Medical Clinics in the Camps

In addition to going out to Chambrun, our medical teams got to spend time offering clinics in the IDP (internally displaced people) camps. My team spent a day at a smaller IDP camp where there were probably about 100 or so makeshift tents. We used a school bus to transport us and all our stuff around; the bus also served to provide some shade. This is the bus...When we backed the bus into the middle of the camp, within a minute a line had developed. Our translators and a couple of the guys worked on organizing the line and keeping people back so we had room to set up and start working. The Haitians were amazingly patient - once the line had formed, the majority of people were content to wait their turn, even if their turn was a few hours away and they were standing in the sun in 30+ degree weather for that whole time. This is what the line looked like at the beginning...Both nurses and doctors set up stations where we could see patients, in an effort to keep the line moving. Each station also had a translator. I didn't expect that I would see patients as independently as I did, but the doctors were fantastic - any time I had a question, they were happy to come over and see the patient as well. I saw mostly kids and babies, because my specialty is pediatrics and I was definitely more comfortable with them!! (I don't know what to do with adults anymore...)

The patients that I saw during the clinic had pretty unremarkable medical problems - lots of colds and coughs, mild dehydration, and tons of skin infections (usually ringworm). No injuries from the earthquake - most of those had already been dealt with at other clinics/facilities. There were definitely a lot of conditions that were caused or worsened by the stress and trauma people had experienced, though, especially for the adults. Quite a few kids and adults came in with complaints of not being able to sleep since the earthquake. We had a trauma counselor available, and she spent the day talking to people about their experiences during and after the earthquake.

One experience that I had during the clinic sticks out to me. I was seeing kids all day, so this older lady (maybe in her 60s) comes over with a girl who was about 4. She sits down with the kid on her lap at my station. Through the translator, I ask what the problem is for the girl. The lady and the translator get into a long discussion at that point. The translator then tells me that the lady doesn't know the girl and doesn't know if anything is wrong with the girl - she just wanted to be seen quicker so she found a kid in the camp who would stand in line with her.

I felt really frustrated at this point - it was late in the day, I was hot and tired, and I was feeling taken advantage of. I told the lady that I really only know about children, and I might not be the best person to treat her, but she could tell me and I would try. She told me her complaint, and while I don't remember what it was exactly I do know that it was minor. She then starts to tell me that the girl is sick with a cough, which I had a hard time believing since I had just been told that she didn't know the girl! I was getting more frustrated, so I got up and took a break. One of the doctors, Dr. Parkin, was much more graceful than I was and he told me to send the lady over for him to see.

Afterwards, once I had rehydrated, showered, and cooled down (literally and figuratively), I did some reflecting on this situation. I found my response to this lady interesting...her actions may not have been right, but at the same time, I also didn't take the time to look at her situation a bit more holistically - what had she experienced, and what were the reasons for her actions? She was an example of how easy it was for me to forget, in the midst of seeing patient after patient after patient, that all of these people had experienced significant trauma and perhaps needed an extra bit of compassion or understanding from me.

I could keep describing the mobile clinic in writing, but I think pictures might do a better job...

Medical Clinic in Chambrun

One of the clinics that our team worked at was an established clinic in the rural area of Chambrun. (Half of my team would go to Chambrun, and the other half to the mobile clinic each day.) The Chambrun clinic really felt like it was in the middle of nowhere, even though it was only about a 40 minute drive from where we stayed. The clinic was in a really dry, dusty area, surrounded by fields of cacti. When we first drove up to the clinic I was sure that it wouldn't be a very busy place, as I couldn't really see many houses (or areas where it would look like you would want to put a house) nearby. But apparently this clinic is one of the only health facilities in the area, and so it was quite busy. People walked for a long time to get there, and they must have started at dawn or before because they were all there waiting for us when we arrived in the morning.

The clinic was pretty basic - a couple of treatment rooms with beds (like the beds that are in your doctor's office), a pharmacy area, and an outdoor waiting area. This is the waiting area.


The pharmacy. There was a ton of stuff in it, and we spent a lot of time trying to get it organized.

Seeing patients in the hallway...trying to be efficient!


This little guy was really really sick when he first came in - totally limp and not moving much because he was so dehydrated. We put an IV in him and gave him some fluids and some antibiotics. He came back a couple of times to get more fluids and antibiotics, and by day three he looked great - interactive, playful, and pretty much back to normal.



