Today was one of the more fulfilling days in the last little bit. It’s hard to keep busy every second of the day, but today just worked out really well as far as filing every moment with something to do. We left in the morning at 9:30am for Mukono, 30 minutes late. Sister Mugimu, the wife of the Mukono Branch President, runs a bakery in Mukono and makes some very beautiful cakes. They are sold in town and I think they are well known around town. We went there today to do some clean up, some SERIOUS clean up. The Mugimu’s lived in Provo for about 8 years. When they came back to Uganda they brought with them a whole load of donations, some of which came from HELP International. Unfortunately, the donations weren’t properly handled and a lot of what was stored was consumed and overridden by rats. It was probably one of the most disgusting clean up jobs I have ever participated in. Although, I was very happy to be there because organization is my middle name, well, second after cleanliness.
We began our little adventure into this trash pile of cardboard, possessions brought from the US, and donations. We weren’t exactly sure where to start, nobody knew quite what to do. Then there’s me who comes from a family with an ultra clean freak attitude about life, which I happen to love and appreciate. I immediately got to work and said to the rest, “Just think that everything is trash and when you come across something that might be a keeper, put it aside.” EVERYTHING was covered in rodent droppings and I wasn’t sure how to keep everybody safe from airborne. I told everybody that if they were going to sweep that they needed to put a bandana over their mouth and nose. Amber stepped up to the plate, pulled off her head rap, tied it on and got to work. She’s pretty awesome. We had to sort through so many things it was horrible. They are pretty busy there at the bakery and so it’s understandable that they might not have all the time in the world to clean out certain areas of the place. They REALLY needed our help and I’m glad to be there.
As we were working along, I KNEW for a fact that we would find living rodents in the stuff that we were to be sifting through. Sure enough, as I was getting into a box or things, out jump four rats, FOUR of them!! Of course I jumped up like Yao Ming to the hoop and as quick as Michael Johnson off the mark. I won’t divulge what I said however, for that remains private...secret... yeah. I came across another box which was housing two toddler rats. I hate to announce that I had to do away with them... you get the picture. Rats just don’t belong in the bakery and I had to do what had to be done. We didn’t finish there though, there is still so much to do and we are thinking about going over there tomorrow after we get done filling in the foundation at Little Angels.
Jackie and I checked our e-mail quickly in Mukono before we left town. The internet is supposed to be quicker there, but today it was lagging big-time, not so cool. We proceeded to the taxi yard and found our taxi driver friend Abdule, yeah, kinda like Paula. He happened to be there and loading a taxi to go to Lugazi, we hopped on. When we got back to Lugazi I headed straight to our Simba Stove project at Faith Orphanage. When I got there there were about 8 of the volunteers there, I was happy to see them there! Amber and I are in the process of training people how to successfully and neatly build Simba Stoves. Laying bricks isn’t rocket science, but certainly requires a knack for the arts or at least the ability to think in such a way. It was funny trying to teach some of the girls today. One just couldn’t really grasp the idea of what we were trying to accomplish. I did my best to explain each of the steps, hopefully it helped. Luckily, having grown up around construction (brick laying) though never really participating, I feel like I have a pretty good idea. The stoves that we have built thus far have been excellent in my eyes and in those of the people we are providing the stove to. Dan, the construction project lead here, helped us out with our second stove at the Equator Primary School in Namengo. It was there that I really caught on to the idea of laying bricks. He is artsy and has the knack, so I learned a lot from him and now we are off building them ourselves, Amber and I.
We were working hard and we got the foundation done in about 3 hours from start to finish. There are so many parts to building a foundation, everything has to be drawn up, measured out, leveled out, cement mixed, bricks present, etc. It’s not an easy or quick process. But we are getting better and better as the time goes on. I was happy with the final product, though, I’m sure what I’m going to find at Little Angels Primary School tomorrow when we go to fill the foundation we built on Monday. I’m worried that because Amber and I weren’t there the whole time that it’s not going to be up to par (without conceit). That’s what happens when you get sick.
I just got off the phone with Mom, Chase, and Grandma. I was sitting here typing in my journal and Jackie’s phone rang. It was a pleasant surprise to hear from them. They are in Morro Bay, California right now... only one of my most favorite places to be in the world. It seems they are having a good time and I’m so glad. I do miss not being there with them, but soon enough we’ll all be in Cali again for a small family trip before school starts.
Only 1 month left from today, I can’t REALLY believe it. How could it be? I’ve only been here for a week or so!! Or has it been more like a year or so... ha, I’m not quite sure which. Regardless, the time is going to fly and we are going to be doing some major work. I made a decision today not to go with some friends here to Tanzania and South Africa like we had previously talked about. I was set up until a night or two ago when I thought about how fun it would be to go with the group that’s going to Tanzania at the end of this week. I was torn for sure, because I really wanted the best of both worlds which would have been to go to SA and to have the other friends come to Tanzania with the group this weekend. But, I had to make a decision and that was it, and I feel good about my decision so I’m happy. Only 4 days until we leave for Tanzania and I’m just a little bit excited. I’ll end up taking 1000 pictures I’m sure... let’s hope so. This is basically a once in a lifetime opportunity. Until next time.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Day 52 - Sickness, again.
