Tuesday
Today got off to a slow start. Last night was kind of a wild night at the Guest House. Our house manager and project manager are in the city for a couple days, so getting to bed was not a priority last night. Molly and I did make it up to the clinic only 30 minutes after it opened, but we shouldn’t have worried. As expected, it was a slow day. Taking temps and heart rates and entering them in to the computer was the main task for the morning. We got to a girl who was only 3 months old, but she was skin and bones. I’ve never seen a baby this tiny. Her cry didn’t even sound like a cry really. We noticed that her chest sounded really congested when we were listening to her heart. Luckily, on Tuesdays, Dr. Abeso, who works in the hospital in Mbale, comes to see patients so she was able to take over. This baby girl was severely dehydrated. She tried for almost an hour to find a vein where she could get fluids into her, but they were so small. Dr. Abeso then gave the father some money to take the child quickly to the hospital, where they would have the necessary equipment to nourish her. She told us at lunch, however, that often the parents will go home first and to the hospital later, when it is too late. Sometimes we do what we can, but even then it is not enough.
Yesterday, my devotion book began a section on the life of Daniel. Daniel was born into nobility, but his land was invaded by Babylon and King Nebuchadnezzar. He was taken from his home and offered luxuries to persuade him to give up his commitment to God. The first day was titled “Far From Home,” apropos I think, and talks about how everything changed for Daniel, but God’s presence sustained him. That is exactly what I am experiencing right now. Everyday, whether it is something big or small, I am constantly reminded that God is right beside me and he will be with me always, wherever I am (Isaiah 41:10). I am praying that you at home are experiencing His nearness as I am here. He has gone before us and prepared a way until the very end of our days. Nothing we are going through or experiencing surprises Him, He has purposed everything in our lives. Ultimately, God honored Daniel’s commitment and granted him unusual wisdom and a long, productive, and honorable life. Wow. That my faith would be as steadfast as Daniel’s and that I would learn and grow in God’s wisdom and grace- that is my prayer. And that I may never go back to a place where I am not actively seeking God’s will for my every day and seeing His touch in every part of my life.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Weekend 1
Sipi Falls
This weekend we went to Sipi Falls. An interesting time. First thing Saturday morning we got up to catch a matatu. A matatu is another form of Uganda transportation. It is a van that seats 12, but rides around 25. But it’s cheap and safer than riding a boda boda long distances. So we rode to Mbale then switched to a different matatu to ride to Sipi. Once we arrived at Sipi we checked into the Crow’s Nest. It was a nice little place; we found it in our book of Uganda under the ‘shoestring budget’ section- so we paid about 6 dollars. So it wasn’t much, all 6of us were in a small room in bunk beds. We then ordered some lunch. It was ok, I had grilled cheese with tomatoes, don’t know exactly what kind of cheese it was but it suppressed my appetite. Several in our group ordered coffee, which they said tasted like real brewed coffee.
After lunch we got our guide, Patrick, and set out on our hike to the falls. It was so beautiful there, we took tons of pictures. We hiked to the very farthest and highest waterfall first, then hiked down past the rest of them. At one point we ran into a school group there on a field trip and all they wanted to do was take pictures with white people. It was kind of funny, we felt like celebrities. We continued down past the second falls onto the third. At this point some people in our group were feeling really sick so they went back a little early and we continued the short way back. By the time we got back more people were feeling sick, so they went to rest and me and Amy just sat outside and looked at the scenery. It was all the people who drank the coffee so we’re thinking that maybe the water was bad? We don’t know for sure but we just took it easy for the night. We did get to take a hot shower with running water. AMAZING- worth every scent of the six dollars.
Some of us went to grab some dinner, which we paid 35 cents for, and then hung out with some of the other guests at the lodge. We met two Israelis who had just finished their required term in the army and were traveling around Africa for 4 ½ months. It was really neat to be at a random camp/lodge in the middle of Africa meeting people from all around the world. Everyone at FIMRC is so well traveled and it really makes me want to do more traveling when I can. They have great stories about different cultures and places. Being able to travel on a college student’s budget has been a blessing they say because they stay at cheaper places and become completely immersed in the culture, rather than staying at nice resort places and watching the culture from the outside. Which is definitely true of my experience thus far. Sunday morning we got up, checked out, went to a nicer resort for breakfast- which was so good. On our matatu ride back to the Guest House, a mother and daughter were crammed in the front. The girl winced every time we went over a bump, but I didn’t think anything of it, matatus aren’t comfortable rides. But then we came to their stop. Beduda Hospital. There was no car to comfortably take her to the hospital, no ambulance, only a hot, sweaty 3 hour matatu ride. A reminder of how blessed we are at home.
I’ve talked a lot about how different Africa is from America, but there are so many similarities as well. Mainly the people. Today we saw 3 little boys swimming in the river, just playing and having fun like kids in the states. They may not have brand new toys from the store, but they have toys they make. They jump off high things and are scolded by their moms. They run around and get dirty. Sometimes when we say ‘How are you?’ to a child, we see their mother nudging them and whispering to them the polite response. And of course there are the people at the clinic. They kids that you can tell just don’t feel good at all, the mothers that hold them in their laps and worry until the doctor can see them. Realizing how similar we all are helps in the daily work at the clinic, when a piece of candy, a smile, or holding their hand can make it less scary.