One of the things that I really didn't expect in Chambrun was how much of an impact the earthquake would have had on people's lives. Chambrun doesn't have a lot of infrastructure, and most of the buildings are single story and made of mud bricks with an aluminum roof. Hardly any (if any at all) collapsed during the earthquake. I knew they would have felt the earthquake, but I really didn't expect it to be so central to their lives since there wasn't the physical reminder of collapsed buildings everywhere you looked.

However, I found it interesting that many of their health problems were referenced to the earthquake. Again and again, people would come in, tell me their complaint, and when I asked how long it had been going on for, the answer was usually "since the earthquake." This was especially true for people with headaches, abdominal pain, and trouble sleeping.

One lady brought her three kids to the clinic, and when I asked what was wrong, she told me that the baby is having trouble walking (the baby was about 18 months old). I asked how long the baby had been having trouble walking for, and the standard reply came back - since the earthquake. So I asked why the baby was having trouble walking, and she told me that the baby was scared of the ground shaking and was scared to walk. The baby looked in pretty good shape, and eventually I saw the baby stand and take some steps, so I knew that there must be more to the story. The translator and I did a bit more questioning, and we found out that the real concern was that the mother was widowed, had lost her mother in the earthquake, and was now unable to provide food for her kids and they were hungry.

My interaction with this lady made me a bit sad...here she is, trying the best she can to get help for her kids after experiencing such huge personal loss, spends all day waiting in line to see us after walking who know how far with three kids, and we couldn't really do much for her other than give her kids some basic medications and connect her with the local pastor. This was the case with many families that we met. To me, she was also a clear example of the earthquake's far reaching effects - she didn't live in a tent camp, yet she had been hugely affected by the earthquake and had similar needs to those that did live in the camps. She and many other people that I met in Chambrun reminded me the importance of making sure that support continues to be offered to those who are in need in all parts of Haiti, not just those in Port-au-Prince.

Thanks for reading! Next up...mobile clinics in the tent camps...

Tent cities.

In addition to the huge loss of life due to the earthquake, people have also lost their homes. Many homes have collapsed. Some homes are standing but the structure is damaged. And some homes might even be safe to live in, but people are too afraid to sleep indoors. As a result, people have been forced to find shelter elsewhere.

Many Haitians moved to other parts of the country if they were able, but thousands remain in and around Port-au-Prince. Those that have stayed have created tent camps. Some camps are big (thousands of people), some camps are small (hundreds of people) but you see them everywhere.


All the tents are strategically placed so that should another earthquake hit, nothing will fall on them. This is important - at least in their tent, they feel safe.


The majority of the tents are made of sticks and sheets, and some of them are covered with tarps. Real tents are making their way into Haiti, but the need is far far greater than the supply.

The make-shift tents, even if tarped, are not exactly waterproof, and that means that rain gets everything wet. The tents are also extremely close together and many people share each one.


As you can imagine, hygiene and sanitation in the camps is and will continue to be an issue (and a bigger and bigger issue as time passes, especially during the rainy season). The first big rainfall happened on Friday, March 19 - check out the story here. Sounds awful (and that seems like an understatement). A fresh water supply is being provided in some of the bigger camps via water bladders from Oxfam.


A couple questions often come up when I tell people about the tents. While I can't give definitive answers, I can tell you my thoughts...

Why are so many people tenting in the city? Why don't people just leave Port-au-Prince?
It's their home... Their life is there, their friends and family are there, their family members and friends are buried there. There is no guarantee that life would be better elsewhere. And many of them have hope for the future - for the rebuilding of the city, for the rebuilding of Haiti. The buildings may have fallen down, but the people have not given up hope...

Where are the real tents? I/we've given money...
Good question! I can only hope they are coming...that somewhere in the world, people are frantically making tents (if tent supply is really the issue) and they are being shipped to Haiti as fast as possible. There are a few camps that have been supplied with real tents, so I can see that it is achievable... Hopefully media coverage of the rainy season will pressure governments to get moving on this.

Next up...medical clinic stories! Thanks for reading!

First Impressions

A few thoughts about my first impression and experiences in Haiti...

My team of 17 flew in to Haiti from the Dominican Republic on a United Nations Humanitarian Air Services flight (piloted by Canadians that day). It was a bit of a panic getting on the plane, as we were only allowed one 20kg bag each and most team members had packed huge hockey bags of medical supplies. So our medical supplies stayed in the DR overnight (and fortunately made it to Haiti the next day without issue). Here's me and two of my teammates getting ready to board the plane.