Well, today is day 4 of being sick. There have been some girls in the house that have had some upper respiratory illnesses and I was so hoping that it wouldn’t come around to me. I was taking Airborne and all sorts of things to try and avoid it but it definitely got the best of me. Today was miserable because of it, and I’m not excited for the next 6 days to come that my body will use to kill it off.
I woke up in misery. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to get out of bed and be productive. But, somehow, through the will of my own and undoubtedly of someone else I got out of bed and made my way with the rest of the group to Little Angels Primary School. We built a foundation for a stove today there and it was a bit of a challenge. I really stood back on this stove because I wanted the other volunteers to figure it out. I was a little skeptical at first and it continued up until I heard about the end result which was a little lack-luster, but OK. I we worried about that since Amber and I both wouldn’t be there the whole time it was being constructed. I just hope that when we go back on Thursday it looks OK and that we can fill it efficiently. After about 2 hours of being there I couldn't handle it anymore. My symptoms were worsening by the minute and I couldn't even think straight let alone speak straight. I went hope, popped 800mg of Ibuprofen, hopped in bed, and took a 4 hour nap. The sleep really helped, but I was still groggy afterwards. That’s when Kelsi, bless her heart, came to me with Clariton-D in hand asking if it would help. If it would HELP!? Oh my gosh, it was EXACTLY what I needed and I had been asking around the night before. I took one and I could start feeling effects within 30 minutes. They last 24 hours so I should be good to go tomorrow as well. I should be able to sleep like a baby tonight and boy am I excited. Being sick is the worst, especially when you try to do everything NOT to get sick. Oh well, part of the experience I guess.
Something really gross happened tonight that should have progressed to the stage it did. I had notice a little raised area on the 4th to last toe on my right foot. I disregarded it for many days, even a week or so. I assumed it was some sort of inflamed sore that would go away... yeah, not so much. I got out the old finger nail clippers and began to hack away at it thinking it was just skin. I proceeded to clip the top of the bump off and my finger accidently pressed the base of it. Next think I knew there was what I thought was pus coming out of my toe! I was blown away! I had no idea I had hurt myself bad enough that it would need to pus and everything. When I had squeezed all the “pus” out I noticed that there seemed to be a separate piece of skin within the would. I got some tweezers and tugged on it. I peeled up and out in a saucer shape. At this point I’m baffled at what has just occurred. Then I decided to look at the “pus” a little closer with light shinning on it. That’s when I came to the realization that it was no pus, not even close. Try about 100 of the tiniest eggs you have ever seen. Yes, that’s right. I squeezed eggs and an egg sack out of my toe! I couldn’t even believe it! This had happened to Jackie about 6 weeks earlier and we were all freaking out that it had happened. I should have been more curious as two the large bump on my toe, but I wasn’t for some reason. Not I a have been officially initiated into Africa. You haven’t really become a part of Africa unless you are filled with fly larva. I think they are called Bot Flies, though I need a wiki search on that for the name spelling and what exactly they do.
So, some pretty exciting stuff today.... ish. It’s not past 2 am and I need to get to bed. I’m not terribly tired though because of my long nap but I’ll have to make it work. Until tomorrow.
I woke up in misery. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to get out of bed and be productive. But, somehow, through the will of my own and undoubtedly of someone else I got out of bed and made my way with the rest of the group to Little Angels Primary School. We built a foundation for a stove today there and it was a bit of a challenge. I really stood back on this stove because I wanted the other volunteers to figure it out. I was a little skeptical at first and it continued up until I heard about the end result which was a little lack-luster, but OK. I we worried about that since Amber and I both wouldn’t be there the whole time it was being constructed. I just hope that when we go back on Thursday it looks OK and that we can fill it efficiently. After about 2 hours of being there I couldn't handle it anymore. My symptoms were worsening by the minute and I couldn't even think straight let alone speak straight. I went hope, popped 800mg of Ibuprofen, hopped in bed, and took a 4 hour nap. The sleep really helped, but I was still groggy afterwards. That’s when Kelsi, bless her heart, came to me with Clariton-D in hand asking if it would help. If it would HELP!? Oh my gosh, it was EXACTLY what I needed and I had been asking around the night before. I took one and I could start feeling effects within 30 minutes. They last 24 hours so I should be good to go tomorrow as well. I should be able to sleep like a baby tonight and boy am I excited. Being sick is the worst, especially when you try to do everything NOT to get sick. Oh well, part of the experience I guess.
Something really gross happened tonight that should have progressed to the stage it did. I had notice a little raised area on the 4th to last toe on my right foot. I disregarded it for many days, even a week or so. I assumed it was some sort of inflamed sore that would go away... yeah, not so much. I got out the old finger nail clippers and began to hack away at it thinking it was just skin. I proceeded to clip the top of the bump off and my finger accidently pressed the base of it. Next think I knew there was what I thought was pus coming out of my toe! I was blown away! I had no idea I had hurt myself bad enough that it would need to pus and everything. When I had squeezed all the “pus” out I noticed that there seemed to be a separate piece of skin within the would. I got some tweezers and tugged on it. I peeled up and out in a saucer shape. At this point I’m baffled at what has just occurred. Then I decided to look at the “pus” a little closer with light shinning on it. That’s when I came to the realization that it was no pus, not even close. Try about 100 of the tiniest eggs you have ever seen. Yes, that’s right. I squeezed eggs and an egg sack out of my toe! I couldn’t even believe it! This had happened to Jackie about 6 weeks earlier and we were all freaking out that it had happened. I should have been more curious as two the large bump on my toe, but I wasn’t for some reason. Not I a have been officially initiated into Africa. You haven’t really become a part of Africa unless you are filled with fly larva. I think they are called Bot Flies, though I need a wiki search on that for the name spelling and what exactly they do.
