The Great Divide

Today was an interesting day. First things first, we decided that Julie is now Dory. Second, we only had half our team today as four of us went with New Life and three of us were with/at Musana. Laura and Hannah were going to talk with some people in a nearby village about trauma, while Tamara was feeling under the weather, so she stayed and got some good rest! Julie, Sue, Emma, and I (Sam) went with Andrew Wambi and New Life clinic to the village of Nambala to do another medical clinic like we did on Wednesday. This time we got to have Umar join us, which is always fun. Things were a bit more organized today, so that there wasn't as much crowding inside the clinic room. Throughout the day the four of us swapped around managing the malaria testing station, which meant that Julie did most of the pricking since she was so much better than I was. After making a few babies cry, I demoted myself to test prep and results. After lunch Emma got to play with tons of kids and had a blast showing them our version of jump rope! Unfortunately we weren't able to see all of the people today, but were able to get home on time to the smiling faces of the rest our team as we drove in. Over dinner we got to share about both days, and it turns out theirs was pretty eventful too! While Laura and Hannah thought they were meeting with people at Musana, it turned out that they were driven (by boda boda-lucky dogs!) to the village so they could speak with some parents about trauma. With the help of a translator, they were able to talk with the people about trauma, breathing exercises, night terrors, and other things that were asked. Hannah and Laura had a really sweet example and visual of a mustard seed in a small jar, to remind them how Jesus uses our small "yes" to create big life, like a big tree from a small seed. I'm sure there is so much more to share from their day, but I wasn't there unfortunately and can't retell it as well. We had Rolex again for dinner, which we've had for lunch and dinner about three days in a row now-I'm still not tired of it though ;p Now we are just enjoying the evening and getting things in order from today and for the rest of the trip. Time is going by so fast here, and I can't believe Friday's already over. It'll be so hard to leave when the time comes, so I'm choosing denial until the last minute! 

Signing off,

Sam

Kyemba in trunk

We started today on time! Sue and Tamara dropped off Laura at health clinic, went to the pharmacy, stopped by a grocery store and were back to pick the rest of us up at 11:20. Our scheduled time to leave was 11:30. At 11:31 Kyemba's van was rolling along the red dirt streets toward Kokombo. He decided to take the scenic route; I'm not sure if that was to avoid washed out roads or to thoroughly confuse us. I don't think I'll ever learn directions here! 

The scenery is breathtaking! We discovered the Hill Country in Uganda. It was as if cruising with the windows down on a crisp spring morning along Spring Branch Road. Seriously! With the exception of the lush vegetation, red dirt and children running behind the van. 

We toured the Kokombo clinic with Juma and Wilson first. Just after the tour a mother holding her one year old baby walked toward us. This baby was struggling to breathe and was unable to sit up on her own. We loaded up the van and headed to the Musana health clinic. She was quickly assessed and diagnosed with cerebral palsy and pneumonia. They took them to the Iganga District Hospital to get an appointment scheduled to start therapy. After driving them back to Kokombo, they started their journey home to Musana.  

Tonight was pizza night in the kitchen! So good!!! After debriefing, we celebrated, a little early, Fourth of July with S'mores Ugandan style!!! It was a memorable day!!! 

 

Love, Julie

Did Julia Roberts marry Willy Nelson

Today was a good, hard, long day. We all spent most of the day at Bogamo village in Kugili district doing a medical outreach with New Life health clinic. Once we arrived, Andrew Wambi introduced us and the ones we worked with to the community, followed by a good and very sweet message from Pastor Wilson. He encouraged the people to take care of both their spiritual health and physical health today. Then it was off to work! Tamara helped doctors Joel and Juma perform check ups; Hannah and Emma did the malaria testing; I (Sam) helped Beatriz give out medicine as prescribed; and Sue and Julie helped sort vitamins into the many empty pill bottles we brought, as well as documenting the patients' information cards, help around all over as needed, remind everyone to eat, and work with Pastor Wilson to determine which children should be on PlumpyNut. Overall it was estimated that we saw around 500 people today, so it was a good day. We've just finished dinner, which is always good, but tasted even better after the long day. Most (if not all) of us are relatively out of it by this point, so if you're wondering about the title, it's connected to that! 

Off to sleep all night till my alarm attempts to wake me,

Sam

Did Julia Roberts marry Willie Nelson?

Today was a good, hard, long day. We all spent most of the day at Bogamo village in Kugili district doing a medical outreach with New Life health clinic. Once we arrived, Andrew Wambi introduced us and the ones we worked with to the community, followed by a good and very sweet message from Pastor Wilson. He encouraged the people to take care of both their spiritual health and physical health today. Then it was off to work! Tamara helped doctors Joel and Juma perform check ups; Hannah and Emma did the malaria testing; I (Sam) helped Beatriz give out medicine as prescribed; and Sue and Julie helped sort vitamins into the many empty pill bottles we brought, as well as documenting the patients' information cards, help around all over as needed, remind everyone to eat, and work with Pastor Wilson to determine which children should be on PlumpyNut. Overall it was estimated that we saw around 500 people today, so it was a good day. We've just finished dinner, which is always good, but tasted even better after the long day. Most (if not all) of us are relatively out of it by this point, so if you're wondering about the title, it's connected to that! 