Flying over Haiti, I expected to be able to see evidence of the earthquake as we neared Port-au-Prince. From the air, though, all we could see was the occasional tent camp (the bright blue tarps over the tents made them easy to see) and a huge Red Cross hospital ship in the harbour. Other than that, Port-au-Prince looked pretty unremarkable from the air.

We landed at a UN compound, which was interesting. No immigration, no customs - just got off the plane, walked across the tarmac, and went through a little portable building to enter Haiti. That is probably the only time I will ever have such a straightforward experience entering another country!

Driving to our accommodations, I expected to see destruction everywhere I looked. However, while there were some collapsed buildings, many appeared unharmed from the earthquake. As I began to look closer, though, I could see that while many buildings were standing, lots of them had huge cracks running up the walls. Fences and walls were often leaning at unusual angles, and piles of bricks were everywhere as cleanup was already started in the area (we were in Tabarre). Here is a picture of one of the first buildings that I saw that was completely destroyed - this was a hotel.

While I expected to see more destruction during my first few hours in Haiti, I knew that there was probably a lot more to see and experience that would go beyond my expectations. This was was true. Two things that were beyond what I expected were the epicenter area of Port-au-Prince as well as the Haitian's stories about the impact of the earthquake on their lives (more to come on these topics...).

Thinking back to that first day in Haiti, I realize that at that point I was focusing on the wrong part of the story. My initial focus was to look for destruction, and I was wrongly assuming that if houses were standing the impact of the earthquake on its inhabitants wouldn't be as great as it was for those living in tent camps. In fact, the impact on everyone in the Port-au-Prince area is great - greater than I really anticipated. And while collapsed buildings are dramatic and shocking to see (in person as well as in photos), I found that after a few days I had almost stopped noticing the destruction along the roads we frequently traveled.

While pictures illustrate the destruction more powerfully than I can describe in writing, I hope to communicate some of the stories of the survivors in posts to come...not only stories about loss and struggle, but also stories about resilience and hope.

Haiti - where to begin?

Over the past two weeks I have seen and experienced so much...and I'm not sure I'm ready to put all those experience to words just yet. So, I will start with some pictures...


Signs like this are all over the place. Many of the smaller IDP (internally displaced people) camps will post one, and the cell number is usually for one of the camp leaders.


The plants still growing on the porch of this house/hotel stuck out to me...


Collapsed building, market stall...


An IDP camp...most of the tents in this camp are made of sheets and sticks, with the occasional tarp. (I'll post more on IDP camps later...)

Soldier, public transit (Haiti style) and UN trucks. There is a pretty heavy military and United Nations (UN) presence in parts of Port-au-Prince right now - lots of military vehicles and blue helmets (UN soldiers) driving around.

More pictures and thoughts to come...

The 'beyond'...

I just realized that my blog is titled, 'Africa and Beyond...' Well, as of Feb. 18th, I am off to experience the 'beyond' as I travel to Haiti.

Disaster relief work was something that I wasn't sure I wanted to do...my experience to date has been more focused on development work rather than on people in the midst of crisis/disaster. But an interesting set of circumstances came about a couple of weeks ago, and I find myself now with a flight booked to Haiti! I was chatting with my mom about Haiti and relief work, as she had been considering going on a trip. That conversation got me thinking...thinking about whether this was something that God was asking me to do, and whether I was using excuses to prevent myself from considering going..."I have school"..."work is too busy"..."my passport just expired". That night, I saw that a friend of mine had changed his facebook status to read something like: "Global Aid Network is looking for nurses and doctors to go to Haiti. Email Lindsey for more info". So I did!

There were a few hurdles to get through before I could apply...the first was getting the time off work. My boss wasn't initially all that excited about me going, and took 24 hours to decide, but finally approved the time away! The expired passport was another hurdle. So I went to the passport office Thursday am, and my passport was renewed by Monday. I was also a little worried about missing classes for school, but then realized that the trip dates were exactly during my school break (universities are closing for 2 weeks during the Olympics). After all that, I submitted my application, and found out last Friday night that I had been accepted to go!

