I know that it's been a really long time since I've updated the blog, but believe it or not I had written a post and before I was able to hit the "publish post" button the page reloaded on me and lost the entry. At that point the computer and I needed to have some time apart before I tried posting again - and it's been kind of hectic (in a good way) lately so I haven't a lot of time to update. But, that means this post will be quite long - assuming I can stay up and keep writing (it's after midnight here and the roosters come by around 6:30am).
The first thing I want to mention is that we decided as a group to help that little boy who lives on the compound with a cough. We gave his mother money to take him to the doctor - it was a good thing too because it turned out he had bronchitis and needed two liquid medications, one round of pills, and two injections to get healthy again. Not too long after we treated the boy, one of the gatekeepers brought another boy to our attention who had been very badly burned. He'd been burned with hot coals from a fire and hadn't been seen by a physician for at least four days. We cleaned out his wound and took him to the doctor where the burn was dressed properly. We have been cleaning and re-dressing teh burn for a week now and it seems to be healing nicely. The boy was burned on the inside of his arm, about half the distance from his wrist to his elbow. He's five years old. We also ended up taking his younger brother to the hospital for malaria treatment - where he was admitted for a day - due to a very high fever and low blood count. I am a little concerned about the repercussion of this treatment we are offering - not that I would have denied the treatment, but what happens when too many people ask for help in teh form of doctors fees or when we leave? It's a question we are pondering, but as our trip comes to and end the former seems the pressing question.
Since the last time I have updated we have been given new guidelines for the fencing project. The anglebars were FINALLY! completed early last week and had to be given two coats of paint. We then had to dig a trench all the way around the perimeter of the fence to ensure the fence was secured in the ground. The good news is that as of today we only have one more section of chainlink to put up and tighten before we can add the barbed wire and be finished! Our Ugandan counterpart thinks that if we put in two more full days we will be finished with the work by the end of the day Wednesday - just in time for our safari - which we leave for on Thursday morning! I can't believe that time has flown by so quickly, we only have two weeks left in country, six of those days will be spent on teh compound where we have been living since arriving and the rest will be spent as tourists - a final treat before we leave the country.
I was coerced into climbing the mountain/hill I mentioned a while ago to watch the sunset. A few people convinced me to go up - with the admonition that if I went up they would have to help me a lot to get back down. And they did, everyone was very patient with me and helped me the whole way. While the view was nice from the top, I'm not sure I'll go back up before we leave - once was enough for me. There's another spot I'd like to stop and see the sunset from a little farther the quarry/mine from the "big" rock I climbed.
We have decided that in our travel plans we are going to go white water rafting: and yes, after some convincing from my group members and mom and dad (along with financial help) I'll be going white water rafting too (at least I will be going as of right now. I still reserve the right to back out when it all comes down to it - there's another person in the same boat I am and one who has completely opted out of going). We'll see what happens. We are slated to raft on August 8, and spend the 9 and 10 in Kampala before leaving late the night of August 10. The safari will begin on Friday morning (7am) and last until August 2, at which point we will return to the compound until August 7. These last few weeks will fly by - which we are all grateful for and quite sad about. We're definitely ready to get back to the states: running water, indoor plumbing, plumbing in general, meat, non-beans/rice dishes, good electricity, lack of mosquitoes, no red dirt everywhere, no more DEET. But, I know I'll miss a lot from here, particularly the people and the children. I'll definitely miss them the most. I can't believe we only have seven days left here.
I realized that I haven't really illustrated the price differences between here and the US yet. So, let me illustrate what the prices are like. The exchange rate is just over 2000 Ugandan Schillings to one USD. Pineapples are 1000 Schillings, internet rates (more expensive rates) are 25 Schillings per minutes, tailored shirts are 8000 Schillings plus the price of fabric (between 12000 and 25000 depending on the material), public transport into town is 1000 Schillings. We are eating and transporting ourselves with eight people for seven weeks on 1600 USD and it looks like we'll have money to spare at the end. Our first two days of food here cost 13 USD per day for eight people. We joke all the time that when we get back to the states we're going to have issues adjusting to the prices - everything will seem so expensive to us when we can spend so little and have it seem expensive here. For instance, I am having a blouse and a pair of pants made by a local woman who only wants us to pay for the materials she must buy in order to make the clothes - 5000 Schillings. That's a bit less than 2.50 USD (when you take into account the exact rate). Can you believe it?
We've been lucky so far concerning malaria and mosquitoes - no one in our group has suffered from malaria yet. We are becoming more aware of the mosquitoes because the rain is increasing drastically which means there are more bugs and because of the safari. We will be in Murchison Falls along the Nile and at the lowest elevation in the country. That means we will be in mosquito central for four days - lots of bug spray will be necessary. And I have just learned that we are entering the primary season for malaria - we know a lot of locals from around where we are who are suffering or have been suffering recently from malaria. That being said, we are careful after dark and are good about taking our meds - we just need to be better about the spray when we are on safari because we can't retreat indoors then (we're camping).
It's getting late and I need to head to bed - I still have a few things to update you on, but it'll have to wait until I'm more awake and it's not so late. Hope all is well in the states - see you very, very soon!
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