Sipi Falls
This weekend we went to Sipi Falls. An interesting time. First thing Saturday morning we got up to catch a matatu. A matatu is another form of Uganda transportation. It is a van that seats 12, but rides around 25. But it’s cheap and safer than riding a boda boda long distances. So we rode to Mbale then switched to a different matatu to ride to Sipi. Once we arrived at Sipi we checked into the Crow’s Nest. It was a nice little place; we found it in our book of Uganda under the ‘shoestring budget’ section- so we paid about 6 dollars. So it wasn’t much, all 6of us were in a small room in bunk beds. We then ordered some lunch. It was ok, I had grilled cheese with tomatoes, don’t know exactly what kind of cheese it was but it suppressed my appetite. Several in our group ordered coffee, which they said tasted like real brewed coffee.
After lunch we got our guide, Patrick, and set out on our hike to the falls. It was so beautiful there, we took tons of pictures. We hiked to the very farthest and highest waterfall first, then hiked down past the rest of them. At one point we ran into a school group there on a field trip and all they wanted to do was take pictures with white people. It was kind of funny, we felt like celebrities. We continued down past the second falls onto the third. At this point some people in our group were feeling really sick so they went back a little early and we continued the short way back. By the time we got back more people were feeling sick, so they went to rest and me and Amy just sat outside and looked at the scenery. It was all the people who drank the coffee so we’re thinking that maybe the water was bad? We don’t know for sure but we just took it easy for the night. We did get to take a hot shower with running water. AMAZING- worth every scent of the six dollars.
Some of us went to grab some dinner, which we paid 35 cents for, and then hung out with some of the other guests at the lodge. We met two Israelis who had just finished their required term in the army and were traveling around Africa for 4 ½ months. It was really neat to be at a random camp/lodge in the middle of Africa meeting people from all around the world. Everyone at FIMRC is so well traveled and it really makes me want to do more traveling when I can. They have great stories about different cultures and places. Being able to travel on a college student’s budget has been a blessing they say because they stay at cheaper places and become completely immersed in the culture, rather than staying at nice resort places and watching the culture from the outside. Which is definitely true of my experience thus far. Sunday morning we got up, checked out, went to a nicer resort for breakfast- which was so good. On our matatu ride back to the Guest House, a mother and daughter were crammed in the front. The girl winced every time we went over a bump, but I didn’t think anything of it, matatus aren’t comfortable rides. But then we came to their stop. Beduda Hospital. There was no car to comfortably take her to the hospital, no ambulance, only a hot, sweaty 3 hour matatu ride. A reminder of how blessed we are at home.
I’ve talked a lot about how different Africa is from America, but there are so many similarities as well. Mainly the people. Today we saw 3 little boys swimming in the river, just playing and having fun like kids in the states. They may not have brand new toys from the store, but they have toys they make. They jump off high things and are scolded by their moms. They run around and get dirty. Sometimes when we say ‘How are you?’ to a child, we see their mother nudging them and whispering to them the polite response. And of course there are the people at the clinic. They kids that you can tell just don’t feel good at all, the mothers that hold them in their laps and worry until the doctor can see them. Realizing how similar we all are helps in the daily work at the clinic, when a piece of candy, a smile, or holding their hand can make it less scary.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Thursday
Today was a pretty normal day at the clinic. I got to watch Rogers, the lab technician, test children’s blood for malaria. It was similar to the gram staining process in microbiology. He showed me a slide with malaria and a slide of blood without malaria. Very cool. Also our burn kid came back today to have is burn redressed. And another girl from school came in with a burn on her leg from a motorcycle. Other than that it has been a fairly uneventful day. We also worked on inputting patient record into their computer system. Every other patient has malaria. No joke. As I said, it is fairly easy to treat if you have access to treatment. We also saw a lot of Pelvic Inflammatory Disease, anyone who complains of abdominal pain or back aches probably has it. It’s just a whole different world. Everyone is prescribed ibuprofen, even if they have no diagnosable illness. Healthcare in Uganda is such a rare thing, it’s not something everyone is responsible for themselves. If you feel the least bit sick, go to the clinic to get drugs. FIMRC has many outreach programs and patient education programs to work on changing this. Their goal is to teach them to value the doctor’s advice, not just medications.
I experienced my first African thunder storm today. This one wasn’t that big they say. It’s just rain and thunder, no wind, but the rain comes down in sheets for a solid 20-30 minutes. The thunder claps are loud and long, they seem as if they are right on top of you. Probably because they are.
Tonight after work was great. A few of us took a soccer ball and walked through the woods to this random field where a bunch of kids were hanging around. And cows, they just tie a rope to their foot and then stake a stick into the ground. Ugandan soccer is nuts. There were six Mzungus and 6 Ugandan kids. We tried to organize them into teams, but then more children just kept joining us. Out of 30 kids none of them spoke English. Finally some referees came, they knew how to play soccer and spoke English. And carried machetes. (Think- out of bounds= lose an arm; red card= off with your feet…) It was so crazy. We had picked up our goal keeper when we were walking to the field; he was very, very drunk. But a really good goal keeper, so funny. Every time the ball came to him he fell all over it, sacrificing his body in a very dramatic way, but usually keeping the ball out of the goal. The Ugandan kids were good. The Mzungus, not so good. Since it had rained today it was also pretty muddy, which added to our gracefulness. By the end we were exhausted from running and laughing. But overall it was a great day.
Today was a pretty normal day at the clinic. I got to watch Rogers, the lab technician, test children’s blood for malaria. It was similar to the gram staining process in microbiology. He showed me a slide with malaria and a slide of blood without malaria. Very cool. Also our burn kid came back today to have is burn redressed. And another girl from school came in with a burn on her leg from a motorcycle. Other than that it has been a fairly uneventful day. We also worked on inputting patient record into their computer system. Every other patient has malaria. No joke. As I said, it is fairly easy to treat if you have access to treatment. We also saw a lot of Pelvic Inflammatory Disease, anyone who complains of abdominal pain or back aches probably has it. It’s just a whole different world. Everyone is prescribed ibuprofen, even if they have no diagnosable illness. Healthcare in Uganda is such a rare thing, it’s not something everyone is responsible for themselves. If you feel the least bit sick, go to the clinic to get drugs. FIMRC has many outreach programs and patient education programs to work on changing this. Their goal is to teach them to value the doctor’s advice, not just medications.
