adventures in the night!

Yesterday I moved into the other Jenga house because Robby, Bart and Cindy (the dutch couple) have all gone to Sudan for the week, so I would've been staying in the house by myself. And since there was somebody creeping around the compound in the middle of the night last week (I woke up in the middle of the night from a loud crash outside my window. At first i thought maybe it was from inside the house and Robby was up--he sometimes keeps odd hours--but then i heard someone moving around really quietly outside my window. i lay there for a while listening, to make sure i wasn't hearing things, but there was definetely (did i spell that right!) someone there so i got up and went and woke Robby up, which was a challenge in itself, but then told him and he found a broom--the only thing remotely near a weapon--and went outside and looked around a bit but didn't find anyone. The compound is completely gated but there was an area at the back that was not lighted and he couldn't see so he didn't go there.) So...I am not staying in that house by myself! At this house, we have 3 dogs and a guard. Every Muzungu (white person...when I'm walking anywhere, everyone shouts "Muzungu! Muzungu!! How are you?!" at me) has a gated compound an a guard staying overnight but we've just moved into the other place and are housesitting for a few months so there isn't one there. The house is completely secure, there's no way anyone could ever get in to it, bars on every window, but someone must've put a ladder up against the wall and gotten into the compound. So that was my adventure last week! Must get off the internet now, but when i get a chance, i will write more about my experiences working at Joy Hospice.

Swimming in the Nile

Spent the week in Jinja this week at an amazing conference, right on the banks of the nile. I went swimming in the nile...haha quite an interesting expereince.
must run...trying to post a picture of me swimming...

Joy Hospice and the Clinic

This last week has been very busy. On tuesday I met Dr. Jan, who runs Joy Hospice, and went to a little clinic in a village about 35 kms outside of Mbale. It takes about 2 hours to get there, though, because the roads are so bad. Jan goes there once a week, every Tuesday, to see patients, and the other days of the week the clinic is run by two nurses. We saw many different patients, including lots of children. One girl was 16 years old and was quite sick. She had abdominal pain and was very anemic (not enough blood), so we took her back with us at the end of the day to the regional hospital. Diagnosing is difficult at the clinic, because we can not do any tests, but Jan diagnosed quite a few children with Malaria. The next day I spent the day at Joy Hospice with Jan. We saw one girl who is 20 years old and has sickle cell anemia. She was very sick, her hemoglobin was 6 (14 is normal), which is a critically low level of blood, so she desperately needed a blood transfusion. We have to get blood from the regional hospital, so much of the day was spent attempting to get the blood. The hospital was informed that we needed it and assured us that it was just being tested and should be ready soon. We finally got it about 4 hours later, when the girl's hemoglobin was down to 4. She could have easily died by then, so that was quite scary. But things like that happen quite routinely over here apparently.
Anyhow that's all for now, i tried uploading pictures but it won't let me, so you will have to wait until I get back to see them!

up the mountain

Today we went up into some of the villages on the mountain and saw a goat project that Jenga is running. It is really neat, they are raising goats and giving them to widows. the people on the mountain are very poor, they have not much at all, and the widows have nothing. So when Jenga gives them a goat, they have income and milk. They have already given 60 goats since the project started this year.
I will try and post some pictures.
It sounds as though i will be working with Cindy, the doctor from Holland who arrived a few weeks ago, to set up a clinic in this area. There are about 20-30,000 people in the mountains and the closest clinic is JOY, which is about a 2 hour walk, so Jenga has been hoping to do this for a while and now with Cindy and I here, it looks like we are going to do it, so I'm really excited about that.

whoops...

so I just realized that I've been posting to the wrong area, so here are the last few posts!


Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Fun with the camera
I can't remember what I said in my last blog, but here's some info on my living situation: I am living in a house with Robby, and a dutch couple who have just moved her two weeks ago. Cinday is a doctor and Bart is a nutritionist and involved in Argiculture. There are now two 'Jenga' houses because with my arrival, we didn't all fit in one house so the other 5 live in the other house. I have met Jayne, who is a physiotherapist from England here until september, and got on really well with her. All the Jenga people are so passionate about living 100% for Jesus, it's wonderful to be around them.

