I know I know, it’s been awhile. I honestly have no excuse other than I’ve been exhausted. I have a lot to fill you guys in on so I’ll start where I left off.

On Tuesday we continued to enroll families into the study and were able to see 10 more. For some reason this week did not go as smoothly as the previous weeks. It had nothing to do with the actual images we obtained or the blood collection, everything just wasn’t as fluid and it took a lot more time than usual. I think everyone was still recovering from the previous week where we saw 30 families and in reality, so was I. In the afternoon I headed to Gulu Prison for my last school visit/recruitment for controls with one of our nurses, Rose. As we exited the hospital we knew that we had about 5 minutes to get to the school before getting absolutely drenched. I’m new to the whole “wet season” thing but what I’m learning is that the storms come on fast and they come on strong. About 1 minute after entering the main office it proceeded to downpour and did not let up for the next 50 minutes. We gathered 7 kids under a tin overhang and attempted to explain the study. As most kids would be, they were more concerned with the rain and the potential to play in it rather than what we had to say. We must have somehow gotten through since 6/7 of them showed up the following day!

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Aftermath of the rain

We waited for the rain to lighten up and ended up leaving around 5. I live about 20 minutes walk from the school and decided to walk home since it was only drizzling. What I hadn’t experienced up to this point was the complete lack of a drainage system here. The main road that I needed to walk on was completely flooded and getting home proved to be more of a challenge than I expected. Luckily I was wearing my super waterproof Sperry’s…yes 3 days later they are still soaked and yes a bunch of school children laughed at me when I stepped in a puddle. I haven’t decided if I like the rainy season more than dry season or not. I think it’s probably a lose-lose situation. I do like that it is a lot cooler and that I am even comfortable in a long sleeve shirt (some people have whipped out their scarves and hats for the 60 degree weather…). I was however getting pretty good at hiding how dirty my clothes actually were BUT you cant really do that when they are covered in mud.

Wednesday was our last busy day for enrolling families and we saw around 8. Once again it wasn’t as smooth as normal but I think everyone was just excited about the prospect of finishing. In the evening Twalib came over so that I could help him fill out his online visa application for India, which was rather comical. Obviously when applying for a visa they want every piece of information. They kept asking for addresses but they simply do not have house numbers here. His application currently says that he lives at the hospital (which is “technically” true) and even that doesn’t have a true address. After applying for his visa we continued our Wednesday night movie tradition and watched Slumdog Millionare, which neither of us had seen before. Because Twalib will be going to India for 2 months, which was up in the air when I made my original plans, I will now be home for a month and a half and wont return to Uganda until June. Super excited that I get extra time with family and friends.

Now for the exciting part—On Thursday we officially hit our target and ended the study with a total of 125 families! It feels amazing to not only have finished but to have finished with a week to spare. This now gives me time to first breathe and to second upload all of the data without being rushed before I go back to the States. Can’t believe that I will be leaving Uganda in 12 days-time flies!

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The team and I on our last day of enrollment

As for this weekend, Easter here is a huge affair. They even celebrate Easter Monday and “Easter Tuesday”. I plan on not doing much tomorrow which I honestly could not be more excited about. Sarah’s birthday is on Sunday so I will be spending it with my small Gulu family, cooking dinner and doing whatever else she would like to do. I will definitely miss being with family this weekend but I know that I will be reunited with them soon. Did you hear that Mom-mom?-I will be home safe and sound in 17 days!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter with family and friends!