Monkey Brain Musings

8am Tuesday 11/20 Good morning! I have been up for a few hours, as we should have been on the road at 7am. We are waiting on a team member, which is often the case, and I am reminded that "Uganda Time" is very similar to "Caribbean Time". Most of the ITWA (Imaging The World Africa) team is an exception and are sticklers for schedules, but that is not the norm here. Picho tells me that this is common throughout Africa, "If you want to meet someone at 9, tell them you want to see them at 8." Usually people will start to travel at the time they are supposed to be meeting with you. It's also good to remember that most people here do not have their own vehicles and are dependent on taxi buses and Bodas (motorcycle taxis) to get where they need to go. So I wait. And write. :) Yesterday afternoon was as close to a rest day as I have had on this trip. After a busy afternoon of meetings and drop in visitors, we loaded into the van (yet again) and drove to Ent...

Almost noon Monday 11/19 Another quick post! Kristen will fly out tonight, so the office is a swarm of activity, as we all try to cover the myriad of subjects and projects discussed in the past 5 days that she has been here. Yesterday, we started our morning with meetings, and then met with the Ministry of Health, President of the local Rotary, and multiple Rotary members. ITW and Rotary are trying to work with the Uganda Ministry of Health, for funding and expansion. This took up most of the afternoon, followed by late lunch, at the Skyz Hotel in downtown Kampala. Once back at the office, ITW had a recap meeting, to discuss current and future projects, and Kristen met with some visitors until early evening. Most of you know that I am an energetic person, often functioning on limited sleep, and always working on future projects and goals. Believe me when I say that Dr. Kristen DeStigter makes me feel like a slacker. Most of us ended the evening at a local outdoor bar, watching footbal...

9am Sunday 11/18 Friday was a day of hurry up and wait, yesterday was the opposite! We woke up in Gulu and met for breakfast and discussion at 8am. Our first stop was a government clinic that the Rotary guys wanted to see. About 3 years ago, the local Rotary had donated an ultrasound  machine to this clinic and had no idea if it was still being used. After a few wrong turns, we managed to find this small clinic, tucked in between traditional clay huts and small plots of crops. The clinic was incredibly short on the most basic healthcare supplies (blood pressure cuff, scale to weigh newborns, etc...), consistent electricity, water supply, and the RN who had been trained in Ultrasound had been transferred 2 years prior. The machine was in almost new condition and kept carefully packed up in a locked room. This is, unfortunately, very typical of many of the government run clinics in Uganda. After a quick tour of the clinic, we headed to St. Mary's hospital Locor, for a dedication cer...

8am Saturday 11/17 Well, if I tell you what was SUPPOSED to have happened yesterday, this post would be longer. Instead, I will share my day... We were all up early again, Dr. Alphons and Earnest (another local Rotary member) met us at the office for a quick breakfast, then we were to load up into vans to drive back to Gulu for a dedication ceremony. After the first van left, Allan informed Shallon and I that the van needed a "quick" repair before we could leave. Mind you, Kristen was in the other van and had no idea of our delay. 3 hours later, I was messaging Kristen (who still had no idea we were stuck in Kampala), and we were just about to get on the road. Meanwhile, the first van drove through a game park, stopped for lunch, saw giraffes and other wildlife, then went on to Opit for a quick tour. By the time we got to Gulu  town, we were told to go straight to the hotel and the group would join us there. After 45 minutes in the lobby, the rest of the group arrived. We we...

7:45pm Thursday 11/15 Wednesday, we spent the morning assessing Jane and Olga at Opit Healthcare, loaded up the van, and got back on the road for the drive back to Kampala. We got back to the office around 8pm, dusty and exhausted, but not nearly as exhausted as Kristen was going to be! Her flight got in to Entebbe at 10:45pm, so she didn't get back to Kampala until well after midnight. We were all up early this morning for an 8am meeting with local Ugandan Rotary Club members, Dr. Alphons, and a Rotary Club member from Chicago, visiting for a week. This meeting was a chance for ITW to explain to the Rotary Club what they have accomplished, and where they are hoping to go in the future. The Rotary is interested in allowing ITW to utilize some of their grant funds to buy more ultrasound machines. It was also an opportunity for me to fill in the blanks, so to speak, on the full extent of what ITW has been doing in Uganda. The more I work with this organization and their team, the mo...