Christmas is coming!

Time is flying by and if feels like midsummer but even hotter!! Since about mid November we have been melting in the heat temperatures of up to 34°C in the shade. But what surprises me is that by the wee hours of the morning I have pulled a blanket over me in bed!

Christmas seems surreal here, being in the sticks a bit, we are missing out on the usual rush of shopping and decorations are not in sight yet. To aid the Christmas feeling I have bought a nativity set made out of Ebony (a black/brown hard wood). Emma has received a wooden 10cm high Christmas tree from her mum to get us in the festive spirit!

Christmas plans are as follows: the muzungus (the expatriates) get together on Christmas eve to sing carols at the Catholic Radio Station in Arua. We are looking forward to it with great anticipation as we have heard good things like home made ice cream, a real tree will be decorated and lit up outside the home where we all gather and of course it will be a good opportunity to get together!
Christmas day we will attend a church service here at our chapel on the hospital grounds and then venture to Alan and Anne's (our neighbours) for a Christmas roast. A special chicken – brought all the way from the capital, Kampala, as it is hard to find a good sized and tender chick here!

We are all hoping that a parcel or two will find their way this far north before Christmas so that we have something to open on that day! But we don't hold our breath. We have been told that the mailing system can't cope at this time of year and things eventually find their way up here after the seasonal rush! Anyway a few of you have told me there are things in the post so I'm enjoying the anticipation of it just as much as receiving it all! The knowledge of post to come gives me that hope of something coming and the knowledge that someone has thought of me! Amazing how pleasurable small things can be in a place like this!

I hope to be able to load up a few photos...they are of me at murcheson falls and my bible study group! my internet access is going to have to change from today as we are packing up the library! This is because the school of nursing is having renovation work done (thanks to the EU!) and the building in which the Library is located is currently being chipped away ready to renew the cement floors. The dust and dirt levels are HIGH! Not the best for technology....
Anyway I hope to get a more accessible and reliable source of internet soon signal allowing! (The house is in a dip and therefore a bit hit and miss with signal – we have worked out all the best mobile phone signal points now!

Happy Christmas and a Blessed New Year!!

A weekend away!

I realise I'm being very poor at updating you all! And I have discovered that my last post was saved as a draft and not posted! So appologies. I am finding the internet very tempramental.
Let me tell you about what we did last weekend! Myself and four others decided to take Friday off and travel to the near by park - Murchison Falls for the weekend. On route we stopped at a prayer mountain, near Goli. The prayer mountain was a beautiful setting, with cool air, and different small buildings built along the walk representing a variety of things such as, a heart shaped building representing Gods love for the world.
We then traveled on. The park is known for its delta, where the Victoria Nile runs into lake Albert and flows out as the Albert Nile! Birds are the best thing about this park. Though hard to identify as they move so fast!
An exciting bit is crossing the Nile on the ferry - I was supprised how wide the river was and a bit wary of the crocodiles (that I couldn't see but knew they were there somewhere!)and hippos. The falls were magnificent!They had lovely rainbows that varied in size as the water spray rose and fell. We viewed them from the top Saturday morning and then I went on the boat ride (that took 3 1/2hrs)that viewed the falls from the bottom. On the boat ride we were able to see waterbuck, elephants, hippo, crocodiles and a wide variety of birds like king fishers, fish eagals and grey erets.
We went on a game drive Sunday morning and saw elephant close up, pleanty of Ugandan kob, hartebeast, some buffalo and Giraffe! It was a lovely weekend away, somewhat dusty on the game drive (water in the shower was brown!)and good food at Red Chilli camp.

A typical day for Laura

a delay in up loading photos but i hope this works! - also an up date!

The day begins by waking up sometime between 6.30-7am, as the sunrises. I head straight for the kitchen to boil the kettle, so that the thermos can be filled for our day's tea. (Here it is considered wasteful to boil the kettle repeatedly through the day for your hot drinks.) Breakfast is weatabix with bananas and milk from Florence's cow (Florence is our house help). (The milk is boiled, with the non boil over disk that I was given just before I left Leicester – thanks guys!) The all important ingredient of breakfast is of course Doxycylcline – the antimalarial, taken dutifully everyday with food. I aim to get out of the door by 7.55am in order to rush down the hill to the Out Patients Department in time for morning prayers that are held Monday to Fridays 8-8.30am. This is attended by hospital staff, student nurses, patients and those who have arrived early for treatment that day. Then work begins – off to the the maternity ward, where my day is filled with a variety of things. Weigh the premature babies on alternate days- ensure they are gaining weight, taking blood pressure readings, some occasional translation in Swahili for the doctors round, encouraging a labouring mother, assessing a student, teaching a student about filling relevant maternity paperwork etc. Each day brings its own events and things to be done.
Work stops at 1pm for lunch. We head back up the hill to see what good food Florence has prepared for us! Lunch break ends and at 2pm what we didn't get finished before lunch is taken up again, by 5pm we stroll up the hill ready to kick off our shoes, wash our feet, climb out of the uniform ready for a quiet evening in... Some evenings are spent picking mulberries – in a bid to keep the monkeys away. They like to visit just as we wake up in the morning and stomp round on our tin roof and eat our fruit. Much to our annoyance as Mulberries make good jam! The sun sets by 7pm and we retreat in doors to reduce the feast of good English blood for the mosquitoes who like to share malaria with anyone who flashes a bit of skin after dusk.

