Halfway Update

We have officially crossed the halfway point of our time here. There are many mixed emotions throughout these past couple of weeks: surprise at how fast our time is going, homesickness, and an overwhelming sense of joy and amazement at how incredible this immersion has been. We have been quite busy at the school, the clinic, and exploring Jinja!

The second week of our trip (June 12 - June 16) was the beginning of term exams for the students. We spent this week proctoring exams. There wasn’t much for us to do during the exams except pass out tests at the beginning, pick them up at the end, and occasionally pass out papers. This allowed me a lot of time to catch up on journaling and some work for next school year which I appreciated. Avery and I established that we would go to the clinic on Tuesdays and Fridays. We worked in the pharmacy and lab on Tuesday. Friday is the one day a week the OBGYN comes to the clinic, and because Avery and I are both interested in being OBGYNs, we take the opportunity on Fridays to shadow him the whole time he is there. The patients were primarily second-term pregnancies, and it was very cool to get to see the ultrasounds. (left to right: opening amoxicillin to put into larger containers, the strings passed out to students to tie their papers together (instead of staples), Me and Avery with Sr. Gemma in the lab, cat at clinic)

During the third week (June 19 - 25), the school finished exams the first few days of the school week, and then we were back to regular classes. We played volleyball with the students after school on Thursday, which was very fun. Each of us has a senior 1 English class we teach on our own, so I taught my English class on Wednesday. I am definitely feeling much more comfortable teaching than I was the first few times. On Tuesday, at the clinic, we worked in the pharmacy for a while, and then we got to shadow the pediatrician. I really enjoyed shadowing this doctor and am definitely considering specializing in pediatrics now as well. On Friday, we observed the OBGYN again. As we get more experience in the clinic, difficulties patients experience become more apparent; wait times are incredibly long (with most patients spending 7 am - 3 pm at the clinic), and difficulties paying 15,000 ugx for ultrasounds is a very common problem (many patients simply don’t have the money and assure the doctor they will come back at a later time with the money). (pictures left to right: me with some senior sixes, a cinnamon plant, and us unwrapping pills in the pharmacy)

On Saturday, Fr. Piansiano took us to the source of the Nile! This was such a cool experience that I will remember for the rest of my life. It was so surreal to be ON the Nile River and even cooler to say that we have been to the source of the longest river in the world. The river is home to many different animals. We saw a wide variety of birds, including kingfishers, egrets, and herons. We also saw river otters (my favorite animal!!!) and monkeys. There is a little store built in the middle of the river where Lake Victoria and the Nile meet (which is where the source is) and we stopped there to buy some souvenirs and view the source. It was difficult to tell exactly where the guide was talking about, but I am pretty sure the water comes up from the ground. On the way back we ventured into Lake Victoria and the driver let me drive the boat for a while which was so cool and fun! The students were also participating in multiple school events around the city that we visited in the afternoon. Over 100 students were at the scouting competition. They were very excited to see us when we got there and were very eager to show us around. They built their own campsite completely out of sticks and rope. They had their own tent, table, and cooking area, clothesline, and bathroom. It was very impressive. They also submitted a creative project for the competition where they used trash as receptacles to grow plants in! After the scouting event, we went to the Try Prayer Competition, where students competed in song, poem, and drama. Lakeview won several individual awards and won the overall best school award, which the whole school was very excited about. (pics left to right: me on the boat on the Nile!, me driving the boat, me at the source, all four of us on the boat, the Parish Church, a giant crucifix at the parish, the scouting competition, and the rest of scenery pics of the Nile)

In week 4 ( June 26 - July 2), we continued with our regular schedule. We are also working on planning a spelling bee for the English department at the school, so that is taking some of our time too. Tuesday was an early day at the clinic; we started and finished in the lab, first by labeling containers and then by looking at white and red blood cells and the malaria parasite. The middle of the day was spent running errands in town in the ambulance. Wednesday was Eid al-Adha, so there were no classes which gave us lots of time to work on the spelling bee. Students like to come chat (“jazz,” as they say here), so we didn’t get a ton done, but that is ok. This week all four of us experienced quite a bit of culture shock, so we took some extra time to rest and reflect away from the school. On Thursday, we were asked to substitute in a physics class. I actually enjoyed teaching this class so much. It was my favorite class to teach so far. It wasn’t so much physics as we just worked on unit conversions, but that is something that I learned very well from my middle school math teacher, so it was really fun to bring back some of the fun tips and tricks I had learned and pass them on to the students. On the days we go to the clinic, we have begun to go to mass at the monastery instead of our house, so we went to mass with the sisters on Friday. It was kind of scary because they sit in order of seniority so Avery and I got placed in seats away from each other - so I was worried about following the unspoken rules of the sisters’ mass, but it was fine. After eating a great breakfast, we headed to the clinic. This time when we shadowed the OBGYN, I got to do an ultrasound all by myself which was honestly the coolest thing I’ve done since getting here. I started out squirting the ultrasound gel onto that pregnant woman's stomach, and then I found the baby’s head, I moved down the abdomen from the spine to the ribs, and observed the four chambers of the heart; Then I found the sex; it was a boy. I then found the femur bone, whose length is one of the most accurate ways to determine how far along the pregnancy is. I got a pretty good image and measurement. Then I just kind of explored around; it was honestly really cool to do it by myself, and it was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. (pictures left to right: labeling containers in the lab, the clinic ambulance, buying bananas in the central market, me looking at the blood sample, white blood cells[purple] and the malaria parasite [the tiny dot next to the top cell of the lowest cluster of three wbc], me teaching physics, me performing the ultrasound, and me measuring the length of the femur)

