take down some more information from the moms. It turns out they are only 16 and 20. They both had dropped out of school at one point and now they do an amazing job watching over all of those kids. They looked a lot different this time because they had all either gotten their hair cut or their heads shaved to start school. Angella says that I lot of schools make kids shave or cut their hair so that they can focus on their studies. We saw all kinds of kids in different colored uniforms walking back and forth to school during the day. The city changes a little bit with so many of them filling the sidewalks.
We had our “last supper” at a nice restaurant at a hotel downtown. Troy was very kind and treated us to dinner, which I very much appreciated. However, the food was not as good I as was expecting. We had amazing Chinese food at Fang Fang hotel last week and I thought the sweet and sour vegetables would be even better here. It turns out they were very bland and the sauce tasted almost like it was tomato paste rather than anything sweet. Oh well, you really never know what you’re going to get when you order food here, but as long as it tastes decent and doesn’t make you sick, you have to appreciate the goodness of it.
We came home and gave Angella some of the remaining supplies we had and exchanged our pictures. We also gave her a bunch of stuffed animals to hand out at her clinic. She really thinks the kids will love them. Angella is a very kind and caring person and she really has a heart for the orphaned children of her country. I know that the Need for All Woolies are like her own little brothers and sisters and she’s done everything in her power to help provide them a good home and a happy life. I know that the move to Watoto was hard on all of us, but especially her. She had been lied to a lot by Ruth and sometimes Jovenes and they really took advantage of her kindness. Watoto is bittersweet. The kids are going to have a great future and no worries about food or school or rent, but Angella will not be able to see them as often so I think it’s really hard for her to think about. I really feel blessed to know Angella. Both trips here she has been our friend and personal guide to the city. I don’t know where we would be without her. I hope that she can make it to Minnesota soon so that we can show her the same generosity that she has shown to us.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
More from Saturday
May 23, 2009 – Part 2
So you may think that after all of the ups and downs of visiting the kids at Watoto, it filled the whole day, but you’re wrong. We were back from Watoto before 1:00 and had a lot more work to do. There was one more “orphanage” that we had to visit to collect data, distribute medicine, and teach the “mother” how to use each of the things in the medicine cabinet.
This orphanage is basically a little room in the slums that an old woman called Jjajja has been collecting street kids. We counted a total of 20 of them between the ages of one to thirteen. At first we only counted 17, but more kept coming out of the woodwork. Jjajja is a lady that is probably about 70 years old and speaks absolutely zero English. Luckily we took Angella AND the two mothers from Need for All to help us interpret. If you think of the dirtiest place you’ve been, multiply that by at least ten and you’ll get the situation that these 21 people live in. I wrote about it before, but this time wasn’t as much of a shock. However, we saw just how bad it was as we were there for much longer.
We started out with all of us inside trying to figure out how to get a picture, the birthday, height, and weight of every single kid. We finally settled on Angella staying inside and asking Jjajja the names and birthdays and write them on note-cards. Surprisingly, Jjajja knew every name and age with no hesitation. Birthdays were not really available, but ages are better than most places we’ve been. Angella then sent the kids outside to the street where I took a picture and Rachel recorded their weight. Luckily two of the older girls quickly became our helpers in getting the kids from point A to point B. Some were very scared of the scale and us, some where super energetic and wouldn’t stand still, but all were very dirty and smelly. I figured out part of the problem. The little ones usually aren’t wearing diapers or pants. One of them was covered in poop and sat on the scale. The next kid stepped in it before we could stop him and the following older boy cleaned it off with his hand. Later, the babies were sitting on the beds where the children sleep with their dirty bottoms rubbing against the blankets and clothes. With the dust and dirt all over the floor, garbage in the street and in the room, no running water, a kitchen that is just a pot over coals in a corner, and lack of food most days, I can’t imagine what it would be like to spend more than an hour or two inside that place.
There are definitely health needs. None of them look malnourished, but they can’t be healthy. Jjajja said she has never had to admit one to Mulago, which is a positive and somewhat unbelievable. These kids must have really good immune systems to be able to stay healthy there. One of the children, Paul, is deaf. I can’t remember how old he is, but I think it was about 7. He acts out a lot and throws tantrums and I can’t really blame him. There is nobody that knows how to help a child like Paul living there and I’m positive they don’t have money to pay for somebody to help him with learning. I don’t even think he goes to school when most kids his age do.
In the streets, there are people sitting everywhere outside their home cooking or washing clothes. Laundry is hung across most of the walkways, but I don’t know how clean it actually gets with all the dust and smog in the air. Some boys asked us to come and see what they were doing. I was horrified at what I saw. They had buckets full of what I have always thought to be green beans. It turns out they are buckets full of grasshoppers. People collect them and then cut off their wings, antennae, and legs. Then they cook them to eat as a source of protein. The thing is, it’s not uncommon for people to eat them because I see them all over the streets being sold to people. Angella says that she used to eat them when she was little and used to catch a few at a time with her sister, but they almost always make you sick when you eat more than one. I’m not even going to try one! So many things make me grateful for where I live and what I have. The couple of hours there definitely made me feel that way.
On the walk home, even Angella said that she couldn’t believe how dirty it was down there. She hasn’t been down in that area to see people living and thinks that it’s really disgusting the way people are surviving. It’s hard to know it exists and not know what to do about it. Even if we gave them a whole new home, there’s an entire slum full of people living the same way. If we had the money to fix up that whole slum, we would have to go to hundreds of other locations across the country and thousands of places across the globe. All we can do is use the resources that we have to help the people that we can and know that we’ve done the best things possible.
I took a long shower to wash off any dirt and (hopefully not too much) feces that I might have picked up. Then Angella and I took bodas to her apartment so I could see where she lives and so we could pick up some cd’s to burn pictures of the Woolies for her later on in the day. She has a small apartment in a little less busy part of town, but it’s only a 15 minute walk from the clinic she works at. I always love to see where people live and the things that they do on a day to day basis. I feel like I know more about them by knowing that part of their life. We took one last boda ride after an awkward meeting with her landlord about fixing some problems in the apartment. I think he was a little thrown off when I answered the door. Angella said he’s never been that strange before and she thinks it’s because he’s not used to interacting with mzungus. It’s so foreign to me that people look at me differently. When I walk down the streets, I don’t feel like I stand out that much. Then I see somebody else walking that’s not from Uganda or I see our reflection in the mirror and I realize just how much was stand out. I can’t say that I like it that much. People have all of these ideas about how much money we have and that we will always give you things. The shouts of mzungu as you walk down the street start to get old and you wish you could just blend in. When you go into gift shops people stand at attention and come to help you. I don’t like store at home when the salespeople try to help me browse the racks, so I definitely don’t like it here. I appreciate being assisted, but usually only when I ask for the help.
We had one last dinner at the Indian restaurant at Garden City. It’s always a popular place for us to eat, I think because Ross loved the cheese nan. All in all it was a very busy day but I really enjoyed every minute of it, even though it was not always easy physically or emotionally.
So you may think that after all of the ups and downs of visiting the kids at Watoto, it filled the whole day, but you’re wrong. We were back from Watoto before 1:00 and had a lot more work to do. There was one more “orphanage” that we had to visit to collect data, distribute medicine, and teach the “mother” how to use each of the things in the medicine cabinet.
This orphanage is basically a little room in the slums that an old woman called Jjajja has been collecting street kids. We counted a total of 20 of them between the ages of one to thirteen. At first we only counted 17, but more kept coming out of the woodwork. Jjajja is a lady that is probably about 70 years old and speaks absolutely zero English. Luckily we took Angella AND the two mothers from Need for All to help us interpret. If you think of the dirtiest place you’ve been, multiply that by at least ten and you’ll get the situation that these 21 people live in. I wrote about it before, but this time wasn’t as much of a shock. However, we saw just how bad it was as we were there for much longer.
We started out with all of us inside trying to figure out how to get a picture, the birthday, height, and weight of every single kid. We finally settled on Angella staying inside and asking Jjajja the names and birthdays and write them on note-cards. Surprisingly, Jjajja knew every name and age with no hesitation. Birthdays were not really available, but ages are better than most places we’ve been. Angella then sent the kids outside to the street where I took a picture and Rachel recorded their weight. Luckily two of the older girls quickly became our helpers in getting the kids from point A to point B. Some were very scared of the scale and us, some where super energetic and wouldn’t stand still, but all were very dirty and smelly. I figured out part of the problem. The little ones usually aren’t wearing diapers or pants. One of them was covered in poop and sat on the scale. The next kid stepped in it before we could stop him and the following older boy cleaned it off with his hand. Later, the babies were sitting on the beds where the children sleep with their dirty bottoms rubbing against the blankets and clothes. With the dust and dirt all over the floor, garbage in the street and in the room, no running water, a kitchen that is just a pot over coals in a corner, and lack of food most days, I can’t imagine what it would be like to spend more than an hour or two inside that place.
There are definitely health needs. None of them look malnourished, but they can’t be healthy. Jjajja said she has never had to admit one to Mulago, which is a positive and somewhat unbelievable. These kids must have really good immune systems to be able to stay healthy there. One of the children, Paul, is deaf. I can’t remember how old he is, but I think it was about 7. He acts out a lot and throws tantrums and I can’t really blame him. There is nobody that knows how to help a child like Paul living there and I’m positive they don’t have money to pay for somebody to help him with learning. I don’t even think he goes to school when most kids his age do.
In the streets, there are people sitting everywhere outside their home cooking or washing clothes. Laundry is hung across most of the walkways, but I don’t know how clean it actually gets with all the dust and smog in the air. Some boys asked us to come and see what they were doing. I was horrified at what I saw. They had buckets full of what I have always thought to be green beans. It turns out they are buckets full of grasshoppers. People collect them and then cut off their wings, antennae, and legs. Then they cook them to eat as a source of protein. The thing is, it’s not uncommon for people to eat them because I see them all over the streets being sold to people. Angella says that she used to eat them when she was little and used to catch a few at a time with her sister, but they almost always make you sick when you eat more than one. I’m not even going to try one! So many things make me grateful for where I live and what I have. The couple of hours there definitely made me feel that way.
On the walk home, even Angella said that she couldn’t believe how dirty it was down there. She hasn’t been down in that area to see people living and thinks that it’s really disgusting the way people are surviving. It’s hard to know it exists and not know what to do about it. Even if we gave them a whole new home, there’s an entire slum full of people living the same way. If we had the money to fix up that whole slum, we would have to go to hundreds of other locations across the country and thousands of places across the globe. All we can do is use the resources that we have to help the people that we can and know that we’ve done the best things possible.
I took a long shower to wash off any dirt and (hopefully not too much) feces that I might have picked up. Then Angella and I took bodas to her apartment so I could see where she lives and so we could pick up some cd’s to burn pictures of the Woolies for her later on in the day. She has a small apartment in a little less busy part of town, but it’s only a 15 minute walk from the clinic she works at. I always love to see where people live and the things that they do on a day to day basis. I feel like I know more about them by knowing that part of their life. We took one last boda ride after an awkward meeting with her landlord about fixing some problems in the apartment. I think he was a little thrown off when I answered the door. Angella said he’s never been that strange before and she thinks it’s because he’s not used to interacting with mzungus. It’s so foreign to me that people look at me differently. When I walk down the streets, I don’t feel like I stand out that much. Then I see somebody else walking that’s not from Uganda or I see our reflection in the mirror and I realize just how much was stand out. I can’t say that I like it that much. People have all of these ideas about how much money we have and that we will always give you things. The shouts of mzungu as you walk down the street start to get old and you wish you could just blend in. When you go into gift shops people stand at attention and come to help you. I don’t like store at home when the salespeople try to help me browse the racks, so I definitely don’t like it here. I appreciate being assisted, but usually only when I ask for the help.
We had one last dinner at the Indian restaurant at Garden City. It’s always a popular place for us to eat, I think because Ross loved the cheese nan. All in all it was a very busy day but I really enjoyed every minute of it, even though it was not always easy physically or emotionally.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Need for All at Watoto
May 23, 2009
Closure for the Need for All children was something that all of us needed and today we got it. We woke up early to get to the Need for All home to meet with the mothers and gather the rest of the clothes that Allen wanted to bring for them. On Friday night we got some very good news. The social worker at Watoto had seen how incredibly depressed and sad all of the Woolies had been, so she called to offer Allen the job of house mother for the kids. Since 8 children sleep in a home with one mother, it was perfect. Joshua is still with his father in Entebbe and we aren’t sure if he will stay there or not, but being with his father is probably the best thing for him. With Allen being the new mother at Watoto, it’s basically just like we picked up the orphanage and transplanted it into a better house with no corrupt Ruth, plenty of food, great education, and the promise of a better future.
At the house, we got a sad surprise. The two older boys had stayed over night to keep Ruth from taking anything else from the house and to watch over the building. The mothers were too sad to sleep in the house without the kids there. Allen had packed a suitcase full of the good clothes, including the jerseys that our mom had bought especially for each of the older boys. When we arrived, the suitcase was gone and the clothes were all in piles around the house. Allen and Noelena started yelling and throwing stuff all over the house. We didn’t know what they were saying until Angella explained in English. The clothes had been all packed and now the suitcase was gone along with a bunch of the clothes. Allen yelled at Sully and then he walked out of the house and came back with the suitcase. It was empty except for a pair of Neolena’s shoes, a pair of Henry’s shoes, and some dishes…..all things that Sully and Henry had taken. What was even more disturbing is that all of the bigger sized clothes (including Trevor, Arthur and Kenneth’s jerseys) were gone. Sully said he didn’t know what happened but that he was there all night. Henry had left and didn’t come back until we were loading up the van. All of us were furious. Not only do we include these boys in everything, we bought shirts especially for them this trip and Angella worked to find them sponsors for school. She also was planning on doing some major things to help them out, but is now ready to back off and not do anything extra for them. They STOLE and LIED not just to us, but to our little Woolies who already have practically nothing. It’s just really sad that the day had to start this way. We all got in the car and Henry re-appeared ready to get in and Sully tried to get in the Mtatu. We told them absolutely not. There is no way we would take them out to Watoto after what they did. We drove away with them looking like puppies who had been left at home while the family went on vacation. It felt awful to do it because we had seen how much they took care of the kids over the past trips, but to know that they could take advantage of the house that way was just too much to handle.
The drive to Watoto was interesting, not because of the scenery but because of the phone calls and text messages from Ruth. She had no ideas that Allen, Ross, and Angella were in the same car. She first sent Ross a text saying, “Thanks for the money, Swine flu, and lies” and called him the devil. He didn’t bother to text her back and then she called him over and over until he answered the phone. She yelled at him and said asked if he was going to call the police and told him he should just take her to court. She wanted to meet with him to prove that she wasn’t lying. She said she had 30 children at her home and that she was trying to sell her land to pay for the rent. When she finally hung up, Allen told us that a woman named Roxanne had given 900,000 shillings to Ruth yesterday, even though the kids were already gone! Shortly after Ross hung up, Allen’s phone rang and it was Ruth. She asked if she knew Ross’ cell phone number and Allen played it off as though she didn’t know him and that she had gotten a phone call from him too. Ruth then told Allen to lie and say that the children are all at her house and they will be back at Need for All soon if anybody else asked. After Ruth was through with Allen, she called Angella and politely asked if she had gotten her fridge and furniture. When Angella said she had, Ruth was satisfied and hung up. She kept trying to call Ross but he ignored her. Then she just sent him text messages until he turned off his phone.
The Watoto campus is very far off the main roads and they have a beautiful piece of land overlooked a valley and the hills of Kampala. Each building is brick with big windows and green roofs. We had to check in with a security guard (which is pretty normal everywhere you go) Then we went to an office to get a social worker who could take us to the new home. We walked by a soccer field and a little round building that had a stage. Outside some of the older kids were playing guitar and singing worship music. It just feels like a happy and safe environment. As we got close, a heard a little voice yell “Mamie” and then saw a little figure get closer and closer. It was little Peter leading the pack towards Allen and Noelena ahead of us. The entire pack of kids was following close behind. I couldn’t really hold back my tears, and neither could the rest of us. It was such a joyful meeting. All of the kids were happy and excited to see all of us, except for Kenny. He came and hugged all of us but wouldn’t stop crying. He clung to Ross for a really long time and it was enough to even make Ross said. I think that Kenny is the only one of the kids who really understood that this move was permanent. Even though Allen coming in as a mother is not finalized, we told him what was going to happen because it was the only way to comfort him.
We spent a little over an hour and a half having the kids show us their new home. As usual, Ruth’s focus was food. She told Angella everything they ate since they arrived in a play by play commentary with little inserts by Peter when she forgot. The older boys had already made friends with the neighbor boys and were eager to play keep away with us in the yard. Irene came and took my hand to show me the inside of the house and to help her look for her shoes. I had gotten both of the Cabbage Patch dolls that were left at the Need for All house to bring to the girls. They were very sad that the dolls weren’t with them and they asked Allen where they were. They were ecstatic to have them and didn’t put them down the whole time we were there. We took some pictures and videos to show their new home, which is much improved from the Need for All home. A truck comes every day to deliver fresh fruits and vegetables as well as all kinds of other foods for the kids. Allen is so happy that she will never have to worry that the kids aren’t being fed and that they are safe from Ruth’s corruption. It was sad to leave them again, but after getting big hugs from each of the kids, I felt comforted that they were in this place. I know that in 10 years, these kids will be finishing school and moving on to bigger and better things. All of them will have opportunities that would have never been possible and they will be together, which is what matters most.
Closure for the Need for All children was something that all of us needed and today we got it. We woke up early to get to the Need for All home to meet with the mothers and gather the rest of the clothes that Allen wanted to bring for them. On Friday night we got some very good news. The social worker at Watoto had seen how incredibly depressed and sad all of the Woolies had been, so she called to offer Allen the job of house mother for the kids. Since 8 children sleep in a home with one mother, it was perfect. Joshua is still with his father in Entebbe and we aren’t sure if he will stay there or not, but being with his father is probably the best thing for him. With Allen being the new mother at Watoto, it’s basically just like we picked up the orphanage and transplanted it into a better house with no corrupt Ruth, plenty of food, great education, and the promise of a better future.