So this is what I know so far... Global Aid Network is a humanitarian organization affiliated with Power to Change (aka Campus Crusade for Christ). They have been working in Haiti for a while doing development work, and now are focusing on earthquake relief (mainly medical clinics and clean water initiatives). They have had medical teams on the ground since right after the earthquake. Our team is made up of 17 doctors and nurses, mostly Canadians and a few Americans. We will be working in a medical clinic outside Port-au-Prince as well as offering a mobile medical clinic in some of the IDP camps. It is a short trip, but I expect it will be busy - long days in the clinic. The main concerns that people are coming to the clinic with seem to be dehydration, respiratory illnesses, anxiety-related illnesses - essentially, illnesses related to living outside in makeshift tent cities, not necessarily injuries related to the earthquake.

So that is my story so far...I'll be gone from Feb. 18-28. I hope to post one or two times more before I go, as I get more details about my trip and reflect a bit more on it! Thanks for reading, and thanks also for praying! Very appreciated!!

Where I lived...and a frightening experience!

Some of you have asked what my living accommodations were like when I was in Uganda. Here are some pictures...This is the outside view of the guest house (the black building) and part of the medical clinic. Shaun stayed in the guesthouse, we shared the kitchen area, and I stayed in the clinic building. Here's the kitchen, after we made a huge mess cooking dinner...
The kitchen had two propane burners, so basically everything that we ate did not require refrigeration and had to be able to be cooked in a pot or a frying pan! Pasta, tomato sauce, and canned corn was the default meal if creativity was lacking (which it often was!)

So, now to the frightening experience! A few weeks into my time in Uganda, Shaun and I headed to Kibaale to spend a couple days with our friends Jeff and Shannon. Shaun decided to head into Kampala with Jeff and Shannon for a couple of days after our time in Kibaale, but I decided to head back to Mpigi as I had some things I wanted to do in preparation for the upcoming clinic day. So I got on a taxi in Kampala and traveled back to Mpigi on my own. I arrived no problem, and spent much of the evening with the kids (that was the night of the baby fashion show). The kids went to bed, and I went back to the guest house.

At 10 pm I decided to head to bed. The generator had just been turned off, so the guest house was lit by solar power. I went into the bathroom, closed the door, and then I noticed something unusual. In the corner behind the door there was a black object, kind of coiled up. At first I didn't pay that much attention...the lighting wasn't great, and I was tired. But I looked again, and then I saw the coiled-up thing move...and then I clued in!! It was a snake of some kind...and one that looked black...which was not a good sign. (A note...Ugandans are very, and justifiably, afraid of snakes, as there isn't really such a thing as a harmless snake in Uganda).

I got out of the bathroom as quickly as I could, and willed myself to think of what to do. I grabbed my cell phone, and called the property manager, Mulumba. It was late, so I wasn't sure he was going to pick up...but after the phone rang and rang he finally answered. I managed to get out, "Mulumba, it's Rebekah. I think that there is a black mamba snake in my bathroom!" Mulumba said something to the effect of "oh, goodness", and then said he would call someone to come and help me. (Mulumba lives about a 5 minute drive away from the property).

So I hung up the phone, and then tried to think of what else to do. I then called Shaun, and at that point I started to lose it! I was practically gasping out through sobs that there is a snake in the house...and fortunately, Shaun was thinking clearly since I was not anymore! He wisely suggested that I actually leave the house (I was still standing like 4 feet from the bathroom) and go down to Pastor Geoffrey's house (Geoffrey and his family live on the church property). So grabbed my headlamp and went to wake Geoffrey up. By the time he was out of bed I also heard some boda bodas (motorbikes) coming up the road. It was Mulumba and a few others, armed and ready to get the snake! They had sticks with nails poking through the ends, as well as a bottle of kerosene to drown the snake in if necessary. So we headed up to the guesthouse to get that snake...I think there were 5 of us in total!

Once we got inside, I opened the bathroom door to show Geoffrey where the snake was. However, it was not there anymore! I started to worry that maybe I had just imagined it, and I had gotten all these people out of bed for no reason. I was sure they were going to think that I was just being paranoid and getting over-excited about nothing, and I would just reinforce the stereotype of mzungus not being able to cut it in Uganda!!

As I am starting to think this, I hear Geoffrey moving things around in the bathroom. I then heard Geoffrey yell out, and I hear smack, smack, smack, smack, smack of the stick on the concrete floors. After a few seconds, Geoffrey emerges from the bathroom with a dead snake!! I felt relieved (mostly because I was thankful I hadn't imagined what I saw, and also because the snake was now dead!) I found out that it was a baby cobra, and Mulumba figured it had managed to get in under the door while we were away for those few days since it was pretty small.