There were lots of birthdays going on between Friday and Saturday. Back home, Riley, my sister, celebrated her birthday, which I was sad to miss. Here both Fr. Olobo and Victor celebrated their birthdays. On Saturday, we went to Jinja Town where we did a bunch of shopping. We stopped at the grocery store and got a birthday cake and candles for the two birthday celebrations here. We also got the ingredients to cook some hot dogs on the Fourth of July. (left to right: my passion fruit juice at The Deli, my sandwich and french fries at The Deli, pretty mirrors we found, amazing art store in Jinja, another cool store in town, us with Fr. Olobo and Victor celebrating their birthdays, and me with the birthday hat and cake we bought)

I cannot believe we have already made it to week five (July 3 - July 8). Time is flying by! Monday was another day of teaching English, our co-teacher is back from her maternity leave so it was nice to have a little guidance on where the class should be in the book, homework, etc. Tuesday was the Fourth of July. Everyone here was so kind in wishing us a Happy Independence Day. At the clinic, I got to shadow both the geriatrics doctor and the pediatric doctor. Shadowing the geriatric doctor was difficult because most of the elderly people only spoke Lusoga/Luganda, but the doctor did a great job explaining things to me between patients. I definitely liked shadowing the pediatric doctor more, but each experience is good in itself. We got to see a couple of hernias in the babies which were very interesting. When we got back to the house, Avery and I cooked our hot dogs (which were actually probably sausages) and we had hot dog buns (which were actually dinner rolls). They actually turned out really well, and everyone at our house ate some of them. They also let us play our Fourth of July playlist. I really enjoyed just sitting and listening to some American music - something I usually do a lot at home during the summer but haven’t really gotten the chance to do here. We really appreciated them letting us celebrate and celebrating with us. We also decided to wrap the hot dogs in a chapati and called it a “chapat-dog” which everyone thought was super funny and delicious. Wednesday marked our favorite day of teaching English. We worked on punctuation which was just really fun to teach, and very applicable to everyday writing. We helped out in our senior two math class which is always super fun since the kids love to talk to us and because math is much more enjoyable for me to teach. Thursday was one of my favorite days here. We worked on the spelling bee in the morning, went to our math class, and then headed up to the Flood House for lunch. After lunch, I got to spend a lot of time with Anna, and then all four of us got to spend some time together. It was really nice to just bond as a whole group. Friday was a very very slow day at the clinic, and many of the OBGYN’s cases were very sad. Fridays always mark a nice end to the week though with the socials held at one of the three houses the priests live at. We went to that which was very fun. We went to Jinja Town again on Saturday (today) and did some more shopping (which I really enjoyed). It was fun to explore the city a bit more on our own. We also had the most delicious food. We went to The Source Cafe twice (once before shopping and once after). In the morning I got an iced mocha (rating 8.5/10) and chapati crisps and guacamole (9/10) For lunch, I had a breakfast burrito - which had cheese in it!!! (10/10) and I had passion fruit juice (7.5/10). Overall it was a great day!

(pictures left to right: the finished product of our Fourth of July makeshift BBQ, the "buns", the "hotdogs", Ugandan ketchup [does not taste like ketchup], my hot dog and soda :), a "chapat-dog, a cat in the clinic, the door at the source cafe, my iced mocha, chapati crisps and guacamole, my AMAZING breakfast burrito, and the passion fruit juice)

As we enter the last three weeks of our time here I have so many emotions. I am learning so much every day: not only about Uganda but also about myself. I am very excited to go back home, and to enjoy many of the comforts and normalities that I have grown to miss; however, I am really sad to leave Uganda. Coming to Africa has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember and it still feels so surreal that I am here in Africa actively living out my dreams. That is not to say that there have not been frustrating times. So I feel like those emotions in themselves have really taught me to just live (and try to live) in the moment and enjoying each and everything for what it is. Whether it is something amazing like being at the source of the Nile or performing an ultrasound or something mundane like sitting somewhere waiting for someone to arrive for three hours, being fully present in the reality, emotions, and experience of whatever event is happening is something I am working on and growing to truly appreciate and practice. I am looking forward to spending more time at the school and clinic, hosting the spelling bee, and we are heading to Queen Elizabeth Park next weekend!