I experienced my first African thunder storm today. This one wasn’t that big they say. It’s just rain and thunder, no wind, but the rain comes down in sheets for a solid 20-30 minutes. The thunder claps are loud and long, they seem as if they are right on top of you. Probably because they are.
Tonight after work was great. A few of us took a soccer ball and walked through the woods to this random field where a bunch of kids were hanging around. And cows, they just tie a rope to their foot and then stake a stick into the ground. Ugandan soccer is nuts. There were six Mzungus and 6 Ugandan kids. We tried to organize them into teams, but then more children just kept joining us. Out of 30 kids none of them spoke English. Finally some referees came, they knew how to play soccer and spoke English. And carried machetes. (Think- out of bounds= lose an arm; red card= off with your feet…) It was so crazy. We had picked up our goal keeper when we were walking to the field; he was very, very drunk. But a really good goal keeper, so funny. Every time the ball came to him he fell all over it, sacrificing his body in a very dramatic way, but usually keeping the ball out of the goal. The Ugandan kids were good. The Mzungus, not so good. Since it had rained today it was also pretty muddy, which added to our gracefulness. By the end we were exhausted from running and laughing. But overall it was a great day.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Wednesday
It’s 9:30 in the morning here and already I have had an absolutely amazing morning. We woke up early to go to Arlington Academy of Hope where the students were putting on an assembly. They do this every Monday and Friday, but since there were visitors they decided to do it on a Wednesday. Because there were visitors it was a special program today. AAH is primary school, grades P1-P7. School starts at 8am every morning but the assembly begins at 7:30. School ends at 4:40 for P1-P5, but at 6 for P6-P7. They go three terms each year, getting the month of in January, May, mid-August to mid-September, and December. However, P6 and P7 only have one week of at each of these breaks because they are preparing for their exit exams which determine if they get a scholarship to secondary school and/or get to graduate. So when we got to school this morning all 325 children were out on the lawn of the school. We were given seats, in the shade, to watch from. The children just giggled every time they looked at us or saw us taking pictures. To begin, they were marching and doing drills. They are so well disciplined. They all marched together and sometimes the teacher would call out a number and a class and they would have to say the times tables up to 12 for that number. Even the P1’s and P2’s knew most of their time tables. It was very impressive. They also had fun with them, like making them squat down then try to march. It was hilarious and the kids were just on the ground laughing. I took tons of pictures. Then they raised the flag and sang the national anthem and opened the morning in prayer. Oh to hear this 3rd grader pray and thank Jesus for his school and his teachers and the visitors, so overwhelming. The whole P3 class then came and stood in front of us and led in the morning praise songs. These kids all know English so they were singing “Hallelujah, praise Jesus” over and over. Having 325 elementary students sing praise songs was such a beautiful way to start my morning, and again a reminder that God is working in this place. The joy on these children’s faces was amazing. We were then introduced to the students. Over and over the teachers emphasized that we have come a very far way to see them and it is because we love them that we are here to see them. What a morning.
We then went back to the house to meet up with Brea and Carly to go on home visits. This is where we walk around the village to random houses and the people invite us in and then we give them health education lessons. The people are so warm and inviting and always so glad to see us. We walk up these mountains and tucked into patches of trees are these homes and fields. All the way up the mountains you can see houses and gardens. I have taken tons of pictures that will hopefully be able to show you the scenery. Today we were teaching lessons on family planning again. It was again amazing to us that these people had never heard of these family planning methods we were teaching, but they were so interested because they know the poverty and problems that come with over population. Molly and I got to teach two of the lessons so that we will know what to do when Carly and Brea leave. It was…well an experience haha. Our final home visit was that of Richard’s (our translator) aunt. They invited us inside and they had so many questions about this lesson. At the end, the man said that he was very old and past having children but that he will take what he knows and teach his children so they can learn from him. He doesn’t want them to worry about how to provide for their children as he worries about providing for his family. PS. He had two wives who we met, one who had 2 children, the other 11; 13 in all. But that is what it is all about. Giving them knowledge to use and pass on so that it will have an impact on future generations. An incredible morning.
This afternoon we went back to AAH to help teach computer lessons. These kids were so excited to even just learn how to use a mouse or open a word document. It’s so strange because in America kids in kindergarten can use the computer, but here they are so eager to learn the simplest things. And its so worth it when one turns to you and says “Thank you for teaching me the computer.” Africa is great.
The catch phrase around here is “TIA”- This Is Africa. It gets said so much, i.e. if someone says something about not having power for the past seven days, well TIA. Cold water bucket baths, TIA. No one around here ever being on time, TIA. This is Africa.
