Blogs from Western Region, Uganda, Africa - page 10

Our time in Rugazi has come to an end. In only two more sleeps and I will be in a crowded van on my way back to Mbarara… The last week went well; I worked again in the inpatient ward, administering medications, performing IV starts, and scratching my head at some of the more troubling cases. There are really only a few courses of treatment provided here – antibiotics, malaria treatment, and fluid replacement. There were a couple of psychiatric cases the last couple weeks, and they receive an antipsychotic and/or mood stabilizer. The more time I spend at the clinic, the more I realize that a lot of what is done here is a crap shoot – different clinical officers prescribe different drugs and dosages for similar symptoms; antibiotics are used in abundance, I would ... read more

I’m a little behind in blogging my adventure. But if you bear with me, I’ll catch you up. Last Saturday, three of the muzungus returned to Mbarara to start their hospital placements. Five of us elected to stay here in Rugazu and see through a little bit more of the community projects. Dayna and I are the remaining muzungus in Rugazi Group B and Jill, Joline and Carrie remained here to work with Group A. The past two weeks our group has been making a lot of headway on our community project. Our goal/objective (or “measurable result” as they call it here) is to increase the number of people using family planning in our village. Two weeks ago Britany, Dayna and I were stationed in OPD. The week was fairly standard, except for Thursday and Friday. ... read more

Another week down - oh, the tricks of time, weeks pass in the blink of an eye, but there are times when a half hour can feel so long… I have decided to remain on in Rugazi for the extra ten days. It was not an easy choice, but as I flipped through the pages of my journal seeking my answer, I remembered how excited I was when we were originally granted permission to stay the extra week and a half in the rural community instead of returning to the city. I decided I wouldn’t let my emotions or temper get in the way of that. Although it is difficult to work within the group and cultural differences sometimes, I decided that if I can get through working with this one man, then I should be ... read more

Another week, another entry! This week you are stuck with me (Joline), as I take you through our third week in Rugazi, Uganda. It amazes me how fast the time has gone in the last few weeks, each day a brand new, unforgettable adventure. This week has been a whirlwind, making it very difficult to capture all of our activities in a single blog entry! Bare with me as I attempt to paint you a picture of our experiences. We kicked off the week visiting Kingfisher Pool (Dayna, Britany, myself, and some of the Ugandan students) and the House of Love Orphanage (Carrie and Brooklyn) on Sunday. That night we prepared a “Canadian” version of the taco for supper, with the substitution of chapatti for taco shells (which was even more delicious)! We stuffed our chapatti ... read more

This week was busy! There was not a lot for us to do in maternity so we tried to make ourselves useful in other places. Wednesday it was very cold and pouring rain. None of the Ugandan students woke up to go to work. The clinic is primarily staffed by students, so when we arrived at work, the outpatient clinic was open but no one was present to run lab tests. One quick training session later and my super nurses, Dayna and Britany, were drawing blood and running tests for HIV, malaria and TB. My job was to record the results in the laboratory test register and return the charts to the clinic officer. It was nice to do something different for a change. Thursday we all took an hour off in the morning to do ... read more