Blogs from Western Region, Uganda, Africa - page 9

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Africa » Uganda » Western Region » Mbarara July 31st 2016

Time has flown by this week! And so much to write about but I will be highlighting the big three for this week. On Monday we held our second pads training day in a village close to Kihwa called Nyamuyanja (spelling may be wrong on that one). This was a brand new group that we scoped out and we were all a bit nervous of how it would go down but it was FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC! The girls and women were so receptive to our messages and asked us so many questions. They were all so eager to learn how to sew liners and care for their shields and liners so they would last them a long time. Our spunky little Vivian took the cake on getting everyone riled up again by getting all the girls and women ... read more
The pads!!!
All of the women and girls who participated! 71 in total
Sewing our liners

Africa » Uganda » Western Region » Mbarara July 29th 2016

What a week! I have to say, this has probably been one of the busiest weeks that I personally have gone through thus far in the Uganda trip. Let’s start at the beginning! Sunday was our last day at beautiful Lake Bunyonyi. This lake was easily one of the most gorgeous views I have seen in the trip, although it’s a tough comparison against the mountains in Ruhija. We were very sad to pack up all of our belongings from our canvas tents (which were SO cool), but we ended up begging Silas and David for more time at the lake. Luckily we were able to squeeze in some extra time to try canoeing and another dip in the crater lake. We then packed ourselves into two vans, stopped for some juicy pineapple and gooseberries, and ... read more
Dip in the Crater Lake
Cervical Cancer Screening Day!
Scalpel, please?

Africa » Uganda » Western Region » Mbarara July 19th 2016

It’s been over 10 days since we left Rugazi and returned to Mbarara to work in the hospital. Saying goodbye to our friends in Rugazi was hard. Everyone teared up at least a little bit. Two hours in the public taxi later, we arrived back in Mbarara. Our homes were waiting for us in what is known as the Expat Village. We scrambled to get supplies and stay organized because we had a weekend trip planned starting Thursday afternoon. Our weekend trip included 2 nights at Lake Bunyoni and for some of us, a safari and night of camping at Lake Mburo. Silas is our contact (and now friend) that organized the safari for us. He picked me, Carrie, Dayna, Jill and Joline up on Thursday and we headed for Lake Mburo. Lake Mburo National Park ... read more
Zebra
Dayna and Jill
Local food

Africa » Uganda » Western Region » Mbarara July 19th 2016

You know when you get to be a part of something special but then as you carry the activity out it really hits you how special it is? I had that feeling doing our first pads training day at Kihwa. I always was excited about this project, spearheaded by none other than Zed, but I don't think I really got how amazing I would feel being on this side of the project. So this project started last year when Zed started up a billion sewing machines back in Canada (mine included) with a plea for us to make as many reusable pads as we could to send and donate to the women at Kihwa school. The sad story here is a lot of women do not have the resources to deal with the monthly visit of ... read more
Beautiful Rose and her husband
Kihwa greeting
Sewing their own reusable liners

Africa » Uganda » Western Region » Mbarara July 18th 2016

Hello again, and welcome to this little snapshot our life in Mbarara, Uganda! This week brought us nurses another week of working at the Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital (MRRH)- it’s a huge hospital that supplies a large portion of the country’s referral needs. Britany and Carrie are on maternity, I (Brooklyn) am on surgical emergency/paediatric surgery, and Joline and Dayna are on paediatric ward. For some (Carrie, Dayna, and Joline), this was their first week back in the city hospital because they stayed behind in Rugazi, so it was a week for them to get used to this new environment! Working at this hospital has been such a joy for me, as I have been able to really get to know the health care system and the challenges associated with living here and accessing care. This ... read more

Africa » Uganda » Western Region » Mbarara July 17th 2016

The first week of work in Mbarara passed relatively quickly. After the excitement of the weekend in the southern part of the country, Monday morning seemed a little daunting. Yet since it was the first day of work here in the city, the usual dread of Monday was intertwined with excitement of the new and unknown. I spent my first week on labor and delivery; originally, I was meant to be there for three weeks, but my extra two weeks in the community detracted from that time. The delivery ward consists of antenatal, delivery, and postnatal wards; we spent the majority of our time in delivery, as that of course is the most exciting. In actuality, I only spent a day and a half total on the ward, the other days taken up with community activities ... read more
Wrangling!
My First Animal Blood Draw
Tagging Cows

Africa » Uganda » Western Region » Mbarara July 14th 2016

It’s hard to believe it’s all ready been eight weeks since we arrived in Uganda. After six weeks apart, the twelve of us are all back together again in Mbarara. I’ll walk you through the last part of the week… Wednesday was our final day in Rugazi; Dayna, Joline, Jillian, Tenielle, and I departed in the afternoon to meet up with the rest of our U of S team back in the city of Mbarara. It was a bittersweet goodbye – we were excited for the weekend ahead of us, but so sad to be saying farewell to our Ugandan friends. Our time in Rugazi was a truly memorable experience, and will forever be in our hearts. The Ugandan students saw us onto a public taxi, and we waved goodbye and shed some tears as the ... read more
Lake Mburo Crew
The Fabulous Five
Dayna and Joline

Africa » Uganda » Western Region » Mbarara July 12th 2016

This past week and a half has been a complete whirlwind! And I have loved every minute of it! Last week some of us were fortunate enough to be invited with the other Nutrition and Dietitic students working here to host a nutrition camp at Ruharo Mission Hospital. This is a fairly swanky hospital within Mbarara that has one of the top optometry clinics in the country and hosts children with disabilities in a specific facility dedicated to just them. Originally the camp was to be just one day but due to Eid (the end of Ramadan) we were asked to make it two days and it was so worth it! We had such amazing support for the Ruharo staff. Basically every staff member came in, got registered, allowed us to to anthropometric measurements on them, ... read more
Food demo station at Day 2 of Ruharo Nutrition Camp
Most of the team for the Ruharo Nutrition camp
Me, Richele and James

Africa » Uganda » Western Region » Mbarara July 11th 2016

July 10, 2016 Agandi! - Hello, how are you? Week seven?! I had to check the calendar to be sure myself but yes we have in fact completed our seventh full week in Uganda and a busy one at that. The week kicked off with two days spent working on the paediatrics ward at the Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital where I am spending the majority of my time during our six week clinical rotation. The paediatrics ward is adjacent to the nutrition centre at MRRH which is logical as a large percentage of the children admitted are malnurished to some degree. The first few days last week spent on the ward were an adjustment as I had no previous clinical experience and had only ever read about the signs and symptoms of malnutrition in a textbook. ... read more

Africa » Uganda » Western Region » Mbarara July 10th 2016

The last week has been, quite simply, amazing. It’s been four days of pure amazement and a feeling of stupefaction that this is, in fact, my life. Whether it is because I chose this life, this life chose me, whether it’s something good I did in a past life, or that it’s completely unrelated to anything mystic and I’ve simply been randomly birthed into this wonderful life, I write this with the awareness that I have privilege, and for that I am thankful. Without privilege, these experiences would not be mine. True, I’ve worked hard, and dedicated my life to making these dreams my reality, but it comes down to so much more than that. This Sunday I am extremely grateful for the scholarship that sent me here, and for my parents and grandparents, who filled ... read more
Water Buck
With Sunday our Camp Cook
14 Year Old Male




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