Monkey Brain Musings

10am Thursday 11/29 In theory, I have internet access, however it is constantly disconnecting and reconnecting, to the point of frustration. I will say a silent prayer that it connects long enough to send this out. I sat down to catch you all up on the past few days, and something fun and wonderful happened, so I'll start with that. Two nights ago, I met Herbert Byaruhanga, owner of a birding tour company www.birduganda.com. We compared camera equipment, chatted about Uganda, and ran into to each other a few times while he was staying here. He brought his bird tour group by Ride 4 a Woman this morning, and was chatting with me in the restaurant/lounge area while his tour shopped. He pulled out his phone to check the time and accidentally started playing a recording of a bird call, which was very loud. He apologized (I laughed), turned it off, then snapped his head around as he heard a call from outside. "THEY'RE ANSWERING!" he shouted, and ran out of the room, calli...

7am Monday 11/26 2 days with intermittent power and sketchy Wi-Fi. Even as a write this, I am unable to connect to my blog sit, so I will cut, paste and send when I get the chance. Saturday, as you may remember, we were to be on the road by 10am. Right on schedule, we got on the road… at 11:30am. Everyone else was going somewhere also, so it took a little over an hour just to get out of Kampala. As we drove west, toward Bwindi, the landscape became greener, more tropical, and less flat with beautiful rolling hills covered with tea. About 4 hours into our drive, the following conversation occurred: Picho: Did you see the Zebra? Me: WHAT?!? WHERE?!? Picho: Grazing with the goats…do you want a picture? Me: WHAT…OF COURSE I WANT A PICTURE!!! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!? You KNOW I want a picture! Picho: (Laughing…a lot.) Oh, Okay. He then pulled over and backed up to where I could photograph a small herd of Zebra, trying to blend in with a herd of cattle and goats. Pi...

9:15am Saturday 11/23 The last couple of days have been a whirlwind, much like most of this trip. After leaving Nawanyago clinic, Picho drove us into Jinja, so Shallon and I could check out the shops and wander around for a bit, then to the Source of the Nile, where I took a short boat trip up the Nile river. Once back in Kampala, I unpacked, sorted, and prepared for the next day's trip to Mubende. Mubende Regional Hospital is a government run hospital, and ITWA has been training 3 RNs at this location. I met the Director of the Hospital, the Radiographer, and the Nurses, and began my assessment/training. This location was a bit more frustrating from my prior assessment site, because the RNs and Radiographer, as well as the Director, were all under the impression that my assessment was a formality and I would be leaving a machine with them, which was not the case. This put me in the uncomfortable position of being the bearer of bad news, while trying to keep them motivated to cont...

8am Wednesday 11/21 After a 2.5 hour delay yesterday morning, we were finally able to get on the road to Nawanyago, arriving at 11:30am. This is the same clinic we visited with the Rotary members last week, and the first clinic ITWA worked with. Sister Angela was the first trainee, and she continued to train Sister Christine and is now getting her Masters in Ultrasound from a local college. I have returned to assess Sister Christin and give training, if needed. Sister Christine received her initial training from Sister Angela and has since been working with Shallon on a weekly basis. My immediate impression was how natural and confident a scanner Sister is, considering the limitations of her training compared with the consistency of training in the U.S., I was quite impressed. Sister Christin has been a Sister for 5 years and a Midwife for 3. She has been training in Ultrasound since last year and it was obvious to me that she has a natural affinity for patient care, midwifery and ult...