So it wasn't a huge snake, and thankfully it wasn't a black mamba (which are extremely deadly), but still!! Thankfully I found it when I did, and didn't accidently step on it in the middle of the night! And I was very thankful that so many people came to help me out that night - they definitely went above and beyond:) We did one final sweep of the house to make sure that there were no mothers or sibilings of this baby cobra hanging around, and then I headed to bed (amazingly, I slept pretty well that night!)

So that was my frightening experience...which now I find quite humorous:) Oh, and don't let this story deter you from going to Africa...I'm sure cobras aren't really all that dangerous, and it was only a baby, after all;)

Life in Zungwe

The Peace Portal Community church property is in the village of Zungwe. I spent an hour or so every few days just going for a walk through the villages near the church property, which was really interesting!! The locals eventually started to get used to the fact that I would just walk with no specific destination in mind - I had lots of people ask me if I was lost! (I was walking for exercise, but that concept is somewhat foreign to the average peasant farmer in rural Uganda who gets more than enough exercise just trying to survive!!) One man, as I passed by him for a second time (on my way back), called out to me, "Mzungu! Where are you going?" I replied, "For a walk." He looked at me, paused for a second, and then said (somewhat incredulously), "You are walking, and you are carrying nothing??" I nodded, and in apparent disbelief at the craziness of mzungus, he headed off to do something more purposeful than what I was doing! That experience made me laugh...although there were a few kids following me at that point, so I didn't laugh too loud!

I really wished I could speak Lugandan fluently when I was walking around the villages, as I am sure I would have had some really interesting conversations with the women I met on my way. In Ugandan culture, even if someone is practically shouting distance away it is expected that you say hello. So I would try to greet most people I met along the way in Lugandan, and often the women would respond in Lugandan and attempt to ask me more questions...which I didn't understand and couldn't answer. Next time, I will have to make more of an effort to get my conversation skills in Lugandan a bit more proficient!

Here are some pictures I took while I was walking around...

A pretty average village road. Uganda is very green...I loved the banana trees that were pretty much everywhere! I had kids following me when I took this picture...they would run to get close behind me, then as soon as I would turn around they would try and hide and pretend that they weren't following me:)

This is 85 year old Vincent, one of the men from the church, working in the quarry that is just down the hill from the church. Working in the quarry involves using a make-shift hammer to smash large rocks into gravel...not the easiest job. (I saw both men and women working at this). This is how Vincent makes money to support his grandchildren (two of his grandchildren live in the children's homes now, which helps).


This is one of the nicer rural homes that I passed regularly as I walked - it was always really well kept!

Medical Clinic

As promised, here is the first of a few blogs posts about my time in Uganda! There were so many things that I wanted to post about and pictures that I wanted to share, but often, getting to a computer that had decent internet access was a challenge! There was an internet cafe in Mpigi town (the town closest to the village where I was living) so I attempted to get access once or twice a week. But often, after walking 15 minutes, hiring a boda boda to take me in to town (about a 10 minute ride), and waiting to get on a computer, I would open my first web page to find out that the internet had gone down, or that the power had gone out, or that the internet was so slow that it was going to take me an hour to load one picture on my blog!! But at the same time, it was nice to not feel so attached to computers and the internet...I learned that it is actually possible to go more than a day without checking my email!

The primary reason for my trip to Uganda was to do some work with the medical clinic that is offered through Peace Portal Community Church. Using funds from Peace Portal Alliance in Canada, the church in Uganda offers a one day per month medical clinic as a community outreach. The goal of this clinic is to demonstrate the love of Christ in a very practical way to the surrounding community. As the clinic is only offered once a month, it is designed to treat non-emergency conditions...the kind of things you would go to your family doctor or a walk-in clinic about. In Uganda, people tend not to go to the doctor for minor conditions, especially since they usually have to pay for the drugs that they might need. The Peace Portal Clinic offers the drugs free of charge, so it is very well received by the community and it helps to prevent minor health problems from becoming larger problems!

I spent some time with the pastor that oversees the clinic as well as the doctor to find out how the clinic has been going over the last year, and to begin working on some plans for how the clinic can be changed and improved. Overall, I was really happy with how things are going, and it was encouraging to see how much can be done for so many people with a relatively small amount of money!

Here are some pictures of the medical clinic...

The pharmacy area...

The nurse giving medications to some of the patients...and
Patrick (the one with headphones in) helping out!

