Saturday, November 1, 2024

Hello from Entebbe!

This afternoon I will fly to Dubai, where I plan to spend a few days reuniting with friends, before flying home on the 6th. 

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were spent training. We had a couple of patients with dramatically low fluid. They were all treated at the birth center for dehydration with IV fluids and rescanned the following day. So many of the women that come in are dehydrated and have often been leaking fluid for quite some time before coming in for assessment. As I mentioned (ad nauseum), the women in Uganda do most of the labor of daily living, including carrying all of the water in large 20L jerry cans. As their pregnancy progresses, they are often exhausted and in physical pain, so they stop drinking water. Drinking less water means carrying less water. They also may be leaking fluid, but they may not have anyone to help take care of their other children, so they stay at home. 2 of the mothers had a mild increase in fluid after treatment and were feeling much better. One of the mothers was feeling better, but needed more fluid and I guess decided that delivering would be easier, so she did! The baby was healthy, and they stayed for a day and then returned to their village. 

Thursday was an easy-going day, the last day of training and hands-on evaluations of the 3 remaining trainees. One of the trainees attended the conference on the last week, so she did not complete the program. When all of the patients were scanned, I handed out certificates of course completion, had lunch with the ladies and started packing up the classroom. All of the remaining blue towels that I brought on my last trip were just sitting in storage at the closed ITW office, so I had taken them all to the birth center, using them during class and I made sure to send some with Georgina to be used at the refugee camp, and also with Brenda and Coletta, who work in remote clinics. The rest will be distributed over time to anyone who needs them.

Friday morning, I was up early, to appreciate my last sunrise in Atiak. I put some things into storage, no point hauling it back and forth, cleaned out my hut, and started saying goodbye to everyone. 

One last visit for snacks!

Eunice, Dinnah, Beatrice, and Monica

Zamaya, one of Zilla's daughters and my buddy.

Zilla and her youngest, who loved waving to me whenever she walked by
my hut and would yell for me if my front curtain was closed. Zilla would say
"Where's Auntie Jo?" and she would look for me. 😍

We drove into Gulu early, because I was unable to get flight confirmation online or by phone, arriving at the airstrip close to 9:30am. The plan was to confirm my flight, then go to a nearby cafe until departure time. When I asked security what time the flight would arrive, he answered "The plane is coming now." When I asked when it would leave, he said "I don't know. The man who knows that isn't here now." So, my driver left and a little over 3 hours later, my plane arrived. 😂 Oh, Uganda. 

I arrived in Kajjansi at 2:30pm, and arrived at my hotel in Entebbe by 3:30pm, and was relaxing on the patio, freshly showered, with a cold glass of wine by 6:30pm. Picho joined me for dinner, which was lovely. This morning, I was up early, had breakfast on the patio, had a brutal, heavenly, and much needed Thai massage, and now I'm having some lunch before I get sorted and head to the airport. 

What a wonderful trip this has been. I feel so welcome at the birth center, by Rachel and all of the women at the compound, and it's so rewarding to see the benefits of what I'm doing. Rachel has now travelled to Kenya for another conference, and has been very busy with meetings, trying to hustle more funding for continued training. Hopefully, in the next week or so, we will have some results (Fingers crossed) and of course I will keep you all posted. 

I'm looking forward to being back in Dubai, spending time with my friend Nada, and hopefully connecting with new friends I have met on my last visit and in Istanbul. Photos to follow! Thanks for keeping me company.

Much love, Jo/MB