So I’ve been trying to see a c-section since I got to Masindi. I figured it would be a really great experience to inform me whether or not I could be some kind of nurse in a maternity or surgical ward, etc. Since I’m interning for the district health coordinator, it’s no problem for me to go in and watch different operations and what not. I’d left my number with the nurses several times so they could flash call or text when they knew one was coming up soon and I checked in a couple of times to make sure they still had my number (which they never did). But finally I met Anne, a muzungu that is here as a pharmacy tech, who called me the other day to tell me to get down to the clinic! Now, considering I’ve been known to faint, I was a little nervous about watching this procedure. I almost chickened out but ended up going through with it! I did end up having to walk out of the room about 5 times so I didn’t crash to the ground! But considering it took them almost 2 hours for the operation, I’d say I did pretty well! It took longer than usual and caused the doc to break a sweat because mom had just had a c-section not even a year ago. Therefore, the cutting process wasn’t anything I expected it to be! They cut, pulled, stretched, cut some more. BLEH! I think besides all of that, another reason I got nauseous was because I knew that the baby from her previous operation didn’t make it and the mom from the docs last operation didn’t make it. So with all of this in mind and the fact that I tend to put myself in the patients shoes, I just couldn’t take it. I think that this not only clarified for me that I can’t be a surgical nurse but that I don’t think I can even handle being in the medical field anymore. Just thinking about it makes me want to look the other way. I truly feel like I’m being called in another direction, which is absolutely positively A ok with me!! Oh ya! And
baby boy and momma both made it through surgery ok and I got to present baby to the family who immediately prayed that the Lord touch and bless everyday of his life! That moment was a tear jerker!
Janine left for Kampala for 2 nights so she could get a letter she needed to renew her work permit here in Uganda, which meant I had the house to myself. Although it was peaceful yet lonely, it was quite eventful to say the least. Of course the staff were here during the day to care for the animals and do house work and what not and Tom, our guard, was here both nights. So the first night, I was going out to lock the door in the kitchen and I called for Tom to ask if he needed anything before I did. I called…and called…and called. No reply. Sometimes he sits under my window outside because it’s away from most of the mosquitoes and is a good hiding spot where he isn’t clearly seen by people walking by. So I proceeded to go to my window and call for him. No reply. Oh and did I mention that as I was calling for him several gun shots sounded in the distance? Janine ended up calling soon after to check on things so I let her know that Tom wasn’t anywhere to be found and so she tried calling his cell. You guessed it, no answer! She was right in saying that he usually doesn’t go very far if he had in fact left or that occasionally he naps under the tree, so I really wasn’t too concerned that I was in any danger. About 20 minutes later I heard the squeak of the gate and went to look to see if it was Tom. He informed me that he had been out by the road talking with a friend but was here now! I asked if he knew what the shots were from but he wasn’t so sure either. I locked the doors up tight and headed to bed, where things only got more intense! I was just dozing off when I heard a very large crowd of people outside of my window. Now, here in Uganda it’s not uncommon to find more people walking the streets at night than during the day. But I’d not heard anything like this yet! I should inform you as well that the road is maybe 15 feet from my window so when I say I heard them “outside my window,” it was clear that they were on the road passing by. But again, this was a very large crowd and they weren’t at all trying to be quiet. I knew this was out of the ordinary but knowing Tom was right outside my window and how much they fear our dogs, I was quite at peace and felt safe. They passed on and it wasn’t too long after that when I heard the chanting, yelling and more gun shots. I figured out from this that I was experiencing my first riot. They were pretty close still to where I could hear them but weren’t close enough for me to think they were going to cause any trouble around the house. The gun shots did however get closer and I could swear that one sounded like it was right out front but I could’ve been half asleep by that time. Tom informed me in the morning that the riot was down at one of the schools and that they were protesting because one of the students got kicked out earlier in the day for wearing a military uniform that didn’t belong to him. The kids didn’t like that the teacher kicked him out, so the answer was apparently to protest and cause a riot. No one got shot because they were just shooting up in the air, but then again what goes up must come down, so they were lucky.
Thank God the second night wasn’t AS bad but was noisy again like the first. This time it decided to thunder and lightning and pour down rain. Now, if you’ve every heard a thunderstorm, like a really loud one, intensify that by about 5 notches and you’ll be at an African thunderstorm. I could’ve had a strobe light party in my room because of the flashes of lightning back to back. And the huge boom and crash of the thunder along with the pouring rain…just take a drum to your ear and beat it as loud as you can and you’ll be there! Oh, and here in Uganda the thieves like to come out at night of course, but especially when there is a thunderstorm because no one can hear them! Poor Tom had to be out in the rain all night because of how much higher the risk was for thieves. He said that a guard once went in the barn for cover during the storm and the thieves came and locked him in and stole everything. So Tom takes on the rain and protects us; what a servants heart he has in everything he does. I found my old cheer jacket in my suitcase and gave it to him to wear since it’s somewhat of a rain poncho. He was so grateful and didn’t think twice that it was a girl’s. Men wear girls clothes here anyways and some wear santa hats all year round. It’s not as much of a concern in some places because you just wear what you have. I still can’t get over the fact that I saw a man with an Amway shirt on the very first day I arrived in Uganda!