The waiting room!

Goodbye Uganda!

Hello from Swaziland! I’m here for a week visiting my cousin and her family (husband and their four boys) who are serving here for the next two years. I figured that since I was already on the continent, it only made sense to stop in here for a bit before heading home!

So my time in Uganda has come to an end, unfortunately…I would have loved to stay longer, but at the same time I am also looking forward to coming home. When I came I wasn’t sure if I would come home in August, and was prepared to consider staying here longer, but I definitely am feeling that Canada is where I am supposed to be for the next little bit! So while I will be sad to leave Africa (I love it here), I know that Canada is where I am supposed to be this fall and I am looking forward to discovering what the next few months will have in store for me!

But there are definitely more stories still to come from Uganda…lots happened during my time there that I haven’t yet had a chance to blog about! So to save you having to read one really loooong blog post, I will be attempting to update my blog over the next few weeks with shorter posts about different things that I had a chance to do…the medical clinic, going on safari, more stories from the 10 acres, and some reflections on my time in Uganda! And I’ll also be putting my pictures up on Facebook once I am on a computer with a decent internet connection!

This trip has definitely been a great experience for me, and I am now starting to process how I can and should live when I return home to Canada. As this is my fourth trip to Africa, I know that I could very easily just fall back into “normal” life in Canada and it could be just like it was before I left…but that is what I really don’t want to do! I still haven’t quite landed on how this is going to look…so it will be an interesting journey for sure. Thank you also to those of you who have been praying for me while I was in Uganda…I really appreciate it, and God has definitely answered your prayers on my behalf! So thank you again!

So, more to come in the next few weeks…and I will see you soon! I arrive in Vancouver on August 14th at about three in the afternoon, so feel free to give me a call anytime after that! Take care!

Baby Fashion Show

The children’s homes here in Mpigi house 52 kids. While the target age for the kids here is 3 and older, there is one baby who is about 14 months old who is living here as well. He was rescued from a difficult home situation, and the kids and the house moms here love having him around! His name is Zwa, but the moms have renamed him Mokisa, which means “fortunate one”. They feel like this baby has been given a second chance at life, so they felt that this new name was more fitting! It has been great to see Zwa grow and develop in the time that I have been here…he is definitely starting to thrive in this new environment.

However, Zwa didn’t have many clothes when he came here, and most of the donations that we get are for older kids. When I was in Kibaale, I found a bunch of second-hand baby clothes for sale at the market for 500 shillings each (that is like 35 cents). So I picked up a few shirts and shorts for Zwa.

I brought the clothes over to Suubi house to give to the house mother, Mama Rose. She was so excited! She made me go get my camera, and then we did a baby fashion show…she started putting outfits on Zwa, and then getting me to take pictures of him…it was hilarious! All the other kids were just loving it…they were cheering, and laughing, and just so happy for little Zwa. Here are some pictures of the fashion show…

Zwa posing in outfit number one…

Zwa and Mama Rose…and Zwa loving being the centre of attention…

All the kids cheering for Zwa!

Kibaale

I had a chance to spend a few days with my friends Jeff and Shannon Dyck (and family) where they live in Kibaale. Kibaale is about 120 kms southwest from where I am staying. In Kibaale I was able to visit the clinic that operates on the property, and also went on some outreach community visits. Outreach visits are when the clinic staff travel to a nearby village and provide immunizations for babies. They also go and visit people at their homes and make suggestions as to how they can improve their home and the surrounding area to help improve their health. Here are some pictures from my time in the village…

Handwashing station that they encourage all families to build…

Random guy showing me how to row a boat…

Immunizing babies!

Music Video

I got a great welcome back from all of the kids and house moms on the property when I returned from my week at Sanyu. I love living in community here – people are interested in everything that is going on, and are constantly checking in on how things are going. Pretty much every time I leave the property, even if it is just to go to the market to buy vegetables, someone wishes me a “safe journey”, and when I return everyone I see welcomes me back. I think this is something that I will miss when I return to Canada!

I spent most of last Saturday hanging out with the kids, and then at 5pm tons of people started showing up on the property. I asked what was going on, and they told me that we were going to watch some music videos in the church!

Let me backtrack a bit…when I first arrived in Mpigi, the church was being used constantly – people were singing and dancing in the church building all the time. I found out that one of the musicians from the church had written some songs and was making them into music videos. So one Monday, a producer and cameraman from Kampala came to Mpigi to film the music video. The church was packed, people were in costumes, they were dancing and singing, and trying (unsuccessfully) to convince me to dance in the video!

