Beginnings

I have arrived in Africa! And so has my bag! (2 days later but that’s okay!) After 24 hours of planes and airports and filling our baggage reclaim forms I made it to the hotel on my first evening! Then I was collected by the hospital driver and travelled the 3 hour journey to Kiwoko Hospital. Despite the length of the journey there were so many different sights, smells and sounds that I was preoccupied the whole way up! There was also the excitement of Kampala where it seems to be more like a large version of dodgems with chaotic traffic and pedestrians everywhere striving to get to their destination! Whether that means going left, right or straight over a roundabout! Sure it’s all the same anyway! My driver was more on the cautious side but I think we added significantly more time as others drove out in front or pushed their way in! The main road also had speed bumps every 50metres which encouraged speeding up to then slam on the brakes on a repetitive cycle for an hour or so! Anyhow, made it in one piece J

The guest house has five rooms and is currently full so I received a warm welcome from the other girls upon arrival. Lunch was served almost immediately and consisted of a pizza without the bread...so I personally would have named it...”Vegetables” but it was supposedly pizza. Never the less it tasted great! I was then given a tour round the compound/guest house and a lot of information was given to me which I have since had to ask about again! We have electricity for 7 hours a day on the generator and if the lines are working then it can sometimes be available at any point! We have an outside pit latrine which is also the home of at least 50% of the spiders in Uganda. We have two showers which are cold water but if you time it right then the tank can heat them a little so late afternoon is optimum time. I’ve personally only ever experienced the cold showers and I’m learning to be very efficient! We have the blessing of two guest house workers who cook, clean and do laundry. They are just lovely! And always ensure we have enough drinking water. (Boiled and filtered rain water.) If we would like milk we’ve to remember and leave a pot outside with a note asking for the number of cups we would like. The local dairy farm provide this and we then have to boil it to ensure its safe to drink. So practically there are so many blessings here and I am being very well looked after.

I had my first shift on Friday in the male ward. What a different world! The language barrier may prove difficult to overcome as when the patient speaks Luganda I understand nothing and when they speak English the accent is so strong I understand every other sentence! The word order is different too so it’s harder to guess what they’re saying! But miming is a wonderful thing! They definitely have a good sense of humour though. So the ward has 20 patients and on Friday there was just the sister and one other nurse working. So it was very busy! And every patient has an attendant who cooks for them, does personal hygiene and cleans their bed area. So there are lots of people milling about and I’m not sure who the patient it sometimes. Then after lunch most people head outside, patients and all! Ugandan life is primarily lived outside so despite being unwell, if they are able they will sit on the grass outside. This makes it difficult trying to locate someone! There is a severe shortage of equipment and sharing it is just part of life here. Patients also pay a reduced fee for their medications and treatments. However if they do not have this then the treatment is not given. Or they go away for a few days to try and get the money from family. Although home can be as far as 40 miles and walking this when not feeling well isn’t ideal! Anyhow, first day was a blur and so much was different I felt pretty lost but hopefully after this week coming I’ll find my feet a little more and feel of more use!

Went to the local church this morning and I walked in at 09:10 for the service at 09:20. There were so many people already there!! Then the awkward moment...I got paraded up to the front and was practically sitting with the choir! (All dressed in flowing, purple robes). And then after a few songs in Luganda (The tunes were familiar but I had no book and was just swaying beside the choir) the service ends...and apparently I’d caught the end of the earlier services which began at 7am!!! And after all that the minister person turned round (I was behind him with the choir!) and welcomed me and updated me that the English service would begin in 5 minutes but thanks for joining a little of this one...oops. Next week I am not going early.

So much more to say but I will save it for next time as I would like to go for a walk in the sunshine (A beautiful 30degrees) this afternoon so much get some lunch now.

Sarah