This Isn't "anywhere" Else in the world!

We arrived in Kampala very late on Thursday after a long flight via Amsterdam and then transit through Rwanda. The hotel where we are staying is basic and comfortable and  clean. Yesterday we had only sporadic internet and were in classes all day until 5 pm. They again emphasized how important it is to protect ourselves from Malaria and showed a compelling video about a Peace Corps volunteer who had died of it, and another who was critically ill. So I am taking my meds despite the fact they make me feel a bit off.  After all of these years abroad I am taking anti-Malarial's for the first time but I am also in probably the most critical spot on the planet. There were recently about 160 new cases of Malaria in Lira so ....... I take the medication which in itself will not provide complete protection. This map of Malaria in Uganda gives an idea of the severity.

Today we went out to purchase sim cards, have a look around and go to the bus station. That was interesting as we were caught in a traffic jam for about an hour. It has taken on a dream like quality at this point. We are back at the hotel and then language class at 5 pm. Yesterday at 5 everyone was nodding off so should be interesting. I'm not counting on learning too much although I can now say Thank You, in at least one of Uganda's 40 active languages!










Some of the GHSP volunteers continued on for an extended tour and went to visit a Mosque and here they are! David was here with with the previous group and has been our guide throughout our time here in Kampala, he's the guy with the great big smile .....always.

Things I find most interesting: The fact that the weather is so much nicer here then DC, almost a chill in the air when there is a breeze. Very pleasant. The sun is very hot and those people sitting out there selling items on the road side seem to take it all in a days stride, much better than me I am sure!

Bus Station Kampala

Elections are coming. Great campaign photos out there that could be used quite nicely in the US. Things such as "respect the other guys opinion" more or less.


Youth, the young are everywhere! Uganda has the youngest population in the world with 77% of its population being under 30 years go age.

And we're off!

We departed the hotel at 11 with hundreds of pounds of luggage. Everyone pretty stressed about how much stuff they had. Robert, one of the other volunteers and I pooled together and bought a suitcase and checked it in together. Much stress about bags weighing over 50 pounds and then a long ride to the airport and we were all pretty quiet as well. Had a fairly long wait until the counter opened but I got a great check in agent and told him that one bag was lighter and others heavier and he said not to worry,..... they all weight 45 pounds. Victory for me! All that stress over a few pounds here or there. After checking in the bags we all met up in the bar to relax and recoup.

Nice flight over to Amsterdam on KLM and now we wait for boarding. We had a tearful goodbye to the rest of the group who are going to Tanzania and now we wait........ We have one stop over on the way, not sure which country and then.... Kampala. I have some fun pictures to go with this but don't have a sim card or any way of getting them from my phone. More as it unfolds and evolves. 

Graduation

And here we are. What an amazing group of people. As for me I am rushing about, trying to finish things up and trying to take care of last minute things. It seemed wonderful that the hotel has a washer and dryer however with some of the group departing at 2 am we just ran into a snag that one of the washers isn't working. I'm waiting in line and a bit stressed about overweight baggage which is how I have spent the past 35 plus years of my life it seems. The good old days was when you could carry 70 pounds on your international journey.

I am so blessed to have met these amazing people and to be part of this group.

Here is the Seed Global write up: 

2015 Global Health Service Partnership Graduation

On Tuesday July 21, 2015, twenty-seven (27) Global Health Service Partnership Volunteers (10 physicians and 17 nurses/NPs/CNMs) were celebrated in a ceremony to conclude their 10-day pre-service orientation at Peace Corps Headquarters in Washington, DC yesterday. These Volunteers will depart for Malawi, Uganda, and Tanzania on Thursday to serve one year physician and nurse educator assignments. Their work with the Global Health Service Partnership will improve clinical education, expand the base of physician and nursing educators, and build healthcare capacity in countries that face critical shortages of healthcare providers.

SImulation Lab George Washington University

As part of our orientation and site training we were taken to the Sim Lab at George Washington University. I have taken the liberty of clipping a few pictures here and there from their website in case someone is planning on joining this effort in the future and wants a glimpse into what our training is like. This was a very beneficial time where we could actually practice procedures that might not be part of our specialty, I delivered a "practice" baby and intubated a child. Great opportunity.

George Washington University 

Taken from the Simulation Lab pictures available online. The mannequins are quite realistic. I thought it was nice that they were well draped and treated with dignity as though they were a real person. You can deliver a baby, due a tubal ligation, start an IV and many other procedure that we will all find beneficial in the days to come and probably needed to practice on. 