Yesterday I got up early and went up into the foothills of the mountain and met the wife of a Ugandan couple that works with Jenga, Grace, and her beautiful daughter, Darlene. We took picutres of Grace demonstrating proper ways to work while taking care of your back, to make a follow up poster from a class Jayne taught in the women's group about back care. Most of the women here have a lot of back problems. We also had a lot of fun taking pictures of Darlene, who is turning 3 on friday. She loved posing for the camera! And Jayne was fascinated with my camera and wants to get one herself now. I'll post pictures when I can, right now I'm on robby's computer, not mine.

Posted by Anna at 10:37 PM 0 comments Links to this post



Tuesday, June 5, 2007
!!!
only have a minute to write but i already have African soil in my blood...literally. It was pouring rain and i had to go to the bathroom on the way to mbale yesterday so Robby stopped at a gas station and we were going to wait for the rain to stop but i said i didn' mind getting wet, what the heck...i'll dash for it. so i did. unfortunately the ground was this slate stuff and extremely slipperly, so i took a few steps and landed on my butt. Got up, brushed myself off...and promptly fell right back down again. This time after I got up, i stepped off the slate on to the gravel and walked VERY carefully. I hoped at least the second fall was far enough around the corner that noone had seen. Next i had my first experience with a hole in the ground toilet and no TP. fun times.
Got back to the car, and Robby was laughing. He saw me fall both times but informed me that no one else had. i now have a big nasty gash on my shin...still hurts!!!

Posted by Anna at 9:35 AM 0 comments Links to this post



Monday, June 4, 2007
In Kampala
I arrived safely in Entebbe this morning at about 8am ugandan time and was met by Robby, who's the leader of Jenga. We're stopped outside Kampala right now, we came here to pick up Robby's bags, he stayed here last night. It's a cute little place for backpackers and campers to stay and--bonus--has free internet!!! But unfortunately we are held up here because Robby just found out that the Jenga house where all the missionarys stay (including me) has a bedbug infestation. Robby says that this is the first time he's ever had this happen, it's quite unusual and the normal procedure to eliminate them didn't work. Fun stuff.
So, we are now waiting for the right fumicide (I'm sure I spelt that wrong!) to be delivered here before we head to Mbale. It's about a 3 1/2 hour drive from here apparently.
It's very green and beautiful here, not too hot. About the same as it was in Vancouver the past few weeks. Well that's all for now, I'm excited to get to Mbale and see what I'll be calling home for the next 3 months!

Posted by Anna at 12:23 AM 0 comments Links to this post



Sunday, June 3, 2007
one flight down, one to go
I'm at Heathrow Airport now, between flights. The first flight was fine, I watched a movie and then I was actually able to sleep some so I don't feel too bad. My back has been alright, it's sore but I bought these instant heat things that stay hot for 8 hours and that has been a lifesaver--as long as it's on, I'm not in too much pain. I love flying. Leaving Vancouver the view was absolutely astounding. For about the first hour I watched the sunset, the deepest red I've ever seen. It reflected off the snow on the mountains, making them glow red and yellow. Breathtaking.
Now that I'm halfway to Uganda, I'm getting really excited. I can't wait to get there!! Well since I don't have anything else interesting to say, that's all for now.

The time has come...

Well, I've finally finished packing and will be leaving for the airport in about an hour. I have mixed feelings about going. Although I'm excited, I'm also nervous and sad to leave behind friends and family. I know this is going to be a life altering experience. When I come back, I'll be a different person--which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it is kind of scary. Mostly just because it's unknown, I think.
Anyways, thank you so much to all of you who have emailed me in the past few days, sorry that I wasn't able to reply to them all. I will try to post another blog as soon as possible once I'm there, but my computer has been having major problems today so I will have to see how that goes.
I'll miss you all!