Uganda Love This

On Monday Dr. Onek, our neighbor, greeted Jess and I and proceeded to ask us if we had seen a rat. Not just any rat- a rat so big that it has been eating their chickens….we are now convinced that there is a cat-sized rat roaming around our compound waiting to attack at any moment. Oh the joys of living in Africa.

We are hoping our “guard dog” will find it and kill it, but in reality Donkey (yes that’s his name) is probably as useful as a 3-day-old kitten. He barks when he sees someone new, then puts his tail between his legs and runs over for them to pet him.

 

On Monday the nurses and I prepared everything for the week and enrolled a few patients into the registry. Wednesday was the scheduled penicillin injection clinic, however many of the students had final exams this week-they all starting showing up at different times on different days, which definitely kept things interesting. On Monday afternoon our nurses went to their first official computer class. The teacher seems great and I am really hoping that they learn a lot. If anything, they are super excited about learning, which is already a positive.

 

Tuesday was once again a very personal day for me, but in a good way this time. Opio came in for a visit and he looked the best he ever has since my time here. He was much more stable and you could tell that it is starting to become a reality for him that he will be leaving for the Heart Institute next week. Obviously surgery can be unpredictable, but I am crossing my fingers for this little guy. This week he had his abdomen tapped again so I set him up with “Frozen” on my laptop. He doesn’t know any English but I think it is safe to say that it is probably one of the only movies he has ever seen and he loved it. His surgery is scheduled for the 28^th and he will be heading down to Kampala next Friday- please keep him in your thoughts!

 

On Tuesday afternoon Noelle, a 3-year old girl from Gulu, came into the clinic for a checkup after her PDA closure in Kampala. I have seen her in the clinic at least 10 times since I have been here and even once at the Uganda Heart Institute in March. She is one of the few children that are not afraid when they see “the white girl” and always runs up to me to hold my hand. Her mom is such a sweetheart and has been trying to get her sponsored for 2 years! Unfortunately, a lot of charities will not sponsor kids with Down Syndrome because their surgeries are usually high risk. Her moment finally arrived last week when Chain of Hope sponsored the catheterization procedure she needed. Everything went flawlessly and she is as spunky as ever. Getting kids from Gulu sponsored and down to Kampala is definitely a challenge due to how far away we are. I am happy to report that we have already had 2 kids in the past month that have had life-changing surgeries/procedures.

On Tuesday night Twalib, Jess and I watched Invictus, a movie about Nelson Mandela and the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa. After watching Life of Pi last week, I have decided that we will be sticking to movies based on historical events from now on. Twalib did not seem too amused by a fictional boy befriending a tiger……He has already requested Pearl Harbor for next week so I am mentally preparing for the 3 hour film.

On Wednesday I helped with the injection clinic and then continued to work on Registry enrollment. We are up to 70 patients already, which is excellent! I am hoping to have 90-100 by the end of the month.

 

On Wednesday night I played volleyball with the regular Wednesday night crew, then went out for Indian food. I never thought I would say this but I think I’m a little tired of Indian and don’t foresee myself going back anytime soon. I guess when there are only 4 food places to choose from this is bound to happen….

 

On Thursday night I finished 2 of my secondaries, leaving only one left! I ended up adding another school last week and just received the secondary on Monday. I honestly think there needs to be a box that says “ I overcame obstacles trying to fill this out in Africa-please take this into consideration.” I honestly never anticipated how stressful this whole process would be but I am very happy that it is pretty much over. Now the waiting game…..

 

Tonight I will be heading over to a friend’s house for fajita night, with the whole crew that was at the Silent Disco last week. Hope everyone has a great weekend!