In Him,
Becky
It’s 9:30 in the morning here and already I have had an absolutely amazing morning. We woke up early to go to Arlington Academy of Hope where the students were putting on an assembly. They do this every Monday and Friday, but since there were visitors they decided to do it on a Wednesday. Because there were visitors it was a special program today. AAH is primary school, grades P1-P7. School starts at 8am every morning but the assembly begins at 7:30. School ends at 4:40 for P1-P5, but at 6 for P6-P7. They go three terms each year, getting the month of in January, May, mid-August to mid-September, and December. However, P6 and P7 only have one week of at each of these breaks because they are preparing for their exit exams which determine if they get a scholarship to secondary school and/or get to graduate. So when we got to school this morning all 325 children were out on the lawn of the school. We were given seats, in the shade, to watch from. The children just giggled every time they looked at us or saw us taking pictures. To begin, they were marching and doing drills. They are so well disciplined. They all marched together and sometimes the teacher would call out a number and a class and they would have to say the times tables up to 12 for that number. Even the P1’s and P2’s knew most of their time tables. It was very impressive. They also had fun with them, like making them squat down then try to march. It was hilarious and the kids were just on the ground laughing. I took tons of pictures. Then they raised the flag and sang the national anthem and opened the morning in prayer. Oh to hear this 3rd grader pray and thank Jesus for his school and his teachers and the visitors, so overwhelming. The whole P3 class then came and stood in front of us and led in the morning praise songs. These kids all know English so they were singing “Hallelujah, praise Jesus” over and over. Having 325 elementary students sing praise songs was such a beautiful way to start my morning, and again a reminder that God is working in this place. The joy on these children’s faces was amazing. We were then introduced to the students. Over and over the teachers emphasized that we have come a very far way to see them and it is because we love them that we are here to see them. What a morning.
We then went back to the house to meet up with Brea and Carly to go on home visits. This is where we walk around the village to random houses and the people invite us in and then we give them health education lessons. The people are so warm and inviting and always so glad to see us. We walk up these mountains and tucked into patches of trees are these homes and fields. All the way up the mountains you can see houses and gardens. I have taken tons of pictures that will hopefully be able to show you the scenery. Today we were teaching lessons on family planning again. It was again amazing to us that these people had never heard of these family planning methods we were teaching, but they were so interested because they know the poverty and problems that come with over population. Molly and I got to teach two of the lessons so that we will know what to do when Carly and Brea leave. It was…well an experience haha. Our final home visit was that of Richard’s (our translator) aunt. They invited us inside and they had so many questions about this lesson. At the end, the man said that he was very old and past having children but that he will take what he knows and teach his children so they can learn from him. He doesn’t want them to worry about how to provide for their children as he worries about providing for his family. PS. He had two wives who we met, one who had 2 children, the other 11; 13 in all. But that is what it is all about. Giving them knowledge to use and pass on so that it will have an impact on future generations. An incredible morning.
This afternoon we went back to AAH to help teach computer lessons. These kids were so excited to even just learn how to use a mouse or open a word document. It’s so strange because in America kids in kindergarten can use the computer, but here they are so eager to learn the simplest things. And its so worth it when one turns to you and says “Thank you for teaching me the computer.” Africa is great.
The catch phrase around here is “TIA”- This Is Africa. It gets said so much, i.e. if someone says something about not having power for the past seven days, well TIA. Cold water bucket baths, TIA. No one around here ever being on time, TIA. This is Africa.
In Him,
Becky
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Sunday and Monday
Sunday
At this point it is Sunday night here, so I’ll just reflect on last night and this morning real quickly. I’ve still got some jet lag going on, so everything is very overwhelming. The people at the guest house are nice, all very different. There are a few that are my age, and the others are older. Everyone has very different backgrounds- political science to medical school. Everyone seems to get along very well and on Thursday another volunteer comes, so Molly and I will not be the new girls anymore. Today we went hiking through a mountain. No kidding, as I was trying to explain earlier, the mountains here are jagged and steep. As high as we got, we still encountered people and their homes. It was crazy how high up they lived and how far they would have to walk to get to the village. But when you turned around and looked out, the view was incredible. One of the girls I room with, Amy, and I sat for a while in the shade and just looked out. Again, I was just very overwhelmed- I was sitting on the side of a mountain in Africa looking over the villages and land of Uganda. Its going to take some time to really process all this and get in a routine.
I took my first cold bucket bath today. It was kind of refreshing, but definitely something I will have to get used to. There’s a lot I will have to get used to, but I’m sure once I get well rested and into a routine with my work, it will be no problem. I got to talk to my parents today also which was good. I know this is where I am supposed to be this summer, for sure, now that I am here I must be open to what God is trying to teach me. It is all extremely eye opening. Please continue to pray that I will have peace with everything that is going on here. Pray for good rest and for good friendships to develop. But most of all for an open heart and mind, because I don’t want to miss out on anything.
Monday
After a much needed good night’s sleep, I was ready to get started with work here. We went to the clinic in the morning, toured and met the doctors and clinic staff, then worked taking vitals for a little while. In the morning from 9-2 we see only children, but then in the afternoon adults can come. The clinic is small but they do so well with what they have. By our standards, they are lacking, but by their standards they are far advanced. All of their patient records are becoming computerized, they have a lab which they can test blood and look at it under a microscope to see if they have malaria. I think I am really going to enjoy working there, it reminds me a lot of our work in Jamaica.
Molly and I then had to go on a tour of the loop of Beduda that all new volunteers are required to go on. I don’t really understand the structure of the towns and cities here, but I think Beduda is probably like a county cause there are several villages within Beduda. On this tour we were going to see the different types of medical facilities here. They wanted us to see both ends of the spectrum and some of the shortcomings of the other clinics. FIMRC is the only non-government facility here, and in their words, they see what the government is doing and they want to do it better.
First we stopped at the market. Every Monday and Thursday there is a market here. People sell everything from fabrics, clothes, and shoes to goats and chickens. It was crazy. I think we got about 3 marriage proposals, but we are supposed to say that we are already taken haha. Plus our driver Rashid is with us at all times. He has worked for FIMRC for a couple years, driving volunteers places on his Boda (motorbike). He told us yesterday that he is saving to go to the university in the city to study to be an accountant. The land is so beautiful here and we got to see so much just riding from place to place yesterday. The next place we went was a government clinic. It was very small and less equipped than ours, but for many that is all the healthcare they had ever gotten.