At the house, we got a sad surprise. The two older boys had stayed over night to keep Ruth from taking anything else from the house and to watch over the building. The mothers were too sad to sleep in the house without the kids there. Allen had packed a suitcase full of the good clothes, including the jerseys that our mom had bought especially for each of the older boys. When we arrived, the suitcase was gone and the clothes were all in piles around the house. Allen and Noelena started yelling and throwing stuff all over the house. We didn’t know what they were saying until Angella explained in English. The clothes had been all packed and now the suitcase was gone along with a bunch of the clothes. Allen yelled at Sully and then he walked out of the house and came back with the suitcase. It was empty except for a pair of Neolena’s shoes, a pair of Henry’s shoes, and some dishes…..all things that Sully and Henry had taken. What was even more disturbing is that all of the bigger sized clothes (including Trevor, Arthur and Kenneth’s jerseys) were gone. Sully said he didn’t know what happened but that he was there all night. Henry had left and didn’t come back until we were loading up the van. All of us were furious. Not only do we include these boys in everything, we bought shirts especially for them this trip and Angella worked to find them sponsors for school. She also was planning on doing some major things to help them out, but is now ready to back off and not do anything extra for them. They STOLE and LIED not just to us, but to our little Woolies who already have practically nothing. It’s just really sad that the day had to start this way. We all got in the car and Henry re-appeared ready to get in and Sully tried to get in the Mtatu. We told them absolutely not. There is no way we would take them out to Watoto after what they did. We drove away with them looking like puppies who had been left at home while the family went on vacation. It felt awful to do it because we had seen how much they took care of the kids over the past trips, but to know that they could take advantage of the house that way was just too much to handle.
The drive to Watoto was interesting, not because of the scenery but because of the phone calls and text messages from Ruth. She had no ideas that Allen, Ross, and Angella were in the same car. She first sent Ross a text saying, “Thanks for the money, Swine flu, and lies” and called him the devil. He didn’t bother to text her back and then she called him over and over until he answered the phone. She yelled at him and said asked if he was going to call the police and told him he should just take her to court. She wanted to meet with him to prove that she wasn’t lying. She said she had 30 children at her home and that she was trying to sell her land to pay for the rent. When she finally hung up, Allen told us that a woman named Roxanne had given 900,000 shillings to Ruth yesterday, even though the kids were already gone! Shortly after Ross hung up, Allen’s phone rang and it was Ruth. She asked if she knew Ross’ cell phone number and Allen played it off as though she didn’t know him and that she had gotten a phone call from him too. Ruth then told Allen to lie and say that the children are all at her house and they will be back at Need for All soon if anybody else asked. After Ruth was through with Allen, she called Angella and politely asked if she had gotten her fridge and furniture. When Angella said she had, Ruth was satisfied and hung up. She kept trying to call Ross but he ignored her. Then she just sent him text messages until he turned off his phone.
The Watoto campus is very far off the main roads and they have a beautiful piece of land overlooked a valley and the hills of Kampala. Each building is brick with big windows and green roofs. We had to check in with a security guard (which is pretty normal everywhere you go) Then we went to an office to get a social worker who could take us to the new home. We walked by a soccer field and a little round building that had a stage. Outside some of the older kids were playing guitar and singing worship music. It just feels like a happy and safe environment. As we got close, a heard a little voice yell “Mamie” and then saw a little figure get closer and closer. It was little Peter leading the pack towards Allen and Noelena ahead of us. The entire pack of kids was following close behind. I couldn’t really hold back my tears, and neither could the rest of us. It was such a joyful meeting. All of the kids were happy and excited to see all of us, except for Kenny. He came and hugged all of us but wouldn’t stop crying. He clung to Ross for a really long time and it was enough to even make Ross said. I think that Kenny is the only one of the kids who really understood that this move was permanent. Even though Allen coming in as a mother is not finalized, we told him what was going to happen because it was the only way to comfort him.
We spent a little over an hour and a half having the kids show us their new home. As usual, Ruth’s focus was food. She told Angella everything they ate since they arrived in a play by play commentary with little inserts by Peter when she forgot. The older boys had already made friends with the neighbor boys and were eager to play keep away with us in the yard. Irene came and took my hand to show me the inside of the house and to help her look for her shoes. I had gotten both of the Cabbage Patch dolls that were left at the Need for All house to bring to the girls. They were very sad that the dolls weren’t with them and they asked Allen where they were. They were ecstatic to have them and didn’t put them down the whole time we were there. We took some pictures and videos to show their new home, which is much improved from the Need for All home. A truck comes every day to deliver fresh fruits and vegetables as well as all kinds of other foods for the kids. Allen is so happy that she will never have to worry that the kids aren’t being fed and that they are safe from Ruth’s corruption. It was sad to leave them again, but after getting big hugs from each of the kids, I felt comforted that they were in this place. I know that in 10 years, these kids will be finishing school and moving on to bigger and better things. All of them will have opportunities that would have never been possible and they will be together, which is what matters most.
Mubende Day
May 22, 2009
Today was a great day! Anything would be great compared to the bad way we ended yesterday, but this truly was a day of discovering Uganda in a way that I haven’t in either trip that I have taken here.
A man named Deo had contacted Troy months ago because he had seen the Medicine for Sick Children website and wanted to know if Troy could help him with anything. We met with him earlier in the week to hear about his organization, Good Hope Initiative. Deo is a very young man, but he is working hard to do amazing things in his village. He has over 130 orphans in the village that he grew up in that he has placed with guardians. Six of them stay in a building in the central part of town with some people that watch over the land that Deo has been given. We didn’t know how we could help on this trip and most of the money from our Foundation has been spent or is committed to the Medicine that we delivered to the hospital. Plus, Ross and Troy had plans to meet with people and get some work done in the city for the rest of our time here. I offered to go and visit the village – by Mtatu if I had to. Everyone we talked to said it takes about 3 hours to get there, so it would be an uncomfortable journey. Luckily, when we called Deo to let him know I would be coming with Melanie (a girl for New York that lives in the HVO house now too) would be able to visit on Friday, he found a friend with a car that would take us.
As usual, everybody is on Africa time. We were supposed to leave at 8 and both Melanie and I were ready to go with plenty of time to spare. I packed up a few stuffed animals, some pens and a bunch of suckers and chocolate. I also stuffed a few balloons that I had found in my dresser drawer in St. Paul into a side pocket. I like to travel with random goodies in my bag just in case I need to distract a random kid or I feel like giving out something to make somebody smile. By 8:30, Deo called to say they were stuck in a jam and they didn’t get here until 9:00. We had to stop for a couple of things in the city and we ended up in a total jam. It felt like we were sitting in a parking lot. I wish I knew the name of Deo’s friend, but he never said it, even when he introduced himself. We didn’t talk a whole lot on the ride out because with the windows open and driving fast it’s difficult to hear anybody in the front seat talking to you. Melanie and I were excited to be out of the city again. The landscape changes from the hills covered in rusty tin rooftops to rolling hills covered in lush green forests of mtako, banana, mango, papaya, and all sorts of beautiful trees. The trip didn’t take as long as we expected because Deo’s village is in Mubende district, which starts just a few kilometers from Mityana, which is just over an hour from Kampala. The actual town of Mubende is another 70 kilometers from where we ended up.
Every time you drive down a road in Uganda, you see a small section of road with mud and brick houses lining the sides. Usually people are selling fresh fruits and vegetables or meat of some sort on a stand near the road. We drive by them all the time, but I’ve never actually stopped or looked to see what is behind those buildings. This was my chance to find out. It turns out that behind those store fronts along very narrow dirt roads and walking trails is where the real village people live. Deo was very excited to show us the places where the guardians stay with some of the children. We must have stopped at 10 different houses with anywhere between 2 and 14 children at each. We stopped at the center first. The center is a small building that has the name of the organization painted on the front and the room that makes up the main center has a dirt floor, no electricity, and is big enough to fit an old coffee table, a couch, and three small chairs. It was just perfect for the four of us plus two of the guardians to sit in. Almost none of the villagers speak English, so the day consisted of us smiling a lot and Deo explaining things in the village language to the people. My favorite place of the day was a house that took the longest to get to. We had to drive on what was probably just a walking path. It was similar to the trails that we use a four-wheeler on at the cabin back home, but we were doing it in a four door car. I’m surprised that car doesn’t have more damage from the rough places we took it. This home consisted of a main building of brick and two smaller round huts for cooking made of mud with straw roofs. The guardians are an older couple that has been married for 49 years. I think that the wife is 80 and her husband was older. It must be true that the people in the village live longer than in the city because I haven’t seen people in the city at all that are as old as the people we met in the village. We were welcomed into the main home and the JjaJja (a name for grandmother or care giver) rolled out mats and set out chairs for us. We sat down and slowly the little room filled up with children of all ages. The room itself is probably no bigger than six feet by six feet and this is where all 14 of the children sleep on mats on top of the dirt floor. The wall paper consisted of lots of old U.S. magazine pages. One was an M&M add from a Christmas commercial and another was a full spread on why Kathy Lee left Live with Regis and Kelly. Those things must have been up for a very long time. At least it gave us something to look at. I happened to have some Hershey’s kisses that hold up surprisingly well in the heat. I gave each kid one and Deo spoke with the guardian about the mosquito nets that we brought along with the school supplies that Deo had purchased. She kept smiling and saying thank you to us. After the kids were given enough sugar and the light rain that had swept through stop, we moved the mat and chairs outside. Deo, his friend, and another organizer from the village named Jared then took us out to see the animals and plants in the backyard. The place can pretty much sustain itself. There are chickens, goats, and pigs that run around close to the house. There are both Banana and Matooke trees growing in bunches. There are chilli plants, a vanilla bean tree, mangos, papaya, jackfruit, sugar cane and avocado. Jared decided to get us an avocado and shouted to one of the older boys. He came out with a large pole and tried to pierce them on the stick, but it wasn’t working, so the boy climbed the tree. He was like a little monkey going from branch to branch and knocking down dozens of avocados. He reminded me of the monkeys that live in the tree by the guest house and knock off nuts that make it sound like a hailstorm outside in the early morning. When we came back from the woods, there was a pile of all of the items we had been shown. A young man was using a machete to cut up the sugar cane into pole about 2 feet long. Then Deo cut and peeled a small piece into even smaller pieces for us to try. People just chew on the cane and then spit it out once they have sucked out all the sweetness. I’ve always wanted to try but was scared to buy it off the streets. It was a perfect opportunity. It has the texture of woodchips, but tastes sweeter than sugar. It was a nice little treat in the middle of the day. I can’t imagine that it would do anything good for your teeth if you chewed it as often as most Ugandans do.
We continued to visit homes for the entire afternoon and then went back to the center where the rest of the children and guardians were gathered. People brought the couch outside and the children began to gather around. I think there were many who were still scared of us because they were much slower to approach than the kids at orphanages in the city. There was a boy earlier in the day who started crying when Melanie stepped towards him because he had never been that close to a person with such light skin! After Deo had successfully gathered his crew, the older boys sat down in front of four drums and the rest of the children lined up near them. A sweet girl began to sing a song that repeated “We are maaaaaarching forward, we are marching forward, we are, we are, we are marching forward.” She had a beautiful high voice that soon blended with a choir of little ones marching closer until they stopped in two rows in front of us. They then sang a few songs and danced traditional dances for us. On Saturdays, Deo gets the kids together to teach them songs and dances and to have activities together as a group. When they were through singing, I decided to try to hand out some of the suckers and chocolate that I had. I first singled out a little boy who tentatively came up to me to get it. Slowly, little ones came up to get their piece of candy and by number 10 or so, they all started to see it was ok and soon there was a huge crowd of little palms turned out to get a “sweetie”. Luckily, I had packed a lot of extras and kept finding random candy. We then lined up the older children to get school books and some pencils. I also happened to have some nice pens in my bag and had enough to give one to all of the kids in the top 3 grades in school. I wish we had more to give them, but pretty much all that we have from Medicine for Sick Children has been spent and given out to the hospital and there are many children in this village so it is difficult to provide something to all of them.
After all of the treats were handed out, Melanie and I thanked the people gathered there and Deo translated what we said to them. Everybody was very appreciative of us, even though we only provided a few things for them. I don’t know if they expect Troy and Medicine for Sick Children to be doing a lot with them in the future and that’s why they were so excited, or if they truly appreciated just a little bit of support. I am very thankful that they were so welcoming and willing to share their lives with us. It seems like this could be a very good place to start a clinic or some sort of medical project for the foundation. It’s not too far out of Kampala and the people definitely need help with health care.
The women had cooked Matooke, rice, cabbage, avacodo and some sort of peanut paste for us for lunch. Melanie and I crammed in the center with Deo and his friends to eat while the children ran around outside. After we ate, Deo told me about a sick girl who was born with a defect that is causing serious trouble. He showed her to me and I realized that she really needs to go to the hospital. It’s a problem with digestion so that her entire belly is swollen. I had seen enough distended bellies in the past two weeks to know that she needed medical attention. I think that Deo thought that Troy could fix it, but he doesn’t realize that Troy is a hematologist, not a surgeon. Hopefully they bring in the little girl and try to get her free surgery at Mulago to relieve her pain and suffering.
Melanie and I were supposed to be back in Kampala at 6 in order to be at the taping of the final episode of a show called Stand Up Uganda. A pharmacist she met at her volunteer job invited us to go with him, but the doors closed at 7. We didn’t even get back to the city until 6:40 because we had stayed so long in the village. Her friend, Jerome, called and said they were keeping the doors open at least another half hour, so we quickly changed and hopped on bodas. We made it with only about 10 minutes to spare. Stand Up Uganda is a reality T.V. show looking for the best stand up comedian in the country and the winner gets $10,000 US, which is a lot of money, especially here. The comedy itself wasn’t that great, mostly because I didn’t get a lot of the cultural jokes. Afterwards, even Jerome said it wasn’t that funny, so I guess my lack of Ugandan background didn’t affect it that much. When the show was finished, we went with Jerome and two of his friends to a Turkish restaurant. They were very nice and one of them had a car, so it was a little easier getting around. The restaurant was very loud so it was difficult to talk and get to know the guys we were with. We drove to another place, but Jerome decided that it wasn’t a good crowd and it was already close to midnight, so we went home. I had a busy Saturday ahead of me, with a trip to Watoto and some work in a slum called Katanga, so it was probably good. All in all it was a great day and we got to see a lot of things that you don’t normally get to unless you have a guide to take you to a village. I’m very thankful for the experience and hope that it can happen again some time.
Today was a great day! Anything would be great compared to the bad way we ended yesterday, but this truly was a day of discovering Uganda in a way that I haven’t in either trip that I have taken here.
A man named Deo had contacted Troy months ago because he had seen the Medicine for Sick Children website and wanted to know if Troy could help him with anything. We met with him earlier in the week to hear about his organization, Good Hope Initiative. Deo is a very young man, but he is working hard to do amazing things in his village. He has over 130 orphans in the village that he grew up in that he has placed with guardians. Six of them stay in a building in the central part of town with some people that watch over the land that Deo has been given. We didn’t know how we could help on this trip and most of the money from our Foundation has been spent or is committed to the Medicine that we delivered to the hospital. Plus, Ross and Troy had plans to meet with people and get some work done in the city for the rest of our time here. I offered to go and visit the village – by Mtatu if I had to. Everyone we talked to said it takes about 3 hours to get there, so it would be an uncomfortable journey. Luckily, when we called Deo to let him know I would be coming with Melanie (a girl for New York that lives in the HVO house now too) would be able to visit on Friday, he found a friend with a car that would take us.
As usual, everybody is on Africa time. We were supposed to leave at 8 and both Melanie and I were ready to go with plenty of time to spare. I packed up a few stuffed animals, some pens and a bunch of suckers and chocolate. I also stuffed a few balloons that I had found in my dresser drawer in St. Paul into a side pocket. I like to travel with random goodies in my bag just in case I need to distract a random kid or I feel like giving out something to make somebody smile. By 8:30, Deo called to say they were stuck in a jam and they didn’t get here until 9:00. We had to stop for a couple of things in the city and we ended up in a total jam. It felt like we were sitting in a parking lot. I wish I knew the name of Deo’s friend, but he never said it, even when he introduced himself. We didn’t talk a whole lot on the ride out because with the windows open and driving fast it’s difficult to hear anybody in the front seat talking to you. Melanie and I were excited to be out of the city again. The landscape changes from the hills covered in rusty tin rooftops to rolling hills covered in lush green forests of mtako, banana, mango, papaya, and all sorts of beautiful trees. The trip didn’t take as long as we expected because Deo’s village is in Mubende district, which starts just a few kilometers from Mityana, which is just over an hour from Kampala. The actual town of Mubende is another 70 kilometers from where we ended up.
