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!