The next place we visited was Beduda Hospital. It was built by the Japanese government. It was very large and very nice. Like marble floors and modern xray machine nice. But they were so poorly understaffed and lacking in the basics such as gloves and supplies. Mike (our FIMRC manager) said this is because the Japanese know if they build something nice that no one will come in and mess it up, but they will not give staff or supplies. At this hospital, a nurse sat down with us and explained how everything works and gave us a very thorough tour. They have many wards, pediatric-male-female-maternity-surgery-inpatient. It was very impressive. She also emphasized that if we wanted to come volunteer there that they would love to have us. She said the best way to learn is to do, if we came we could work with the doctors and watch surgeries and such. It was definitely a place that I would like to spend more time.
The final place we visited was another government clinic. It was bigger than the first, but the people there were amazing. A nurse showed us around to begin with and then we got to meet with Wilson, the clinic director. He asked us all about our school and where we were from, then explained how the clinic worked. He specialized in mental health so many of the mental health cases go to this clinic. His wife was also there helping him “get organized” but she was also very impressive. She is head teacher at a local school and works with special needs children. Great people. He also emphasized how lucky we are in the states to have ambulances standing by in case of emergencies. If something goes wrong at their clinic, they must carry the person to the local hospital, sometimes they may have a car, but many times that is when things go very wrong. It was all a very eye opening experience. We finished the day by going back to the clinic and doing vitals. After the school next door let out we went and played soccer with some of the children.
We went back to the house, hung out together, had dinner, and then played board games before we went to bed. Not much to do with not electricity so we all go to bed pretty early. I don’t hate that. God continues to show me that He is right here with me. Yesterday my devotion was on not planning too far in the future. “God has too much in store for you today for you to waste one minute on worrying about tomorrow. If you are living in His will for you today, then that will be plenty to prepare you for tomorrow.” And then my parents devotion was “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” Just what I need. So much is going on here, all I can do is look one day at a time. And all I need to know is that He brought me here, so He will be with me all the time. Pray that I am reminded of that daily. Please continue to pray for the relationships being built between volunteers. Also that we will have electricity and internet, it helps so much to hear from home. I love the work I’m doing here, but there are moments when I miss home. They say the time will fly by here but right now 5 weeks seems like a pretty long time. Pray that I will have strength to serve and remember the reason that I am here. Love and miss you all!
In Him,
Becky
At this point it is Sunday night here, so I’ll just reflect on last night and this morning real quickly. I’ve still got some jet lag going on, so everything is very overwhelming. The people at the guest house are nice, all very different. There are a few that are my age, and the others are older. Everyone has very different backgrounds- political science to medical school. Everyone seems to get along very well and on Thursday another volunteer comes, so Molly and I will not be the new girls anymore. Today we went hiking through a mountain. No kidding, as I was trying to explain earlier, the mountains here are jagged and steep. As high as we got, we still encountered people and their homes. It was crazy how high up they lived and how far they would have to walk to get to the village. But when you turned around and looked out, the view was incredible. One of the girls I room with, Amy, and I sat for a while in the shade and just looked out. Again, I was just very overwhelmed- I was sitting on the side of a mountain in Africa looking over the villages and land of Uganda. Its going to take some time to really process all this and get in a routine.
I took my first cold bucket bath today. It was kind of refreshing, but definitely something I will have to get used to. There’s a lot I will have to get used to, but I’m sure once I get well rested and into a routine with my work, it will be no problem. I got to talk to my parents today also which was good. I know this is where I am supposed to be this summer, for sure, now that I am here I must be open to what God is trying to teach me. It is all extremely eye opening. Please continue to pray that I will have peace with everything that is going on here. Pray for good rest and for good friendships to develop. But most of all for an open heart and mind, because I don’t want to miss out on anything.
Monday
After a much needed good night’s sleep, I was ready to get started with work here. We went to the clinic in the morning, toured and met the doctors and clinic staff, then worked taking vitals for a little while. In the morning from 9-2 we see only children, but then in the afternoon adults can come. The clinic is small but they do so well with what they have. By our standards, they are lacking, but by their standards they are far advanced. All of their patient records are becoming computerized, they have a lab which they can test blood and look at it under a microscope to see if they have malaria. I think I am really going to enjoy working there, it reminds me a lot of our work in Jamaica.
Molly and I then had to go on a tour of the loop of Beduda that all new volunteers are required to go on. I don’t really understand the structure of the towns and cities here, but I think Beduda is probably like a county cause there are several villages within Beduda. On this tour we were going to see the different types of medical facilities here. They wanted us to see both ends of the spectrum and some of the shortcomings of the other clinics. FIMRC is the only non-government facility here, and in their words, they see what the government is doing and they want to do it better.
First we stopped at the market. Every Monday and Thursday there is a market here. People sell everything from fabrics, clothes, and shoes to goats and chickens. It was crazy. I think we got about 3 marriage proposals, but we are supposed to say that we are already taken haha. Plus our driver Rashid is with us at all times. He has worked for FIMRC for a couple years, driving volunteers places on his Boda (motorbike). He told us yesterday that he is saving to go to the university in the city to study to be an accountant. The land is so beautiful here and we got to see so much just riding from place to place yesterday. The next place we went was a government clinic. It was very small and less equipped than ours, but for many that is all the healthcare they had ever gotten.
The next place we visited was Beduda Hospital. It was built by the Japanese government. It was very large and very nice. Like marble floors and modern xray machine nice. But they were so poorly understaffed and lacking in the basics such as gloves and supplies. Mike (our FIMRC manager) said this is because the Japanese know if they build something nice that no one will come in and mess it up, but they will not give staff or supplies. At this hospital, a nurse sat down with us and explained how everything works and gave us a very thorough tour. They have many wards, pediatric-male-female-maternity-surgery-inpatient. It was very impressive. She also emphasized that if we wanted to come volunteer there that they would love to have us. She said the best way to learn is to do, if we came we could work with the doctors and watch surgeries and such. It was definitely a place that I would like to spend more time.
