Mom's Visit - Part 1

Hello everyone-
My mom is here and we are in the far southwestern corner of Uganda enjoying a break from life on safari! With some persuasion, I have convinced my mom to guest post on my blog this week about her time in Kampala, and then I will post as usual on Friday about our safari. Warning: there are LOTS of pictures!

Kampala - boda rides, busyness, and traffic
 What a busy city!  Traffic is terrible.  I would never want to drive here. The easiest way to get around is on a Boda. They dart in and out of traffic along side of the cars and on the eedge of the road.  I did a lot of praying that we would arrive safely. My final ride was to church.  I held on for my life, when we arrived my hands were beat red and they hurt.  Not my way of traveling.

On the boda boda with Laura's driver Solango

Places We Have Experienced - Mainly Shopping :)

Sseko Sandals Factory - Great company - you can check them out here

Ssekos was a Great factory. They employ women who make the sandals all by hand. The women do this to earn money so they can further their education.  We also went shopping downtown and I got to buy African fabric.  I see a quilt in the future. From there we visited the African Craft Market. This was an experience as you have to barter with the shop owners. Not my way of shopping but I did get the hang of it. They use the shilling and I still have no idea what it is in dollars. 

At the Craft Market

We shopped at this little shop that turns old bottles into beautiful glass pieces

We visiting many fabric stores in town - many were floor to ceiling with fabrics like this one

Out to lunch with Laura and some friends from AIM

Laura's Life at the School
The children LOVE Teacher Laura! I don't  know how she has any quiet time.  The children she works with have severe disabilities. I wonder if they had been born in America and had help when they were first born if they would be in the condition they are in today.  The school did not look how I thought it would, it was much  smaller than I thought.  Laura failed to tell my about the chickens that walk around everything,  The teachers I meet seemed to care for their students and to help them learn how to fend for themselves.  I will send the tailoring teacher some quilt patterns that they can make into bags that they will sell at the school. They have sewing machines like my  Kenosha Grandma used to. The machines have no power!  Laura does have power in her house and an indoor bathroom.  However, she has not hot water for her shower so she takes bucket baths. In order to get hot water, she has to heat it on her burner.  She has much more patience then I have.

Working with Tobias

Writing notes - there are always children around that want to help

Working with Teddy

Laura with Jeremiah - one of the teacher's kids

Esther - one of the teacher's kids - that called mom "jaja" or Grandma

Giving the kids the pictures that we printed out in the States of them - they were very excited

The tailoring room - the more advanced students learn tailoring to use as a career after graduation

Teacher Christine the tailoring teacher showing off one of the bags the students have made

Laura in her kitchen that is outside - off the front porch

All vegetables bought are cleaned well with soap &/or bleach to kill anything on the outside

Visiting the Village
We visited a lady named Janet (The head teacher at the school's mother) who taught us how to make paper beads.  It is much harder then it looks. While she was doing that her family prepared a Ugandan meal. It really was quite good. These people work very hard for what they have. She was so proud of her house and everything she had done herself.  She made her own bricks, put a toilet in over the latrine, and was building a chicken coop so she could raise and sell them. Janet loves my daughter and it is nice having people look out for her.

Janet showing us how to make paper beads

Trying very hard to learn - our fingers got sore

With Janet outside her house

I am very proud of my daughter Laura. She has moved across the world to work with these children and has given up everything we all think is necessary and has made a very nice life for herself.  She has made some very nice friends and for that I am truly grateful.  The children she works with enjoy and love her.  I pray that when she leaves she will see the difference she has made in their lives with God's help.  Please continue to lift her up in your prayers.  Her Mom  Carol

Well, thats all for now, check back Friday for my update on the week!

Mbarara

I am so happy my mom is here now!!! I will post more about her visit next week. Including, I a hoping to get her to write a post about what she thinks mid-week!

Last week, I had the privilege of visiting of the AIM team in Mbarara. They have a wonderful team there. Also, the only other PT with AIM is in Mbarara. She works at a government hospital there and at the University. Her and her Ugandan colleague have started a PT program there that currently has 9 students and will grow with a new class next year. 

Visiting the hospital there was very interesting. I was able to follow Zillah (the PT) around and see patients with her. The hospital is laid out by wards of men and women and another one for children. Each ward is just rows and rows of beds. Each patient at the hospital has to have an "attendant" with them at all times. The attendant has to bring sheets, pillow, clothes, and prepare food for the patient. The attendant is responsible for turning the patient every so often to prevent bed sores, washing all of the clothes and bedding, they are even responsible for emptying the catheter bag. Usually the attendant is a family member, and they have to sleep on a straw mat on the floor (that they bring) next to the patient's bed. It is a very different system then we are use to! (sorry I no pictures of this, I didnt think it would be appropriate)

Interesting things I saw that we would not see in most western countries:

Injection Neuropathy
Basically this is damage to a nerve caused by being damaged from a shot. There was a 12 year old being seen for PT that had malaria and instead of being treated with an IV medical drip (the recommended treatment - but it takes more time) he was given an injection of medicine into his bottom. The problem is the injection was given too close to his sciatic nerve and now he has severe pain in his leg. Apparently, this is quite common to see.

Bone Setters
Fractures are very common here (as in America) - but due to all of the boda bodas (motorcycles) as a main mode of transportation, there a very many accidents (Dad pretend like you didn't read that).In the villages especially there are people that call themselves Bone Setters and say they can correct fractures so they heal properly. Often if the fracture is aligned properly from the start the bone setters are "successful" (the fracture would heal normally anyway). But often if it is a malunion fracture the bone setter cannot fix it (or makes it worse) and the bone heals improperly. We saw a man who broke off the head of his radius (a bone that connects your wrist to your elbow... and now he cannot even bring has hand to his mouth to feed himself because it healed wrong. The only way to correct this would be surgery... and it would have to be done in Nairobi (Kenya) as no one in Uganda can fix it. Problem is this man paid about a million shillings to the bone setter and doesn't have the money to go to Kenya to have it fixed. This is something that is also seen very commonly at the hospital here.

High Infant Mortality
I did not see this at the hospital, but a friend who is a nurse was telling me how sad the children's hospital here was. Due to so many home births there are often complications like pneumonia and the hospital may or may not have the tools to treat the child.... or if the power goes out all of the oxygen for the kids stops working. And power outages are quite frequent.

Mbarara was overall a great trip, and I enjoyed getting to know the AIM missionaries there. I also enjoyed the temperature as it is significantly cooler than Kampala.... and I wore my fleece jacket 2 days in a row. I was actually cold cause it stayed in the low 70s all day! I know you all in Chicago are thinking I am a pansy... BUT when you are use to 80s constantly 70 is cold! It is a much less busy town than Kampala and it seems to overall be much cleaner which is nice!

Here are some pictures from my trip!

This is a typical row of store fronts in Uganda

The market in Mbarara - this is much cleaner than the one near me

The sweet kitty - Mikey - that decided to cuddle with me - see cold enough for a blanket!

The hospital - all outside between buildings - view from PT building, straight is ER, ICU, Surgery, and pharmacy and behind the building to the right are all the patient wards

Physiotherapy treatment room - 3 treatment tables

Exercise room - this is the boy with the injection neuropathy

For all my PT friends - this is the ultrasound machine.... they had an equally awesome and equally old e-stim machine too!

The physical therapists at the hospital

Hanging out with some of the singles on the Mbarara team

Thats all for now! I miss you all!