So, some pretty exciting stuff today.... ish. It’s not past 2 am and I need to get to bed. I’m not terribly tired though because of my long nap but I’ll have to make it work. Until tomorrow.
Day 50/51 - Mount Elgon... esque? But really Sipi Falls
I had the most incredible weekend. I really thought I was in paradise because our surrounding were just out of this world. I knew Uganda was beautiful, but I never new what was outside of the general vicinity of Lugazi. Well, let me tell you, it was absolutely amazing and I have the pictures to prove it. Although, the pictures aren’t going to do justice, you won’t really see what I saw, unfortunately. Just try to imagine the most beautiful place you have ever been or seen and then amplify that again.
The bus ride was about 3 hours from Lugazi to the city where we went, which, I don’t recall what is was called. Where we went it’s called Sipi Falls. We went through a major city called Mbale to get there. You pronounce that by making the sound of “m”, and then saying “bale” with what is pretty much a spanish accent. We stopped in Mbale and paid 5000 for a sack lunch. We didn’t realize what we were getting when they said we’d be paying 5000 for a lunch. Unfortunately, it was much less food than we could have bought with that much money, MUCH less in fact. We got a boiled egg, ham sandwich (ham that I had to remove because it was like raw bacon), weird local yogurt in a bag, samosa (we call them empanadas in spanish), banana, and 2 waters. Not what I call a good lunch for 5000. Anyway, I wasn’t too happy but dealt with what I was given.
We got back on the road and made our way toward Sipi Falls. The bus drive was nice. We listened to a little music, closed our eyes for a bit, and we were there. The trip was all inclusive so we didn’t have to worry about getting a taxi or anything. We road on this bigger sized bus, it was like an airport shuttle type of vehicle.
The climb was pretty intense, not exactly what I expected, buy I loved every moment of it, even with my 30 pound backpack that I carried. The problem with being a photographer is that you have to carry a camera and multiple lenses on ALL of your hikes and trips. Not only is it scary to do so in a foreign country where you are unsure of the security you have, but it gets extremely hard to do so EVERYWHERE you go. But, of course, I deal with it, suck it up, and get going. You just can’t afford to miss any shots. I would have to say that I can some great shots, you'll have to check them out on my picture site.
The climb I suspect was about 2000 ft in 1.5 hours. Not too bad. It was a lot of hiking very fast. And the extra 30 pounds definitely gave me a challenge which I enjoy. Hiking to me really isn’t hiking unless you have a pack on anyway so I shouldn’t be complaining or otherwise. Along the first part of the hike Amber complained that her shorts were falling off and that she had forgotten to bring a belt with here. I told her I would make here a belt, though I wasn’t entirely sure how I was going to accomplish that. We finally came to this ginormous rock that we were told was used by people for a home and/or shelter. There were some vines coming down from the top. I grabbed them and started braiding a belt. I gave it to Amber 20 minutes later. She was pretty elated and it actually worked pretty well. We got near the top and there was this manmade ladder that had to be climbed in order to get to the next level and continue hiking. I’ve never seen anything so cool! It was very sturdy, well built, and well traveled. The view from the top was absolutely amazing, the valley was immense as ever. We could almost had a 180ยบ viewing angle (ok, a little on the nerd side, sorry). We hiked along the top for a bit until we made our way down another side of the mountain. As we started our way down the mountain, raindrops began to fall. I panicked because I had all of my camera equipment on me. Luckily, before I left, I picked up a wet back at Out-n-Back because I KNEW something would go wrong and I would need to keep my computer and/or camera out of the water. So, I stopped on the side of the path and put all my stuff in the bag. I ended being a couple minutes behind the rest of the group but I caught up quickly. Within 5 minutes of putting my things in my wet back the rain started to come down. At first, it was a pretty good rain fall, we all got pretty wet. I put my handy rain jacket on and it did me well. I also pulled out the rain fly on my backpack, though, that didn’t really keep the rain out too well. As we came to the bottom of the mountain the rain really started to come down, and I mean SERIOUS rain. If you’ve only lived in Utah and seen the rain there, you’ve only seen half of what falls out of the sky here. It came down like crazy, but I was confident my stuff was safe. The rain continued and we came upon a house or two that we took shelter under. It was very generous of the lady that let us come first into her outdoor kitchen area and then ushered in to her home. We stood there for about 10 minutes until the rain cleared up a bit. Our guide led us out of the madams house, we thanked her, and we were on our way.
