Caution=Men at Work!

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Today we had some of our first classes. It is quite fascinating to learn about the issues Africa faces from the perspective of well educated African professors. They have experienced the conflict, political despair, and trials of their countries first hand. No one understands it like they do. While many of the things they say echo the instruction I have received elsewhere, it is still gratifying to hear answers straight from the horses mouth. (I know that should be possessive, but all the keys on this internet cafe keyboard are screwed up as far as punctuation goes. I think the apostrophe is on the wrong key so please excuse grammatical errors.)

Today got a bit too exciting at night for my liking. We chilled out for a while on a balcony bar overlooking a large intersection in Kampala. We actually thought it was a restaurant, but soon learned it was simply a bar when no menu was brought out. Since the location was so nice we decided to stay and have a drink to enjoy the view. I typically order Bell Lager here. It does not taste the best, but in the heat of Kampala it is the most refreshing beer. A beer here typically costs 2500 Ugandan shillings. That equals 1.25 American dollars. Not bad. The same prices as the Polish Club.

After grabbing dinner at a Lebanese and Indian restaurant we started to head back to the hotel. About a block from the place children started to bother us for money. My friend Kristen who is quite well traveled and experienced checked to make sure the children were not in her bag or pocket. While distracted by this for half a second she tripped over an open manhole. We had been warned to be cautious of the manholes. They are 3x3 squares open in the middle of the sidewalk. They are often left uncovered. Last year a man fell in one after a storm and died. Riots shook Kampala for three days following this. Kristen's mistake showed us all that no matter what your level of experience, even if you are doing something correct like checking to see if a child is in your bag, we cannot be off of our game for even half a second.

I saw the last half of the fall and moved quickly to help her. Later I considered how lucky we had been that she did not fall in. I do not know what we could have done then. She tried to stand, but was dazed and confused. We thought she may have a concussion because of her extreme confusion. We later found out she was fine and figured it was from the pain of her leg. She could not walk on her foot because of her ankle. Her opposite thigh was also severely bruised. She hit it while the other leg was falling in the hole.

We acted quickly to take her to help. Jared decided it would be best to run to the hotel to get a little more help. He also contacted our program director so that she could be taken to the hospital immediately. I carried Kristen back to the hotel. Along the way we worked hard to keep her conscious. She kept passing out from the pain.

She returned about 2 hours later from the hospital. I was thrilled to find her acting normally again. She had difficulty walking at first, but is almost back to normal now. It was a relief to see that she would be okay and especially that she would not have to go home because of it.

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Comments

[Anne]

Wow...so glad to hear the semi-happy ending to that tale! Also glad to hear you are all on high alert for safety. Overall sounds like a very interesting experience for you. Take care and continue to be careful !!! Anne

[Dude]

Error
Thank you for calling attention to the grammatical errors in concert with the originating post. They can be a headache to read through when uncorrected.