Uganda Happenings

I am sitting under my mosquito net inside my “master suite” here in Uganda. My lights are flickering and likely to go out any minute. Apparently sometimes the people in this village of Fort Portal sometimes go months without electricity. My preceptor, Sister Rovina, left me "special seeds" tonight to keep coachroaches from coming. Such a friendly gesture, but until she placed them in my hand, I had never considered the possibility of coachroaches and I got entirely freaked out. Hopefully they really are magic seeds.

Meanwhile, three days of travel was waaay too much. When I arrived in Uganda late Tuesday night, we stayed in the capital city of Kampala. It is a giant dust bowl of what seemed like millions of people and an equal number of taxis and motorcycles flying everywhere. The people drive on the left sdeide of the road here, like in Britain, and between that and absolutely no traffic rules to speak of, I am completely amazed there aren’t daily traffic accident deaths – it’s honestly a miracle! Regardless of the hour of day, people are out swarming the streets everywhere in this country. It was a 5 hour drive from Kampala to Fort Portal and the road was never empty of people walking that entire journey. Fresh produce markets are everywhere and if your vehicle is stopped, you will be swarmed by children and adults trying to sell you their produce.

A tiny glimpse of traffic in Kampala. This does not do the scene justice at all. But just know that this was not a traffic jam and people are not moving slowly and their are 80 more motorcycles within sight flying in and around cars.

People don't just carry fruit on their heads - they carry heavy boxes of pharmacy record books too. Quite Impressive.

Bananas are the staple of the diet here in Uganda. I am not exaggerating when I say they eat them with EVERY meal. I was told that without a banana the meal is not complete. They cook them in so many ways I never knew were possible. But I’ll be honest, I didn’t even know there was more than one type of banana in existence...and I may wish they didn't exist anymore at the end of my 6 weeks. :)

The adults here speak English if they’ve gone through school. The kids who haven’t had a lot of school speak very little English, but they are all so happy to see white people. The little kids get so excited and wave excitedly, yelling “Hal-lo!” Because they don’t understand me and I can’t speak Rotoro (I’m spelling that like it sounds…) we find other ways to communicate. I taught a four-year-old to make funny faces today and he absolutely adored seeing his image on my camera. His mom told me I was his new best friend.

My new friend, Albet

The pharmacy is sooo much different than in the US. People don’t need prescriptions to get their medications and we as pharmacists get to be their doctors. Actually, nurses get to do the same. Pharmacists don’t even have to be present all the time for medications to be dispensed. I also visited the hospital today. That was super humbling. No IV lines. No sterile rooms. Very little equipment or staff or medication availability. Eight hospital beds in one general ward. We visited some patients who thought that I was an American doctor who was there to offer them miracle treatments. That was so humbling to see and so disappointing as well to realize the disparity between the facilities and practices we have in the US and those they have in Uganda. If only we, being so privileged, could be as happy and grateful as these people!

Virika Pharmacy - Sr. Rovina at the dispensing window helping the Bishop of her parish.

Visiting patients at the hospital. They were all excited for pictures and asking me to help fix their illnesses.

I am off to learn how to wash my own laundry. Should be an interesting lesson...