There is only 1 week left for me here and it’s approaching pretty quickly. I really do love how beautiful this place is but I cherish every time I get to skype or call with family and friends. I certainly won’t miss the bumpy, unpaved roads everywhere we go but each new place has brought new smiling children that just jump up and down with excitement to see that you’re coming to visit them! After training 4 health and nutrition teams and one more on Saturday, I’m excited to hear about how the outreaches will go with the PMI team. They’ll be offering free medical exams and meds to each of the 5 villages along with a prayer team and the teams that I taught to go around and educate their fellow community about how to stay healthy and safe. I’m also excited to hear about how my
group of disabled women are coming along with all of the sweets I’ve been teaching them to make. Yes, not the healthiest but I try to sneak fruit or veggies in and besides it makes them money to be able to provide for their families so that they can be healthy and have food from all of the different food groups instead of just posho and beans everyday. So I’ve taught them mango and pineapple muffins and carrot cake with frosting (oh boy were they excited to learn how to make the frosting) and last week was sugar cookies (or biquits as they call them)! This week they talked me into teaching two things (pancakes and doughnut holes lol) since it’s my last week with them. I should share about how much fun an awkward situation turned into during last weeks teaching! So two of the girls showed up early because they hadn’t received the memo that the rest of the group would be arriving late. So not only had I not met them from the first class but they also just happened to be deaf. I needed my bestie Jordan to fly over here and help me out with sign language because my English and French background doesn’t get me very far in this type of situation. But miraculously enough, after I was done setting everything out for the cooking, we ended up having a conversation, understanding each other and laughing hysterically as we took pictures and communicated about our families. They were so sweet and friendly and I’m so glad that the part of me that wanted to just go inside and hide until the rest of the group got there was overtaken by the love and peace God provided me with to go sit with them. Eventually the rest of the group showed up and the girls bragged to the others through their hand motions about us taking pictures and the fun we had. =)
This last week I’ve been going around with Mustafa doing some filming. I’m really hoping to be able to not only show my sponsors some of the things I’ve been doing but to also allow people to have a chance to see what the needs are here so that they can continue to support Masindi even when I’m gone. I’ve gone around to two schools so far and I filmed a little of the church service and auction on Sunday, which by the way lasted 9 hours but was tons of fun with the auction and the precious Lillian that kept me entertained!
We had to boda (motorcycle) back in the rain which was freezing but Mustafa serenaded us to keep our minds occupied. I was surprised that his first song choice was from The Backstreet Boys ha. We’re going to film some of my cooking class on Thursday and then take a day to go into the market and get some shots there and then Sunday will be another type of church service with Janine preaching at Jimmy‘s church. Then, before I know it, it’ll be time to head to Kampala on Monday and meet with my Ugandan friends Sarah, Faith, Nicholas and Chris for dinner. I fly out Tuesday night and then Germany here I come! I’ll be working with a Third Culture Kids conference for 12 days which should be a wonderful experience. Then this girl is homebound! Love and God bless and keep up the prayers!
Well after experiencing the earthquake today and the two mangos falling from the tree and hitting our roof just now, I’d say my poor heart has done enough racing for the day. You’d think after hearing a mango BANG against our tin roof 5 times a day for the past week, I’d be used to it, but nope! It makes me jump every time!…And there goes another!
I’ve definitely had an interesting past couple of days. I went with Janine and the Chaplain of the PMI clinic to do the health evaluation/inspection there. It took 2 days to finish the whole thing and I tell you, I was very impressed with how educated and sanitary (for the most part) the staff was with procedures. Although I’ve heard all about how common malaria is here and how sick people can get from it, I guess it just didn’t hit me as hard as seeing it first hand. First there were the records we had to go through to be sure that the staff were documenting correctly all of the malaria patients that had come through in the past year, just to this clinic. The numbers were pretty astonishing. Then there were several cases in the in-patient ward who were on ivs, but the one that struck me the most was the precious little girl. /she had to have been about 6 years old and I couldn’t tell at first what was wrong with her, that is until she started convulsing. Then I was informed that Cerebral Malaria is a common form that goes into the brain. As her mother calmed her and the nurse checked on her, all I could do was pray that God heal her.
We went to the maternity ward and there was a 2 day old baby that was born 2 months early. She was the tiniest and most beautiful baby girl who I could only pray for as well that she didn’t contract HIV from her mother or potentially get malaria.
On a positive note, I got to see an ultrasound of a lady that was 3-months pregnant! Oh the joy of life! I think I was more excited about it than her though.
I went to an orphanage today called Spirit Fire. There are about 200 students, about 130 of which actually live at the orphanage. One of the staff members gave me a tour of the boys and girls dormitories and the potential play room and bathrooms that were still under construction. An American man names Son paid for the construction of the girls dorms before he went back to America, but it was his birthday today so Trish and her mom (American missionaries that live 2 houses down from me and Janine) made signs for the children to hold up as they shot a video of them singing happy birthday to him. We gave them sugar cane afterwards to celebrate! You wouldn’t believe how these kids use their teeth to peel that stuff and then chew it. We sang songs with them and taught them two Bible stories. I swear their attention spans are far longer than us Americans!
After morning devotions at the church tomorrow morning, I’ll be practicing up on my muffin making for the handicapped women I’ll be teaching on Thursday. Then I’ll be making enchiladas for my birthday dinner!
That’s all for now! God loves you and so do I!
