Friday February 22nd

What a week! I am so thankful that tomorrow is Saturday.
With the team gone, I thought that this week would be a little more quiet, but was I wrong.

I was planning on going to Kampala on Thursday to do shopping for some of the staff at New Hope. I had to go in on Wednesday instead because of a slight medical emergency. The emergency did not involve me, but since I was going in to do shopping, the person came in with me to get checked out. Let me tell you, I have a new attitude of gratitude for the medical care in America. The technology, sanitation procedures, and just utter convenience of the health care in the U.S. is amazing compared to what was in Kampala. After stopping at 1 grocery story, and spending 7 hours in 3 clinics, I was finally able to head back to Kasana. Not all of the shopping got done, but the medical emergency turned out to be okay in the end, and personally, that is all that mattered.

We left Kampala at around 7:00 pm and I hope I never have to leave Kampala that late ever again. The sun sets at around 7:30 pm, so leaving at this time only gave us a mere 30 minutes of good sunlight to make our way through the chaos. I am so surprised that I have fingernails left, because I was so nervous while the driver was playing chicken with everyone on the road. The roads are so bad that everyone is constantly swerving in and out to avoid the potholes and at night, it is absolute madness. Praise God that we made it back safely, because multiple times I wasn't too sure how the game of chicken would end up. I was wondering today why my muscles are strangely sore, but I figured it out...my body was tensed up for the entire ride home from Kampala. Traveling definitely is the most dangerous aspect of my job here...unless you upset a hippo...

Thursday and today were filled with much to be done for the upcoming teams and visitors. The emails piled up, due to the interruption of the internet system here.

Now, I am going to try to answer some of the questions that people have posted:
There was a question about the Ugandans' attitude toward me.
-Ugandans are very friendly and very sensitive. If you don't greet them in the morning, they might think that you are mad at them. So, greeting is a must. I am a little too American though. If I have a question for someone, I want to get in and out and not bother them, but I really should greet them all properly before I ask anything. One Ugandan said to me that I get things done very quickly. I don't think of myself as Flash, but everything is done at a much slower pace compared to in America. But mostly, they just think that I am a crazy muzungu.

There was a question about the baby house:
-The baby house currently takes care of 10 babies and there are two ladies who work there full time. They take care of the babies and the manager (who is our neighbor) likes for the full time ladies to get the weekends off. That is why I was able to have "a baby for a day." They usually like people to pick a baby up on Saturday afternoon and bring the baby back on Sunday around 6 pm. This gives the full time staff a time to relax and regain sanity.

Well, all my muffins are finished so I am going to call it a day. Have a Great weekend everyone and if you remember, say an extra prayer for me on Sunday as I am going to Kampala yet again.