Every time you drive down a road in Uganda, you see a small section of road with mud and brick houses lining the sides. Usually people are selling fresh fruits and vegetables or meat of some sort on a stand near the road. We drive by them all the time, but I’ve never actually stopped or looked to see what is behind those buildings. This was my chance to find out. It turns out that behind those store fronts along very narrow dirt roads and walking trails is where the real village people live. Deo was very excited to show us the places where the guardians stay with some of the children. We must have stopped at 10 different houses with anywhere between 2 and 14 children at each. We stopped at the center first. The center is a small building that has the name of the organization painted on the front and the room that makes up the main center has a dirt floor, no electricity, and is big enough to fit an old coffee table, a couch, and three small chairs. It was just perfect for the four of us plus two of the guardians to sit in. Almost none of the villagers speak English, so the day consisted of us smiling a lot and Deo explaining things in the village language to the people. My favorite place of the day was a house that took the longest to get to. We had to drive on what was probably just a walking path. It was similar to the trails that we use a four-wheeler on at the cabin back home, but we were doing it in a four door car. I’m surprised that car doesn’t have more damage from the rough places we took it. This home consisted of a main building of brick and two smaller round huts for cooking made of mud with straw roofs. The guardians are an older couple that has been married for 49 years. I think that the wife is 80 and her husband was older. It must be true that the people in the village live longer than in the city because I haven’t seen people in the city at all that are as old as the people we met in the village. We were welcomed into the main home and the JjaJja (a name for grandmother or care giver) rolled out mats and set out chairs for us. We sat down and slowly the little room filled up with children of all ages. The room itself is probably no bigger than six feet by six feet and this is where all 14 of the children sleep on mats on top of the dirt floor. The wall paper consisted of lots of old U.S. magazine pages. One was an M&M add from a Christmas commercial and another was a full spread on why Kathy Lee left Live with Regis and Kelly. Those things must have been up for a very long time. At least it gave us something to look at. I happened to have some Hershey’s kisses that hold up surprisingly well in the heat. I gave each kid one and Deo spoke with the guardian about the mosquito nets that we brought along with the school supplies that Deo had purchased. She kept smiling and saying thank you to us. After the kids were given enough sugar and the light rain that had swept through stop, we moved the mat and chairs outside. Deo, his friend, and another organizer from the village named Jared then took us out to see the animals and plants in the backyard. The place can pretty much sustain itself. There are chickens, goats, and pigs that run around close to the house. There are both Banana and Matooke trees growing in bunches. There are chilli plants, a vanilla bean tree, mangos, papaya, jackfruit, sugar cane and avocado. Jared decided to get us an avocado and shouted to one of the older boys. He came out with a large pole and tried to pierce them on the stick, but it wasn’t working, so the boy climbed the tree. He was like a little monkey going from branch to branch and knocking down dozens of avocados. He reminded me of the monkeys that live in the tree by the guest house and knock off nuts that make it sound like a hailstorm outside in the early morning. When we came back from the woods, there was a pile of all of the items we had been shown. A young man was using a machete to cut up the sugar cane into pole about 2 feet long. Then Deo cut and peeled a small piece into even smaller pieces for us to try. People just chew on the cane and then spit it out once they have sucked out all the sweetness. I’ve always wanted to try but was scared to buy it off the streets. It was a perfect opportunity. It has the texture of woodchips, but tastes sweeter than sugar. It was a nice little treat in the middle of the day. I can’t imagine that it would do anything good for your teeth if you chewed it as often as most Ugandans do.
We continued to visit homes for the entire afternoon and then went back to the center where the rest of the children and guardians were gathered. People brought the couch outside and the children began to gather around. I think there were many who were still scared of us because they were much slower to approach than the kids at orphanages in the city. There was a boy earlier in the day who started crying when Melanie stepped towards him because he had never been that close to a person with such light skin! After Deo had successfully gathered his crew, the older boys sat down in front of four drums and the rest of the children lined up near them. A sweet girl began to sing a song that repeated “We are maaaaaarching forward, we are marching forward, we are, we are, we are marching forward.” She had a beautiful high voice that soon blended with a choir of little ones marching closer until they stopped in two rows in front of us. They then sang a few songs and danced traditional dances for us. On Saturdays, Deo gets the kids together to teach them songs and dances and to have activities together as a group. When they were through singing, I decided to try to hand out some of the suckers and chocolate that I had. I first singled out a little boy who tentatively came up to me to get it. Slowly, little ones came up to get their piece of candy and by number 10 or so, they all started to see it was ok and soon there was a huge crowd of little palms turned out to get a “sweetie”. Luckily, I had packed a lot of extras and kept finding random candy. We then lined up the older children to get school books and some pencils. I also happened to have some nice pens in my bag and had enough to give one to all of the kids in the top 3 grades in school. I wish we had more to give them, but pretty much all that we have from Medicine for Sick Children has been spent and given out to the hospital and there are many children in this village so it is difficult to provide something to all of them.
After all of the treats were handed out, Melanie and I thanked the people gathered there and Deo translated what we said to them. Everybody was very appreciative of us, even though we only provided a few things for them. I don’t know if they expect Troy and Medicine for Sick Children to be doing a lot with them in the future and that’s why they were so excited, or if they truly appreciated just a little bit of support. I am very thankful that they were so welcoming and willing to share their lives with us. It seems like this could be a very good place to start a clinic or some sort of medical project for the foundation. It’s not too far out of Kampala and the people definitely need help with health care.
The women had cooked Matooke, rice, cabbage, avacodo and some sort of peanut paste for us for lunch. Melanie and I crammed in the center with Deo and his friends to eat while the children ran around outside. After we ate, Deo told me about a sick girl who was born with a defect that is causing serious trouble. He showed her to me and I realized that she really needs to go to the hospital. It’s a problem with digestion so that her entire belly is swollen. I had seen enough distended bellies in the past two weeks to know that she needed medical attention. I think that Deo thought that Troy could fix it, but he doesn’t realize that Troy is a hematologist, not a surgeon. Hopefully they bring in the little girl and try to get her free surgery at Mulago to relieve her pain and suffering.
Melanie and I were supposed to be back in Kampala at 6 in order to be at the taping of the final episode of a show called Stand Up Uganda. A pharmacist she met at her volunteer job invited us to go with him, but the doors closed at 7. We didn’t even get back to the city until 6:40 because we had stayed so long in the village. Her friend, Jerome, called and said they were keeping the doors open at least another half hour, so we quickly changed and hopped on bodas. We made it with only about 10 minutes to spare. Stand Up Uganda is a reality T.V. show looking for the best stand up comedian in the country and the winner gets $10,000 US, which is a lot of money, especially here. The comedy itself wasn’t that great, mostly because I didn’t get a lot of the cultural jokes. Afterwards, even Jerome said it wasn’t that funny, so I guess my lack of Ugandan background didn’t affect it that much. When the show was finished, we went with Jerome and two of his friends to a Turkish restaurant. They were very nice and one of them had a car, so it was a little easier getting around. The restaurant was very loud so it was difficult to talk and get to know the guys we were with. We drove to another place, but Jerome decided that it wasn’t a good crowd and it was already close to midnight, so we went home. I had a busy Saturday ahead of me, with a trip to Watoto and some work in a slum called Katanga, so it was probably good. All in all it was a great day and we got to see a lot of things that you don’t normally get to unless you have a guide to take you to a village. I’m very thankful for the experience and hope that it can happen again some time.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Up and Down Emotions
May 21, 2009
Another day full of ups and downs….. I have to make this short because we are leaving this morning in about a half hour to go to a village called Mubende to see an orphanage that a man named Deo started. Melanie, one of the other volunteers offered to go with me. We were willing to go in a Mtatu for the whole 3 ½ hour trek, but Deo has a friend who is picking us up to take us there.
Yesterday morning we went to the Bead for Life village (we being Rachel and me). Bodas were our mode of transportation, we did once earlier this week for a short ride to a restaurant. We had piled two of us on the bodas with the driver, so it was a pretty uncomfortable ride. This time Rach and I each took our own. The price was great! Only 4,000 shillings for a ride that would have cost 25,000 in a special taxi. Maggie is from the U.S. and she coordinates all of the activities that happen at the Bead for Life. Today was a bead sale day, so the women come with bags full of their beads to trade for supplies and get paid for their work. They did a traditional dance and pulled Rach and I into the middle of the circle. Pretty sure that we are the two least likely to be found dancing, so it was really out of our comfort zone. It was still really fun and the women were very nice. The program that they run there is amazing. The women are taught to make high quality jewelry pieces over a 24 month period and sell them to Bead for Life who then sell them in the United States. The program also teaches the women how to be business women and eventually start their own business. 20,000 shillings every month from their bead sales are put into each woman’s business savings so that when they complete the program they have money to start their business. It was a great way to spend our morning.
The afternoon was a little rougher. Angella called us very upset because the Need for All Kids were taken to Watoto. It’s not that we didn’t want them to go, it’s the way that it happened that made us so mad. Jovenes told Angella on Monday that she was going to try for another week to get the rent taken care of, so everyone assumed that there would be some time before the kids moved. In morning, Jovenes called the mothers and told them to pack up the kids to go to Watoto. They didn’t believe her but still got the kids ready. A while later Ruth called and told them to pack the fridge (the one that WE bought for the KIDS last year) and deliver it on a boda to her house. Allen is feisty and said absolutely not, the fridge belongs to Angella and she will decide what to do with it. Later, a Watoto van showed up to collect the kids. They didn’t realize what was going on until about halfway to the new home. They all started crying and didn’t stop. We met up with the moms later in the day which was awful. We were at the Little Angels Orphanage giving the kids deworming medicine and providing a medicine cabinet. Allen and Noelena came by and the minute I started talking to them, the three of us started crying. Allen said the kids were crying when she left them. The thought of the children crying as the only mother they ever knew had to walk away from them and leave them with a stranger was just too much to handle. I felt bad for the people at Little Angels because we were distracted from our work to go outside and be sad. Angella explained to Max, the person in charge, what went on and he was sympathetic because he has been through similar things before. We tried to get our minds off of it as we gave the kids their medicine and I went outside and played with them in the yard. On the way out, we saw Max’s Mercedes outside the fence. He really must be a successful business man in Kampala so he has the money to support the kids in school and pay for the house and mothers. On the way home, we decided to go to Mamba Point instead of going home to a big group of people that was going to be there. We were just too upset. On the way, Ross called Ruth because Angella finally gave him her number. He explained who he was and asked how the kids were. She said they were fine and they needed $400 for rent for them. He asked if the kids were at the house right now and she told him they were, knowing they were already at Watoto. She wanted to meet him to get the money and he said thanks, I found out what I needed to know. He hung up and then sent her a text saying that he knew that the kids are gone and that she stole money from people who have tried to help the kids out of the goodness of their heart. She called shortly after yelling at him and saying that he is a liar. It made me sick to think that this is the woman who has withheld money for food and rent. She never goes to see them, but every time she knows there are Mzungus in town she calls Angella to ask for more money. We were just too mad to even think about it, so instead we re-told stories of the things the kids did at the zoo and other times that we saw them. We decided that now Kenny will have a real chance at being a policeman, Trevor could be a doctor, and all of the kids are going to have a better shot at making it life. Although it’s a sad day, we know it is in the best interest, we just wish it didn’t happen the way that it did and the kids were able to stay in the home that they call their family
Another day full of ups and downs….. I have to make this short because we are leaving this morning in about a half hour to go to a village called Mubende to see an orphanage that a man named Deo started. Melanie, one of the other volunteers offered to go with me. We were willing to go in a Mtatu for the whole 3 ½ hour trek, but Deo has a friend who is picking us up to take us there.
Yesterday morning we went to the Bead for Life village (we being Rachel and me). Bodas were our mode of transportation, we did once earlier this week for a short ride to a restaurant. We had piled two of us on the bodas with the driver, so it was a pretty uncomfortable ride. This time Rach and I each took our own. The price was great! Only 4,000 shillings for a ride that would have cost 25,000 in a special taxi. Maggie is from the U.S. and she coordinates all of the activities that happen at the Bead for Life. Today was a bead sale day, so the women come with bags full of their beads to trade for supplies and get paid for their work. They did a traditional dance and pulled Rach and I into the middle of the circle. Pretty sure that we are the two least likely to be found dancing, so it was really out of our comfort zone. It was still really fun and the women were very nice. The program that they run there is amazing. The women are taught to make high quality jewelry pieces over a 24 month period and sell them to Bead for Life who then sell them in the United States. The program also teaches the women how to be business women and eventually start their own business. 20,000 shillings every month from their bead sales are put into each woman’s business savings so that when they complete the program they have money to start their business. It was a great way to spend our morning.
The afternoon was a little rougher. Angella called us very upset because the Need for All Kids were taken to Watoto. It’s not that we didn’t want them to go, it’s the way that it happened that made us so mad. Jovenes told Angella on Monday that she was going to try for another week to get the rent taken care of, so everyone assumed that there would be some time before the kids moved. In morning, Jovenes called the mothers and told them to pack up the kids to go to Watoto. They didn’t believe her but still got the kids ready. A while later Ruth called and told them to pack the fridge (the one that WE bought for the KIDS last year) and deliver it on a boda to her house. Allen is feisty and said absolutely not, the fridge belongs to Angella and she will decide what to do with it. Later, a Watoto van showed up to collect the kids. They didn’t realize what was going on until about halfway to the new home. They all started crying and didn’t stop. We met up with the moms later in the day which was awful. We were at the Little Angels Orphanage giving the kids deworming medicine and providing a medicine cabinet. Allen and Noelena came by and the minute I started talking to them, the three of us started crying. Allen said the kids were crying when she left them. The thought of the children crying as the only mother they ever knew had to walk away from them and leave them with a stranger was just too much to handle. I felt bad for the people at Little Angels because we were distracted from our work to go outside and be sad. Angella explained to Max, the person in charge, what went on and he was sympathetic because he has been through similar things before. We tried to get our minds off of it as we gave the kids their medicine and I went outside and played with them in the yard. On the way out, we saw Max’s Mercedes outside the fence. He really must be a successful business man in Kampala so he has the money to support the kids in school and pay for the house and mothers. On the way home, we decided to go to Mamba Point instead of going home to a big group of people that was going to be there. We were just too upset. On the way, Ross called Ruth because Angella finally gave him her number. He explained who he was and asked how the kids were. She said they were fine and they needed $400 for rent for them. He asked if the kids were at the house right now and she told him they were, knowing they were already at Watoto. She wanted to meet him to get the money and he said thanks, I found out what I needed to know. He hung up and then sent her a text saying that he knew that the kids are gone and that she stole money from people who have tried to help the kids out of the goodness of their heart. She called shortly after yelling at him and saying that he is a liar. It made me sick to think that this is the woman who has withheld money for food and rent. She never goes to see them, but every time she knows there are Mzungus in town she calls Angella to ask for more money. We were just too mad to even think about it, so instead we re-told stories of the things the kids did at the zoo and other times that we saw them. We decided that now Kenny will have a real chance at being a policeman, Trevor could be a doctor, and all of the kids are going to have a better shot at making it life. Although it’s a sad day, we know it is in the best interest, we just wish it didn’t happen the way that it did and the kids were able to stay in the home that they call their family
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Heart Aches
May 20, 2009
Oh what a day! I don’t think we did much more than we do in a normal day around Mulago Hospital and Kampala, but some things seem to have made a bigger impact on us all.
We started the morning with a walk down to the main hospital. A patient that we saw yesterday had a perforated bowel, which means that the contents of his stomach and intestines were filling up his abdomen, causing his stomach to be very enlarged and painful. He was at risk for dying from an infection or some other complication due to the perforation. The doctors in the ward didn’t seem to catch it on the x-ray, but Ross and Troy did. I’m sure somebody might have caught it on the x-ray at some point, but probably not until much later (days) at the rate things go here. The doctor in charge arranged for a transfer to surgery almost immediately. It’s the first time I’ve seen a patient’s orders being carried out within the same hour as it was prescribed. When we arrived in the surgical ward, I was not expecting much. Troy had checked on the boy’s status yesterday afternoon and the surgeons told him that he wouldn’t get surgery because they were too busy! Apparently there is no priority for emergency situations, so I guess it’s just a first come first served type of thing. The waiting area was full of people waiting on mats for their surgeries. A guard has to stand at the door to control who goes in and out. Luckily for us, when you are doctors from another country, nobody really checks when you walk in. We found our patient after looking in two wards packed with people that are pre or post surgery. We was wrapped in a blanket and hooked up to oxygen and an NG tube that removes “stuff” from his stomach. His mom let us look at his chart. Surprisingly, he had gotten the surgery! The notes said that they repaired the tear and they hadn’t closed his abdomen yet. We uncovered him to find tape over his belly. He was still working really hard to breath and didn’t keep his eyes open very much, but at least he was alive. Even though he got the surgery, he still might die from infections, but he was given a better chance because of the surgery. We don’t know if he will be there tomorrow, but hopefully we’ll be able to try and check again soon.
We went back to the children’s ward to meet up with a doctor named Justice who is the neurosurgeon that would look at the boy who has become paralyzed and developed scoliosis from something that has not been diagnosed. Justice was supposed to meet us at 8:30. By 11:00 after rounding with some of the other doctors and following up with some patients from earlier in the week, we decided he wasn’t coming. Troy called and Justice told him he wasn’t even at Mulago today. We weren’t shocked when later in the day another Ugandan doctor told us she had eaten with him at a canteen at Mulago. I don’t know why he found it necessary to lie and to not actually come to see his patient, but he’s done it before. Last year we went to find him shortly after we arrived and were told he was out of the country. We sat outside his office for about an hour and eventually he emerged and then looked surprised to see us! He had been sitting in that office and told his assistant to lie about his whereabouts! He’s not the only one who does these sorts of things and that’s what’s so frustrating about trying to get things done at Mulago. I watched Ross and Troy conduct a physical exam on the partially paralyzed boy to determine what might be causing his ailments. It was so amazing to see what they could discover based on reflexes and responses to pain that he had. I don’t know how they did it, but they could determine that he has a tumor and that it is located in a particular region of his spine. However, in order to treat it, the boy will need a CT scan. It will cost 150,000 shillings, which is more than the mother has. If Justice would right an order for it, the cost could be cut in half. That’s not happening anytime soon and we couldn’t communicate with the family because they don’t speak English, so he and his mom will sit there and wait for a long time.
Priscilla is actually doing a little worse today. She is walking with a little less steadiness and she is no longer could control her urination, so she wet her bed while the doctors were watching her. It probably means that the fluid is building up and putting pressure on her brain again. She needs to have the tumor excised. By the time we were ready to leave for the morning, we were told she was being discharged and her mother was going to take her to the hospital that could remove the tumor. We went over to say goodbye and her mother said that “poverty” is a problem and she wasn’t sure she would be able to find a way to pay. We told Priscilla that we would pray and ask Jesus for her and she smiled and nodded. Ross told her she had to ask him too and her mother was thankful to us for spending time with them. I will be praying that Priscilla will get her surgery and get better. She is too sweet to be sick!
There is another baby in the ward that is a sad story. We saw her throughout the day and thought she was the cutest little girl. She is severely malnourished and she was wearing a knitted white hat with purple trim that was almost as big as her body. She was eating a big bun piece by piece. She giggled a little at us the first time we walked by her. Later I brought her a little stuffed elephant and she didn’t know what to do with it. I saw a nurse bathe and change her a while later and thought that was strange because I’ve never seen a nurse do the jobs that mothers usually do. We found out later that the girl had been abandoned at just about two years old and the nurses have been taking care of her on the ward. Tomorrow I hope to bring up some of the very small clothes that we brought that I didn’t know what to do with and maybe just hold her for a bit. I know that the nurses don’t have a lot of time to just sit with her, so she basically just sits in the bed all day, eating and occasionally having a nurse stop by to check on her.