Independance day in Uganda

On Thursday Uganda celebrated Independence Day! I was invited to come and see the celebrations along with the first year students.
We loaded up the mini bus traveled off to the sub county headquarters in Vurra. As we arrived the heavens opened, we took shelter on the porch of a building there! When the rain eased and the rivers returned to the resemblance of roads we ventured to a field where things were to take place! Things were rather squelchy underfoot and sandals were definitely the wrong choice of foot wear that morning.
As we stood watching people begin to gather around the field, drumming started up and songs were begun. Groups took turns in parading round and demonstrating what they had practiced for this special day! The groups were representatives of the primary and secondary schools and projects in the area such as a deaf school, health promotion team, scouts and guides, Group living with HIV, and Women Farmers. Altogether there were about 40 groups, which had 8 to 100+ people in each!
At one end of the field a shelter was set up and seats were arranged under the shelter. We were invited to sit in the front row (to enable photo taking), where we had a great view of all that went on and as the hours passed we were grateful to be sitting in shade (and our feet resting in the water)!
The event officially started when the guest of honor arrived, a councilor from the region. Initially each group had to march past the guest of honor in time with the beat of drums, sound of bugles and announce who they were. The groups were attired in their various uniforms – blue, pink, maroon, yellow, white, purple and green. They held up banners declaring who they represented and many waved the Ugandan flag.
Then speeches were made by various dignitaries, mostly taking place in Lugbara. After the speeches the groups were invited to parade again this time presenting their songs as they came by. It was an impressive display.
Food was to follow all of this, however the clouds grew dark and once the last group of student had paraded past the heavens opened once again! Our student took this as their cue to leave as by now it was 4.30pm as they were tired and hungry having left home at 11am!

Arrived

Well here I am, I have arrived safely and have started my induction. I have been meeting all the important people in the hospital – trying to learn who is who, what their names are and who does what!!

This is a Church of Uganda Hospital with a School of Nursing attached to it. They teach the Certificate in Comprehensive Nursing Course. This is a 2 ½ year course. My role initially will be as a Clinical Instructor . This will require me to supervise and support students on the maternity ward and try and help bridge the theory practical divide. I will also be called on to do some teaching in the school – computing being one of the subjects that they need more help with. The EU have given a grant to the school, part of which was for computers and Internet access (which is temperamental in my experience so far!).

My new home is in the 'German house' – which confuses people as they associate people who live here to come from there! I'm living here with Emma and Pete who are doctors – here for a year. We have taken over one wing of this 7 bedroomed house and are making it more homely. However we do have 'friends' who like to pay us visits in the form of a thing with a bushy tail (Bushbaby), flying insects, geckos and spiders. It's hard to know where to start with blocking the gaps!We will be getting a net door put on our back door so that we can get some breeze in without risking mosquito onslaught!
We are fortunate enough to have running water and electricity with the occasional power cut. It is a cold shower or we can have a bowl of hot water from the kettle. A cooker and fridge/ freezer have come with the house, this has facilitated tasty food cooked by our very experienced house help.This week she has demonstrated her great ablity by baking a cake! Not much chance of loosing weight if this keeps up!

I hope to be a bit more frequent with my up dates as I settle in....

Two weeks to go!!

So work finished last week and packing has begun. The shifting of belongings into the loft and the weighing up of luggage has taken up the week. Here is evidence of the chaos that reigns.

These are a couple of pictures of the sucessfull cake sales that took place at the Leicester Royal Infirmary! Thanks to you all for eating so much cake! :-) And thank you for all the fundraising. I will be able to eat and live for a little longer as a result of your support!

Had a great leaving meal this afternoon! Thanks for all the cards and gifts. It was lovely to see everyone. (My sister is also in this picture! Don't get too confused!)

Here it all begins

So I'm off to Uganda with the Church Mission Society! I am going to work in Kuluva Church Hospital. It has a maternity ward, antenatal clinic, nursing school, and 5 out lying maternal and child health clinics. My main skills are midwifery with a bit of tropical nursing thrown in. I leave in 6 weeks. Packing has not yet begun, but will take place shortly!