The final place we visited was another government clinic. It was bigger than the first, but the people there were amazing. A nurse showed us around to begin with and then we got to meet with Wilson, the clinic director. He asked us all about our school and where we were from, then explained how the clinic worked. He specialized in mental health so many of the mental health cases go to this clinic. His wife was also there helping him “get organized” but she was also very impressive. She is head teacher at a local school and works with special needs children. Great people. He also emphasized how lucky we are in the states to have ambulances standing by in case of emergencies. If something goes wrong at their clinic, they must carry the person to the local hospital, sometimes they may have a car, but many times that is when things go very wrong. It was all a very eye opening experience. We finished the day by going back to the clinic and doing vitals. After the school next door let out we went and played soccer with some of the children.
We went back to the house, hung out together, had dinner, and then played board games before we went to bed. Not much to do with not electricity so we all go to bed pretty early. I don’t hate that. God continues to show me that He is right here with me. Yesterday my devotion was on not planning too far in the future. “God has too much in store for you today for you to waste one minute on worrying about tomorrow. If you are living in His will for you today, then that will be plenty to prepare you for tomorrow.” And then my parents devotion was “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” Just what I need. So much is going on here, all I can do is look one day at a time. And all I need to know is that He brought me here, so He will be with me all the time. Pray that I am reminded of that daily. Please continue to pray for the relationships being built between volunteers. Also that we will have electricity and internet, it helps so much to hear from home. I love the work I’m doing here, but there are moments when I miss home. They say the time will fly by here but right now 5 weeks seems like a pretty long time. Pray that I will have strength to serve and remember the reason that I am here. Love and miss you all!
In Him,
Becky
Finally! Travel Days
I am safely in Uganda at this point. There is very little internet connection and very little power so whenever it is that I post this it will be several days worth. This is all just the highlights, there is so much more I wish I could share, little details, thoughts, observances.
Thursday
My favorite people in airports are the ones running with their luggage. My family (minus Kevin who’s at World Changers) drove to Atlanta, and we had lunch at my favorite restaurant, The Cheesecake Factory. It was great. I got checked in then said good-bye to the family and went to my gate. Second favorite part of the day was getting to ride the train-thing to my concourse. Simple things.
As I said before, God has been doing some crazy things leading up to this trip. Let me clarify that this is a good kind of crazy. I talked to a good friend of mine the other day, and just listening to him talk about all God was doing in his life was awesome and so encouraging to me. It has been so clear to me all God is doing to pull this trip together, but to hear how much He is doing in other people’s lives at the same time is such a great reminder of how big our God is. I knew this was going to be a life changing trip, but I expected it to be while I was in Africa. But this past week, in the midst of running errands, packing, and seeing friends, the huge difference in the life I am leaving and the life I am going to has been constantly on my mind. I’ve had to answer a lot of questions about why I am going and, though its not been fun or easy, I know God is bringing my heart to the place where He can have complete control and teach me the things I need to learn while I am gone. Apart from me, I know 8 people who are in, going to, or have gone to Africa this summer! We’re going to different places for different reasons, but I am so excited for how God is going to use us all this summer.
To finish day one, I boarded my plane and made it safely to London!
Fun Fact: I have brushed my teeth in the airport and gotten to see lots of flight attendant hand motions…
Friday
I’m sitting next to Molly in the London airport writing this. I probably won’t get it posted until tomorrow or Sunday because internet cost money in airports. But here’s how today happened. They woke us up real early (like 3am your time) and fed us breakfast before we landed. We landed at 10 this time (5 your time) and went through customs and all that. The London airport is HUGE and when you get off the plane you are driven on a bus to the arrivals gate. I had planned to meet up with Molly at her gate, but since there was none, I went ahead and went through customs and hoped Molly would do the same. Good news- she did. We met up at baggage claims and we rode a bus to our terminal. More good news, they have Starbucks in London, so we hit that up and made a game plan for our day. Kenya airways wouldn’t let us check in til that afternoon, so we stored our bags while we went out to explore. We bought train tickets (not really a train, more like a subway, but that’s what they call it). We only had three hours before we had to be back at the airport, and the train took an hour to get into town. But according to the London locals we talked to, that was the quickest and the cheapest way. It was fun and we got to see some of the city and talk a lot while riding the train too. We got off at Green Park station and walked through the park. We saw some kids that looked like they went to Hogwarts, they had uniforms on that reminded us of the Gryffindor seal. Yes, Molly is a Harry Potter fan, a Starbucks fan, and, Perry, a Twilight fan. We’re going to get along fine. We walked to Buckingham palace, took touristy pictures, and then walked some more. There weren’t really any other notable sites within walking distance, though we could see the London Eye from where we were. But we saw tons of cute houses, and lots of embassies and some double-decker buses. And a big church. We came back to the airport, got our bags, got in another line to check our bags with the airline, went through security, and now here we are. And you guys probably just finished lunch. Tonight we’re going to Kenya, then tomorrow we’ll finally get to Uganda. Hopefully then we will have internet access! I’ll end again with some prayer requests but thanks so much for all your prayers thus far. Everything is going great!
Saturday
Last night was an ok flight. We got more sleep than we did the night before. Right now we are sitting in the Nairobi, Kenya airport waiting on our final flight to Entebbe. This morning, they woke us up at 4 am to serve us breakfast, but it was awesome because we got to watch the sun rise. It was so incredible, before we even saw the sun there was a rainbow of colors creeping up the horizon. Then as we were flying through the clouds we saw the tops of mountains peeking through. They were all sharp, jagged mountains, different from how ours look. On our descent, we came through the layer of clouds and got our first glimpse of Africa. It was amazing. I can’t believe we are here!
