Now I have been in Uganda for roughly 7 months and I have to say that very few things surprise me anymore. With that being said, this past week one of our patients provided an answer that pretty much stunned everyone in the room. A new RHD patient came into the clinic so we asked the basic questions-how long have you felt sick? Have you suffered from sore throat? Etc. When we asked his mom about sore throat she goes “ yea he did but we had him lick the wall so we thought he would be cured.” Apparently in some of the surrounding villages a “cure” for sore throat is licking a dirty wall, which only solidifies the need for education in this part of the world. I mean to be honest if I licked a dirty wall I’d probably forget about my sore throat for a while too…
This past week was extremely successful in terms of locating children that had not returned for follow up and I am hopeful that we will be able to find a majority of them. We echoed 20+ children that we were concerned about last year which is great progress, but we still have a lot more work to do. School starts today so we will be visiting each school over the next two weeks to locate these children in need of follow up.
On Wednesday night, Twalib and I continued our movie night tradition by watching the Pianist. We have officially covered Pearl Harbor, 9/11, the Holocaust, the LRA and the apartheid. If anyone has any suggestions for movies based on true events let me know. Twalib just says “surprise me” every Wednesday but I’m slowly running out of ideas….
On Thursday night a bunch of us went out to Ethiopian for a belated birthday celebration for my friend Katie. I was in Kampala for Opio’s surgery during her birthday so I wanted to make it up to her. We had plans to go to quiz night but everyone, including me, was extremely tired. I’m not sure what it is but for some reason I have been exhausted this week. When I returned from dinner and checked my email I received the best surprise. I have officially been granted my first interview! I am extremely excited about this opportunity and the fact that I am one step closer to fulfilling my dream (and the added bonus of being able to go home for a week and see family and friends).
On Friday morning I worked with the nurses to compile lists of children at each school that we need to find. After that, the nurses went off to computer class and I headed home to pack up my things. I officially moved out of my house yesterday and needed to clean everything so it is ready for the family that rented it to us when they return.
On Saturday I spent the morning at the gym and then met up with my new roommates to lie by the pool. It was one of their birthdays on Saturday so we spent the day celebrating. By mid afternoon it started to pour so we headed home to shower and get ready for the evening. Our friend Travis decorated his house and constructed an outside bar, so we had a lovely outside cookout under the finally clear sky to celebrate Lily’s 19th (yes 19) birthday.
On Sunday David helped me drive my belongings over to my new house so I could get situated. I’m the type of person that can’t start my week until things are organized so this definitely helped calm some anxiety. Moving in felt like when my mom would drop me off at summer camp and help me unpack my things. The 31bits house is very nice but it is set up kind of like a summer camp cabin with small wood framed single beds. It’s been one night so far but I already love living there. Someone is always doing something and there are people to have breakfast and dinner with. Jess and I were on very opposite schedules so we didn’t see each other in the morning. In addition, they just adopted the cutest puppy last week and I think I am already in love. Her name is muffin and she is only 9 weeks old and just jumps up and sits in your lap when you are not looking. I think the only downside is that is about 1.5 miles from the hospital-definitely an easy walk but it means I can’t hit snooze 3x like I’m accustomed to.
Meet muffin
Unfortunately there are no Labor Day celebrations in Uganda so today is just a typical working day. I am vicariously living through everyone that is at the beach right now and will be cheering on my Hokies from 7,000 miles away. I hope you all have a great rest of your 3-day weekend!
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