It’s 5-something o’clock in the morning in my room at the Bukoto Guest House tucked down a nearly impassable road in Kampala and the music is still blaring from a club on the main road. Nightclub noise is ubiquitous – the only place I have not felt the throbbing of bass or the pounding, repetitive … Read more
Hey Everyone – having been away from my organization, LABE (Literacy and Adult Basic Education), for a while I got a little derailed on a project we started before I left. I’m still not back at site, but am thinking forward to jump-starting what I know will be a fun and important program. Northern … Read more
Well I think I may have been at medical too long… I know this, because everyday when I come in and sit down on the comfy black Naugahyde couch and put my hoof up and await the process of re-bandaging, the random comments one hears range from “Hey, howyadoin? Get those test results back? No?” … Read more
So catching up… To those of you who noticed that I have “been lost,” thank you. And the story is: Somehow I have managed to avoid the ordinary things that bring one to medical in Peace Corps Uganda: Malaria, Diarrhea, Falls, Mango Flies, Tsetse Flies…. Yet I have been in Kampala Medical since Saturday receiving … Read more
When I came into after Thanksgiving and a workshop – having been gone for 5 days (they all knew where I’d been), I was greeted with “Have you been lost?” Well, my western hackles went up… “No, I told everyone where I’d been and…. and… and… ” The comment hit me as a little … Read more
There’s always dirt here – never have gotten so dirty so quickly – and that’s just walking to work. But today was real dirt and we were up ears in it. Still picking clumps out of my hair from digging and being in the wrong place when others lobbed shovels of dirt through the air. … Read more
Oh what a day – it’s really what we all came for. Yes – yes – we came to do good work, but come on… We came to see wild rolling savannas and herds of water buffalo and wild things. And we were not disappointed. Up at 4:30 AM, standing in front of the Mosque … Read more
I’m sitting here in a too-quiet house and I never thought I’d be saying that. But it’s the calm after the storm and a fun storm it was. Had a houseful for Thanksgiving and it was just the best – five extra people draped on an assortment of beds, air mattresses and the new couch. … Read more
Sunday was a good day. Toilet fixed, electricity, a language lesson in which I understood much and the delivery of a couch. Life is taking form. Even got laundry done – although the sheets did end up in the Malaria room.. It’s hard to argue with a good day. The couch was delivered on the … Read more
Good morning – it’s Sunday morning and as usual I’ve been awakened by the morning Call to Prayer. But they’re going full tilt here and I can’t quite figure it out. It’s a Muslim Mosque, but the sounds emanating from it are distinctly southern Baptist gospel (I recognize this from my youth) and broadcast for … Read more