This afternoon was the most heart-wrenching thing I have seen ever in Uganda. We had talked with Susan, the director of international medical students coming to Mulago about finding a small orphanage without a lot of funding. She told us she heard of an old lady who took kids in somewhere in the slums. She decided to take us to try and find her. So many times we have walked by the outskirts of the slums or down a street or two, but never actually gone in. We drove to a spot and got out to walk the rest of the way. Susan asked a woman who was crawling around on the ground (we don’t know why, but she doesn’t get off of her knees) where to find this woman. She directed a boy on a bike to take us there. We wound through streets full of garbage. As you walk by the doors of people’s homes you could smell the rot and mold inside. I could see near the trenches that the streets are piled with garbage underneath all the dirt. I think that’s all that the slums are just garbage used to make other things. We finally arrived at “the place” there was a putrid smell coming from it. Outside, there was one pot cooking on some coals and right inside the door there was another. I have never walked into a place that brought me to tears simply by seeing it. In the dark room there were six beds all lined up with about 8 inches to walk around them. Dirty boxes lined the walls. Soon, all of the children (18 of them) came inside and were sitting or standing in that little room. Every time somebody moved, more dust and dirt entered the air. You could see bugs crawling on the blankets. The old woman doesn’t speak any English, so Susan explained to her what we wanted to bring here with the medicine cabinet. She understood and we told her we would be back in the next couple of days with Angella to interpret for us. We were in that room for less than 5 minutes, but I won’t every forget that feeling. I don’t know how people manage to survive in places like this, but somehow they manage. If they don’t, nobody really notices. These are the real “invisible” people of the world. The ones that you hear about or think about but you can never actually understand what it is. The movie Slumdog Millionaire brought us all into that world for a brief moment, but even seeing the movie didn’t make me understand as much as being there and having every sense stimulated by extreme poverty. The little baby on the bed was crying because he was hungry and people are constantly yelling in the streets. The smell is a mixture of rotten garbage and dirty bodies with small hints of potatoes and mtoke cooking in a pot somewhere. People are dark and dirty and sad looking. You can see in their eyes that they are suffering, but holding on and fighting for everything that they need to survive. We left that place with a whole new feeling of this country. We’ve been spoiled by seeing a city with poor people, but now we’re exposed to the poorest of the poor. Even Susan wasn’t expecting it to be that bad. The more shocking thing is this is not an isolated place. When you look from atop any of the 7 hills of Kampala, you see the tin roofs of the slums scattered everywhere. The majority of the people live in this poverty. This old woman they call Jjajaa has taken in 18 abandoned street children and I have no idea how she pays for anything for them. We are hoping that we will be able to make a small difference for this group of people in the next few days. We will go back on Saturday to bring some things and get more information about the children. I really don’t want to ever forget the feeling that I felt upon first walking in there and I’m hoping that we will be able to do something to make it better.
Oh what a day! I don’t think we did much more than we do in a normal day around Mulago Hospital and Kampala, but some things seem to have made a bigger impact on us all.
We started the morning with a walk down to the main hospital. A patient that we saw yesterday had a perforated bowel, which means that the contents of his stomach and intestines were filling up his abdomen, causing his stomach to be very enlarged and painful. He was at risk for dying from an infection or some other complication due to the perforation. The doctors in the ward didn’t seem to catch it on the x-ray, but Ross and Troy did. I’m sure somebody might have caught it on the x-ray at some point, but probably not until much later (days) at the rate things go here. The doctor in charge arranged for a transfer to surgery almost immediately. It’s the first time I’ve seen a patient’s orders being carried out within the same hour as it was prescribed. When we arrived in the surgical ward, I was not expecting much. Troy had checked on the boy’s status yesterday afternoon and the surgeons told him that he wouldn’t get surgery because they were too busy! Apparently there is no priority for emergency situations, so I guess it’s just a first come first served type of thing. The waiting area was full of people waiting on mats for their surgeries. A guard has to stand at the door to control who goes in and out. Luckily for us, when you are doctors from another country, nobody really checks when you walk in. We found our patient after looking in two wards packed with people that are pre or post surgery. We was wrapped in a blanket and hooked up to oxygen and an NG tube that removes “stuff” from his stomach. His mom let us look at his chart. Surprisingly, he had gotten the surgery! The notes said that they repaired the tear and they hadn’t closed his abdomen yet. We uncovered him to find tape over his belly. He was still working really hard to breath and didn’t keep his eyes open very much, but at least he was alive. Even though he got the surgery, he still might die from infections, but he was given a better chance because of the surgery. We don’t know if he will be there tomorrow, but hopefully we’ll be able to try and check again soon.
We went back to the children’s ward to meet up with a doctor named Justice who is the neurosurgeon that would look at the boy who has become paralyzed and developed scoliosis from something that has not been diagnosed. Justice was supposed to meet us at 8:30. By 11:00 after rounding with some of the other doctors and following up with some patients from earlier in the week, we decided he wasn’t coming. Troy called and Justice told him he wasn’t even at Mulago today. We weren’t shocked when later in the day another Ugandan doctor told us she had eaten with him at a canteen at Mulago. I don’t know why he found it necessary to lie and to not actually come to see his patient, but he’s done it before. Last year we went to find him shortly after we arrived and were told he was out of the country. We sat outside his office for about an hour and eventually he emerged and then looked surprised to see us! He had been sitting in that office and told his assistant to lie about his whereabouts! He’s not the only one who does these sorts of things and that’s what’s so frustrating about trying to get things done at Mulago. I watched Ross and Troy conduct a physical exam on the partially paralyzed boy to determine what might be causing his ailments. It was so amazing to see what they could discover based on reflexes and responses to pain that he had. I don’t know how they did it, but they could determine that he has a tumor and that it is located in a particular region of his spine. However, in order to treat it, the boy will need a CT scan. It will cost 150,000 shillings, which is more than the mother has. If Justice would right an order for it, the cost could be cut in half. That’s not happening anytime soon and we couldn’t communicate with the family because they don’t speak English, so he and his mom will sit there and wait for a long time.
Priscilla is actually doing a little worse today. She is walking with a little less steadiness and she is no longer could control her urination, so she wet her bed while the doctors were watching her. It probably means that the fluid is building up and putting pressure on her brain again. She needs to have the tumor excised. By the time we were ready to leave for the morning, we were told she was being discharged and her mother was going to take her to the hospital that could remove the tumor. We went over to say goodbye and her mother said that “poverty” is a problem and she wasn’t sure she would be able to find a way to pay. We told Priscilla that we would pray and ask Jesus for her and she smiled and nodded. Ross told her she had to ask him too and her mother was thankful to us for spending time with them. I will be praying that Priscilla will get her surgery and get better. She is too sweet to be sick!
There is another baby in the ward that is a sad story. We saw her throughout the day and thought she was the cutest little girl. She is severely malnourished and she was wearing a knitted white hat with purple trim that was almost as big as her body. She was eating a big bun piece by piece. She giggled a little at us the first time we walked by her. Later I brought her a little stuffed elephant and she didn’t know what to do with it. I saw a nurse bathe and change her a while later and thought that was strange because I’ve never seen a nurse do the jobs that mothers usually do. We found out later that the girl had been abandoned at just about two years old and the nurses have been taking care of her on the ward. Tomorrow I hope to bring up some of the very small clothes that we brought that I didn’t know what to do with and maybe just hold her for a bit. I know that the nurses don’t have a lot of time to just sit with her, so she basically just sits in the bed all day, eating and occasionally having a nurse stop by to check on her.
This afternoon was the most heart-wrenching thing I have seen ever in Uganda. We had talked with Susan, the director of international medical students coming to Mulago about finding a small orphanage without a lot of funding. She told us she heard of an old lady who took kids in somewhere in the slums. She decided to take us to try and find her. So many times we have walked by the outskirts of the slums or down a street or two, but never actually gone in. We drove to a spot and got out to walk the rest of the way. Susan asked a woman who was crawling around on the ground (we don’t know why, but she doesn’t get off of her knees) where to find this woman. She directed a boy on a bike to take us there. We wound through streets full of garbage. As you walk by the doors of people’s homes you could smell the rot and mold inside. I could see near the trenches that the streets are piled with garbage underneath all the dirt. I think that’s all that the slums are just garbage used to make other things. We finally arrived at “the place” there was a putrid smell coming from it. Outside, there was one pot cooking on some coals and right inside the door there was another. I have never walked into a place that brought me to tears simply by seeing it. In the dark room there were six beds all lined up with about 8 inches to walk around them. Dirty boxes lined the walls. Soon, all of the children (18 of them) came inside and were sitting or standing in that little room. Every time somebody moved, more dust and dirt entered the air. You could see bugs crawling on the blankets. The old woman doesn’t speak any English, so Susan explained to her what we wanted to bring here with the medicine cabinet. She understood and we told her we would be back in the next couple of days with Angella to interpret for us. We were in that room for less than 5 minutes, but I won’t every forget that feeling. I don’t know how people manage to survive in places like this, but somehow they manage. If they don’t, nobody really notices. These are the real “invisible” people of the world. The ones that you hear about or think about but you can never actually understand what it is. The movie Slumdog Millionaire brought us all into that world for a brief moment, but even seeing the movie didn’t make me understand as much as being there and having every sense stimulated by extreme poverty. The little baby on the bed was crying because he was hungry and people are constantly yelling in the streets. The smell is a mixture of rotten garbage and dirty bodies with small hints of potatoes and mtoke cooking in a pot somewhere. People are dark and dirty and sad looking. You can see in their eyes that they are suffering, but holding on and fighting for everything that they need to survive. We left that place with a whole new feeling of this country. We’ve been spoiled by seeing a city with poor people, but now we’re exposed to the poorest of the poor. Even Susan wasn’t expecting it to be that bad. The more shocking thing is this is not an isolated place. When you look from atop any of the 7 hills of Kampala, you see the tin roofs of the slums scattered everywhere. The majority of the people live in this poverty. This old woman they call Jjajaa has taken in 18 abandoned street children and I have no idea how she pays for anything for them. We are hoping that we will be able to make a small difference for this group of people in the next few days. We will go back on Saturday to bring some things and get more information about the children. I really don’t want to ever forget the feeling that I felt upon first walking in there and I’m hoping that we will be able to do something to make it better.
Sometimes the System Stinks
May 19, 2009
Sometimes you wonder why things just can’t get done. I mean, I know I procrastinate on certain things unless I know that there is a close deadline or that it’s really important to somebody else. I think that going in to medicine, I’m making sure that my focus is not on doing things for myself but on getting things done for patients. By getting things done I mean conducting tests, making a diagnosis, and starting treatment on the patient to make them better. These don’t seem like a whole lot to ask and I would think that most health care professionals back home would agree that this way of thinking and acting is not out of the ordinary, but here that’s not the case. Both Monday and today have been full of roadblocks, not because there medical complications, but because the people or the resources are just not there.
Rounding on patients is interesting, although I don’t know if what people saying is accurate or not. That’s why I like following on rounds when Ross and Troy are there because I can ask questions or at least get an idea of what is happening based on what they say. The doctors will come in a group of 4 or 5 to discuss the patient and then recommend actions to take place. This seems pretty standard and that it would work, but generally we will leave and go to another patient and 10 minutes later there will be another team of doctors rounding and repeating what was just said or done. It doesn’t seem to be that efficient. Some patients will arrive on a Friday and then they will stay in the hospital waiting for the attending doctor to make grand rounds the following Thursday.
Today we saw a patient we is basically paralyzed in his arms and legs, but was normal about nine months ago. He was admitted on Monday and hasn’t been seen by anybody other than the rounding interns who haven’t given him any treatment. Luckily he’s not really getting worse, but he just sits with his mom all day, knowing that he has to wait for the doctors to show up at some point. He is a precious boy but you can tell he is very sad. He’s pretty much trapped in his body because he can’t move is appendages. I hope that somebody sees him soon so that at least his mom knows what is going on and what they can do to hopefully reverse his condition.
Another girl that has touched all of our hearts is Priscilla. Ross had taken us to meet her on Friday after him and Troy had seen her on rounds. She came in unable to walk and had difficulty controlling her bladder. They suspected that the cause of her problems is mostly likely a brain tumor. She’s an adorable little 8 year old who smiles every time she sees us. We gave her a little pink stuffed pig to sleep with. She’s missing her two front teeth and her hair stands up on her head as if she were Albert Einstein. She had a Lumbar Puncture to relieve some pressure and to run some tests. Since the pressure was relieved, she is not able to walk and isn’t having any other main problems. Her CT results took four days to come back and they confirmed what Ross and Troy had said. She has a tumor in her brain that is completely operable and removing it should cure all of her problems. The only issue is that she is poor. There are two options; Priscilla can get a shunt put in that will keep the fluid at bay, but won’t fully cure her problem or she could drive 6 hours to a hospital with another neurosurgeon who can completely remove the tumor and cure the problem for good. If she gets the surgery here at Mulago it is free, but it is not the proper course of action. At the other hospital she will have to pay but won’t be cured. Her mother wants to get the surgery at Mulago because she can’t afford to pay the bill somewhere else. I don’t know if the doctors will have the ability to convince her to go and get the surgery somewhere else, but I really hope that they can. This lovely little girl deserves to have that tumor removed and there is only one place in the whole country where the doctors are trained to do it. Hopefully the doctors will send her off for surgery soon, but for now she is the shining little smile on the far end of the ward that we always go to in order to brighten up our day!
Sometimes you wonder why things just can’t get done. I mean, I know I procrastinate on certain things unless I know that there is a close deadline or that it’s really important to somebody else. I think that going in to medicine, I’m making sure that my focus is not on doing things for myself but on getting things done for patients. By getting things done I mean conducting tests, making a diagnosis, and starting treatment on the patient to make them better. These don’t seem like a whole lot to ask and I would think that most health care professionals back home would agree that this way of thinking and acting is not out of the ordinary, but here that’s not the case. Both Monday and today have been full of roadblocks, not because there medical complications, but because the people or the resources are just not there.
Rounding on patients is interesting, although I don’t know if what people saying is accurate or not. That’s why I like following on rounds when Ross and Troy are there because I can ask questions or at least get an idea of what is happening based on what they say. The doctors will come in a group of 4 or 5 to discuss the patient and then recommend actions to take place. This seems pretty standard and that it would work, but generally we will leave and go to another patient and 10 minutes later there will be another team of doctors rounding and repeating what was just said or done. It doesn’t seem to be that efficient. Some patients will arrive on a Friday and then they will stay in the hospital waiting for the attending doctor to make grand rounds the following Thursday.
Today we saw a patient we is basically paralyzed in his arms and legs, but was normal about nine months ago. He was admitted on Monday and hasn’t been seen by anybody other than the rounding interns who haven’t given him any treatment. Luckily he’s not really getting worse, but he just sits with his mom all day, knowing that he has to wait for the doctors to show up at some point. He is a precious boy but you can tell he is very sad. He’s pretty much trapped in his body because he can’t move is appendages. I hope that somebody sees him soon so that at least his mom knows what is going on and what they can do to hopefully reverse his condition.
Another girl that has touched all of our hearts is Priscilla. Ross had taken us to meet her on Friday after him and Troy had seen her on rounds. She came in unable to walk and had difficulty controlling her bladder. They suspected that the cause of her problems is mostly likely a brain tumor. She’s an adorable little 8 year old who smiles every time she sees us. We gave her a little pink stuffed pig to sleep with. She’s missing her two front teeth and her hair stands up on her head as if she were Albert Einstein. She had a Lumbar Puncture to relieve some pressure and to run some tests. Since the pressure was relieved, she is not able to walk and isn’t having any other main problems. Her CT results took four days to come back and they confirmed what Ross and Troy had said. She has a tumor in her brain that is completely operable and removing it should cure all of her problems. The only issue is that she is poor. There are two options; Priscilla can get a shunt put in that will keep the fluid at bay, but won’t fully cure her problem or she could drive 6 hours to a hospital with another neurosurgeon who can completely remove the tumor and cure the problem for good. If she gets the surgery here at Mulago it is free, but it is not the proper course of action. At the other hospital she will have to pay but won’t be cured. Her mother wants to get the surgery at Mulago because she can’t afford to pay the bill somewhere else. I don’t know if the doctors will have the ability to convince her to go and get the surgery somewhere else, but I really hope that they can. This lovely little girl deserves to have that tumor removed and there is only one place in the whole country where the doctors are trained to do it. Hopefully the doctors will send her off for surgery soon, but for now she is the shining little smile on the far end of the ward that we always go to in order to brighten up our day!
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Woolies at the Zoo
May 16, 2009
A day at the zoo with a group of Woolies is pretty much just a day of pure bliss. For those of you who don’t know what a Wooly is, I will tell you. There are currently 9 known Woolies in Uganda called Joshua, Kenneth, Arthur, Trevor, Henry, Simon, Peter, Irene, and Ruth. They are all members of the Need for All Orphanage that are pseudo adopted by the original Wooly – Ross. You can sometimes luck out and get them to sing the classic old song “Wooly Bully” which is quite a treat. They have their own interpretation of the melody and often use plastic bottles to add their own drum beat to the soundtrack. We really love the Woolies and if we could, we would put them all in a plane and bring them home for you to see.
The kids are rarely out of their little two room home that barely has furniture or running water. They have two “moms” who take turns sleeping over at night on a mattress in the cleared out garage that also holds the toys and clothes drying above them. The refrigerator is one that we bought last time we were here that is barely bigger than a dorm room frig. Even though they sometimes go with no food when the administrator, Ruth forgets to buy them or give money to the mothers. However, they do end up with enough to keep them growing and the house is full of love from the mothers and each other, along with Angella and us and all of the people that have heard about them back home. Since they get what they need at home and a lot of the times that we buy them things, they somehow manage to “disappear” when Ruth sends workers over to the house, we decided to give them an experience. They are old enough to remember a trip and it is something that will never be taken away from them, even if they are transferred to Watoto or split up from each other.