In Entebbe, we cleared customs, got our luggage and met the driver from the FIMRC. He took us to Kampala, where we met up with the Mike and Megan, FIMRC staff. We went and changed our money, walked through a Ugandan grocery store, then got back in the car to continue our drive to the village.
Our next stop was Jinja, where we ate lunch at a very nice Ugandan restaurant. We also walked around some of the shops where local artists have their crafts. We didn’t have a whole lot of time there but hopefully at some point we will be able to go back and buy some things. We then finished our drive to the village.
Finally here! More posts to follow!
In Him,
Becky
Thursday
My favorite people in airports are the ones running with their luggage. My family (minus Kevin who’s at World Changers) drove to Atlanta, and we had lunch at my favorite restaurant, The Cheesecake Factory. It was great. I got checked in then said good-bye to the family and went to my gate. Second favorite part of the day was getting to ride the train-thing to my concourse. Simple things.
As I said before, God has been doing some crazy things leading up to this trip. Let me clarify that this is a good kind of crazy. I talked to a good friend of mine the other day, and just listening to him talk about all God was doing in his life was awesome and so encouraging to me. It has been so clear to me all God is doing to pull this trip together, but to hear how much He is doing in other people’s lives at the same time is such a great reminder of how big our God is. I knew this was going to be a life changing trip, but I expected it to be while I was in Africa. But this past week, in the midst of running errands, packing, and seeing friends, the huge difference in the life I am leaving and the life I am going to has been constantly on my mind. I’ve had to answer a lot of questions about why I am going and, though its not been fun or easy, I know God is bringing my heart to the place where He can have complete control and teach me the things I need to learn while I am gone. Apart from me, I know 8 people who are in, going to, or have gone to Africa this summer! We’re going to different places for different reasons, but I am so excited for how God is going to use us all this summer.
To finish day one, I boarded my plane and made it safely to London!
Fun Fact: I have brushed my teeth in the airport and gotten to see lots of flight attendant hand motions…
Friday
I’m sitting next to Molly in the London airport writing this. I probably won’t get it posted until tomorrow or Sunday because internet cost money in airports. But here’s how today happened. They woke us up real early (like 3am your time) and fed us breakfast before we landed. We landed at 10 this time (5 your time) and went through customs and all that. The London airport is HUGE and when you get off the plane you are driven on a bus to the arrivals gate. I had planned to meet up with Molly at her gate, but since there was none, I went ahead and went through customs and hoped Molly would do the same. Good news- she did. We met up at baggage claims and we rode a bus to our terminal. More good news, they have Starbucks in London, so we hit that up and made a game plan for our day. Kenya airways wouldn’t let us check in til that afternoon, so we stored our bags while we went out to explore. We bought train tickets (not really a train, more like a subway, but that’s what they call it). We only had three hours before we had to be back at the airport, and the train took an hour to get into town. But according to the London locals we talked to, that was the quickest and the cheapest way. It was fun and we got to see some of the city and talk a lot while riding the train too. We got off at Green Park station and walked through the park. We saw some kids that looked like they went to Hogwarts, they had uniforms on that reminded us of the Gryffindor seal. Yes, Molly is a Harry Potter fan, a Starbucks fan, and, Perry, a Twilight fan. We’re going to get along fine. We walked to Buckingham palace, took touristy pictures, and then walked some more. There weren’t really any other notable sites within walking distance, though we could see the London Eye from where we were. But we saw tons of cute houses, and lots of embassies and some double-decker buses. And a big church. We came back to the airport, got our bags, got in another line to check our bags with the airline, went through security, and now here we are. And you guys probably just finished lunch. Tonight we’re going to Kenya, then tomorrow we’ll finally get to Uganda. Hopefully then we will have internet access! I’ll end again with some prayer requests but thanks so much for all your prayers thus far. Everything is going great!
Saturday
Last night was an ok flight. We got more sleep than we did the night before. Right now we are sitting in the Nairobi, Kenya airport waiting on our final flight to Entebbe. This morning, they woke us up at 4 am to serve us breakfast, but it was awesome because we got to watch the sun rise. It was so incredible, before we even saw the sun there was a rainbow of colors creeping up the horizon. Then as we were flying through the clouds we saw the tops of mountains peeking through. They were all sharp, jagged mountains, different from how ours look. On our descent, we came through the layer of clouds and got our first glimpse of Africa. It was amazing. I can’t believe we are here!
In Entebbe, we cleared customs, got our luggage and met the driver from the FIMRC. He took us to Kampala, where we met up with the Mike and Megan, FIMRC staff. We went and changed our money, walked through a Ugandan grocery store, then got back in the car to continue our drive to the village.
Our next stop was Jinja, where we ate lunch at a very nice Ugandan restaurant. We also walked around some of the shops where local artists have their crafts. We didn’t have a whole lot of time there but hopefully at some point we will be able to go back and buy some things. We then finished our drive to the village.
Finally here! More posts to follow!
In Him,
Becky
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
This is just a really quick post because I want to share with you a prayer calendar my parents made for my trip while I'm gone!
Follow this link: http://docs.google.com/ViewDoc?docid=dd8stv9g_0fkrrmmhm
I'm planning on posting again tomorrow while I have some down time in the airport, because God has been doing some crazy things during the past couple weeks before my trip. Today I'm just doing some last minute things, like packing, and just hanging out with my fam before I leave! Thank you so much for all your prayers as I get ready to leave!!
