My House!

This is our place in Kumi. Well my two roommates prefer to sleep in the hut although there is room in the house for them if they want. I sleep in the main house and they spend most of their day in the main house as well. That is the pit latrine you can see across from the hut.

These are the fields by our place that recently were rather active with people planting their crops now that the rainy season has truly started.



Just to show the distance from the house to the pit latrine. Far enough that you think twice before having a cup of coffee or drinking too much of any liquid in the evening;)

Our back porch with some furniture which is nice for using when we have visitors or just having breakfast outside sometimes etc.

My roommate Mareike and a guy from their mission that was visiting and he was a huge blessing as he helped us get our generator going so we could actually pump water for the first time in about 2 months I think! We basically just use it to pump water so we can have running water inside the house. However, it only worked a couple times I think then broke down again. We got it "fixed" and then it broke again and now we have to buy another part to fix it properly! The majority of my time since I moved to this place we have had no running water... but it's amazing how you just adapt and get by. He also fixed other things in our place which was wonderful!

Pictures continued

These were the little roommates my housemates found in one of their cupboards in their hut!

Our oven door has some difficulties so this is our contraption to enable us to use it still:) This is the bread my roommates make. All the bread you can get here pretty much is all sweet bread so it's not our favorite.

The coal iron---especially with no electricity this is all that can be used. I attempted to use it and couldn't believe how heavy they are.

The attempt at rat elimination from our attic. It was quite the combined effort to get the tomatoes up there as you can see.

A lady who comes out every year from the UK had wanted to get a cow for this woman and her child with CP. I was sent along to be the photographer so I could send pics back to her in the UK of the successful delivery. I was sitting in the seat in front of the cows head on the bumpy journey and was anticipating any moment I could butt heads with the cow as it thrashed about in the back of the pick-up!

We took a trip up to the Karamajong area to return a patient with leprosy who has been at the hospital for 30 years and her son and two grandchildren. It was quite the cultural experience as the Karamoja people are still mainly into cattle raising and live a very different lifestyle than most of the Ugandans. Their attire is very unique as well and apparently it has only been a couple years since they have started to wear clothing. The boys I noticed don't usually wear more than a shirt. Many of the men just wear a cloth over their shoulder and most carry a shepherds stick and a small stool (you can see them in the pictures) that they use to sit on and also to rest their heads on when lying on the ground. Unfortunately, there is also a significant amount of cattle raiding in this area that at times can be quite violent. The patient was having her feet mapped by the community worker for special shoes to protect her feet as she is susceptible to ulcers. We had quite the greeting as we entered the compound with water splashed on our faces and front as we ducked under the entry. The second time I at least knew enough to close my eyes! The kids especially the grand daughter refused to stay so we returned back with them. The lady's son has also come back.

Helen our social worker and the community rehab worker.
The community rehab worker was making a pattern so they could have special protective shoes made for her to protect her feet from ulcers.

The girls wear these cute little skirts but most of the boys only wear shirts.

The boy in the green shirt is the lady's grandson.

We were "talking" about the necklaces...

If you zoom in the picture you'll notice he has impressive earrings.

People crossing the field to meet us. I almost felt I was in some movie scene!

On our way we stopped at this little health centre to meet up with the community worker who knew where to find this patient's family.

I think I accidentally deleted some of the pics. But... I just wanted to share a bit of a different cultural experience. Many Ugandans have not had the opportunity to experience this unique part of their country. It was interesting showing some of my co-workers the pictures from this trip.

It has taken me awhile to post these pictures and since starting to do this blog the leprosy patient has since returned to the hospital. I guess life there is too difficult as there is little food and as you can tell the land is not the most fertile place to plant crops! This is a major issue with trying to re-settle many leprosy patients as they don't have the means to support themselves and often become a burden to the family who often are already stretched and struggling to feed those already there.

Will try to post some more pics at some point... and provide more life updates.

Pictures!

These two ladies and their babies were in the nutrition unit at the hospital and their kids have cerebral palsy. I was showing them a movie of a family who had a boy with athetoid cerebral palsy. I was hoping it would be encouraging and inspiring or at least show them that others even in western cultures have struggles with children with the same problems. It was neat that these two both had relatively good English. The picture below is of a cutting board I had the workshop guy make for one of my young stroke patients so that she can independently peal and chop produce. It's a simple concept (you can buy them in Canada similar to this) but it seemed to work well:) This lady is grinding peanuts to make "gnut" groundnut paste or as we might call it peanut butter.