The mothers, Ellen and Noelena, had gotten a Mtatu driver to take us to Entebbe (an hour away) and back. It was originally for 100,000 shillings total, but after they saw us, the driver and conductor decided there was a “waiting fee” of 20,000. It seems to be the way that things work, and I'm pretty much accepting that it’s the way it is. It’s not the first time it’s happened and it sure won’t be the last. Regardless, it worked out better than anything else we could have thought of. By the time Ross, Rachel, Troy, Angella, and I arrived, all of the Woolies were dressed (WITH SHOES TOO!) and in the care eating their bread. Noelena also brought her Wooly, Suda. We also invited the two neighbor boys Henry (17) and Sully (14) because they are almost always at the orphanage and they do a great job taking care of the kids.
The ride was great. I don’t think the kids have ever been on a trip with all of them going somewhere in a vehicle. They have taken some shorter trips in Kampala, but none have been with all of them together. All of us had a seat and we were comfortable cramped, but there was still less people in that Mtatu then there would have been if we were just getting on somewhere in the city. All the way, the kids were jumping up and down and talking about the things they were going to see. They were also pointing out things such as the King’s Lake and buildings where they thought people lived.
Once we got to Entebbe, we had to stop to pick up Joshua whose step-aunt was meeting us in town. The Woolies had to use the bathroom, so Noelena helped them all take down there pants and go right on the grass next to the sidewalk. Although not widely accepted in the U.S. or other countries, it seems to be the way that most kids go in this country, so I wasn’t surprised. Nobody had seen Joshua for the past 2 or 3 months, so we expected them to be a bit more excited than they were, but I think it was just because they are used to people coming and going. I also wondered if kids have a memory like my dog Rocky. He’s excited to see you when you come home and if you leave for 30 seconds, he greets you as if you’ve been gone for a week. Kids and dogs may have the same idea of time….really no idea of how it works!
We got to the zoo and got everybody together for a group picture (I’ll try to load it at some point) We got the drivers in the photo in front of our own personal Mtatu. Prices for the zoo are great. They go according to age and nationality. Ugandan children are 3,000 ($1.50), Ugandan adults are 5,000 ($2.50), and Mzugu adults are 20,000 ($10.00). We really make out well in this country! Let me tell you, it was well worth the price of admission. We had from about noon until four to be there which was a good amount of time for the kids. We saw all kinds of animals, all of which are rescued from different places, so the selection is limited. The highlights for the kids were the crocodiles, snakes, chimpanzees, and lions. We got the chimpanzees at the right time because they were outside and running around. The Woolies loved hearing them yell and each other and pick fights with one another. The lion was in a place very close to the fence. We went up on a platform to see the lion. It was probably only 10 feet from the fence underneath a tree. There is only one female left now because the male died sometime in between last January and now. When we got down from the platform and started walking, the lion crept closer to the fence and we just thought it great that it moved. Later on we were on the other side of the lion’s fence and realized that the lion was by us again. We realized that it was pretty much stalking the kids. It had followed us around and kept getting closer. We think that maybe Peter or Ruth looked like good targets as they lagged behind. Troy and the older boy Henry got closer than everyone to the fence and the lion leapt forward and gave out a little roar. We all ran backward and laughed at the situation. Thankfully, fences are great at keeping animals in, but it managed to scare the little kids a bit.
We went to see the snakes, which were Joshua’s favorite. Kenneth was a bit scared by them. He would get close to the cage and then run away screaming. He didn’t want to get closer when we asked him to go and see the snakes again. We went to get lunch after we had seen as much as we wanted to see. There is one restaurant at the zoo so we didn’t have to make any decisions. The menu had a lot of fancy foods so making a choice of sandwiches and fries was pretty easy. The kids washed their hands and sat down at the table. It took nearly an hour for the meals to be served and I’m surprised the kids didn’t get more restless. I think it was because there were monkeys running around that kept getting close to the tables to steal food. We joked that they were killing the chickens for the sandwiches, but around this country, that actually might be what was going on behind the kitchen door. The kids ate all of their food, which was surprising to me because I was full after my sandwich and chips. Angella said it is probably because they are used to not eating for a while when there isn’t a lot of food so when there is a full meal, they know to eat the whole thing.
After lunch, the kids got to play on the playground for a while. The videos I took of the kids going down the slide are my favorite. The younger Woolies looked so scared at the top and some of them tried to pull themselves back up the handles as they went. At four, we gathered up the Woolies and headed back to the Mtatu.
I was very surprised at how smoothly the whole day went. None of the kids cried or wet their pants the entire day. The only a tear was shed was on the way back to the Mtatu when I monkey started chasing the littlest Wooly, Suda, but since he cries all the time, we weren’t surprised and didn’t count it as a loss. Once we got back in the Mtatu, it took the first Wooly about 2 minutes to fall asleep and by 10 minutes, all of them were zonked including Ross. We dropped off the kids at the orphanage and got the Mtatu driver to take us back to Mulago. I agreed to pay them a totally of 20,000 for the ride back and made that the only “waiting fee” I would agree to. I don’t know what the Woolies thought of the trip, be we sure had fun and I think that they must have too. I would really like to thank my friend Lori and Maleah for providing a little but of extra funding for the trip. You don’t even know how much this meant to them and to us to be able to give them a great experience as a group. It may not be medicine, but we did provide them something that will help lift their spirits for a bit.
A day at the zoo with a group of Woolies is pretty much just a day of pure bliss. For those of you who don’t know what a Wooly is, I will tell you. There are currently 9 known Woolies in Uganda called Joshua, Kenneth, Arthur, Trevor, Henry, Simon, Peter, Irene, and Ruth. They are all members of the Need for All Orphanage that are pseudo adopted by the original Wooly – Ross. You can sometimes luck out and get them to sing the classic old song “Wooly Bully” which is quite a treat. They have their own interpretation of the melody and often use plastic bottles to add their own drum beat to the soundtrack. We really love the Woolies and if we could, we would put them all in a plane and bring them home for you to see.
The kids are rarely out of their little two room home that barely has furniture or running water. They have two “moms” who take turns sleeping over at night on a mattress in the cleared out garage that also holds the toys and clothes drying above them. The refrigerator is one that we bought last time we were here that is barely bigger than a dorm room frig. Even though they sometimes go with no food when the administrator, Ruth forgets to buy them or give money to the mothers. However, they do end up with enough to keep them growing and the house is full of love from the mothers and each other, along with Angella and us and all of the people that have heard about them back home. Since they get what they need at home and a lot of the times that we buy them things, they somehow manage to “disappear” when Ruth sends workers over to the house, we decided to give them an experience. They are old enough to remember a trip and it is something that will never be taken away from them, even if they are transferred to Watoto or split up from each other.
The mothers, Ellen and Noelena, had gotten a Mtatu driver to take us to Entebbe (an hour away) and back. It was originally for 100,000 shillings total, but after they saw us, the driver and conductor decided there was a “waiting fee” of 20,000. It seems to be the way that things work, and I'm pretty much accepting that it’s the way it is. It’s not the first time it’s happened and it sure won’t be the last. Regardless, it worked out better than anything else we could have thought of. By the time Ross, Rachel, Troy, Angella, and I arrived, all of the Woolies were dressed (WITH SHOES TOO!) and in the care eating their bread. Noelena also brought her Wooly, Suda. We also invited the two neighbor boys Henry (17) and Sully (14) because they are almost always at the orphanage and they do a great job taking care of the kids.
The ride was great. I don’t think the kids have ever been on a trip with all of them going somewhere in a vehicle. They have taken some shorter trips in Kampala, but none have been with all of them together. All of us had a seat and we were comfortable cramped, but there was still less people in that Mtatu then there would have been if we were just getting on somewhere in the city. All the way, the kids were jumping up and down and talking about the things they were going to see. They were also pointing out things such as the King’s Lake and buildings where they thought people lived.
Once we got to Entebbe, we had to stop to pick up Joshua whose step-aunt was meeting us in town. The Woolies had to use the bathroom, so Noelena helped them all take down there pants and go right on the grass next to the sidewalk. Although not widely accepted in the U.S. or other countries, it seems to be the way that most kids go in this country, so I wasn’t surprised. Nobody had seen Joshua for the past 2 or 3 months, so we expected them to be a bit more excited than they were, but I think it was just because they are used to people coming and going. I also wondered if kids have a memory like my dog Rocky. He’s excited to see you when you come home and if you leave for 30 seconds, he greets you as if you’ve been gone for a week. Kids and dogs may have the same idea of time….really no idea of how it works!
We got to the zoo and got everybody together for a group picture (I’ll try to load it at some point) We got the drivers in the photo in front of our own personal Mtatu. Prices for the zoo are great. They go according to age and nationality. Ugandan children are 3,000 ($1.50), Ugandan adults are 5,000 ($2.50), and Mzugu adults are 20,000 ($10.00). We really make out well in this country! Let me tell you, it was well worth the price of admission. We had from about noon until four to be there which was a good amount of time for the kids. We saw all kinds of animals, all of which are rescued from different places, so the selection is limited. The highlights for the kids were the crocodiles, snakes, chimpanzees, and lions. We got the chimpanzees at the right time because they were outside and running around. The Woolies loved hearing them yell and each other and pick fights with one another. The lion was in a place very close to the fence. We went up on a platform to see the lion. It was probably only 10 feet from the fence underneath a tree. There is only one female left now because the male died sometime in between last January and now. When we got down from the platform and started walking, the lion crept closer to the fence and we just thought it great that it moved. Later on we were on the other side of the lion’s fence and realized that the lion was by us again. We realized that it was pretty much stalking the kids. It had followed us around and kept getting closer. We think that maybe Peter or Ruth looked like good targets as they lagged behind. Troy and the older boy Henry got closer than everyone to the fence and the lion leapt forward and gave out a little roar. We all ran backward and laughed at the situation. Thankfully, fences are great at keeping animals in, but it managed to scare the little kids a bit.
We went to see the snakes, which were Joshua’s favorite. Kenneth was a bit scared by them. He would get close to the cage and then run away screaming. He didn’t want to get closer when we asked him to go and see the snakes again. We went to get lunch after we had seen as much as we wanted to see. There is one restaurant at the zoo so we didn’t have to make any decisions. The menu had a lot of fancy foods so making a choice of sandwiches and fries was pretty easy. The kids washed their hands and sat down at the table. It took nearly an hour for the meals to be served and I’m surprised the kids didn’t get more restless. I think it was because there were monkeys running around that kept getting close to the tables to steal food. We joked that they were killing the chickens for the sandwiches, but around this country, that actually might be what was going on behind the kitchen door. The kids ate all of their food, which was surprising to me because I was full after my sandwich and chips. Angella said it is probably because they are used to not eating for a while when there isn’t a lot of food so when there is a full meal, they know to eat the whole thing.
After lunch, the kids got to play on the playground for a while. The videos I took of the kids going down the slide are my favorite. The younger Woolies looked so scared at the top and some of them tried to pull themselves back up the handles as they went. At four, we gathered up the Woolies and headed back to the Mtatu.
I was very surprised at how smoothly the whole day went. None of the kids cried or wet their pants the entire day. The only a tear was shed was on the way back to the Mtatu when I monkey started chasing the littlest Wooly, Suda, but since he cries all the time, we weren’t surprised and didn’t count it as a loss. Once we got back in the Mtatu, it took the first Wooly about 2 minutes to fall asleep and by 10 minutes, all of them were zonked including Ross. We dropped off the kids at the orphanage and got the Mtatu driver to take us back to Mulago. I agreed to pay them a totally of 20,000 for the ride back and made that the only “waiting fee” I would agree to. I don’t know what the Woolies thought of the trip, be we sure had fun and I think that they must have too. I would really like to thank my friend Lori and Maleah for providing a little but of extra funding for the trip. You don’t even know how much this meant to them and to us to be able to give them a great experience as a group. It may not be medicine, but we did provide them something that will help lift their spirits for a bit.
A Ugandan Cancer Patient's Experience
May 15, 2005
I guess I’ve missed a few days of writing because we’ve been just getting established and doing work inside Kampala. We are realizing more and more that the places to make the biggest impact are not inside the city, especially not at Mulago. The hospital has been around for a very long time and there are systems in place that really are hard to work with and be able to treat patients. The other people that are staying at the Mulago Guest house are working on endocrine projects outside of the city. The leader of the project has been working in Uganda for nearly ten years and said that each year they are at Mulago less and less. As a future medical student, it has been useful for me to walk around the hospital and shadow doctors to see how things are done in the medical world. However, I’m always aware that I am seeing the worst of the worse cases and that the way that diseases are diagnosed and treated are pretty much as far from standard of care as you could possibly be.
On Wednesday we spent the entire day going from one orphanage to another looking for one that will work for his study. The requirements are that they are community run, not significantly funded outside the area, the children are between 6 mo. – 10 years, there is little to no medicines in the home, and that the caregivers have little training in basic distribution of these medicines. You would be surprised how many times we struck out searching for these things. It’s not a bad thing, but looking for an orphanage that is similar to Need for All has been a huge challenge because every one we visited was so well funded. We visited one that has sponsors for the kids in the UK and a nurse who comes every night. It has the capability to distribute numerous hospital drugs and start IVs. There is also a mother who is trained in first aid and administering basic medicines that we would be providing. Another had an ICU building for the children and had a team of administrative people in an office with 3 computers. We were happy to see so much invested in so many children, but also sad that we haven’t been able to find a good place to give a medicine cabinet to.
Finally, today we found the perfect place. Ideally we want three like it, but at least we found one to start. It is called Little Angels and it is run by a Ugandan business man who had a heart for abandoned babies and started the home about 10 years ago. Max has spent his life trying to help these children. He is very grateful for all of the help and without him saying directly, you can tell he relies on God to provide what the orphanage needs. He said that every time they have needed something, somebody has stepped in to bring food, a refrigerator, clothes, school supplies, and repair services for the house. When we looked at it, we all were thinking the same thing – that this is what we would have liked Need for All to Be. It makes it a lot easier to say that the kids need to go to Watoto or there needs to be drastic changes to the way things are done there. The children listen to Max and are super polite. He personally pays for their school fees and even though he doesn’t know what they will do for higher education he plans on supporting them for the rest of their lives. I was very encouraged today to see what he has done and hope that we can somehow find a few ways to help them with what they need.
Yesterday was an interesting day at Mulago. We followed one of the orphanage kids, Joshua, as he went through his last chemotherapy treatment. He was diagnosed with Burkitts lymphoma at the end of February and since then has been living with an uncle in Entebbe. The staging is different here for cancers. They put him at a stage C, but when Troy looked at his records he said he would be classified as stage 4 in our system. Joshua comes in every two weeks for a day of blood tests, then chemo treatment, and a Lumbar Puncture. Back home, all of this would be done in a single or double patient room with only a few hours in the hospital. We decided to follow Joshua to spend time with him as well as to find out what a normal day of treatment for a cancer patient is like.
Joshua and Wyclief (his uncle) arrived by Mtatu at about 8:30 in the morning and signed him in to the cancer ward. He was told to wait outside for his named to be called so he could get his blood drawn. Then they went and grabbed breakfast and gave us a call. By 9:30, we were visiting with them and sitting outside the ward waiting for the lab to call his name. At around 11:00, he finally got his draw after being told he had initially missed his name because we were in a different building making copies of his records. After his draw, we had to wait for the results. By 12:30 we got his paperwork and had to walk to the pharmacy to get his drugs. One of the drugs was not at the pharmacy so Wyclief walked to a pharmacy outside the hospital to get it. Then we walked to a different building where the infusions take place. Joshua had been in good spirits all morning, but after being outside the infusion room and then seeing another child throw up from the drugs, he put his head in his hands and got really quite as he waited. Wyclief had to go again to get a plastic bag and washcloth for when Joshua’s stomach reacts to the drugs. By 1:00 it was time for Joshua. However, it Wyclief had not pushed his way through a crowd to be near the front, I think it would have been much later. Joshua began to cry hysterically as the nurse prepared his hand for the IV. I think it was more because he knew he was going to be sick than it was because he didn’t like the needle. Sure enough almost immediately after the first medication was pushed, he began to throw up his breakfast. Rachel thinks it might be because the anti-nausea medicine was given at the same time as the other drugs. It doesn’t have time to take effect. Plus, the medications are not given as a drip over a long amount of time, but in a matter of 30 seconds directly in. After the chemo, we walked back to the cancer ward where Joshua took a seat on a chair and immediately fell asleep. He stayed asleep for an hour or two while we waited for the LP. The doctor said he wouldn’t be ready until at least 4 or 5 and Wyclief was content with that answer as he went to stand against a wall and wait. I am sure that for the other 5 treatments, he did the same thing and didn’t leave the hospital until 6. While Ross was there he would have none of the waiting. He felt partially responsible for Joshua missing his name earlier in the day so he tried to do what he could to make it work faster. He went into the office where he found the intern eating and drinking a Coke, one nurse sleeping, and the other just sitting in corner. He closed the door and explained that they needed to try to get his patient done a little faster because he had a long drive ahead of him. Although it is a nice gesture, and probably helps a little, it does nothing to change the system and how much people wait. It didn’t even help Joshua that much. He got his LP done at just before 4, which is only about an hour earlier than he would have without Ross. Plus we succeeded in making the doctor and a few nurses not like this particular group of Mzungus too much. Oh, well, at least the attending will be a different person and since they’re in charge, we’ll have a new chance at first impressions.
It was great to see what a day in the life of a cancer patient is like, but I have to say, it’s a lot of waiting. I hope that I think about Joshua’s experience every time that I am in the hospital so that I do not complain about my own wait times in hospitals. At least I get to wait in an air-conditioned room that I most likely have to myself. I won’t have to stand outside in the hot sun or sit in grass covered in what’s left of vomit, urine and dirty washing water that was emptied in front of the hospital. I know that I’ll probably forget and end up whining about something, but I really hope that every time that happens, I look back at Joshua and be thankful. I also hope that as a future physician I am sensitive to my patients. I want to give each one the individual care and time that they deserve while not making them wait extremely long amounts of time to see me.
