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Published: July 18th 2019
Rugazi
Our living accommodations for 1 month! Hello family and friends,
So once again I must apologize for the tardy update as this past week was very busy and we were on the road far too much for this motion sick girl to type while driving.
July 7
th was a very difficult day for us, as we had to say goodbye to the Ugandan students and the Rugazi community. This was terribly sad as the month in Rugazi went by way too fast; it felt like I had just began to get the feel of the community but it really felt like home for that month. I definitely left a little piece of my heart in Rugazi. I also miss my incredible Ugandan friends/family; it’s so amazing how quickly bonds can form between friends when you are forced to live in a small compound together. We definitely shared many laughs and stories, mainly at my expense but always in good fun.
We also believe we adopted a stray cat (meow-meow) in Rugazi, the first week that just the Canadian’s were there. We gained her trust by feeding her scraps from our plates and she became our pet. Then we came back a week
Rugazi Heath Centre IV
The health center in Rugazi! later with the Ugandan students, who did not like her at all! But then we would catch them feeding her, so in actuality they loved her, but they will forever deny it. It was very hilarious as she was quite vocal when she was hungry and all of the Ugandan students would look at me, as if it was solely my fault that she loved us. So after building her trust, she began to get fatter and fatter, and on our very last night in Rugazi Meow-meow had three little kittens. So it was a very cute way for us to leave the community.
This past week two of our professors and our supervisor met up with us to work on their master’s thesis project. It was very interesting to be part of collecting baseline data for this master’s thesis, as I have never been involved in academia research. We were ultimately collecting qualitative data for this project, meaning that we were gathering personal stories/narratives, writing down everything we were seeing, experiencing, hearing, and feeling. During this time we also got to experience a few university programs and toured two hospitals. The Mulago hospital in Kampala, which is associated
Meow-meow
there are three little kittens here! with the Makerere University, was a one of the largest centers I have seen in Uganda. We were also able to visit an Aga Kahn University to gain an understanding of their nursing program and to understand northern Ugandan educational facilities better. Finally we stopped by the Gulu Regional Referral Hospital, this was my favourite stop, as we were able to partner with a nurse who took us on a tour of the hospital, we were able to see the pediatric ward, labour and delivery ward, as well as the neonatal intensive care unit.
Now we are finally back in Mbarara and volunteering on designated units within the hospital. The ward I selected is the labour and delivery ward, antepartum, postpartum, and the gynecology unit. I started on the 17
th of July and I have already assisted in the delivery of 8 infants. It is so fast paced that they day goes by so quickly, but I am beginning to think labour and delivery might be what I want to do back in Canada. The unit is so busy that within the last 2 days, 2 women have delivered on the floor before we are able to get them
into the labour unit.
Unfortunately, these hospitals are so over capacity that many women have to set up beds on the floor of the unit. However, this does not undermine the fact that the staff are fully equipped to take care of patients. I am learning so much from my Ugandan colleagues that will benefit me greatly coming back to Canada. There are less resources and little-to-no technological devices, so I am forced to better my assessment skills and critical thinking. The staff on the ward have been very supportive, welcoming, encouraging, and friendly that I feel very comfortable and safe to learn within this fast paced environment.
Goodbye for now, and prepare yourselves for more labour and delivery stories,
Brooke.
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