Monkey Brain Musings

Hello Folks! It's Friday evening and class is dismissed!! This week was a a pendulum of extremely long days of non-stop scanning and then a day of constant rain with no patients and no power for the machines. We all rolled with it, as you must do here, and today was the final evaluation for the class. Everyone was given a 30 nminute time slot to scan, given the opportunity to talk about what they were seeing, and answered some questions. After their 30n minutes was up, I gave them some suggestions for improvement, made a distinct point to tell them about the progress they made, and especially how much I enjoyed having them in class. Hugs and kind words were abundant and then they took off, in an effort to travel home before nightfall and more rain. Last night I prepared bags of supplies to send with them; towels, ultrasound guide posters, probe cleaner, etc... I was up early to clean up the classroom and break down all but one of the scanning stations. Evaluations started at 9:15am...

Hello friends! I hope you're all well. It's hard to believe that I am already nearing the end of my time here. Next week will be the final week of training, with the scanning evaluation on Friday. I will spend the weekend here, then drive into Gulu ealry Monday morning, catch the small plane back to Entebbe, spend the afternoon at the guesthouse and start my journey home Monday evening. The midwives are doing well, although they don't seem to think so! The curriculum is mutlilayered, so when they get something down pretty well, I add something else...which is where their fristration comes from. I'm actually very proud of them and how well they are doing. They have a wonderful attitude, work very well together, and keep trying even when they're frustrated. I also feel like the curriculum is really where Rachel and I want it to be. I'm still putting in long hours of teaching, but it's worth it, and Max has been a good addition. Last night, the childre...

  Monday, October 20, 2025 Hello Friends! We have had continuous challenges with the power and WiFi network, so I will write away and we shall see when I am able to post! We have completed the first two weeks of training, as well as the lecture portion of the course, and today we will begin the scanning only portion of the course. We begin at 9am and review saved images from the previous scanning session, then start scanning patients as they arrive. We will take a lunch break at midday, then resume scanning until the last patient has gone. I have just found out that Max has been delayed by the heavy rain, so today I will manage the students on my own. We have three beds/scanning stations in the classroom, so I will float between the stations for instruction, and also scan every patient to make sure no pathology has been missed. Last Thursday evening, Rachel arrived in the new (to us) Toyota truck ambulance! She drove in with the ambulance lights flashing and all of the midwiv...

 Tuesday, October 14, 2025 Good morning! I had every intention of checking in this weekend, but power outages and patients thwarted me, so here we are! Saturday was a lovely relaxing day, most of it spent teaching knitting to the new midwives. I quickly depleted most of my knitting supplies and I'm glad I brought so much yarn on this trip. By Saturday evening, a few pregnant mothers started trickling into the birth center. I spent the evening and most of Sunday finishing up some knitting projects and keeping my knee elevated. My plan was to finish a baby blanket, review my lessons for Monday, and write. And then the power went out, and Susan showed up at my door with two patients that she wanted me to back-scan. Back scanning is when someone has already scanned the patient, so I scan again, to confirm their findings. The most emergent case was a mother who had been leaking fluid since last month. She had a scan 2 weeks ago at another clinic, and they told her she had fluid and to g...

 Wednesday, October 8, 2025 Good morning! Monday morning, I woke up at 5am, which seems to be my usual wake-up time when I am here. It is still dark outside, but the roosters had started their crowing, and I needed to get the classroom set up. The room had been cleaned after the Malaria patients were discharged, but I could see that some of the tables we had used previously were missing and the scanning stations needed to be set up. I attempted to get the overhead projector going, but for some unknown reason it wasn't working, so I spent almost an hour and a half on the phone with Allan trying to get it sorted. A new HDMI cord was delivered yesterday late afternoon, so I am hoping that will resolve the issue.  My new group of midwife trainees, 7 in total, arrived early and eager. My first day always begins with an introduction, an explanation of my teaching style (very unconventional compared to the Ugandan education system), my expectations, and an opportunity for each midwif...