We arrived at the home where a women’s group in the area congregated. To our surprise they invited us all to come in even though we were sopping wet and mudding up to our calves and beyond for some. We removed our shoes and went inside. Again, to our surprise they had steamed lemon grass milk ready for us. This milk was straight from the cow. The only thing that comforted me was that they had obviously boiled the milk for at least a little time because it was absolutely burning hot. It disgustingly good actually, and I almost hate to admit that it was such. Milk straight from the utter? Mmm, not exactly what I’m used to or would choose for myself, but it was SO good. So good that I think I might have to find a recipe for it on the internet when I get home. The women were so kind and happy to have us in their home. The were working on weaving baskets and whatnot as part of the group. I bought a couple of things as did other volunteers. We felt good that we were able to support them in their new efforts to provide money for themselves.
The night was amazing. We slept in the most amazing little cabana things you’ve ever seen. I really felt like I was on an exclusive island in Hawaii, that’s how great it was. It was cool, quiet, and just plain serene. I could have lived up there. We had a great dinner that consisted of Onion Soup and Spaghetti with meat sauce. I had two Pepsi’s of course, it was just to awesome there not to.
The next day we hiked up to the upper falls of Sipi after a nice breakfast of toast and fruit. The hike was beautiful, amazing, unreal. Country like you’ve never seen before. Green until you can’t see anymore. There were small children that followed us up along the way, they made the hike interesting and fun. We came back for lunch and hopped on the shuttle to go back home. We all wished that the cabana part of the trip could have lasted forever because it was so amazing there. I got some pictures, you’ll have to check them out.
I took a good number of pictures today and I’m really happy about it; around 300. I really need to keep good habits of taking plenty of pictures because I only have so much time left. Well, the weekend was amazing and it only cost $106 USD!! I couldn't believe it, I was very happy about that price. Now I’m tired and need to get in bed. Bye.
The bus ride was about 3 hours from Lugazi to the city where we went, which, I don’t recall what is was called. Where we went it’s called Sipi Falls. We went through a major city called Mbale to get there. You pronounce that by making the sound of “m”, and then saying “bale” with what is pretty much a spanish accent. We stopped in Mbale and paid 5000 for a sack lunch. We didn’t realize what we were getting when they said we’d be paying 5000 for a lunch. Unfortunately, it was much less food than we could have bought with that much money, MUCH less in fact. We got a boiled egg, ham sandwich (ham that I had to remove because it was like raw bacon), weird local yogurt in a bag, samosa (we call them empanadas in spanish), banana, and 2 waters. Not what I call a good lunch for 5000. Anyway, I wasn’t too happy but dealt with what I was given.
We got back on the road and made our way toward Sipi Falls. The bus drive was nice. We listened to a little music, closed our eyes for a bit, and we were there. The trip was all inclusive so we didn’t have to worry about getting a taxi or anything. We road on this bigger sized bus, it was like an airport shuttle type of vehicle.
The climb was pretty intense, not exactly what I expected, buy I loved every moment of it, even with my 30 pound backpack that I carried. The problem with being a photographer is that you have to carry a camera and multiple lenses on ALL of your hikes and trips. Not only is it scary to do so in a foreign country where you are unsure of the security you have, but it gets extremely hard to do so EVERYWHERE you go. But, of course, I deal with it, suck it up, and get going. You just can’t afford to miss any shots. I would have to say that I can some great shots, you'll have to check them out on my picture site.
The climb I suspect was about 2000 ft in 1.5 hours. Not too bad. It was a lot of hiking very fast. And the extra 30 pounds definitely gave me a challenge which I enjoy. Hiking to me really isn’t hiking unless you have a pack on anyway so I shouldn’t be complaining or otherwise. Along the first part of the hike Amber complained that her shorts were falling off and that she had forgotten to bring a belt with here. I told her I would make here a belt, though I wasn’t entirely sure how I was going to accomplish that. We finally came to this ginormous rock that we were told was used by people for a home and/or shelter. There were some vines coming down from the top. I grabbed them and started braiding a belt. I gave it to Amber 20 minutes later. She was pretty elated and it actually worked pretty well. We got near the top and there was this manmade ladder that had to be climbed in order to get to the next level and continue hiking. I’ve never seen anything so cool! It was very sturdy, well built, and well traveled. The view from the top was absolutely amazing, the valley was immense as ever. We could almost had a 180ยบ viewing angle (ok, a little on the nerd side, sorry). We hiked along the top for a bit until we made our way down another side of the mountain. As we started our way down the mountain, raindrops began to fall. I panicked because I had all of my camera equipment on me. Luckily, before I left, I picked up a wet back at Out-n-Back because I KNEW something would go wrong and I would need to keep my computer and/or camera out of the water. So, I stopped on the side of the path and put all my stuff in the bag. I ended being a couple minutes behind the rest of the group but I caught up quickly. Within 5 minutes of putting my things in my wet back the rain started to come down. At first, it was a pretty good rain fall, we all got pretty wet. I put my handy rain jacket on and it did me well. I also pulled out the rain fly on my backpack, though, that didn’t really keep the rain out too well. As we came to the bottom of the mountain the rain really started to come down, and I mean SERIOUS rain. If you’ve only lived in Utah and seen the rain there, you’ve only seen half of what falls out of the sky here. It came down like crazy, but I was confident my stuff was safe. The rain continued and we came upon a house or two that we took shelter under. It was very generous of the lady that let us come first into her outdoor kitchen area and then ushered in to her home. We stood there for about 10 minutes until the rain cleared up a bit. Our guide led us out of the madams house, we thanked her, and we were on our way.