In Him,
Becky
Macie Elizabeth, Cady, Lynsey, Kat, Rachel, Kristen Victoria- this is your shoutout. I tried to think of something funny to say, but I just couldn't. Surprising I know. You guys are awesome and I'm gonna miss you, but I'll be praying for you! Have a great summer :)
Follow this link: http://docs.google.com/ViewDoc?docid=dd8stv9g_0fkrrmmhm
I'm planning on posting again tomorrow while I have some down time in the airport, because God has been doing some crazy things during the past couple weeks before my trip. Today I'm just doing some last minute things, like packing, and just hanging out with my fam before I leave! Thank you so much for all your prayers as I get ready to leave!!
In Him,
Becky
Macie Elizabeth, Cady, Lynsey, Kat, Rachel, Kristen Victoria- this is your shoutout. I tried to think of something funny to say, but I just couldn't. Surprising I know. You guys are awesome and I'm gonna miss you, but I'll be praying for you! Have a great summer :)
Saturday, June 6, 2009
I’m back from Crossings with my middle school girls and it was an incredible week! I really expected it to be a great week for the students and just something fun for me to do, but it was incredible how much God hit me with during the week as well. The message was incredible, all about going “Beyond” your own ability and it was applicable to the middle school students, the high schoolers, and the adults. It was a great catalyst for my summer and my trip!
Everything seems to be coming together well for my trip. I leave for the beach tomorrow with my family, so then when I get back it will really be crunch time. But I wanted to go ahead and post about email while I have a few minutes. I don’t know what the internet access is like over there (my friend Kelly seems to be able to update her blog from Mozambique fairly often…) but they have given me some tips that should help. First and foremost, I have a new email address for the trip- bjohns723@gmail.com Internet access is charged by the minute, so I will be getting on, downloading my emails onto a flash drive, and then reading/replying to them later. So anything that will allow for a faster download is what we are going for here.
- Please set e-mail format to “plain text” rather than HTML or RTF format if possible or just make sure to use a standard font, no color, underlining, etc.
- Don’t hit reply to my emails, just start a new message; same goes for forwarding
- If the email is larger than 40 kilobytes (I have no idea how big that is, it’s just what they tell me)- please break it into two pieces and send
- Make sure antivirus software is up-to-date
I think that’s it, pretty easy stuff. Please, please don’t let those keep you from sending me emails. You have no idea how much it will encourage me to hear from home!
Finally, I have a little more info to answer the most common question "Is it safe there?!" Many are worried about travelers being attacked or the killings when Idi Amin was in power in the 70’s, but I have assured by the FIMRC staff and previous volunteers that the project site is very safe. The current government is much more democratic and civil than the previous, and the country has been relatively stable with little war during the past couple decades. The conflict that has occurred has been in the north along the Sudanese border, but over the past 3 years this has been mostly resolved with little trouble. Plus, I’m going to be in the south the whole time. FIMRC has given us many precautionary measures and as far as disease goes, I have had more shots and pills than I can count. Of course, prayers for safety during my travel and stay are still needed, but hopefully this will set some of your minds at ease. Again, I’ll end with some prayer requests. Let me know if there is something I have left out that you want to know! I’m working on getting this to update to Facebook as well…
Prayer Requests
-That the middle school students will carry what they learned this week into their everyday lives and continue to dig deeper
- My friend, Kelly, in Mozambique working with Iris Ministries for 11 weeks!
- Molly, another volunteer, as she packs and prepares
- My parents
-Travel and preparation- and those from the earlier post!
In Him, Becky
Everything seems to be coming together well for my trip. I leave for the beach tomorrow with my family, so then when I get back it will really be crunch time. But I wanted to go ahead and post about email while I have a few minutes. I don’t know what the internet access is like over there (my friend Kelly seems to be able to update her blog from Mozambique fairly often…) but they have given me some tips that should help. First and foremost, I have a new email address for the trip- bjohns723@gmail.com Internet access is charged by the minute, so I will be getting on, downloading my emails onto a flash drive, and then reading/replying to them later. So anything that will allow for a faster download is what we are going for here.
- Please set e-mail format to “plain text” rather than HTML or RTF format if possible or just make sure to use a standard font, no color, underlining, etc.
- Don’t hit reply to my emails, just start a new message; same goes for forwarding
- If the email is larger than 40 kilobytes (I have no idea how big that is, it’s just what they tell me)- please break it into two pieces and send
- Make sure antivirus software is up-to-date
I think that’s it, pretty easy stuff. Please, please don’t let those keep you from sending me emails. You have no idea how much it will encourage me to hear from home!
Finally, I have a little more info to answer the most common question "Is it safe there?!" Many are worried about travelers being attacked or the killings when Idi Amin was in power in the 70’s, but I have assured by the FIMRC staff and previous volunteers that the project site is very safe. The current government is much more democratic and civil than the previous, and the country has been relatively stable with little war during the past couple decades. The conflict that has occurred has been in the north along the Sudanese border, but over the past 3 years this has been mostly resolved with little trouble. Plus, I’m going to be in the south the whole time. FIMRC has given us many precautionary measures and as far as disease goes, I have had more shots and pills than I can count. Of course, prayers for safety during my travel and stay are still needed, but hopefully this will set some of your minds at ease. Again, I’ll end with some prayer requests. Let me know if there is something I have left out that you want to know! I’m working on getting this to update to Facebook as well…
Prayer Requests
-That the middle school students will carry what they learned this week into their everyday lives and continue to dig deeper
- My friend, Kelly, in Mozambique working with Iris Ministries for 11 weeks!
- Molly, another volunteer, as she packs and prepares
- My parents
-Travel and preparation- and those from the earlier post!
In Him, Becky
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