Our final day of lectures today and we will be focused on Malaria!

Departing DC tomorrow

Tomorrow is Departure Day. My room looks like a typhoon hit and I need to do laundry and a few other things. Bringing us out to DC for staging was perfect, it has been so hot and humid that we have a real taste of what life will be like in Uganda. Yesterday we went to the sim lab at George Washington University and had an amazing introduction to skills that we will be expected to know and have in our respective hospitals and centers. This might seem like a given for many of us but we have been busy with our own specialties and not delivering babies (ever for me) lately for some. The Simulation lab is just incredible and we all gained so much from this experience. We have been led by an incredibly knowledgeable crew that have tried their best to impart a huge amount of knowledge to us in this short time. We had our closing ceremony today and received our white coats and our pins of Peace Corps and Seed. Very impressive and heart warming. We are ready. Picture from Seed Global FB page

Ernesto Sirolli: Want to help someone? Shut up and listen!

A really big deal: Orientation DC

One week completed. We have had lectures from some of the best in their field and the lectures have ranged from creepy skin disorders to effective teaching methods. Every hour of every day has been scheduled and several days we have had meals at the PC headquarters delivered in while we eat and learn. Nothing has been boring or not important to what we will see in the year to come. The lectures are engaging, interactive, and have included how to learn a language, cultural awareness, and diseases, of course. In all it was a satisfying week. On Tuesday I was wondering how not only I could have lived abroad but how I could have taken my children to the third world but today it is starting to all come together, or maybe it is just Friday afternoon.

Here is a picture that I took from the Seed Global FB page that they posted of some of us.

Peace Corps Headquarters DC, Seed Global Orientation 2015

Plenty of discussions this week on the mosquito.  They were a big deal in all those other countries where I lived but seems to be a much bigger deal in Africa or at least I am finally paying attention. We all did have pretty severe malaria in India once upon a time, it was absolutely awful and terrible to watch my kids suffer from it too. I don't think I was paying enough attention to how dangerous it was as I was caught up in how uncomfortable it was, and I was too sick to care.

1. One advantage I have is that mosquito's have never really "liked me." I hope the ones in Uganda feel the same about me, certain these little buggers will provide me with many opportunities in the year to come though to see the damage that they can do. Hope to have very few encounters but the more I listen the more I learn how we will be front and center. 

We have had the chance to meet with numerous volunteers who are just returning from our three countries of Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda and those who served two years ago. We have had lectures of some of the DC areas finest professionals and have learned about everything from how to avoid malaria to how to teach a good class. The co-ordinators from our respective sites were brought in from Africa to meet with us and to share from their experiences on what we can expect, they headed back today and will be there to meet us when we arrive next week. Bonny the director from Uganda was here and was receptive to hearing about our questions and aspirations.

The Program Managers from Tanzania, Malawi and Bonny from Uganda with Pat Doust who has been an important part of the development of Seed and also in my own journey will be missed as she moves on to a new position.

Returned Physicians and Nurses brought in to share a wealth of information 

Carrie and I representing Uganda!

Carrie is a former PC volunteer who just came back from Lira having just completed a year with GHSP living and teaching in Lira. She was one of my first contacts in Lira after I learned I was going and she was the first person to respond to my email some months back with me saying "tell me everything." We set up a Skype call and with the other nurses and she has continued to provide me information and encouragement. We met up for dinner and Carrie was one of the excellent presenters who shared her story about what it is like to teach in Lira. She has been a fantastic resource and I am grateful to her.

Bonnie gave out the schedules of what our program looks like and ....... it is pretty remarkable. We fly into Uganda and if all goes well we touch down at about 10:45 pm after a very long flight that goes via Amsterdam and one other stop. We meet for breakfast the following morning (Saturday)  at 7 and the day continues on to a get together at 6 that evening. Somewhere in there they even have a language class scheduled, ha ha! I'm sure I will ace that one. The schedule continues into Sunday which is a full day and then into the week. We go for a homestay in our towns on Thursday and I will be with a Ugandan family in Lira and will have a chance to meet my counterparts at the University. Looks to be a very full schedule. The one thing I am confident about is that I am in very good hands. This is Group 3 for this program and they continue to learn from their experiences with the other volunteers. VERY interesting! All of it.  My assumption was that we were arriving on Friday so we could rest up from the trip over and begin fresh on Monday.  No whines, just observations.

They have more confidence in me then I have in myself that I might be up for any language learning the day after that trip but here we go.............anything is possible! I might actually learn something.