We arrived at the home where a women’s group in the area congregated. To our surprise they invited us all to come in even though we were sopping wet and mudding up to our calves and beyond for some. We removed our shoes and went inside. Again, to our surprise they had steamed lemon grass milk ready for us. This milk was straight from the cow. The only thing that comforted me was that they had obviously boiled the milk for at least a little time because it was absolutely burning hot. It disgustingly good actually, and I almost hate to admit that it was such. Milk straight from the utter? Mmm, not exactly what I’m used to or would choose for myself, but it was SO good. So good that I think I might have to find a recipe for it on the internet when I get home. The women were so kind and happy to have us in their home. The were working on weaving baskets and whatnot as part of the group. I bought a couple of things as did other volunteers. We felt good that we were able to support them in their new efforts to provide money for themselves.
The night was amazing. We slept in the most amazing little cabana things you’ve ever seen. I really felt like I was on an exclusive island in Hawaii, that’s how great it was. It was cool, quiet, and just plain serene. I could have lived up there. We had a great dinner that consisted of Onion Soup and Spaghetti with meat sauce. I had two Pepsi’s of course, it was just to awesome there not to.
The next day we hiked up to the upper falls of Sipi after a nice breakfast of toast and fruit. The hike was beautiful, amazing, unreal. Country like you’ve never seen before. Green until you can’t see anymore. There were small children that followed us up along the way, they made the hike interesting and fun. We came back for lunch and hopped on the shuttle to go back home. We all wished that the cabana part of the trip could have lasted forever because it was so amazing there. I got some pictures, you’ll have to check them out.
I took a good number of pictures today and I’m really happy about it; around 300. I really need to keep good habits of taking plenty of pictures because I only have so much time left. Well, the weekend was amazing and it only cost $106 USD!! I couldn't believe it, I was very happy about that price. Now I’m tired and need to get in bed. Bye.
Day 49 - Clinically Not Happening
We started our day out today at the clinics... not the most effective use of our time thus far. The hospital doesn’t quite know how to receive us, they don’t know exactly what to have us do. I’m the only one in the group with medical certification which qualifies me to do a lot of things others can’t and it’s kind of hard because I want everybody to feel like they can actually do something. I talked to the head nurse there at Kawolo Hospital, Sis. Keri (sp?) and told her the predicament. She informed me that she would have a meeting with the different ward leaders and come up with a better plan for us. We really have the desire to help but it’s really hard to help when they don’t tell you what exactly to do. Hopefully I will be getting a call in the near future with a plan.
I stopped at my favorite chapati maker at the end of Stanbic road. I call it Stanbic road because the Stanbic bank is on it and I don’t know what to call it otherwise. He’s the fourth guy on the left as you walk down the street that turns off of Stanbic. He really knows how to make a good chapati. He used plenty of oil and he rolls the dough out larger than most do. They are still 200 shillings each and taste amazing. I usually get 2 or 3 at a time, they are THAT good. It basically a glorified tortilla. I’m going to be communicating with the lady behind us to get the recipe for chapati so that I can make it when I get home.
I came to the house and had some lunch which included the chapati I just purchased. I also cut up the pineapple I bought yesterday, it was a bit ripe for my liking but still good. I’ve got two mangos I’ll have to cut up in the morning, I’m a bit excited for those to touch my tongue.
Jackie asked me earlier if she could borrow my computer for a teacher training at St. Edward's Primary School. She mentioned that both of the PCs were freezing up... no surprise there. Of course I consented. She later called and told me that they didn’t have time to get the projector or the sheet (for a screen). I gathered it all up and Lindsi and I hopped on some bodas and got over there fairly quickly. I love not having to walk everywhere all the time, I already did that for 2 years and I’m pretty sure I could do without for a while. We got there before everybody else did, I was surprised. The rest arrived and we got everything set up, I was glad that I had a functioning computer and the time to help them out. The training went well and everything worked as it should. I got extremely tired for some reason and even fell asleep for a couple of seconds. Unfortunately, it was right when I was needed to go to the next slide. I was laughed at and I laughed at myself to make myself feel better.
I stopped at my favorite chapati maker at the end of Stanbic road. I call it Stanbic road because the Stanbic bank is on it and I don’t know what to call it otherwise. He’s the fourth guy on the left as you walk down the street that turns off of Stanbic. He really knows how to make a good chapati. He used plenty of oil and he rolls the dough out larger than most do. They are still 200 shillings each and taste amazing. I usually get 2 or 3 at a time, they are THAT good. It basically a glorified tortilla. I’m going to be communicating with the lady behind us to get the recipe for chapati so that I can make it when I get home.
I came to the house and had some lunch which included the chapati I just purchased. I also cut up the pineapple I bought yesterday, it was a bit ripe for my liking but still good. I’ve got two mangos I’ll have to cut up in the morning, I’m a bit excited for those to touch my tongue.
