Kagando!

The interface of this system may grind the Pentium computer to a halt, and I don't know if the sub-dialup internet will serve me well in my quest, but I suppose I can't come up with many better reasons to revive my blog than all the stories from Africa.

We landed what seems like quite a while ago in Entebbe, Uganda, made the trip to Kampala, stayed a quick night and made our way out to a very small place called Kagando. You won't find it on any maps, though you might locate Kasese, which is about 25 minutes drive away.

Here, three of us, classmates, plan to spend a month working/volunteering in the hospital. Check out their website for some idea what kind of place it is. To our pleasant surprise, there were many other mzungu (white) med students here, mostly from Great Britain but one from Holland, so we were surrounded by a great group of fellow Christian students and were helped in the transition (or perhaps even just finding our rooms) to work at the hospital.

I have many stories, I suppose, though many other them are only interesting from a medical perspective, but I'll share a couple that I hope are more universal.

I spent my first 2 weeks and a bit on paediatrics. Part of it is a malnutrition ward. There's a young fellow (I think he's 8 or 9, but he could pass for 5) named Edimus who's been a long term resident of the place. His story is actually rather sad; as I understand it his mother remarried and his stepfather disowned him, leaving him stranded at the hospital where he's remained for quite some time. That aside, he's the cutest thing ever, running around the ward, joining you for ward rounds sitting on your lap, or his favourite passtime: pinching people's bums. I understand he's going to live with an aunt soon, and so things will be a little quieter (who am I kidding... paeds is a madhouse) on paeds in future.

One member of our group has been particularly active in the community, and met tons of the kids who are around, and bonded with them over his football (soccer) ball that they are forever coming up to ask to use to play. One evening, I joined him and a few of the other meds to go on a trip to the village which shares the hospital's name to give the kids a present. A mini football with some of their names on it and an admonition to share it with all the kids in the village. We stayed and played until dark, snapping pictures with our cameras to the kids delight (I don't know what African children did before digital cameras... they must have been very confused by the black boxes that people pointed at them, now they just demand to see themselves and scream with glee). It was a special experience, and it reminds you that the simple things in life are often brushed over when you live a life where you have everything you could need.

There's tons of other stuff I could write about, and if I get time I'll continue to write, assuming that this post will go up on this internet connection...