I guess I’ve missed a few days of writing because we’ve been just getting established and doing work inside Kampala. We are realizing more and more that the places to make the biggest impact are not inside the city, especially not at Mulago. The hospital has been around for a very long time and there are systems in place that really are hard to work with and be able to treat patients. The other people that are staying at the Mulago Guest house are working on endocrine projects outside of the city. The leader of the project has been working in Uganda for nearly ten years and said that each year they are at Mulago less and less. As a future medical student, it has been useful for me to walk around the hospital and shadow doctors to see how things are done in the medical world. However, I’m always aware that I am seeing the worst of the worse cases and that the way that diseases are diagnosed and treated are pretty much as far from standard of care as you could possibly be.
On Wednesday we spent the entire day going from one orphanage to another looking for one that will work for his study. The requirements are that they are community run, not significantly funded outside the area, the children are between 6 mo. – 10 years, there is little to no medicines in the home, and that the caregivers have little training in basic distribution of these medicines. You would be surprised how many times we struck out searching for these things. It’s not a bad thing, but looking for an orphanage that is similar to Need for All has been a huge challenge because every one we visited was so well funded. We visited one that has sponsors for the kids in the UK and a nurse who comes every night. It has the capability to distribute numerous hospital drugs and start IVs. There is also a mother who is trained in first aid and administering basic medicines that we would be providing. Another had an ICU building for the children and had a team of administrative people in an office with 3 computers. We were happy to see so much invested in so many children, but also sad that we haven’t been able to find a good place to give a medicine cabinet to.
Finally, today we found the perfect place. Ideally we want three like it, but at least we found one to start. It is called Little Angels and it is run by a Ugandan business man who had a heart for abandoned babies and started the home about 10 years ago. Max has spent his life trying to help these children. He is very grateful for all of the help and without him saying directly, you can tell he relies on God to provide what the orphanage needs. He said that every time they have needed something, somebody has stepped in to bring food, a refrigerator, clothes, school supplies, and repair services for the house. When we looked at it, we all were thinking the same thing – that this is what we would have liked Need for All to Be. It makes it a lot easier to say that the kids need to go to Watoto or there needs to be drastic changes to the way things are done there. The children listen to Max and are super polite. He personally pays for their school fees and even though he doesn’t know what they will do for higher education he plans on supporting them for the rest of their lives. I was very encouraged today to see what he has done and hope that we can somehow find a few ways to help them with what they need.
Yesterday was an interesting day at Mulago. We followed one of the orphanage kids, Joshua, as he went through his last chemotherapy treatment. He was diagnosed with Burkitts lymphoma at the end of February and since then has been living with an uncle in Entebbe. The staging is different here for cancers. They put him at a stage C, but when Troy looked at his records he said he would be classified as stage 4 in our system. Joshua comes in every two weeks for a day of blood tests, then chemo treatment, and a Lumbar Puncture. Back home, all of this would be done in a single or double patient room with only a few hours in the hospital. We decided to follow Joshua to spend time with him as well as to find out what a normal day of treatment for a cancer patient is like.
Joshua and Wyclief (his uncle) arrived by Mtatu at about 8:30 in the morning and signed him in to the cancer ward. He was told to wait outside for his named to be called so he could get his blood drawn. Then they went and grabbed breakfast and gave us a call. By 9:30, we were visiting with them and sitting outside the ward waiting for the lab to call his name. At around 11:00, he finally got his draw after being told he had initially missed his name because we were in a different building making copies of his records. After his draw, we had to wait for the results. By 12:30 we got his paperwork and had to walk to the pharmacy to get his drugs. One of the drugs was not at the pharmacy so Wyclief walked to a pharmacy outside the hospital to get it. Then we walked to a different building where the infusions take place. Joshua had been in good spirits all morning, but after being outside the infusion room and then seeing another child throw up from the drugs, he put his head in his hands and got really quite as he waited. Wyclief had to go again to get a plastic bag and washcloth for when Joshua’s stomach reacts to the drugs. By 1:00 it was time for Joshua. However, it Wyclief had not pushed his way through a crowd to be near the front, I think it would have been much later. Joshua began to cry hysterically as the nurse prepared his hand for the IV. I think it was more because he knew he was going to be sick than it was because he didn’t like the needle. Sure enough almost immediately after the first medication was pushed, he began to throw up his breakfast. Rachel thinks it might be because the anti-nausea medicine was given at the same time as the other drugs. It doesn’t have time to take effect. Plus, the medications are not given as a drip over a long amount of time, but in a matter of 30 seconds directly in. After the chemo, we walked back to the cancer ward where Joshua took a seat on a chair and immediately fell asleep. He stayed asleep for an hour or two while we waited for the LP. The doctor said he wouldn’t be ready until at least 4 or 5 and Wyclief was content with that answer as he went to stand against a wall and wait. I am sure that for the other 5 treatments, he did the same thing and didn’t leave the hospital until 6. While Ross was there he would have none of the waiting. He felt partially responsible for Joshua missing his name earlier in the day so he tried to do what he could to make it work faster. He went into the office where he found the intern eating and drinking a Coke, one nurse sleeping, and the other just sitting in corner. He closed the door and explained that they needed to try to get his patient done a little faster because he had a long drive ahead of him. Although it is a nice gesture, and probably helps a little, it does nothing to change the system and how much people wait. It didn’t even help Joshua that much. He got his LP done at just before 4, which is only about an hour earlier than he would have without Ross. Plus we succeeded in making the doctor and a few nurses not like this particular group of Mzungus too much. Oh, well, at least the attending will be a different person and since they’re in charge, we’ll have a new chance at first impressions.
It was great to see what a day in the life of a cancer patient is like, but I have to say, it’s a lot of waiting. I hope that I think about Joshua’s experience every time that I am in the hospital so that I do not complain about my own wait times in hospitals. At least I get to wait in an air-conditioned room that I most likely have to myself. I won’t have to stand outside in the hot sun or sit in grass covered in what’s left of vomit, urine and dirty washing water that was emptied in front of the hospital. I know that I’ll probably forget and end up whining about something, but I really hope that every time that happens, I look back at Joshua and be thankful. I also hope that as a future physician I am sensitive to my patients. I want to give each one the individual care and time that they deserve while not making them wait extremely long amounts of time to see me.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
The Orphanage Dilemma
What do you do when you don’t know what to do? This is the problem that we have right now. Although the orphanage has been great for us and we feel like we have made a huge investment in these kids, there might be a better option for them that would mean we are involved less and Angella won’t be able to see them nearly as often.
This is the situation. The orphanage was founded by a social worker named Jovenes about 4 years ago when she failed to find homes for Kenneth and Trevor. Instead of trying to put them in a larger orphanage, she found a home to rent and a woman to hire as a mother for their orphanage. A week or so later, Joshua came along and the orphanage began to grow. As many as 22 kids were there at one time, so Jovenes hired 4 mothers to take turns sleeping at the house. Most of the kids were adopted quickly because of their age or they were sent to a better home. Now there are the nine kids left that we all adore, but for them, there is a very uncertain future. They are past the age of likely adoption so the will most likely live there for the rest of their lives. But what happens when they are past the age of school? Will Kenny become a boda driver? Will Joshua sell fruit on the street? Will Arthur drive a Mtatu? These kids are very smart, but they won’t have the opportunity to go to school if they can’t pay for both books and uniforms at the government schools, and their chances of getting into university are even smaller than the chance of all of them having sponsors.
All of these questions came up last night because Angella has been contacted by Ruth. She is the person who is basically running the orphanage now, but she does an awful job of managing resources. Ruth was one of Jovenes’ best friends and she had offered to help when Jovenes invested all of her time and a lot of money into those kids. Then, a year or two ago, Jovenes got transferred to a city hours away from Kampala so she left Ruth in charge. Ruth has done little to make the orphanage better. Every three months, the rent needs to be paid, and you would think that after four years, they would have collected sponsors and raised funds to pay a bill that comes at the same time every year. She also sometimes does not sent food or money to buy food. Even the chickens, which were moved to Ruth’s house (not too far from the kids) are never send by the children. The mothers said that they never get eggs from them and that they have only eaten 5 or 6 of them. Ruth never calls Angella to let her know about the kids, nor does she ever go to check up on the kids. When the mothers tell Ruth there is a problem, she does nothing to fix it. The rent is due again soon and Ruth has called Angella a few times to ask her to cover the rent. If Angella did that, she wouldn’t be able to pay her own rent. The money is not the problem. The bigger issue is a future for the kids. If Ruth can’t manage to make a payment three months in advance, then how is she going to plan for any sort of future for the kids.
The alternative that Ruth has given is to give up and send the kids to the Watoto orphanage. This is a huge organization run by the Kampala Pentacostal Church. It seems to be a great organization. The kids live in a house of 7 kids with one mom (which means they will most likely be split up) They all become part of the Watoto children’s choir which travels around the world to raise money and awareness of the orphaned children of Uganda. They are close to a local school and Watoto trains the kids to learn a trade or go to some sort of school after they finish grade school.
This all seems like a good thing, but it would mean all of the children would have to move. They would no longer see their mothers or the two older boys that care for them. Angella would not be able to just stop by and see them because the Watoto has strict rules about visitors and outside help. I want what’s best for the kids and so do Angella, Ross, Rachel, and the mothers, but it really hurts your heart to have to send them someplace new, knowing that you may never see them again. However, it’s looking at what is best for them, and if Watoto is best for them, then that is what needs to happen.
I make this sound as if it’s a done deal, but we really don’t know what will happen and we are looking at options right now. We really love these kids and we are going to pray that we have the wisdom to do what’s best, even if it means letting them go. Please pray that we will figure out the best course of action and that we can help these kids move in a direction that will give them a hope for their future.
This is the situation. The orphanage was founded by a social worker named Jovenes about 4 years ago when she failed to find homes for Kenneth and Trevor. Instead of trying to put them in a larger orphanage, she found a home to rent and a woman to hire as a mother for their orphanage. A week or so later, Joshua came along and the orphanage began to grow. As many as 22 kids were there at one time, so Jovenes hired 4 mothers to take turns sleeping at the house. Most of the kids were adopted quickly because of their age or they were sent to a better home. Now there are the nine kids left that we all adore, but for them, there is a very uncertain future. They are past the age of likely adoption so the will most likely live there for the rest of their lives. But what happens when they are past the age of school? Will Kenny become a boda driver? Will Joshua sell fruit on the street? Will Arthur drive a Mtatu? These kids are very smart, but they won’t have the opportunity to go to school if they can’t pay for both books and uniforms at the government schools, and their chances of getting into university are even smaller than the chance of all of them having sponsors.
All of these questions came up last night because Angella has been contacted by Ruth. She is the person who is basically running the orphanage now, but she does an awful job of managing resources. Ruth was one of Jovenes’ best friends and she had offered to help when Jovenes invested all of her time and a lot of money into those kids. Then, a year or two ago, Jovenes got transferred to a city hours away from Kampala so she left Ruth in charge. Ruth has done little to make the orphanage better. Every three months, the rent needs to be paid, and you would think that after four years, they would have collected sponsors and raised funds to pay a bill that comes at the same time every year. She also sometimes does not sent food or money to buy food. Even the chickens, which were moved to Ruth’s house (not too far from the kids) are never send by the children. The mothers said that they never get eggs from them and that they have only eaten 5 or 6 of them. Ruth never calls Angella to let her know about the kids, nor does she ever go to check up on the kids. When the mothers tell Ruth there is a problem, she does nothing to fix it. The rent is due again soon and Ruth has called Angella a few times to ask her to cover the rent. If Angella did that, she wouldn’t be able to pay her own rent. The money is not the problem. The bigger issue is a future for the kids. If Ruth can’t manage to make a payment three months in advance, then how is she going to plan for any sort of future for the kids.
The alternative that Ruth has given is to give up and send the kids to the Watoto orphanage. This is a huge organization run by the Kampala Pentacostal Church. It seems to be a great organization. The kids live in a house of 7 kids with one mom (which means they will most likely be split up) They all become part of the Watoto children’s choir which travels around the world to raise money and awareness of the orphaned children of Uganda. They are close to a local school and Watoto trains the kids to learn a trade or go to some sort of school after they finish grade school.
This all seems like a good thing, but it would mean all of the children would have to move. They would no longer see their mothers or the two older boys that care for them. Angella would not be able to just stop by and see them because the Watoto has strict rules about visitors and outside help. I want what’s best for the kids and so do Angella, Ross, Rachel, and the mothers, but it really hurts your heart to have to send them someplace new, knowing that you may never see them again. However, it’s looking at what is best for them, and if Watoto is best for them, then that is what needs to happen.
I make this sound as if it’s a done deal, but we really don’t know what will happen and we are looking at options right now. We really love these kids and we are going to pray that we have the wisdom to do what’s best, even if it means letting them go. Please pray that we will figure out the best course of action and that we can help these kids move in a direction that will give them a hope for their future.
SAFARI
A Disney Safari last week was great at the time, but pretty much nothing can compare to an amazing African Safari at Murchison Falls National Park!!
On Sunday morning, Godfrey met us at the HVO House with a driver and jeep that would be taking us on the long journey to the safari. Our driver’s name was Charles. Coincidentally, the last time we had a driver in Uganda named Charles was on a trip to the equator and he was the best driver we had the entire two weeks, so I knew this had the potential to be good. Thankfully, Charles lived up to his name and we had a great guide with lots to share about his country and the animals and history of Murchison Falls.
The ride up was probably the best we will have for three weeks. There is an attempt at a freeway around the main city to bypass the traffic, but it is nothing more than another beat up road with lots of potholes – I mean, craters – and a few less people, cars and boda’s to hit along the way. The further you get from the city, the more you see why they call Uganda “The Pearl of Africa” and God’s Country. The landscape is full of rolling green hills and the roads are lined with beautiful trees. Even more appealing to the eye, are the people; there are women in colorful traditional dresses carrying baskets and fruit on their head more than in the city. The children are carrying food and water and babies are tied to their mothers back in a cloth sack. Men and boys are hard at work trimming the grass with long metal blades, building a ditch of stone and cement by hand, planting gardens, and pushing bikes piles high with more banana leaves, coal, and sugar cane than I could fit in the trunk of my car! (I’m serious about this one…..sometimes the back of a bike is piled 10 or 12 feet in the air!) The air keeps getting cleaner too. I didn’t notice it as much on the way out because it was a gradual pleasant improvement, but on the way back today, I could smell the garbage and exhaust as well as the smell of thousands of people crammed into a relatively small area. It made me glad that we had our little time away in the fresh air.
The road to Murchison is paved for about 200 kilometers or so, which wasn’t the case even 2 years ago. Charles said it used to take nearly 13 hours from Kampala to the Red Chilli Camp where we stayed. Our trip took 3 hours to Masindi (the last city, and the end of paved roads) and only another 2.5 on red dirt roads to get to our final destination. More than half of the unpaved part is driving through the park property. It’s huge. I can’t remember the exact numbers, but the park is thousands of square kilometers of land. Once we entered the reserve, we saw baboons almost as often as I see squirrels running around in Minnesota. There are families with 20 or more that are eating on the short grass or the middle of the road. The mostly scatter when they see a vehicle, but occasionally one or two play chicken until we get very close. It’s almost impossible to take a picture of them because they run into the tall grass as soon as the jeep stops. It’s not a good idea to roll down the window when you stop to look at baboons because the biting flies that live near or on the baboons get in the car. We learned that the hard way, spending a few kilometers stopping every few minutes to kill a new fly that we had let in.
Further in, we crossed a couple of metal bridges that look exactly like the ones at Animal Kingdom. Obviously, Disney did their research! The road is very bumpy because it is straight up dirt going up and down steep hills all the way. We found after the rain storm on Monday that the roads keep getting worse every time large amounts of water fall and wash away parts of it. Coming down around a corner of one hill, we just had to stop and take a picture looking down into the valley. The green of the trees against the blue sky is breathtaking. All you can see for miles is trees in every shade of green. (Speaking of trees, on they way Charles showed us where they are planting pine trees to replenish the forests people have cut down to make charcoal….never thought I’d see that type of tree in this part of the world!) It seems that all the way on the drive, it kept getting better and better.
Once we got to the Red Chilli, it was about noon and we had until 2:00 before we could check in to our banda. I was expecting a tent with a public toilet and shower, but Godfrey set us up to have our own two person room with a bathroom of its own and a living room too! We ate lunch in the restaurant with a thatched roof that overlooks a view of the Nile and the Valley surrounding it only a short distance down a steep cliff. I usually don’t eat a lot of meat here, but a bacon and cheese hamburger sounded like the best thing on the menu, so it’s what I chose. The meat tasted a lot sweeter than I’m used to, but it still hit the spot.
Charles decided to take us on a game drive in the afternoon to beat the group of people that goes in the mornings. The jeep vehicles has a sunroof that you can pop your head up through to see from a better vantage point. The only pitfall was that one of the backseat windows didn’t work so Ross and Rachel kept switching sides of the car. I offered the front seat, but they liked the back better. We really lucked out on the game drive. On the ferry ride to the North side of the river, we thought we were lucky to see and hear a herd of hippos on the banks. It turns out the hippo are much more numerous than any of us expected. There are hundreds of them lined up on both sides of the river for miles and miles. Thousands of different types of antelope cover the plains of the reserve and most of them are pretty shy about the vehicles, which didn’t bother us much because the honestly look a lot like deer and move like them too.