Off to sleep all night till my alarm attempts to wake me,

Sam

Tuesday in Uganda

It has been a busy week here in Iganga! Sunday the streets were packed with the community celebrating EDD Day and today was African Child Day. I'm pretty sure our hosts have gone days without sleep. Don't worry Kyemba informed us that Ugandans only require 3 hours of sleep a night. 😜

We started our Tuesday by heading in two different directions. Sam, Emma and Hannah (our art team) headed to the Musana primary school to continue painting the cafeteria. As expected it is amazing. (Pictures to come) Meanwhile Sue, Julie, Laura and I ran around town in preparation for tomorrow's clinic. We now have a full pharmacy in Sue's room. 

(Uganda Team Tip..... always join the errand team since they get lunch at Sol View. )

Then in the afternoon we all gathered, packed ourselves in the van and headed to the African Child Day celebration for Iganda district. We arrived pretty late but we were able to catch a glimpse of the First Lady giving a speech to the children. It was a packed house and filled with children from all the local schools, community advocacy groups and international organizations such as UNICEF, USAID and many more. Musana ran their outreach program and provided medical assessments and dental care. 

Tomorrow will be a full day at a medical clinic. We expect to see 350-400 people. 

❤️

Tamara 

For the sleepy 7

Prayer requests

- Kyemba's sister-in-law who after teaching us how to make Chipati last night, suffered a heart attack. She was taken to a local hospital then transferred to Kampala for further care. 

- Tomorrow's clinic in Idudi. 

Sent from my iPhone

chipate chefs

Today we became Ugandan chefs..

The day started with painting for me, Sam, Hannah, and Julie, and dentist assisting for Tamara, Laura, and Sue. The sun decided to show no mercy this morning, as we had sweat our body weight while painting. 

Then Kimba, our driver and good friend, invited us over to his house for dinner with his big family, which turned into a cooking show and Sue winning the award for best chef. We learned how to make chipate, the most delicious, doughy, magic bread sent from heaven. We ate lots of interesting foods and learned that when in Uganda, you need to pack your second stomach so you can finish the mountain of food that they serve you. We shared lots of laughs with his sweet family, although the little ones were scared of us, mzungus, so they just watched us from a distance.. they were cute though! Today was a fun day for the saucy seven...  

Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone

Church, Beans, Baboons and Clubbing

Today we actually had a chance to sleep in until 8:30. It was much needed sleep and no one on the team complained. We gathered our snack food (Dorkas is off on Sundays so we are on our own) and headed down to the church. The church was packed with children singing and dancing. It was so sweet. One boy was playing the keyboard and another the drum. The rhythm always amazes me, mostly because I got none!! The sermon, given by one of the staff, was on patience; something I know way too little about! It was short and to the point and geared for the children's level of understanding. She even had them join in song. I spent the service holding a sweet little girl who fell asleep in my arms. There is nothing better!!! When church was over we moved to the cafeteria where the beans were dumped on the floor for sorting. And I mean dumped. There were three huge bags! The first thing they do is put them in huge sifters where four children move them back and forth getting rid of the small non-edible stuff. Then the kids collect buckets of beans and pour them on the table where they remove the bad beans, straw, and any other non-edible products. They are rather quick at the process unlike us Mzungus who  slowly separated the good from the bad. We spent about 1-1/2 hours doing this in relationship with the kids. It really is a sweet moment; although it makes you appreciate beans in a can. The children know they have to do a good job in the sorting because beans are their main staple throughout the week. The rest of the day they have to themselves to get ready for school on Monday and to be kids! Every child participates. There are two without arms and they somehow manage to sort the beans as well. No one treated special or different and I love that about Musana.

 

Now we are back in the gazebo resting to get ready to go see the baboons. The rest is great as tomorrow begins another busy and crazy week. I have so enjoyed seeing everyone I know and reconnecting. I just love this place and though I miss home terribly I am so thankful to be here!

 

So we all gathered and drove about an hour away to see the baboons. It is the end of Ramadan (a Muslim holiday) and the streets are full of people celebrating. The baboons are waiting on the side of the roads for people like us to feed them bananas and maze (which we had purchased on the way). We actually all got out of the van and were about 5 feet from the animals as they grabbed up the bananas and maze and ate away. It was interesting watching them eat the maze, because like us, they actually took the husk off before eating. The scenery along the way was beautiful and I was in heaven. Afterwards we went to Sol View with just about everyone else in the Iganga area. The festivities were still going on and the music was loud. Our favorite music video of the night was a love song and lyrics were "you are my detergent!". Very romantic!!

 

We are now home and getting ready to go to sleep. Uganda is changing. In some ways the changes are very good but in some ways the changes make me very sad. Kyemba showed up today in shorts and tennis shoes; something he never would have done a few years ago. Susan wore jeans to the restaurant. I may have to loosen the dress code a little for next year!!

 

I love you all.

 

Sue