Jackie asked me earlier if she could borrow my computer for a teacher training at St. Edward's Primary School. She mentioned that both of the PCs were freezing up... no surprise there. Of course I consented. She later called and told me that they didn’t have time to get the projector or the sheet (for a screen). I gathered it all up and Lindsi and I hopped on some bodas and got over there fairly quickly. I love not having to walk everywhere all the time, I already did that for 2 years and I’m pretty sure I could do without for a while. We got there before everybody else did, I was surprised. The rest arrived and we got everything set up, I was glad that I had a functioning computer and the time to help them out. The training went well and everything worked as it should. I got extremely tired for some reason and even fell asleep for a couple of seconds. Unfortunately, it was right when I was needed to go to the next slide. I was laughed at and I laughed at myself to make myself feel better.
Day 48 - New Volunteers... again.
Already a new set of volunteers has creep their way into Uganda and the seen has totally changed. We were a group of 16 all living under the same roof. We are now 1 1/2 times bigger with 8 new volunteers; 24 people! Of course, there are still 16 people in the house and we have moved 8 people into the Mayor’s house, in the boy’s quarters that are in back. It’s interesting to have new faces walking around and new personalities to try and get used to. I’m glad to have them here, we could really use the help actually. Things are picking up and we need more hands to help things REALLY get rolling. We are scheduling more and more adobe stoves all the time and we’re going to need a lot of help with those.
The morning started out with a bit of trauma as Tori and I took Heidi to Dr. Debbie in Jinja to get her butt sown up. Poor girl. Dr. Debbie was really nice again, but still with her very stern personality. She’s definitely a doctor, and one without much feeling left. She used a needle much larger than the one I used to numb Heidi up; again, I felt really bad for Heidi. I was about to offer her the smaller needle that I had used last night but I didn’t dare say anything. I just bit my tongue and watch her suffer. She got the suture kit out. The suture needle wasn’t exactly super sharp like I’m used to seeing. She began stitching and, of course, the needle wasn’t exactly slipping through her flesh like it should have. The stitches were a little bit rough too, though stitching isn’t her everyday activity so I guess I can understand. She knew that I was a medical assistant and we were talking about how I was GOING to bring a suture kit but failed to. She then asked if I’d like to “throw a stitch in.” Of course, I shrugged and the conversation floated away. She was all done up and we were out of there just as fast as we got in.
Pour Amber and Heidi had to give up their room to me and Trent. Trent and I are now the only 2 guys in the house and I must say I don’t mind. We have our own room and it doesn’t smell! I felt bad that we had to kick the girls out, but it had to work out that way... I’m just glad to still be in the house. We made the switch which required a bit of effort but was successful nonetheless. I tried to get others around the house to be motivated enough to clean up for the arrival of the new volunteers, but nobody was to hot on the idea, not surprising. So, I tidied up as much as I could and that was it! The volunteers got here and I helped them in with their bags. It’s going to be interesting having new people around, but it will be good to mix things up. We had a small logistics tour with everybody. Dan and I were assigned to take DJ, but Dan ended up staying in Seya pretty late. So I took DJ around and showed him all of the important things around town. He’s a real nice guy, very cool, easy to talk to, and will be a great asset to our team. We are hoping to get him trained really well on the stoves so that we can use him as a group lead for the Simba Stoves. We want him to be able to take a group of people and go build a stove with no problem.
When dinner time rolled around, it was really funny to watch the new volunteers serve up and eat their food. It was obviously a different experience for them... they weren't prepared for steamed cabbage, beans, and rice, and maybe another thing or two that was "weird." I'm sure they'll get used to it in a couple of days when they come home starving from working all day.
The morning started out with a bit of trauma as Tori and I took Heidi to Dr. Debbie in Jinja to get her butt sown up. Poor girl. Dr. Debbie was really nice again, but still with her very stern personality. She’s definitely a doctor, and one without much feeling left. She used a needle much larger than the one I used to numb Heidi up; again, I felt really bad for Heidi. I was about to offer her the smaller needle that I had used last night but I didn’t dare say anything. I just bit my tongue and watch her suffer. She got the suture kit out. The suture needle wasn’t exactly super sharp like I’m used to seeing. She began stitching and, of course, the needle wasn’t exactly slipping through her flesh like it should have. The stitches were a little bit rough too, though stitching isn’t her everyday activity so I guess I can understand. She knew that I was a medical assistant and we were talking about how I was GOING to bring a suture kit but failed to. She then asked if I’d like to “throw a stitch in.” Of course, I shrugged and the conversation floated away. She was all done up and we were out of there just as fast as we got in.
Pour Amber and Heidi had to give up their room to me and Trent. Trent and I are now the only 2 guys in the house and I must say I don’t mind. We have our own room and it doesn’t smell! I felt bad that we had to kick the girls out, but it had to work out that way... I’m just glad to still be in the house. We made the switch which required a bit of effort but was successful nonetheless. I tried to get others around the house to be motivated enough to clean up for the arrival of the new volunteers, but nobody was to hot on the idea, not surprising. So, I tidied up as much as I could and that was it! The volunteers got here and I helped them in with their bags. It’s going to be interesting having new people around, but it will be good to mix things up. We had a small logistics tour with everybody. Dan and I were assigned to take DJ, but Dan ended up staying in Seya pretty late. So I took DJ around and showed him all of the important things around town. He’s a real nice guy, very cool, easy to talk to, and will be a great asset to our team. We are hoping to get him trained really well on the stoves so that we can use him as a group lead for the Simba Stoves. We want him to be able to take a group of people and go build a stove with no problem.