We saw a small herd of elephants with babies that were quite a ways from us. We also some giraffe and buffalo that I thought were fairly close, but Charles told us we should keep driving because there are others closer in different places. We got close to the edge of the Nile Delta and Charles kept looking with his binoculars. It’s one of those….”you know you’re a tourist when….” moments. Whenever our guide looks in one direction, we assume it’s something excited and get on the edge of our seats, when he’s usually just scanning an area. Charles gave up on a spot and started to drive away when Rachel asked what animal was near the water’s edge. When Charles took out his binoculars again, he got excited and said “It’s a lion!” Not only one, but two, - a male and a female drinking along the water’s edge. I was content being that close to them, but apparently our driver wasn’t, because he drove off the road and onto the grass to get a closer look. We ended up within about 30 feet of the lions, who laid down in the taller grass. He revved the engine a bit and moved closer so that the two lions got up to walk further. We could have stayed and watched longer, but we had to move on so we could make it through the park and catch the last ferry. As we came around another corner, we spotted three more female lions walking around the remains of an antelope. We broke the rules again to get close. There was nothing left of the carcass except the face, bones and skin. All of the meat was completely cleaned off, so they must have made the kill at least the day before, if not longer. After more ooing and aaahing, we got back on the road. On the way back, we spotted a giraffe on our left and then noticed at least a dozen more behind it. Rachel yelled for us to look ahead and there was a giraffe, just standing in the middle of the road, reaching it’s long neck down to a short tree to grab some leaves. We drove up a bit closer and stopped. Then the giraffe took a bunch of steps towards us, then stopped and stared right at us, while we admired him and all of his friends. He must be pretty popular because when we looked on either side of the road we saw giraffe all over. I tried to count, but I lost track after about 37. There were probably about 50 or 60, just surrounding us and minding their own business. I was so thankful that I finally got to see a live giraffe! I know this might sound silly, but I threw out a little prayer a few days before saying how much I would love to see a giraffe up close. God REALLY answers prayer sometimes. I know that he does it because he loved us and loves to see us smile. I am very thankful for the gift of seeing them so close and I was content if that was all we got to see for the rest of the trip.
I shouldn’t have said that I was content with that, because on the next day’s morning game drive, we only saw tons of antelope, some elephants in the distance, buffalo, some giraffe a bit far away, and lot of pretty birds. Midway through, the clouds started to roll in and the rain came down. It felt a little like Jurassic Park when things started to go wrong. I was getting worried that either a little creature would come and spray something in my eyes, or a big one would try to eat the car. We had to drive through puddles that reached the headlights in a couple of places and it was very slow going. Eventually, I could tell we were getting close to the ferry, but we came up behind a bus full of students from Macalester (what a coincidence) who had gotten stuck coming off the ferry the day before. As we were going down a long hill, all of us gasped in fear as the bus started to lose control and slide sideways into a bank. It honestly looked as if it would tip over onto the side with the doors and trap them inside. Luckily, there was a high bank that stopped them from rolling and they were able to get out, only to stand in the downpour. We stopped for a moment to ask if they needed help, but Charles was told to keep going and that we couldn’t do any good in helping them get out.
After a few more kilometers, we pulled up just as the ferry was pulling away from the dock. We stopped to see if they would return and Charles got out of the car to check with the ranger. As he did, a baboon approached the front of the car and then jumped up on the hood. He looked around and inside; apparently thinking that Charles may have left the window open and he could reach in and steal some food. He was surprised to see us, and only stayed about 5 or 10 minutes until Charles walked up and chased him away. Luckily, the ferry came back sooner than its scheduled time and we made it back to have lunch and take a nap.
We were pretty depressed about the weather, especially since the afternoon boat ride up the river does not happen when it’s raining. When we awoke from our nap, we thought that we wouldn’t be going because it was still raining. I was surprised when Ross and Rachel returned from checking with Charles to say that we are going! We hurried to grab our things and make it down to the boat landing. There were six or seven boats lined up, most of them with double decks or large in size. Out of all of them, ours ended up being able to seat 14 people. If you line up three chairs in your kitchen, you’ll see the width of our boat, with a seven seats on each side and a little 30 horse motor on the back. It was basically an oversized canoe with a flat canopy. Perfect for the Nile, I’m sure!
We puttered around, realizing that seeing hippo was not a big deal in this area. In fact, we even saw one the night before. We heard stories of hippo coming up to eat grass at the Red Chili at night, since they are nocturnal. All of us thought it was possible, but not likely, but at 2:20 Ross woke us up to say there was a hippo. Sure enough, not more than five feet from our window was a gigantic hippo noisily munching on our grass. No need for lawnmowers when this guy is around. They eat between 50-100 kilograms each night by climbing up the high banks (don’t ask me how they get all that blubber up the hill) and eating for 4 or 5 hours straight). On the boat ride, we got a bit of excitement. A Jaws-like moment in the making. We saw a wake part as a hippo swam towards us very close to the surface. Rachel jumped to our side of the boat as we moved forward a bit. We almost missed him, but he came to the surface just in time for his head to hit our motor and knock it out of its place. Nobody was really panicking because I think there were only 4 of us who actually saw him coming. Our driver turned towards shore a bit…..right into the group of hippos standing on the bank. They were not happy and one of them opened his mouth and thrashed it back and forth with his big teeth scaring us away. I could see the headlines…..”14 tourists eaten by angry hippos”. Luckily, our driver turned the boat quickly, and the hippos were not as mad as they looked. We continued up stream towards Murchison Falls to see it from the base. Along the way we spotted some crocodile in the water and a lone elephant drinking in some reeds.
At the entrance to the falls, there were dozens of giant crocs resting on a sandy patch of shoreline, along with many more swimming nearby. Apparently, they wait there as the fish and any other things coming down the waterfall swim by. They are usually dizzy and disoriented so they are an easy catch. No surprise for an animal that always goes for the thing closest to him.
The falls themselves are amazing. It is a 45 meter drop with a gap that gets as small as 7 meters. It’s the entire volume of the Nile passing through a narrow gap. The rumors of the ground shaking all around the area are not true, but the sound and site of it is still indescribable. On the boat, you don’t get very close, but the three of us had hired a ranger, Simon, to take us on a hike to get close. We had to hike a narrow trail along the cliff for about an hour to the top of the falls, stopping every now and then for a breather and a picture. At the top, you are mesmerized by the heavy streams of water being thrust between the rocks. We were trying to decide what would kill a person first; the pressure of the water, hitting the rocks, an angry hippo, or a hungry crocodile. Regardless, fall in and you’re a goner. A year ago a man committed suicide by jumping of the rocks and his body was never found. Nobody is really surprised.
Charles was there to meet us at the falls and we had to ride for about an hour and half back to the Red Chili. We had dinner and then went back to our banda for the night to find salamanders and some really nasty looking centipedes with hard shells all over inside. Luckily Ross was able to get rid of the centipede and we eventually had to put towels in front of the door to keep them from coming under it. The salamanders stayed and I watched them eat a few of the flies and bugs in our room. We played a few rounds of UNO to pass the time before going to bed.
In the morning we got to sleep in and have breakfast of pancakes with banana and honey, French toast, and fresh fruit. We then took the long ride back into Kampala. Along the way we stopped for lunch at a hotel in Masindi while Charles filled up a tire that had lost air and got some more gas in the tank. We arrived back at the HVO House and unpacked. Then we got to lounge around and relax before meeting with Angella for dinner and planning for what we would do at the orphanages in the next two days. All in all the safari experience was amazing, with a few bits of excitement here and there. It was a nice vacation, but I can’t wait to get back to work. I want to make the most of every moment of this trip, and I know that we just have to keep plugging away at little things and doing what we can when we can. Troy will be arriving some time on Thursday and that will mean we will hit the hospital hard for the rest of the trip.
On Sunday morning, Godfrey met us at the HVO House with a driver and jeep that would be taking us on the long journey to the safari. Our driver’s name was Charles. Coincidentally, the last time we had a driver in Uganda named Charles was on a trip to the equator and he was the best driver we had the entire two weeks, so I knew this had the potential to be good. Thankfully, Charles lived up to his name and we had a great guide with lots to share about his country and the animals and history of Murchison Falls.
The ride up was probably the best we will have for three weeks. There is an attempt at a freeway around the main city to bypass the traffic, but it is nothing more than another beat up road with lots of potholes – I mean, craters – and a few less people, cars and boda’s to hit along the way. The further you get from the city, the more you see why they call Uganda “The Pearl of Africa” and God’s Country. The landscape is full of rolling green hills and the roads are lined with beautiful trees. Even more appealing to the eye, are the people; there are women in colorful traditional dresses carrying baskets and fruit on their head more than in the city. The children are carrying food and water and babies are tied to their mothers back in a cloth sack. Men and boys are hard at work trimming the grass with long metal blades, building a ditch of stone and cement by hand, planting gardens, and pushing bikes piles high with more banana leaves, coal, and sugar cane than I could fit in the trunk of my car! (I’m serious about this one…..sometimes the back of a bike is piled 10 or 12 feet in the air!) The air keeps getting cleaner too. I didn’t notice it as much on the way out because it was a gradual pleasant improvement, but on the way back today, I could smell the garbage and exhaust as well as the smell of thousands of people crammed into a relatively small area. It made me glad that we had our little time away in the fresh air.
The road to Murchison is paved for about 200 kilometers or so, which wasn’t the case even 2 years ago. Charles said it used to take nearly 13 hours from Kampala to the Red Chilli Camp where we stayed. Our trip took 3 hours to Masindi (the last city, and the end of paved roads) and only another 2.5 on red dirt roads to get to our final destination. More than half of the unpaved part is driving through the park property. It’s huge. I can’t remember the exact numbers, but the park is thousands of square kilometers of land. Once we entered the reserve, we saw baboons almost as often as I see squirrels running around in Minnesota. There are families with 20 or more that are eating on the short grass or the middle of the road. The mostly scatter when they see a vehicle, but occasionally one or two play chicken until we get very close. It’s almost impossible to take a picture of them because they run into the tall grass as soon as the jeep stops. It’s not a good idea to roll down the window when you stop to look at baboons because the biting flies that live near or on the baboons get in the car. We learned that the hard way, spending a few kilometers stopping every few minutes to kill a new fly that we had let in.
Further in, we crossed a couple of metal bridges that look exactly like the ones at Animal Kingdom. Obviously, Disney did their research! The road is very bumpy because it is straight up dirt going up and down steep hills all the way. We found after the rain storm on Monday that the roads keep getting worse every time large amounts of water fall and wash away parts of it. Coming down around a corner of one hill, we just had to stop and take a picture looking down into the valley. The green of the trees against the blue sky is breathtaking. All you can see for miles is trees in every shade of green. (Speaking of trees, on they way Charles showed us where they are planting pine trees to replenish the forests people have cut down to make charcoal….never thought I’d see that type of tree in this part of the world!) It seems that all the way on the drive, it kept getting better and better.
Once we got to the Red Chilli, it was about noon and we had until 2:00 before we could check in to our banda. I was expecting a tent with a public toilet and shower, but Godfrey set us up to have our own two person room with a bathroom of its own and a living room too! We ate lunch in the restaurant with a thatched roof that overlooks a view of the Nile and the Valley surrounding it only a short distance down a steep cliff. I usually don’t eat a lot of meat here, but a bacon and cheese hamburger sounded like the best thing on the menu, so it’s what I chose. The meat tasted a lot sweeter than I’m used to, but it still hit the spot.
Charles decided to take us on a game drive in the afternoon to beat the group of people that goes in the mornings. The jeep vehicles has a sunroof that you can pop your head up through to see from a better vantage point. The only pitfall was that one of the backseat windows didn’t work so Ross and Rachel kept switching sides of the car. I offered the front seat, but they liked the back better. We really lucked out on the game drive. On the ferry ride to the North side of the river, we thought we were lucky to see and hear a herd of hippos on the banks. It turns out the hippo are much more numerous than any of us expected. There are hundreds of them lined up on both sides of the river for miles and miles. Thousands of different types of antelope cover the plains of the reserve and most of them are pretty shy about the vehicles, which didn’t bother us much because the honestly look a lot like deer and move like them too.
We saw a small herd of elephants with babies that were quite a ways from us. We also some giraffe and buffalo that I thought were fairly close, but Charles told us we should keep driving because there are others closer in different places. We got close to the edge of the Nile Delta and Charles kept looking with his binoculars. It’s one of those….”you know you’re a tourist when….” moments. Whenever our guide looks in one direction, we assume it’s something excited and get on the edge of our seats, when he’s usually just scanning an area. Charles gave up on a spot and started to drive away when Rachel asked what animal was near the water’s edge. When Charles took out his binoculars again, he got excited and said “It’s a lion!” Not only one, but two, - a male and a female drinking along the water’s edge. I was content being that close to them, but apparently our driver wasn’t, because he drove off the road and onto the grass to get a closer look. We ended up within about 30 feet of the lions, who laid down in the taller grass. He revved the engine a bit and moved closer so that the two lions got up to walk further. We could have stayed and watched longer, but we had to move on so we could make it through the park and catch the last ferry. As we came around another corner, we spotted three more female lions walking around the remains of an antelope. We broke the rules again to get close. There was nothing left of the carcass except the face, bones and skin. All of the meat was completely cleaned off, so they must have made the kill at least the day before, if not longer. After more ooing and aaahing, we got back on the road. On the way back, we spotted a giraffe on our left and then noticed at least a dozen more behind it. Rachel yelled for us to look ahead and there was a giraffe, just standing in the middle of the road, reaching it’s long neck down to a short tree to grab some leaves. We drove up a bit closer and stopped. Then the giraffe took a bunch of steps towards us, then stopped and stared right at us, while we admired him and all of his friends. He must be pretty popular because when we looked on either side of the road we saw giraffe all over. I tried to count, but I lost track after about 37. There were probably about 50 or 60, just surrounding us and minding their own business. I was so thankful that I finally got to see a live giraffe! I know this might sound silly, but I threw out a little prayer a few days before saying how much I would love to see a giraffe up close. God REALLY answers prayer sometimes. I know that he does it because he loved us and loves to see us smile. I am very thankful for the gift of seeing them so close and I was content if that was all we got to see for the rest of the trip.
I shouldn’t have said that I was content with that, because on the next day’s morning game drive, we only saw tons of antelope, some elephants in the distance, buffalo, some giraffe a bit far away, and lot of pretty birds. Midway through, the clouds started to roll in and the rain came down. It felt a little like Jurassic Park when things started to go wrong. I was getting worried that either a little creature would come and spray something in my eyes, or a big one would try to eat the car. We had to drive through puddles that reached the headlights in a couple of places and it was very slow going. Eventually, I could tell we were getting close to the ferry, but we came up behind a bus full of students from Macalester (what a coincidence) who had gotten stuck coming off the ferry the day before. As we were going down a long hill, all of us gasped in fear as the bus started to lose control and slide sideways into a bank. It honestly looked as if it would tip over onto the side with the doors and trap them inside. Luckily, there was a high bank that stopped them from rolling and they were able to get out, only to stand in the downpour. We stopped for a moment to ask if they needed help, but Charles was told to keep going and that we couldn’t do any good in helping them get out.
After a few more kilometers, we pulled up just as the ferry was pulling away from the dock. We stopped to see if they would return and Charles got out of the car to check with the ranger. As he did, a baboon approached the front of the car and then jumped up on the hood. He looked around and inside; apparently thinking that Charles may have left the window open and he could reach in and steal some food. He was surprised to see us, and only stayed about 5 or 10 minutes until Charles walked up and chased him away. Luckily, the ferry came back sooner than its scheduled time and we made it back to have lunch and take a nap.
We were pretty depressed about the weather, especially since the afternoon boat ride up the river does not happen when it’s raining. When we awoke from our nap, we thought that we wouldn’t be going because it was still raining. I was surprised when Ross and Rachel returned from checking with Charles to say that we are going! We hurried to grab our things and make it down to the boat landing. There were six or seven boats lined up, most of them with double decks or large in size. Out of all of them, ours ended up being able to seat 14 people. If you line up three chairs in your kitchen, you’ll see the width of our boat, with a seven seats on each side and a little 30 horse motor on the back. It was basically an oversized canoe with a flat canopy. Perfect for the Nile, I’m sure!
We puttered around, realizing that seeing hippo was not a big deal in this area. In fact, we even saw one the night before. We heard stories of hippo coming up to eat grass at the Red Chili at night, since they are nocturnal. All of us thought it was possible, but not likely, but at 2:20 Ross woke us up to say there was a hippo. Sure enough, not more than five feet from our window was a gigantic hippo noisily munching on our grass. No need for lawnmowers when this guy is around. They eat between 50-100 kilograms each night by climbing up the high banks (don’t ask me how they get all that blubber up the hill) and eating for 4 or 5 hours straight). On the boat ride, we got a bit of excitement. A Jaws-like moment in the making. We saw a wake part as a hippo swam towards us very close to the surface. Rachel jumped to our side of the boat as we moved forward a bit. We almost missed him, but he came to the surface just in time for his head to hit our motor and knock it out of its place. Nobody was really panicking because I think there were only 4 of us who actually saw him coming. Our driver turned towards shore a bit…..right into the group of hippos standing on the bank. They were not happy and one of them opened his mouth and thrashed it back and forth with his big teeth scaring us away. I could see the headlines…..”14 tourists eaten by angry hippos”. Luckily, our driver turned the boat quickly, and the hippos were not as mad as they looked. We continued up stream towards Murchison Falls to see it from the base. Along the way we spotted some crocodile in the water and a lone elephant drinking in some reeds.
At the entrance to the falls, there were dozens of giant crocs resting on a sandy patch of shoreline, along with many more swimming nearby. Apparently, they wait there as the fish and any other things coming down the waterfall swim by. They are usually dizzy and disoriented so they are an easy catch. No surprise for an animal that always goes for the thing closest to him.
The falls themselves are amazing. It is a 45 meter drop with a gap that gets as small as 7 meters. It’s the entire volume of the Nile passing through a narrow gap. The rumors of the ground shaking all around the area are not true, but the sound and site of it is still indescribable. On the boat, you don’t get very close, but the three of us had hired a ranger, Simon, to take us on a hike to get close. We had to hike a narrow trail along the cliff for about an hour to the top of the falls, stopping every now and then for a breather and a picture. At the top, you are mesmerized by the heavy streams of water being thrust between the rocks. We were trying to decide what would kill a person first; the pressure of the water, hitting the rocks, an angry hippo, or a hungry crocodile. Regardless, fall in and you’re a goner. A year ago a man committed suicide by jumping of the rocks and his body was never found. Nobody is really surprised.
Charles was there to meet us at the falls and we had to ride for about an hour and half back to the Red Chili. We had dinner and then went back to our banda for the night to find salamanders and some really nasty looking centipedes with hard shells all over inside. Luckily Ross was able to get rid of the centipede and we eventually had to put towels in front of the door to keep them from coming under it. The salamanders stayed and I watched them eat a few of the flies and bugs in our room. We played a few rounds of UNO to pass the time before going to bed.
