Wednesday June 1st, 2011
Michelle, Kristen, and I cannot believe it is already June 1, the time has flown. We were all talking today that we hadn't really included our day to day life here in a blog, so 'tis my plan for today. We had a good day in the clinic today. We began our morning with the harsh sound of cows moo-ing, also the sound we fall asleep to..walk to.. It seriously sounds like all the cows in Uganda are constantly in labor all at the same time. At home we had the usual breakfast of coffee, a hard boiled egg, and either toast or instant oats we bought at the grocery store this past weekend. Breakfast is always the same, except for days few and far in between which we have scrambled eggs with green pepper. It is truly something to look forward to when their is variation in your diet! We then departed for our daily walk up to the clinic, Dr. Lisa said its close to a mile and a half, in the scorching hot sun. Due to the fact that it is currently rainy season, day after day it is always the same, scorching hot on our 9am walk up to the clinic, then followed with afternoon downpours which make for a crazy muddy, near impossible to walk in, downhill walk back. Thankfully the three of us invested in some gumboots while at the market this weekend (picture black rain boots) which we bartered and got for around 11 dollars. It makes a world of a difference actually having some traction on the bottom of your shoes, which we have yet to figure out how the Ugandans do it in bare feet.
We usually arrive at the clinic around 9:15 or 9:30. Do some work, and have "tea" at 11. Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays we have "chapate", a fried flour tortilla. Tuesdays and Thursday we have "g-nuts" which are roasted peanuts. Today in the clinic we spent the morning organizing visual aids in the clinic that we use to give presentations, watched MUSA the AIDS/HIV counselor test some patients for AIDS, and assisted doing vaccinations on women and children. Our excitement for the morning came from a 2 year old girl who had burnt her leg with hot water last night. Upon arrival to the clinic this morning, she had blisters amounting to the size of a softball to her L thigh, knee, behind the knee, and calf area. She had some smaller blisters on her left hand as well. Her skin was being pulled so tightly from all the pressure built up by the fluid so we had no choice but to drain it right then and there. In the states we would pre-medicate with Tylenol with Codiene or even IV pain medications, but not here, those resources just aren't available. It was awful to hold this girl down while we drained all the blisters, cut away the skin, debrided the wound. We applied some silvadine cream and burn dressings and gave her some tylenol for pain. Sent her home, and requested for her mom to bring her back each morning for us to keep an eye on the burn and monitor for signs of infection. We ate our usual lunch of rice, beans, cooked cabbage, and had the treat of an avocado today! Tuesdays are meat days, yesterday they served cow stomach and intestine, I will say none of us were brave enough to try that, we figure class 5 rapids and bungee jumping were enough excitement for the week :) Sometimes they mix it up and serve us either "posho" or "metoque" with our beans and cabbage. I am a fan of the "posho", a fluffy white starch (mix between potato and rice consistency"), and none of us really enjoy the "metoque" which is mashed up green bananas. We are at the point now where "Food is not fun, its fuel" (As Mr. Fischer would say). We spend our nights dreaming of what foods we would have if we could have anything we wanted, and todays craving is Olive Garden's all you can eat salad and breadsticks, and a cold beer :) Doug thinks its amusing to see how worked up he can get us thinking about American food. We thought we would all be craving something really American when we got back, burgers or pizza, but all we want is salad, Salad, SALAD! Mama Fish, the homemade trail mix is a huge hit and such a treat from home! I dug into the raisins last night and people are literally throwing punches over who gets to eat the Cheez-Its! Thank you for sending that. We are already in emotional distress contemplating what we will do when it runs out.
After lunch today we presented to the CHE's, (Community Health Educators) about sex education and sexually transmitted diseases. We really enjoyed speaking with such a great group of women and men, via our friend Richard who was translating (Kristen has adopted him as her Ugandan brother). The CHE's are responsible for going out into the various rural communities and educating the people. They take simple medications and health items with them to hand out to people in the community as needed. This is such a huge help to the people given some of them have a 2-3 hour walk up and down the mountains to reach our clinic. It was so refreshing for all of us to be teaching to people who were alert, receptive, and excited for us to be there. Not necessarily ever the case in St. Louis. We handed out small gifts to each of them, tweezers, a water jug to dispense clean drinking water, and a pair of small scissors to put in their first aid kits! (Part of the 313 pairs brought from Glennon!)
Quick interlude: Michelle and I just walked down to the village market to buy some tomatoes for dinner because we are in produce withdrawal, and next to the tomatoes (which we got about 10 medium sized tomatoes for a dollar) were literally buckets full of dried minnows. The strange delicacies of another country ha..
We usually walk home around 4:30 or 5:00. Michelle and I have gotten in the habit of going for runs when we get home and I must say the scenery is out of this world. Children marvel at the sight of a white person running down the side of a dirt road for some reason. Today on my run home today, two little girls in fancy dresses, covered in mud, were chasing me laughing and smiling, and it is those moments that truly make your day. Dinner is either rice or pasta with lentils or egg sauce and the accompaniment of avocado. We add hot sauce to everything because it is all starting to taste the same (even Michelle....thats how you can tell how bad it is). We are still trying to coach our bowels to only require latrine visits once a day, it is by far the hardest thing to get used to. No matter what any of you say, there is nothing easy or enjoyable about trying to aim in an envelope sized hole.
We hope all is well back in the states. Do us a favor, go to Olive Garden, and order a salad in our name :)
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| Kristen, Dr. Lisa, and Douglas (the Brazilian in case you can't tell) |
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| Kristen's Ugandan brother Richard is in front :) |
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