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