Back safely in Iganga...

June 11, 2009

... and thank you for your prayers regarding public transportation. :)

Job 37:14 "Hear this O Job; stop and consider the wondrous works of God."

A couple of days ago Karly and I braved the matatus and bodas to pick up two more of our ECare team members from the airport in Entebbe. I'm still amazed that we successfully made it to the right place AND back to Iganga without any major happenings. The first segment of our trip, the matatu ride to Jinja, wasn't bad, minus the fact that we ended up sitting in a hot bus in the Jinja taxipark for about an hour while we waited for it to fill. (As a side note, if the name Jinja sounds familiar it is because it is a big touristy area due to the amazing rafting on the Nile that is there. A big group of us volunteers are going to go in a couple of weekends from now.)

As you travel, and this is similar to other developing countries that I’ve visited, it is always amusing when you discover that the passengers are not only people but animals (like chickens) stuffed under the seats. A couple of days ago, I didn’t notice the company until the bird was being passed through the window and thus started squawking and flapping its wings. It was funny.

Anyway, Karly and I arrived somewhere in Kampala sometime in the afternoon and hadn’t a clue where the Garden City mall, our lunch destination, was in relation to us. We wandered for awhile, trying not to be hit, then decided to ask someone for help and eventually got on some boda bodas which took us to the mall where we had some fabulous Lebanese food (yes I’m talking about food again) and enjoyed a real cup of coffee. After that, we bodaboda-ed (no, not a real word) it to the old taxi park to make our way to Entebbe. Actually, we stayed on the motorcycle boda until we were too scared to do it any longer then told him to stop and walked the rest of the way. After wandering again, throughout the entire taxi park, we managed to find the one going to Entebbe and finally arrived at the backpackers hostel; the other girls eventually got there and the next day, which was yesterday, we took a very not exciting private hire back to Iganga. (Dad, I figured you might like that better.)

I met with Dr. Waiswa briefly again yesterday and am so impressed with his willingness to help. He told me that he senses my passion for doing work in countries like Uganda and wants to provide support and direction. The relationship I’m building with him is promising. He took me to a meeting he arranged at the hospital for the midwives, the purpose of which was to determine their perceived needs for the maternity ward. This is something that we also planned to do with our project as well but since the Saving Newborn Lives study is already tackling this area of assessment and intervention, we are trying to determine where to shift our focus. It will probably be that we end up doing work in the health centers located in villages outside of the SNL survey site instead of the district hospital.

Look at it this way: at least the work is being done. :)