So last Saturday we had a chance to watch the completed videos! Everyone showed up at 5pm, and we were waiting…and waiting…and waiting…at 6:30pm we all moved in to the church to wait some more. People weren’t impatient…instead, they used the time that we were all waiting to start up an impromptu dance party! There was one little guy who was probably 4 or 5, and he was the star of the show…probably one of the better dancers I have seen in a long time! Finally, at about 8:30pm, the video arrived with the producer from Kampala and the show began!

It was great to see so many of the church community members in the videos…and whenever one of them appeared, the whole crowd of about 120 people started cheering! The videos were great…totally done Ugandan style, which is hard to explain in a blog post, but I am hoping to be able to get a copy of the DVD to bring with me back to Canada!

Music videos in Uganda…an unexpected but very fun evening!!

Here's a picture of Segawa picking up the dry laundry...

Sanyu Babies Home

Hello from Uganda!

Time is going by quickly now…I only have about two weeks left in Uganda (and then a week in Swaziland), which is hard to believe! I feel like I am finally just getting settled in to life here, and already I feel like it is time to wind down.

I spent a week at Sanyu Babies Home, which is an orphanage for babies and kids up to 3 years old in Kampala. (For those of you that know Jeff and Shannon, Sanyu is the orphanage where they adopted Mazzy from!) It was fun to spend time with the little ones, and I met a bunch of interesting people from all over the world who were also volunteering there (from Australia, the UK, Holland, Norway…)

Here are some pics of my time at Sanyu…

The little babies… Playtime...

Meal time…

Out with new friends…

A challenging word...

This past Sunday at church, I had the opportunity to hear a very challenging message from Pastor Geoffrey. Geoffrey is one of the full time pastors here at the church, and as I write this, he is spending the day in the church in prayer for the community here. Geoffrey, his wife Rose, and their three kids Esther, Isaac, and Praise live here on the church property. Here is a picture of Praise:

So this is the text that Geoffrey preached on:

2 Corinthians 8:1-4
And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints.

He also used a couple of verses from Proverbs:

Proverbs 28:27
He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses.

Proverbs 21:13
If a man shuts his ear to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered.

Geoffrey’s encouragement to the congregation was to give from what they had, following the example of the Macedonian churches that were joyfully giving out of their extreme poverty. Listening to this message in a church full of people, many of them unemployed, or single parents, or elderly and struggling to meet the needs of their grandchildren, or parents who can barely afford the rent of their dirt hut and school fees for their children definitely got me thinking!! It is one thing to hear a message like this delivered from the comfort of a North American church, but in this setting I found this word much more challenging to hear.

Here are some things I have been thinking about following this message…
-do I give joyfully?
-what does it mean to give as much as I am able, and even beyond my ability?
-is giving a privilege for me?
-how should I respond to the cry of the poor?

This message will definitely keep me thinking for a while!!

And just so you can see that I really am in Uganda…here are some pictures of me with the kids, playing...you guessed it…memory!!




And one more picture of the kids playing taxi...using some leaves and ropes tied together and some sticks!

That's all for now! Take care!

Hospitals and taxis...

Hello from Uganda! It has been an interesting week since I last posted, so I will try to fill you in on what I have been up to.

One of the things that I wanted to do while I was here in Uganda was to develop a better understanding of the Ugandan health care system. As most of you know, I have been involved in the planning and oversight of a clinic here on the church property in Mpigi, so I wanted to gain a better understanding of what health care services are available here, and how the clinic at the church fits into the bigger picture of health care in this area.

Here’s a bit of a side note…just so you know what I am referring to when I say Mpigi! Mpigi is the name of one of the many districts in Uganda…similar to regions, such as Metro Vancouver, in BC. And also in Mpigi district is Mpigi town, where the market, internet café, taxis, and other shops are located. Mpigi town is about a 10 minute boda boda ride from the church property, which is in the village of Ziwangwe (not sure if that spelling is even close to correct, but you get the idea!)

So, step one was to meet the woman in charge of health care services in Mpigi District, Dr. Ruth. I had emailed a contact from my trip last year, and she had let Dr. Ruth know that I was coming. After a couple of awkward meetings with Dr. Ruth at the Mpigi Ministry of Health offices, which involved a lot of waiting and a lot of long (and for me awkward) silences, I had in my possession a letter of introduction to the in-charge at a few different health care centres around the district, so that I am able to go and see the facilities.

