The 'Gamecock Girl Art' Blog: First Days in Uganda

   Saturday we went to the hospital here by Mbale. It's slow on Saturday, being Market Day, so we mostly just got a tour and met everyone. Yesterday we went on the. best. hike. you. will. ever. take. in. your. life. oh. my. gosh. It was in Sipi Falls. We drove through the mountains, walked through the bush right by families hanging out by their thatched roofs, went under waterfalls, went through jungles, ran from gorillas, slid down cliffs, and saw the most amazing views. A couple boys joined us on our hike. A boy named Peter helped Alicia most of the way. I think if he had a jacket he would have put it over the puddles for her.
   Today was our first real day in the hospital. SafeWorld has been working in Luwero since 2008, but this is our first time in Mbale. (Will share the cool reason for that eventually.) Because of this however it was a big learning experience. We're taking notes and will have an awesome prep packet for the next trip. This team has been great. They're excited to be the guinea pigs and help us design what we hope will be a long partnership with this hospital. We struggled understanding the flow of the place at first. There definitely needs to be more organization. Most of the time at the hospital for me has consisted of getting records and inventory in order. Dear Pharmacy Friends, the Ugandan nurse Annette quickly took over my job taking inventory of the drugs. I was writing the pharmaceutical company's name instead of the drug's. Really could have used y'all there.
   Some Stories:
   Our surgeon Jeremy went in the operating room to help with a hernia surgery. What he thought would have been a small incision and quick operation was not. He walked in to the man's intestines hanging out. I'm not that familiar with hernias, but I think because the man had had it for so long a lot of other stuff got messed up. They also had to remove his appendix and a testes. Yeah.
   One of our nurses, Alicia, helped deliver a baby. THEN a mom who had delivered twins (boy/girl) asked Alicia what she would name them. First she said, "Alicia". The mom didn't seem to like that one, haha. Then she said she likes the names "Jude" and "Joy". When she walked by later she heard someone say, "yeah so the twins Jude and Joy..." She got to name Ugandan babies! So jealous! It's probably for the best. I would have had too much fun with that. "Do you like the name Gamecock? It's really popular in the U.S."
   You know those adorable photos all your friends who've been to Africa have of them surrounded by dozens of black children hugging them with the biggest grins? Yeah I won't have those. Some school let out kids around 4 and they MOBBED us. Alicia did a good job singing songs/running around with them. Sarah and Rachel seemed to like it. Not my thing. In Haiti I could kind of communicate with the kids. The language barrier here seems impassable. The kids just stare at you expecting you to entertain them. (Also I think they're perfectly entertained staring at us, but come on, that's weird.) I feel so much pressure to perform! I did sketch some portraits. That was up my alley and theirs too it seemed.
   I'm excited for tomorrow. We had a team meeting and now know what to expect, where we can help, what we need to ask.
   What You Can Pray For:
-Better communication between our team and the staff. Hopefully we can all learn from eachother. Remember, there's not only a language barrier, but often times a culture barrier.
-It's my first rodeo. Matt and Blake leave for meetings tomorrow. We won't meet up with them until Friday. Please pray that I don't mess anything up too bad leading the team. I'm going to be watching everything at the hospital tomorrow. I need to figure out how we can improve things for patients, the staff, and teams. Seeing as I don't know common drugs vs. pharmaceutical companies, I'm worried my expertise in the medical sector could hinder this job.