When dinner time rolled around, it was really funny to watch the new volunteers serve up and eat their food. It was obviously a different experience for them... they weren't prepared for steamed cabbage, beans, and rice, and maybe another thing or two that was "weird." I'm sure they'll get used to it in a couple of days when they come home starving from working all day.
Day 47 - Progress at it's Best
Today was one of the most incredible days I’ve had here. Amber and I really went to town today, both figuratively and literally speaking. We set out to set up stoves with different organizations including schools and orphanages alike, we rocked Lugazi. We had help from a friend whose name I won’t mention for fear that what I say might get back around to him/her. He happens to be a very helpful man when it comes to knowing people and where help is needed. The only problem is that not only is he a very frustrating person to work with, he doesn’t have the best reputation around town. He was once a very prominent member of the town and did many great things to help the people. Story has it he got involved with drugs and whatnot and hasn’t been the same since. It’s easy to see why his reputation wouldn’t be of utmost value. Nevertheless, we have continued to work with him because he has been very helpful with contacting people and starting projects. For example, we went out one day looking for stove pipe for our Simba Stoves and we ran into our friend. He immediately began to take us around town to look for pipe and actually led us to what we will now be using for many of the stoves. He is helpful, just hard to work with.
Our friend introduced us to 2 schools today that we have scheduled to make stoves with, we are very excited about this. We have been looking hard for more projects to do around town, and we have found them. We proceeded to find another 3 schools/orphanages and have either scheduled to make stoves or will be in contact with them in the near future to begin building foundations.
I really feel please with our work today, I feel like we accomplished a lot. I have been able to compare this experience with missionary work, and the similarities are remarkably close. We had been blinded in, as it were, to the city of Lugazi. We knew nothing about anything or anybody when we got here. We were forced to figure it out and get things going. Luckily, we were blessed to have Deo introduce us to the town counsel of Lugazi which really made everything work as it has up to this point. We are busy each day contacting people and getting their information, begging for an opportunity to come to their school/home and share a lesson with them about Simba Stoves and how they can improve many aspects in the lives of their cooks. Everybody we have come in contact with has been interested which is not typical of missionary work, but most definitely what is wanted. It has brought many memories back of being a missionary and always rendering service, almost every moment of every day. It feels good to be selfless and worry about others for a change. Nice to be lost in a work again. I think we loose track of where we are and what we are about when we don’t participate in major service projects often. When you don’t serve others in a major way it’s almost impossible to as grateful as possible for what you have. You really don’t know what you have until you and those around you are without.
The most insane things happened tonight. Ashley asked me if I would go with her to the internet late at night because she needed to do something for HELP. I agreed and took my laptop along with me so that I could check e-mail, upload pictures, etc. We were there for about 30 minutes. We walked home and when we walked in the door there was nobody to be found out and about. We made our way to the girls large room and sure enough, there’s everybody, in the room... not sure what was going on. Next thing I know I’ve got a camera in my face, it’s rolling, and I’m being directed to the bathroom. The next thing I saw I did no more expected than a flyer saucer beaming me up (scottie...). We no longer had a sink, the sink was gone, and there was absolutely no trace that it had fallen or otherwise. I was in awe. I couldn’t even speak. A million thoughts raced through my head as I tried to come up with a scenario in which the sink would actually break off the wall and no longer exist. When I turned around to exit the bathroom, camera in my face, I began to question, but not with words; with my eyes and a wide open mouth. The next think I know they’ve ripped a blanket off Heidi’s half naked butt revealing a wound that required stitches. Naturally, my instinct is to “go in”, and so I did.
Side note: Heidi had been laughing her guys out along with 3 other girls, such that they ALL were going to pee their pants if they didn’t all get to the toilet at once. One used the toilet, the other hopped in the shower, and Heidi, without anyplace to go, leans back with her elbows on the sink with her pants half down ready to switch off with the other girl on the toilet. The sink just couldn’t take the weight and down it went along with Heidi. She landed on top of the shattered porcelain sink and cut herself up real good.
I immediately seized control of the situation and began to do what I knew best; fix it. They had placed butterfly bandages unsuccessfully which I proceeded to remove and clean the wounds. There was one major laceration and 2 minor cuts. The largest of the three was pretty dang deep, the adipose (fatty tissue) was visible and I knew that stitches were needed. I did my best to clean it up really well and then I decided it would be a good idea to give her some local anesthetic to help stop the bleeding as well as give her some relief from the pain that would surely follow. I proceeded to do so. I took the sodium bicarbonate (buffer solution) and added 5-cc to the Xylocaine just as instructed. This is to take off the stinging edge of the anesthetic when it hits the flesh. I began administering the anesthetic to all part of the laceration until Heidi was eased and unable to feel anything in the area - only the size of a quarter or a tiny bit bigger. It’s hard to thoroughly cleanse a wound when you can still feel it because you don’t want the person to suffer. After it was numb, I used alcohol (because we didn’t have hydrogen peroxide) to clean the wound and to prepare it for closing. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring any suture kits, I was very unhappy with myself. Instead we will make a trip to Jinja tomorrow to have Dr. Debbie stitch Heidi up. I decided that super-glue followed by butterflies and some medical take on top would do just fine until the morning when she’d get her stitches.