In the morning we got to sleep in and have breakfast of pancakes with banana and honey, French toast, and fresh fruit. We then took the long ride back into Kampala. Along the way we stopped for lunch at a hotel in Masindi while Charles filled up a tire that had lost air and got some more gas in the tank. We arrived back at the HVO House and unpacked. Then we got to lounge around and relax before meeting with Angella for dinner and planning for what we would do at the orphanages in the next two days. All in all the safari experience was amazing, with a few bits of excitement here and there. It was a nice vacation, but I can’t wait to get back to work. I want to make the most of every moment of this trip, and I know that we just have to keep plugging away at little things and doing what we can when we can. Troy will be arriving some time on Thursday and that will mean we will hit the hospital hard for the rest of the trip.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Friday and Saturday - Wooly Days!
May 9, 2009
Yesterday and today have been full of orphanages and fun! I woke up in Friday to the sound of monkeys running around on the roof on the house next to ours. Since we are still not sleeping fully through the night, we were tired at 7 am. I couldn’t go back to sleep and I could think of nothing else I could do without waking Ross and Rachel that I laid in my bed and watched the monkeys. They are always fascinating and really they are just eating off of the tree and running around, but they crack me up every time. There were at least six of them jumping from branch to branch. There were also two puppies chasing a bigger dog that looked like he had escaped since there was a long chain dangling from his neck.
Once we woke up, we walked down to the market to get some breakfast from Hot Loaf Bakery. Although it all looked good, that was about as far as it goes. The cakes and muffins are super dry and you need a sip of water or something every time you take a bite. We then walked down to the markets to show them to Rachel and collect a few souvenirs. I didn’t barter at all, even though I knew I should have. A huge mistake is converting everything into dollars because you think you’re are getting a deal. I paid 31,000 shillings for a batik (painting on canvas), two necklaces, a scarf, and a small stone elephant. This is really only about $15 US, but I probably should have paid no more than 25,000. When I return I will remember to barter and keep in my head shillings rather than dollars. Rachel is an expert barterer even though she hasn’t done it before….she’s pretty much a natural at everything she does. I’m so glad she’s joining the family!
We met up with Angella at 3:00 and went to the Sanyu Babies Home. It has been around since 1929 and the set-up the have is great. They have room for up to 50 babies at one time, so the age limit is 4 years, however, recently the age limit is down to 3 or sometimes 2 ½ to make room for newer and sicker children. The home first tries to send the baby to family, then to an adoptive family, or, as a last resort, they send them to another orphanage run by a bigger organization. The home has many buildings. The staff includes nurses, an administrator, an accountant, a social worker, launderers, seamstresses, cooks, teachers, mothers, and probably more that I am forgetting. It is a big job to care for that many children, and they manage their resources well to be able to care for so many children. One of the teachers showed us her classroom for children starting at six months. She has a shelf to help them hold themselves up or learn to walk, toys are spread out so kids have to learn to crawl to different ones, and if they cry they will sometimes put them in front of a mirror or mimic them to make them stop. The also teach them to share and that in order to apologize you must run the person on their shoulder or arm to show true apologies. The teacher said the goal is to give the babies life skills and be successful on their own, whether it be with a mother or at another home with a whole new group of kids.
After that we took a surprise trip to see the Woolies. We stopped at a gas station to get some food for the home because Angella said she doesn’t like to go empty handed. Although we all agreed it is good to bring them stuff, we also decided that it is sometimes good to come with nothing except ourselves. The kids, especially Ruth, come up to you and are expecting that anything in a bag or in your hands is for them and they are disappointed when you don’t have anything to bring. I know that when we return over the next three weeks we won’t always have something to bring except our love and hopefully we will start to show them that they don’t always need to get something.
The kids have definitely grown up a lot. Trevor, Arthur, and Kenny all go to school thanks to some sponsors in Kampala. Henry and Simon will soon be old enough and the got sponsors to start in a couple of months. None of the children speak English until they get to school. You can tell that the three older boys are getting better and better at it. They were doing their math homework on Friday. Arthur was showing me how good he was at math. Kenny and Trevor were working with Ross and Rachel. They seemed to struggle a bit more, but were still starting to catch on. Overall, the kids were very quiet, but it may be because they were all just napping before we came. Irene was the biggest surprise. She is a completely different kid even from the first time that we came. She is friendly and jumps in people’s laps. She smiles and sings and even though you don’t know what she’s saying, you can tell she is trying to communicate something to you.
Oh yes, on a side note, on the way there we took a shortcut through the “ghetto”. Angella said you shouldn’t go there at night because you might end up in the river and even the cab driver rolled up his window while we were driving through it. On the way back a chicken almost through the open window. I’m lucky it wasn’t all the way down or else we would have had scratched and chicken feathers all over the place. We just say, TIA, this is Africa.
We promised the Woolies we would be back on Saturday and left with Angella to get some dinner. We ate at an Indian restaurant near the Crocodile. It’s amazing that we can eat at some of the best restaurants and still only pay about $10 US.
TODAY – SATURDAY
This morning we ate a hearty breakfast of Malarone (medicine to prevent malaria), Cliff bars, and tea. Then we walked all the way to Garden City to meet up with Angella to get some things for the kids, such as mosquito nets and cough medicine. While I was sitting outside, a boy named Ronnie came up and talked with me. He was probably 18 or 19 and he said he would like to talk to me because I am tall and that we should go to a place called the Iguana. It sounds like a Karaoke bar, and I’m pretty sure that would be a bad idea. I told him I didn’t have a phone and probably cannot go out with him because we are too busy, but I continued to talk with him and learn what he thought of his country, my country, and life in general. Although I don’t advocate talking to strangers, I do like to learn about people and the best way is to speak to them. I know that a lot of times, especially here, there are ulterior motives to get money or something else from you. The biggest thing I got from him is that the people of his country have no voice because there is one government in control of everything and everyone. I can’t imagine living in a place where I feel as though my voice won’t be heard. Even Angella mentioned that although there is a re-election coming up, peoples votes will not matter because the current administration will control the counting and most likely will rig it. She said she lost her voting card and probably won’t bother to try and replace it. She does really like Obama and even called us this year during the inauguration to ask how we felt about him.
After Garden City we hired a cab to drive us to another part of down to get some beans, rice, and a scale to weigh the kids. It was mass chaos but I’m so glad we did it. Ross and Rach stayed in the car while Angella and I got what we needed. We asked somebody for a scale and he didn’t have one but there were at least three guys who tried to grab our attention and lead us to one. We tried to stop at other places and find one on our own, but they insisted on leading us. Angella said if he told us to turn down an alley, we should just keep walking. We had to go to a market to get the rice and beans. After almost getting hit by a taxi and backed into by a truck, we made it to the market (by almost I mean, a safe distance, but coming fast - safe as long as we were paying attention) I think that people tried to sell me mangoes, a pineapple, random Ugandan fruits, even a plastic bag. Angella said I would have never made it on my own so I am thankful that she is here to guide us through the country!
We made it back to the taxi and had an awful time of getting to the orphanage. Not only was traffic at a dead stop, but it was super hot and we had our backpacks and bags of goods packed in the back seat with the three of us. Three people at almost six feet and over don’t fit too well in any car, especially here. We decided to walk and wait until the taxi caught up with us. It was a nice breeze and only rained a few drops. The rest of the drive was easy, but we spent a total of two hours in the taxi for something that only takes about 15 minutes if you go without stopping.
The kids were very excited to see us and were more the energetic ones that we saw yesterday. We gave each of the boys a jersey that our mom had purchased for them. We also gave the girls two dresses, one yellow one that mom had bought specifically for Irene. I bought Irene and Ruth each a Cabbage Patch kids that they were very excited about. The mothers named them Tracy and something else with a T. I’ll remember late I hope. We showed the kids the video of them on Ross’ camera and got them all excited. Then we played a short game of soccer outside until they got tired. Then we just sat around and talked with them and played. One of the older boys who calls himself Henry has a picture of the two of us that he brought out to show me. Angella had told the kids they are going to the zoo a couple of weeks ago, so we are probably obligated to go. Angella thinks it will be pretty easy and less expensive than we thought. Thanks to donations from my friends Lori and Maleah, I’m sure we will be able to go. Hopefully it will be next Saturday.
We decided to get the full Ugandan experience by cramming ourselves into Mtatus to get home. Again, height works against us, but it was still fun. We hit the ceiling in even the high bus, and our knees are always touching the seat in front of us. On the seconds Mtatu, there was some Ugandan music playing in the front and we were crammed next to a ton of people, and I really felt like I could have been in some part of a movie, just driving through Africa. I really love it here and even though there are parts that are difficult, like the smell (of the air and some people), some food, bad plumbing, horrible internet connections in most places, the extreme poverty, and the dirty and crowded streets….just to name a few. It really is a beautiful place full of beautiful people. I pray and hope that I will be back here many times in my lifetime and see good changes happen to people and places.
Tomorrow we will be going on a Safari to Murchison Falls for three days. I hope to see lots of big animals – especially giraffes!
Side note for the day……if you ask somebody here where you are from based on how you talk, the have no idea if you are from Germany, Spain, America, or England. I could easily tell those regions apart because the accents are distinct. I think it must be because I have been exposed to people from those places more. However, people here can tell different dialects and Eastern vs. Western accents apart. I am sure that Tigist (my friend from Ethiopia) has a very different accent than Angella, but unless they were speaking to me at around the same time, I would not be able to mimic or tell their accents apart. This is just my random thought today. Anyone that knows me has had to deal with my random ideas, so I just thought I would let this one be known to all!
Yesterday and today have been full of orphanages and fun! I woke up in Friday to the sound of monkeys running around on the roof on the house next to ours. Since we are still not sleeping fully through the night, we were tired at 7 am. I couldn’t go back to sleep and I could think of nothing else I could do without waking Ross and Rachel that I laid in my bed and watched the monkeys. They are always fascinating and really they are just eating off of the tree and running around, but they crack me up every time. There were at least six of them jumping from branch to branch. There were also two puppies chasing a bigger dog that looked like he had escaped since there was a long chain dangling from his neck.
Once we woke up, we walked down to the market to get some breakfast from Hot Loaf Bakery. Although it all looked good, that was about as far as it goes. The cakes and muffins are super dry and you need a sip of water or something every time you take a bite. We then walked down to the markets to show them to Rachel and collect a few souvenirs. I didn’t barter at all, even though I knew I should have. A huge mistake is converting everything into dollars because you think you’re are getting a deal. I paid 31,000 shillings for a batik (painting on canvas), two necklaces, a scarf, and a small stone elephant. This is really only about $15 US, but I probably should have paid no more than 25,000. When I return I will remember to barter and keep in my head shillings rather than dollars. Rachel is an expert barterer even though she hasn’t done it before….she’s pretty much a natural at everything she does. I’m so glad she’s joining the family!
We met up with Angella at 3:00 and went to the Sanyu Babies Home. It has been around since 1929 and the set-up the have is great. They have room for up to 50 babies at one time, so the age limit is 4 years, however, recently the age limit is down to 3 or sometimes 2 ½ to make room for newer and sicker children. The home first tries to send the baby to family, then to an adoptive family, or, as a last resort, they send them to another orphanage run by a bigger organization. The home has many buildings. The staff includes nurses, an administrator, an accountant, a social worker, launderers, seamstresses, cooks, teachers, mothers, and probably more that I am forgetting. It is a big job to care for that many children, and they manage their resources well to be able to care for so many children. One of the teachers showed us her classroom for children starting at six months. She has a shelf to help them hold themselves up or learn to walk, toys are spread out so kids have to learn to crawl to different ones, and if they cry they will sometimes put them in front of a mirror or mimic them to make them stop. The also teach them to share and that in order to apologize you must run the person on their shoulder or arm to show true apologies. The teacher said the goal is to give the babies life skills and be successful on their own, whether it be with a mother or at another home with a whole new group of kids.
After that we took a surprise trip to see the Woolies. We stopped at a gas station to get some food for the home because Angella said she doesn’t like to go empty handed. Although we all agreed it is good to bring them stuff, we also decided that it is sometimes good to come with nothing except ourselves. The kids, especially Ruth, come up to you and are expecting that anything in a bag or in your hands is for them and they are disappointed when you don’t have anything to bring. I know that when we return over the next three weeks we won’t always have something to bring except our love and hopefully we will start to show them that they don’t always need to get something.
The kids have definitely grown up a lot. Trevor, Arthur, and Kenny all go to school thanks to some sponsors in Kampala. Henry and Simon will soon be old enough and the got sponsors to start in a couple of months. None of the children speak English until they get to school. You can tell that the three older boys are getting better and better at it. They were doing their math homework on Friday. Arthur was showing me how good he was at math. Kenny and Trevor were working with Ross and Rachel. They seemed to struggle a bit more, but were still starting to catch on. Overall, the kids were very quiet, but it may be because they were all just napping before we came. Irene was the biggest surprise. She is a completely different kid even from the first time that we came. She is friendly and jumps in people’s laps. She smiles and sings and even though you don’t know what she’s saying, you can tell she is trying to communicate something to you.
Oh yes, on a side note, on the way there we took a shortcut through the “ghetto”. Angella said you shouldn’t go there at night because you might end up in the river and even the cab driver rolled up his window while we were driving through it. On the way back a chicken almost through the open window. I’m lucky it wasn’t all the way down or else we would have had scratched and chicken feathers all over the place. We just say, TIA, this is Africa.
We promised the Woolies we would be back on Saturday and left with Angella to get some dinner. We ate at an Indian restaurant near the Crocodile. It’s amazing that we can eat at some of the best restaurants and still only pay about $10 US.
TODAY – SATURDAY
This morning we ate a hearty breakfast of Malarone (medicine to prevent malaria), Cliff bars, and tea. Then we walked all the way to Garden City to meet up with Angella to get some things for the kids, such as mosquito nets and cough medicine. While I was sitting outside, a boy named Ronnie came up and talked with me. He was probably 18 or 19 and he said he would like to talk to me because I am tall and that we should go to a place called the Iguana. It sounds like a Karaoke bar, and I’m pretty sure that would be a bad idea. I told him I didn’t have a phone and probably cannot go out with him because we are too busy, but I continued to talk with him and learn what he thought of his country, my country, and life in general. Although I don’t advocate talking to strangers, I do like to learn about people and the best way is to speak to them. I know that a lot of times, especially here, there are ulterior motives to get money or something else from you. The biggest thing I got from him is that the people of his country have no voice because there is one government in control of everything and everyone. I can’t imagine living in a place where I feel as though my voice won’t be heard. Even Angella mentioned that although there is a re-election coming up, peoples votes will not matter because the current administration will control the counting and most likely will rig it. She said she lost her voting card and probably won’t bother to try and replace it. She does really like Obama and even called us this year during the inauguration to ask how we felt about him.
After Garden City we hired a cab to drive us to another part of down to get some beans, rice, and a scale to weigh the kids. It was mass chaos but I’m so glad we did it. Ross and Rach stayed in the car while Angella and I got what we needed. We asked somebody for a scale and he didn’t have one but there were at least three guys who tried to grab our attention and lead us to one. We tried to stop at other places and find one on our own, but they insisted on leading us. Angella said if he told us to turn down an alley, we should just keep walking. We had to go to a market to get the rice and beans. After almost getting hit by a taxi and backed into by a truck, we made it to the market (by almost I mean, a safe distance, but coming fast - safe as long as we were paying attention) I think that people tried to sell me mangoes, a pineapple, random Ugandan fruits, even a plastic bag. Angella said I would have never made it on my own so I am thankful that she is here to guide us through the country!
We made it back to the taxi and had an awful time of getting to the orphanage. Not only was traffic at a dead stop, but it was super hot and we had our backpacks and bags of goods packed in the back seat with the three of us. Three people at almost six feet and over don’t fit too well in any car, especially here. We decided to walk and wait until the taxi caught up with us. It was a nice breeze and only rained a few drops. The rest of the drive was easy, but we spent a total of two hours in the taxi for something that only takes about 15 minutes if you go without stopping.
The kids were very excited to see us and were more the energetic ones that we saw yesterday. We gave each of the boys a jersey that our mom had purchased for them. We also gave the girls two dresses, one yellow one that mom had bought specifically for Irene. I bought Irene and Ruth each a Cabbage Patch kids that they were very excited about. The mothers named them Tracy and something else with a T. I’ll remember late I hope. We showed the kids the video of them on Ross’ camera and got them all excited. Then we played a short game of soccer outside until they got tired. Then we just sat around and talked with them and played. One of the older boys who calls himself Henry has a picture of the two of us that he brought out to show me. Angella had told the kids they are going to the zoo a couple of weeks ago, so we are probably obligated to go. Angella thinks it will be pretty easy and less expensive than we thought. Thanks to donations from my friends Lori and Maleah, I’m sure we will be able to go. Hopefully it will be next Saturday.
We decided to get the full Ugandan experience by cramming ourselves into Mtatus to get home. Again, height works against us, but it was still fun. We hit the ceiling in even the high bus, and our knees are always touching the seat in front of us. On the seconds Mtatu, there was some Ugandan music playing in the front and we were crammed next to a ton of people, and I really felt like I could have been in some part of a movie, just driving through Africa. I really love it here and even though there are parts that are difficult, like the smell (of the air and some people), some food, bad plumbing, horrible internet connections in most places, the extreme poverty, and the dirty and crowded streets….just to name a few. It really is a beautiful place full of beautiful people. I pray and hope that I will be back here many times in my lifetime and see good changes happen to people and places.
Tomorrow we will be going on a Safari to Murchison Falls for three days. I hope to see lots of big animals – especially giraffes!
Side note for the day……if you ask somebody here where you are from based on how you talk, the have no idea if you are from Germany, Spain, America, or England. I could easily tell those regions apart because the accents are distinct. I think it must be because I have been exposed to people from those places more. However, people here can tell different dialects and Eastern vs. Western accents apart. I am sure that Tigist (my friend from Ethiopia) has a very different accent than Angella, but unless they were speaking to me at around the same time, I would not be able to mimic or tell their accents apart. This is just my random thought today. Anyone that knows me has had to deal with my random ideas, so I just thought I would let this one be known to all!
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