This was my dining room in the guesthouse that I also ended up using as my kitchen. That was the little electric coil I cooked on for awhile:)

Above I am enjoying a coke in Kenya. I went to Kenya in January in order to get another Uganda visa stamped in my passport. I was accompanied by one of the hospital drivers who is half Kenyan:) I must admit not only does the coke bottle look different but it tastes really sweet compared to Ugandan coke:( I wasn't too impressed. I now can say I've been to Kenya and have a stamp in my passport to prove it although I only spent about 2 hrs there! Below is the bus I took from Kampala to Kumi after Christmas break. It was not the most enjoyable experience. Yesterday, I took the bus for the second time and again it was not fun! God was good though and the stranger in the crowd (who I asked for directions) on my walk to the bus station happened to also be getting a bus going the same direction as me. Her English was really good, she is a Christian and she was so helpful. We got seats together and finally left, stopping in a petrol (gas) station after about 5 minutes of driving. After sitting for about 45 minutes at the petrol station we realized there was some mechanical fault they were trying to fix. We decided to try going back to the bus park to get another bus. My friend went to check and then came to call me to go get the other bus... and of course it was full by the time we got there. We waited and waited and then got news that the mechanically faulty bus was now working so we went back to the petrol station. Got our seats and finally left. The bus I think stopped about 15 times at least before reaching Mbale which was my destination. The trip which should have taken about 3-4 hours ended up taking about 5 1/2 hrs! The passengers were getting fed up with it, especially after having been delayed so long already. I found out that the girl who helped me actually knows the German nurse at Kumi Hospital whose room I have taken over in my new place. Apparently my new Ugandan friend's sister used to be a Dr. at Kumi Hospital. Small world.

The sound of the "repaired" bus still unnerved me with it's loud clunking noises as we drove. The wild swerving and speeding of the driver also was not too reassuring! This would be why I do my utmost to avoid taking public transport here. But I was relieved to finally arrive at the guesthouse with my two backpacks likely weighing at least 50 lbs combined hanging off me! I can't believe I still haven't learned the art of packing light:(

Sorry I didn't manage to upload more pics in Kampala. I ended up getting food poisoning or something so was feeling pretty rough for a couple days there this weekend! I was soooo glad to not be in my home with only an outdoor pit latrine!

Will see if I can post more pics soon and have to take more pics of my new home.

Paperwork!

I just wanted to post a quick update while I am in Kampala. I went to immigration today and received advice from the lady I spoke to last time to wait on the work permit and just get a special pass at this point and request an extension on the pass if necessary. I guess considering how long I have left here and the cost of a work permit and the time it takes to process it she didn't think it made sense to pursue this avenue---I agree, but it's nice when it is the immigration officer advising this.

I also ask that prayers continue for Kumi Hospital as the situation does not seem to be improving at this point and many people are feeling very discouraged and hopeless. Please pray that God would intervene and that somehow we would see God working good through this situation that seems so bleak right now. Please pray for wisdom for the hospital leadership and donors, and especially for the staff as many are struggling to get by and especially to pay school fees for their children who started school last month. The staff have not received their salaries for 2 months now which means, for some, their children have not been able to attend school or have been sent home from school.

Please pray for wisdom for me as well as I want to be able to be used by God in whatever way He chooses and yet it is so hard to know what to do and how to respond to various needs and requests. I also am not always sure how best to be supportive and also struggle with my attitude and how to "work" under these conditions currently. Pray that I would really hear from God clearly and that I would have the courage to act and have the faith to be obedient.

On a positive note I was really encouraged yesterday to see one of my patients, a 7 year old girl who had severe burns, walking almost "normally" with a walker. This was a big improvement!

I also have a new challenge of working with a 5 year old boy who has some fine motor delays. He is an outpatient so I hope I can work with him for awhile.

I will leave it at that for now. I still don't have pictures of my new place to post yet...:( But the girls I live with found a few new roommates in the hut they sleep in. I heard screams on Monday and then was told I needed to come see something. Apparently a rat (of which there were known to be few running around in the hut) had decided that the clothes cupboard made a good nest for her little ones. There were 3 tiny mice/rats crawling around in her clothes! We decided since none of us could outright kill them--they were after all rather cute-- that they would be disposed of in the field by our house to let nature take its course. A few minutes after this a bigger one, possibly the mother, emerged from a box on top of the cupboard while my roommate was cleaning up the mess, which evoked another scream! We have yet to find an effective rat eradicator---if you have any suggestions please pass them our way;)

More to come,

Thanks for the prayers and emails of encouragement. I'm not sure if anyone else heard of the land slide here, but since we heard about it first through family/friends overseas who were worried about our safety, I just wanted to say that where we are is fine. We live in a very flat area but the place affected I think is only a couple hrs away from us. They are estimating over 300 people have died, so please pray for those working to bring relief and aid to the victims of this natural disaster and the families affected as they grieve the loss of their loved ones.