Over the Equator
Categories : Africa, Missions, Travel, Uganda |
Yet again I find myself back in Uganda. I arrived last night after a pleasant flight from South Africa. The place we are staying seems quite good. I have a big room to myself, which is air conditioned. And it’s a quite central location so just a short drive or boda-boda ride into the CBD.
Today we went over the the main Watoto office at Kampala Pentecostal Church (KPC) for a meet and greet and to go over the general plan for the medical mission. I must say, I look at the schedule with some degree of trepidation, remembering how exhausting some of the clinic days were last year. This year they seem to have even more planned, with very little down time. It’s okay for the nurses who make up the vast majority of the team and hence can do other things like hospital teaching, or just exempt themselves for a day if they get tired. As one of two doctors, I don’t really have that luxury, as the clinics can’t run without us. But it’s all not about me anyway so I’ll do my best for the next two weeks to cope. I do think there is the potential for us to do a lot of good work here.
As for the team, everyone seems nice. It’s a fair bit bigger than last year – mostly comprised of Australians and Canadians with a couple of people from the USA and UK. After lunch today at Sam’s restaurant (I had an enjoyable Ostrich steak) we took a drive to the southwest for an hour or so through the beautiful Ugandan countryside and stopped at the equator. A guy there treated us to an interesting demonstration of how water spins in opposite directions either side of the equator, and just drains directly down when you are on the line itself. I got some video of it on my camera so may upload it onto YouTube after I get home.
Just about to go and have dinner, and tomorrow we are off to church at KPC in the morning. The medical mission begins in earnest on Monday so pray for safety, energy, but most of all effectiveness. Hopefully we can go some way to helping the physical and spiritual needs of some of the people here. Will update again soon.
