We had a whole day to acclimatize to Uganda. Now it is time to do what we came to do. We are holding our first health clinic today in an area called Jinja. We will actually have 4 clinics in this region. We leave super early… as it takes many hours to get there. We will be on the road! We all load into the van, except 1 person in the ambulance, and 2 or 3 into the truck (which is carrying our luggage). This van is made to transport 14 people. Not comfortably, but I guess we all fit.

The drivers, I swear, race to see who can get to the next huge bump/hole first, as they slam on the gas, only to slam on the breaks 50 feet later. This makes for a very smooth ride. So, we finally make it to our first clinic. There are many people already waiting for us, and there is also a school with TONS of children. So, I help unpack and set up, but still not sure of my role on the team (medically speaking), I’m off to explore.

I find myself surrounded with children.

I take their picture and show it to them. They LOVE it!!! They laugh and giggle, and some are really shy until you show them and then they want more and more. I usher them back to classes (yes, I did disturb school!), and find my way to a group of people waiting under a tree.

These are the people who are waiting for medical care. With the help of the local priest (who acts as my translator) I pray with them. This is the first time that I have publically prayed with people I don’t know. It was very awkward at first, but became easier with time. Some of the people really enjoyed it and gave me hugs afterwards. With this, I was encouraged to do more. So I found more people and prayed with them. It was truly touching to see how everyone responded to a simple prayer, and how grateful they were.

The priest’s wife made us all lunch. We had rice, boiled potatoes, and some sort of sauce for the top. It was tasty, and we all had some. They also provided soda, which as a nice break from all of the bottled water we had been drinking. After lunch, I found myself taking tons of pictures, and really inspired by our team. Everyone was working so hard, and taking such good care of all of my new friends.

Dr. Mike in action

Waiting for their medications

In fact, before lunch, there was a man with a very tender abdomen. Dr. Mike thought it is some sort of liver cancer or other type of cancer, and the man needed an ultrasound or CT scan to determine what it was. Alex, my wonderful husband, sprung into action, and took the man to the local clinic. I was so proud of him. He didn’t even think twice about leaving and taking care of someone he had just met.

While Alex was gone, the kids were released from school. So, not wanting to get in the way of the doctors, I went out to play with the kids. Now all the kids are taught in English, so they mostly understand. However, they are very shy, and not too sure of the “Muzungu” who is taking their pictures.  But after a minute or 2, I am surrounded! And loving it! I teach them all how to whistle…. So for the next 2-3 hours, all I hear is “whistle” and then either they or myself whistle.

  It was fun for the first 30 minutes or so…. But, I don’t think I’ll teach anyone how to whistle for a long time! So, instead I moved on to teaching them the sign of the cross. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They all got it very quickly, and did it several times, before they wanted to whistle. Again.

At the end of the day, I think we all felt really good about our first clinic. Our team saw and treated close to 400 people. I was in awe!

That night we needed to find a hotel to stay at. The first was gross. The 2^nd was OK, but no running water that night. They promised it would be on by the next day. Hmmm…. Let’s see what else there is. We found a beautiful place, but they didn’t have enough rooms. So, we go back to the 2^nd place. We unpack, and then head out to dinner. Being Wednesday and not eating meat on Wednesday, Fr. Nicholas ordered fish for all of us. When our dinner came, we certainly had fish. I had the front half, and others had the back half. My food was looking at me, and I swear it said something to me.

We all felt bad that we didn’t eat – any of it! I realized that I was supposed to be in charge of all the food, not just lunches, so I have to make sure that doesn’t happen again.