Week Three: Tacos, Machetes, and Marriage Proposals!

---

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 with homemade salsa and guacamole, ground beef, cheese, lettuce, tomato, rice, and beans, and attempted to teach the Ugandans how to roll a taco. However, many of them stuffed the chapatti too full, making this a very messy meal!



This week in the health centre, Brooklyn was in outpatient, Dayna and Britany were in labor and delivery, Carrie took part in the antenatal care clinic, and I was in the inpatient wards. This week proved to be very busy in the healthcare centre, as the supplies and medications arrived Monday. News travelled fast to all of the villages, resulting in a large influx of patients.



On top of this, our two community health groups were busy beginning interventions in the villages. Group B, including Dayna and Brooklyn, planned health education sessions at both the primary and secondary schools in their villages. On Thursday, they assembled the students of the secondary school for career counselling, and HIV education, utilizing a hilarious play in which Dayna got married! On Friday, Group B went to the primary school and delivered a health talk about hand-washing, personal hygiene, and feminine health. Group A, including Carrie, Britany, and I, continued to survey women in the antenatal clinic, and plan interventions. On Friday, we went to the Kindergarten/ Primary School to do a Father’s Day craft with the children (as planned by Carrie)! We also sent flyers home with each child, inviting the families to the school on Sunday so the fathers can be presented with a card.



In addition to the group projects, many of us have taken initiatives to take-on additional projects within the health centre. Dayna, Britany, and Tenielle (a fellow nutrition student) designed and constructed a working tippy-tap outside of the latrines near the outpatient department. The fact that they now know how to use a machete is both impressive and terrifying to the rest of us! Jillian (another nutrition student) researched and organized a nutrition information session for patients with HIV who would be attending the Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) Clinic on Friday, and kindly asked me to be her artist for the posters! We delivered the presentation in English, and utilized Ambrose (a Ugandan student) and Michael (clinic officer) in translating into the local language. The presentation was very well received, with several questions afterwards.



By the time the weekend arrived, we were all exhausted, and our plan to go out dancing Friday night turned into a short game of “Heads Up,” followed by an early night. Saturday morning came with rain, and we decided a movie was in order. Dayna and Britany pushed their bunk beds together and we successfully fit seven Canadians on the bottom bunks to watch “The Last King of Scotland.” Our NCLEX textbooks came in handy to prop up the computer, so one could say we studied quite hard!



Overall, this week has been outstanding. I particularly enjoyed witnessing Dayna and Britany deliver a baby, being able to utilize my artistic side in creating health education materials, interacting with the children at the schools, working with medical students from Kampala International University in the inpatient wards, and running with Jillian on a beautiful path to the Crater Lakes! I have thoroughly enjoyed every moment, and look forward to the next chapter of our journey! Stay tuned for another entry in a week’s time!



Much love,



Joline

P.S. Keep scrolling down for additional pictures of our week 😊

---

Photos

When it rains it pours!
Dayna, Brittany, & Tenielle going to work in the rain!

Brittany, Dayna, & Tenielle trying to be engineers (with Michael's help)!
Such a sturdy tippy-tap!