Uganda clinics
Categories : Africa, Missions, Uganda |
Quick update on the last few days. The internet here is horrendously slow at the moment so I shall have to be fast.
Tuesday I shall leave for another time as the story of Tuesday will be quite long and I’m not sure if it’s legally appropriate for me to discuss it yet but be warned you’re in for an interesting story…
So moving on to Wednesday, when I went out to a clinic at the Watoto village where we saw some of the village kids plus a lot of people from the surrounding communities. As a rule they didn’t seem quite as sick this year as last year - we have yet to encounter a bona fide case of malaria - but there was still plenty to do. Lots of ulcers and infections and STDs. A few people had known HIV and many others came for testing, as we have lab facilities available. Only one of the ones we tested came up positive though.
Thursday was a similar story, but this time we relocated our clinic to a building in the community up the road. Once again, very busy indeed and once again very few seriously ill people. Lots of chronic diseases and mild to moderate infections. The clinic worked very well. Our team is really doing a great job and from my perspective things went quite smoothly. Friday - the same story but an even smoother, faster clinic. Despite some organizational hiccups we managed to see more people in less time, including our first confirmed case of malaria, a little girl that I sent around for a blood test to the delight of our lab guy. Also the local ‘doctor’ working with us diagnosed a rare case of trypanosomiasis in an old lady who had the most massive spleen I have ever seen - the lab guy was pleased with that too. Sadly we have had two members sick who are out of action which is a real shame since they have travelled all this way and can’t participate much at present. But they seem to be turning the corner which is good.
Tonight a few of us have decided to break the shackles of our cooped up hotel and go out for the evening. First stop has been a bit of shopping at the main Garden city mall, where I’ve picked up a few Ugandan books (as always) and some T-shirts from the one shop I’ve found that sells decent quality Uganda souvenir shirts. I got a couple for the boys as well as a small pink one for our little baby who we are expecting in March. The highlight of my week has most definitely been hearing from Jen and seeing her pictures that she emailed me from the ultrasound 
Right now it’s nice to be sitting drinking a decent cup of coffee at last whilst using a steadily improving speed net connection. After this we are going to head off and try and find somewhere good for dinner.
Overall the week has been good. We’ve achieved a lot, seen and helped a large number of people and had a few adventures along the way.
Finally, here’s a picture of one of my favourite Ugandan advertising billboards, on the way out to the villages. I’ve been trying to catch a good pic of this ever since the first time I was here and now finally I have it…