I was sad to see that Heidi had gotten herself cut up but I have to admit that it was a great experience for me to treat her with the small amount of medical training I have. I love intense situations where you have to think fast and smart. She was in no way in danger of loosing her life, but she was definitely in discomfort, so I was glad to help. This topped off the night, it was by far the highlight of the day.
Our friend introduced us to 2 schools today that we have scheduled to make stoves with, we are very excited about this. We have been looking hard for more projects to do around town, and we have found them. We proceeded to find another 3 schools/orphanages and have either scheduled to make stoves or will be in contact with them in the near future to begin building foundations.
I really feel please with our work today, I feel like we accomplished a lot. I have been able to compare this experience with missionary work, and the similarities are remarkably close. We had been blinded in, as it were, to the city of Lugazi. We knew nothing about anything or anybody when we got here. We were forced to figure it out and get things going. Luckily, we were blessed to have Deo introduce us to the town counsel of Lugazi which really made everything work as it has up to this point. We are busy each day contacting people and getting their information, begging for an opportunity to come to their school/home and share a lesson with them about Simba Stoves and how they can improve many aspects in the lives of their cooks. Everybody we have come in contact with has been interested which is not typical of missionary work, but most definitely what is wanted. It has brought many memories back of being a missionary and always rendering service, almost every moment of every day. It feels good to be selfless and worry about others for a change. Nice to be lost in a work again. I think we loose track of where we are and what we are about when we don’t participate in major service projects often. When you don’t serve others in a major way it’s almost impossible to as grateful as possible for what you have. You really don’t know what you have until you and those around you are without.
The most insane things happened tonight. Ashley asked me if I would go with her to the internet late at night because she needed to do something for HELP. I agreed and took my laptop along with me so that I could check e-mail, upload pictures, etc. We were there for about 30 minutes. We walked home and when we walked in the door there was nobody to be found out and about. We made our way to the girls large room and sure enough, there’s everybody, in the room... not sure what was going on. Next thing I know I’ve got a camera in my face, it’s rolling, and I’m being directed to the bathroom. The next thing I saw I did no more expected than a flyer saucer beaming me up (scottie...). We no longer had a sink, the sink was gone, and there was absolutely no trace that it had fallen or otherwise. I was in awe. I couldn’t even speak. A million thoughts raced through my head as I tried to come up with a scenario in which the sink would actually break off the wall and no longer exist. When I turned around to exit the bathroom, camera in my face, I began to question, but not with words; with my eyes and a wide open mouth. The next think I know they’ve ripped a blanket off Heidi’s half naked butt revealing a wound that required stitches. Naturally, my instinct is to “go in”, and so I did.
Side note: Heidi had been laughing her guys out along with 3 other girls, such that they ALL were going to pee their pants if they didn’t all get to the toilet at once. One used the toilet, the other hopped in the shower, and Heidi, without anyplace to go, leans back with her elbows on the sink with her pants half down ready to switch off with the other girl on the toilet. The sink just couldn’t take the weight and down it went along with Heidi. She landed on top of the shattered porcelain sink and cut herself up real good.
I immediately seized control of the situation and began to do what I knew best; fix it. They had placed butterfly bandages unsuccessfully which I proceeded to remove and clean the wounds. There was one major laceration and 2 minor cuts. The largest of the three was pretty dang deep, the adipose (fatty tissue) was visible and I knew that stitches were needed. I did my best to clean it up really well and then I decided it would be a good idea to give her some local anesthetic to help stop the bleeding as well as give her some relief from the pain that would surely follow. I proceeded to do so. I took the sodium bicarbonate (buffer solution) and added 5-cc to the Xylocaine just as instructed. This is to take off the stinging edge of the anesthetic when it hits the flesh. I began administering the anesthetic to all part of the laceration until Heidi was eased and unable to feel anything in the area - only the size of a quarter or a tiny bit bigger. It’s hard to thoroughly cleanse a wound when you can still feel it because you don’t want the person to suffer. After it was numb, I used alcohol (because we didn’t have hydrogen peroxide) to clean the wound and to prepare it for closing. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring any suture kits, I was very unhappy with myself. Instead we will make a trip to Jinja tomorrow to have Dr. Debbie stitch Heidi up. I decided that super-glue followed by butterflies and some medical take on top would do just fine until the morning when she’d get her stitches.
I was sad to see that Heidi had gotten herself cut up but I have to admit that it was a great experience for me to treat her with the small amount of medical training I have. I love intense situations where you have to think fast and smart. She was in no way in danger of loosing her life, but she was definitely in discomfort, so I was glad to help. This topped off the night, it was by far the highlight of the day.
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