Picture this- You’re 15 and about to have your first child with a man that is 18 years older than you, but that’s the norm. You have a beautiful baby girl and you’re very happy. This man then fools around and becomes HIV+ and unbeknownst to him, transmits it to you. Flash forward 18 years and 4 additional children. You lose your husband to HIV, your two year-old passes away and no doctor will tell you why, and your 16 year old drowns in a nearby creek. It’s hard to imagine experiencing anything like this in your life, especially the loss of a child. It’s even harder to understand how someone who is 33 years old has already been through that…twice. Unfortunately this nightmare was a reality for one of the family members that we screened this week.

As I get more and more excited to return to the states, dreaming of tap water and ice cubes, experiences like this really bring me back to reality and remind me why I am here. I know that it will be easy to fall back into my daily routine but I know that I will constantly be thinking about the people that I will be leaving behind and looking forward to my return in June.

Today I had the opportunity to shadow one of the Canadian doctors that is here for a month. We spent the morning rounding on the male medical ward and once again, it was such an eye-opening yet heartbreaking experience. Of the 10 patients that we saw, 9 are HIV positive and 5 have suspected TB (yes mom I was wearing a mask). One of the patients was a 28-year-old -male who has Kaposi Sarcoma all over his body due to HIV infection. He ignored his HIV symptoms and finally came to the clinic this week when he could barely walk. From my understanding if someone has KS then they fall into the AIDS category. It seems to be a common theme here that people ignore health symptoms hoping that they will go away. This is even more unfortunate because with the ARV’s that are available today, even here, if you stick to your treatment the prognosis is usually pretty good. Another one of our patients was suffering from TB/HIV. He could not move and probably weighed around 75lbs. His daughter kept asking if they could go home so that he could die there and she could move on with her life. Here, if you want to be fed or looked after at the hospital you need an “attendant” which is usually one of your family members. They usually end up staying at the hospital, sleeping wherever they can find space. If no one in your family can stay with you, you pray that someone else’s family will share with you or you simply don’t eat. Just another example of how lucky we are to live where we do.

In other news, rainy season seems to be in full swing. Yes, I will be returning to the States paler than when I came since the sun seems to have disappeared for good. My clothes are covered in brick red mud and I honestly can’t wait to have a washer and dryer. Seriously, God bless whoever has to sit next me on the plane……Its really funny to me that it rains 75% of the year here yet everyone is deathly afraid to be caught in it. When I left the hospital the other day it started to drizzle. Everyone else was waiting under an overhang hoping it would stop (even though it always gets worse) and they said to me “ why are you walking? Aren’t you scared of the rain?” Machete attacks, getting hit by a boda, and malaria-these are things that I’m “scared of” in Gulu. Rain? Probably dead last on my list.

As for this weekend a group of us plan on going to the Ethiopian restaurant tonight (3rd times a charm?) and to then see where the night takes us. Tomorrow night the girls from 31 bits are hosting a “murder mystery party” and I have been given the part of Sword Thrower…They say that every year there are 2 categories of people; the ones that get really into it and those that socialize and forget they should be acting. Pretty sure we all know which category I will fall into. I also don’t think walking to their party with “a sword” is the type of attention I want to draw to myself soooo I’ll let you know what my costume ends up being.

The countdown is very real right now. I am leaving Gulu in 5 days and this time next week, I will be in Paris! Hope everyone has a great weekend!