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Published: June 21st 2018
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Baby Ba
Our pet baby goat grabbing some munch from the rubbish bin! We are in our third and final week in Rugazi and we have become accustomed to a certain type of living. We no longer fret when the water or power gets shut off, we have become fond of our domesticated goat pets (Baby Ba and Shiba), and we are learning more about the Ugandan culture from our many new friends. We finally know all the places we can find some of our favorite treats such as goat skewers (not for Brooke though), fish and chips, cold soda, shortbread cookies, and Heinz ketchup. Not to mention our favorite morning Rolex (omelet on chapati) and Chapati stand (Thanks Dennis for always being there when we need you most). We were also able to find a little bit of paradise and respite at Kingfisher Lodge, where we got to hang by the pool overlooking Queen Elizabeth National Park. We were very fortunate to have gone to House of Love Orphanage which was just a short boda ride from our dorms and houses about 30 kids, ages 3 through 18. At the orphanage, we were greeted by many smiling faces and hugs. We all agree that our time spent there was one of the best
Damn Dat View
Sunset at Kingfisher Lodge experiences we have had so far. Our afternoon consisted of games, laughter and dancing. Our favorite game the kids taught us was Drip, Drip, DROP, which is essentially Duck, Duck, Goose, but instead of a head tap you get water poured all down your back. We also learned some new dance moves and got to know the caretakers of the orphanage, Moses and Agnes. House of Love is accurately named as we were overwhelmed by the amount of joy and love we had received, safe to say we will never forget our time spent there.
As we finish up our time in Rugazi, our community project is also coming to an end. To
recap, we were assigned the lovely community of Kyambogo, a 20 minute walk from our dorms. The goal of our project was to increase awareness and reduce the spread of upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) in children. We wanted to keep our communities interest, therefore, we came up with fun, engaging ways to get our message across. We held a seminar at a community member named Ben’s home on Tuesday. The seminar had a whopping turnout of 40 children and 13 adults. We decided to
House of Love
Kari with the cutest twins Odelia and Ariana! and Robert. get the boring stuff out of the way first and began with a discussion. We asked the community members to recall things they learned from our last seminar. We we’re happy to see so many volunteers eagerly sharing and demonstrating the DAB. (Yes, we taught them to DAB vs. coughing in their hands). After the presentation, we got into the games! This part was mainly to teach and engage the children. Doreen and Robert taught everyone how to make a “Tippy Tap.” A really neat innovative way to wash your hands with a small jerry can. Shania worked the hand washing station, where we drew a small ‘X’ on the children’s hands with washable marker and asked them to wash it off. This was to teach them approximately how long they should be washing for. Shania’s hands were literally raw from demonstrating proper handwashing 40 times in a row. Following handwashing, Kari and Brooke set up a quick matching game using pictures where the children matched different hygiene products to what they are used for (e.g. match the soap to the hands). Lastly, we played a lively ball game. We all formed a circle and passed the ball around to
House of Love
Shania with the kids post drip drip drop! music. When the music stopped whoever had the ball stated a fact they learned from the seminar (e.g. cover your mouth when you sneeze). This eventually turned into a game of hot potato and a dance party! We left Kyambogo feeling accomplished and are ready to complete our report before putting our community project to rest.
Things are pretty routine at the Health Center, but in exciting news we all got to witness two babies being born, and to our surprise they were both boys and weighed 3.3 kilograms! We also combined forces with the medical students, who we could not have done this without, and decided to donate all the money we raised to the Health Center. Thank you to everyone who donated to both Gofundme pages, as a group we have purchased various much needed medical supplies such as a new baby warmer, fetal doppler, blood pressure cuffs, some pertinent drugs, and many other day-to-day supplies. We are excited for what this means for Health Center IV and how these donations will be able to help them achieve their vision to provide the best health care possible for the people of Rugazi.
As we are gearing
House of Love
Shania and Brooke teaching the kids how-to-selfie. up to leave, we are both sad and excited. We will miss Rugazi, but we are excited for what the next 6 weeks in Mbarara have in store for all of us. We are going to spend the next few days finishing up our project and our work at the Health Center, and finally enjoy Friday evening at our favorite pizza joint Omwani’s for the last time with our new lifelong friends.
Xoxo, Uganda Girls
(Kari, Brooke and Shania)
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