So the first place I went to visit was Gombe Hospital, where I have spent 3 days during the past week. Gombe Hospital is about a 45 minute taxi ride from Mpigi town. So the first morning, I showed up to the taxi stop at about 8 am. Taxis in Uganda are vans that are designed for 14 passengers – two up front by the driver, and then 4 rows with 3 seats per row. However, it is extremely rare for a taxi to only carry 14 – average is probably closer to 22, and often even more than that. And that is not counting babies and kids, bags of produce or animals, and other random supplies that people need to transport. And the other thing about taxis in Uganda is that they don’t leave until they are full…and full for the Gombe taxi is at least 18 people. So unfortunately, that first morning, I was one of the first people to arrive. So I waited…and waited…and waited for the taxi to fill, and by 9:30 the taxi finally left. Along the way we continued to pick up people, cramming them into every available space in the taxi. It was the same story pretty much every day that I went…although one day was especially bad, as I had to sit with my knees practically to my chest as there were two large rolls of sheet metal underneath the seats! Oh, and did I mention that I was the only mzungu (white person) in the taxi?

This is a picture that I took while I was sitting crammed in the middle of the taxi…

Anyways, I survived the taxi trips to and from Gombe (going home was not usually quite as bad, but still was pretty full!) My first day at Gombe was spent at the HIV outpatient clinic and touring the pediatric ward, and I spent the next two days at the maternity ward. The midwife that was working there, Christine, was very friendly and helpful, and I learned a lot! On the second day, I was able to see two births, which was great!
Hospital care is definitely different in Uganda compared to Canada!! For example, the pediatric ward has a typical nurse patient ratio of 2 nurses to 40 patients. The maternity ward is about the same. However, families are involved in much of the patient care, so that is helpful. The maternity ward does not have any running water, so water is stored in big barrels and scooped out as necessary. And there is definitely a lack of resources throughout…for labour, each women is expected to bring her own plastic sheet to cover the bed where she will deliver, as well as sheets for the baby to be cleaned off with after delivery. And after the baby was delivered, the midwife turned to me and said, “In Uganda, we improvise.” She then ripped the cuffs off of her latex gloves and used the bits of the glove to tie off the baby’s umbilical cord! Yet overall, in spite of a lack of resources, I was very impressed by the care that was provided to the patients at the hospital. The other birth I got to see was a C-section…but I’ll spare all you non-medical types the details!

So that’s a bit about what I have been up to since I have been here. And although life is very different here, I am learning a lot and definitely being challenged by what I am experiencing …both in the health care system as well as in daily life in the community. But I’ll save all that for another post, since this one is getting long!

Thanks for your emails and comments…I love hearing what is going on back home! Oh, and for those of you who have been on trips to Mpigi previously…the people here have definitely not forgotten you (pretty much daily someone asks me if I know how someone from a previous trip is doing), so if you want to send a message of greeting to anyone feel free to do so through me…they would really love to hear from you!

Here's a picture of some of the kids playing memory...

That’s all for now…take care!!

Hanging out in Mpigi...

Hello from Mpigi, Uganda!

So, this is my second week here in Mpigi…and I am enjoying being back here. Culture shock hit me a bit harder this trip than it has in previous years, but I am starting to adjust to life here! The biggest challenge for me is letting go of my need to fill every second of time…I am learning to just be, which is surprisingly difficult at times!

I have also been spending lots of time playing with the kids on the property…they often seek me out and request, “Rebekah, game!” We have been playing the card game Memory quite a bit, as well as some dominoes…they love it! They will play for hours at a time…it is great!

Here are some pictures of the kids (they love the camera!)



Christine is one of the younger girls here. Last year she was pretty quiet and reserved, but now she is chatty and playful and is even learning a few English words!
















Wasswa and Kato are identical twins who are tons of fun. They have been living in the Children’s homes since the first home opened, and it has been great to watch them grow over the years. They are much less clingy now (some of you who have been here before may remember that about them), and they are always talking and laughing and wrestling, like brothers do!




Sandy is another one of the little guys here…he is a character, and has a pretty constant pout unless he is the centre of attention! I caught a smile in this picture…












That’s all for now…hope you enjoyed the pictures! Take care!

(oh, and Cheryl...definitely no Jungle Oats for me...right now, my breakfast of choice is Fruit Loops;)