Sunday, April 14, 2024

Good afternoon, from Kampala!

This past week passed so quickly! On most days, the group started scanning around 10am and did not stop until 3pm or later, returning in the evening to review images they had saved from that morning. I am not sure if I previously mentioned, but every mother that we scan in the classroom, has to be "back scanned" by me. What that means is that I have to perform an official ultrasound on every mother (somewhere between 12 and 18 patients a day) and write up an official report. Unlike at my work, I do not have to label or save images, which saves me some time but is still a lot of work! 

I think we all started to feel a sense of the impending end to our time together. It made for some lovely meals together, all of us gathered around the table, telling stories and enjoying each other's company.

I spent quite a few evenings sitting out in front of my hut until late hours, admiring the stars and listening to the sounds of the countryside. On clear nights, I could easily see the milky way, the few constellations that I recognize, and shooting stars.

 

This may be a repeat for those of you who follow my Instagram, but spring has sprung and there were baby chicks everywhere! It made me miss having chickens around and long for my ranch days. 

This silly gal came into my hut while I was in the shower and laid an egg!

She proceeded to lay an egg in my hut every day for the next 3 days! 😂 

Next to the birth center is a compound owned by the Sisters of the Sacred Heart, with a school, orphanage, housing for the staff and kids, housing for guests and renting to visitors of the birth center, a health center, farming area and upcoming business center. Sister Georgina is one of my ultrasound trainees and lives next door. They have a number of businesses for raising funds and I was overjoyed when Georgina gave me a tour of their farm area. They purchase around 500 baby chicks every year, raising them primarily for sale, as well as food for the children. They also have a small hog set-up for the same purpose. It was so well organized and managed... And I got to see baby chicks and baby pigs!!

Clay pots are used to heat the barn for the baby chicks. Staff members take
shifts around the clock to keep the pots going, so the fire doesn't go out.

These are the teenagers.

Baby piglets!!!

Friday was a very long day for me. I have been trying to complete a User Manual for the ultrasound machines that they use at the birth center, so I was up at 5am, trying to get it finished before I left. I set up the classroom for the practical exam, which would include a 30-minute timed portion and another 10-15 minutes of additional questions, each trainee performing an OB ultrasound on a 2nd or 3rd trimester mother. The exams began at 9:30am and finished up at 3pm, but there were 8 additional mothers that needed scans, so I finished them on my own. The mothers usually bring a piece of fabric with them to lie down on, this is common and is often the waxed cotton famous in this region of Africa. One of the last mothers to be scanned had a piece of fabric with a pattern and color that immediately made me think of my niece (I won't describe it; in case she reads this, and it ruins the surprise). I made a comment about it while I was scanning her, and she offered to give it to me...this is just one (of many) example of the kindness and generosity of the women I met at the birth center. I insisted on paying her, against her protests, and she wanted a photo of us. She was so grateful for the ultrasound and a chance to see her baby! An ultrasound costs around $5 USD, which is an extra cost rarely affordable by most of these women and usually not a justified expense. 

I was finally able to get some food and a much-needed shower at 5:30pm. WHEW! Friday night I packed my things and handed out goodbye hugs to many of the birth center staff. Everyone has been so welcoming, and I will miss their company and humor.

Those of us who needed to leave Atiak, left on Saturday morning, the rest remaining at the birth center. Geoffrey and another young woman tagged along for the ride, and we stopped at the White Rhino Sanctuary. 

This is their newest baby, Koby, an 8-month-old White Rhino.

A group of 3 females, resting in the shade on a hot afternoon.

There are currently 41 endangered White Rhinos at the sanctuary. When numbers
increase to around 50, they will start to reintroduce the Rhinos into the National Parks.  

 After a very long day in the car, I finally arrived back in Kampala, helped Picho unload the car, took a long shower without worrying about a chicken laying an egg in my room 😉, and unpacked just enough to settle in for the night. 

In spite of my exhaustion, I did not sleep well last night until a sudden rainstorm in the early morning. I finally dragged myself out of bed this morning, unpacked my gear and supplies, and sat down to grade the final exams. I did not give a letter grade to the trainees but took a lot of time to write comments and suggestions, as well as telling each of them what I appreciated about them personally. I used an app to convert the exam photos into PDF files and sent each of them their exam results. 

Rian watched Kung Fu Panda on my computer, while I started gathering supplies for the next trip on Tuesday. I will bring the rest of the solar lamps and headlight beanies, the island loses power quite often, and as many towels as I can carry. Tomorrow, the ITWA team will have their weekly meeting and I will get some details on what I will be doing at the island clinics. They have completed our training program, so I believe the plan is that I will offer some follow-up training to 3 clinics and Allan will be visiting a potential clinic site for future training. I made some scanning "cheat sheets", with diagrams and pictures demonstrating important landmarks for fetal biometry, and I think I will get some copied and laminated to hang in the ultrasound exam rooms at the clinics. 

Well, after multiple side projects and interruptions, it's now early evening and I am ready to take a break from the day. I'm looking forward to the island trip, another location I have never been to and a long ferry ride on Lake Victoria. I'll be sure to take photos, as usual, and blog when I can! 

Much love and thanks for tagging along.

Jo/MB