June 13 - 18 (erin)

While we were away at the National Park, both Einer and Carli got more sick. Einer has now been flown to Nairobi hospital to get treatment for pneumonia and possibly typhoid. We haven’t heard from him yet but hope he is getting good treatment and is recuperating. Nairobi is better equipped to do bloodwork and other tests. Carli had to go to Kampala to get more treatment for her malaria. At the national park, Catrin met an American doctor studying malaria in Kampala and she told Carli to go to her clinic to get more tests as sometimes clinics here misdiagnose or their test equipment isn’t clean. So she went. Her malaria was confirmed but what happened was that she had been mistreated the first time she got malaria. She had been given the strongest medication that they normally don’t use anymore so her subsequent episodes have not been cured because the other medications aren’t as strong. Therefore the malaria has never gone away! No wonder she’s been sick so long. So she got one more “super injection” and hopefully that will be all of her sickness for the rest of her trip. She has extended her stay in Uganda so that she has more time to enjoy herself being healthy and she can fly home with us.



Tuesday, I went back on another outreach with USDC. This time it was in Sembabule and this two hour drive is really brutal. You cannot understand how bad these roads are unless you actually experience them. It’s really unimaginable that this was a main road. It is literally 4x4ing all the way. Sometimes we were so far down a crevice that it felt like we were driving on 2 wheels. Other than that, not too much exciting happened on this day. It was the same presentations as last week so I mostly sat in the truck and tried to comfort myself by saying, “at least I’m sitting in a truck in Africa.”



This was Catrin and Ben’s last night in Masaka and boy were they glad to get out of here and away from the Curse! We were sad to see them go because they were really fun and we enjoyed having new people to talk to. I think they are the only other muzungus besides those we live with that are not fanatical religious missionaries. I hope the rest of their stay in Kampala goes well.



Carli came home from Kampala on Wednesday night and I was glad to see her. But I was also happy that she had made some new friends in Kampala and was able to have some fun times. I can’t remember what else happened on Wednesday or on Thursday. Must have either been really uneventful or so traumatic it’s been blocked out of my memory.



Friday, June 16, however was more memorable although not for good reason. I had woken up with a migraine and taken one of my precious pills from home. Then Carli and I went back to Sembabule with USDC. I thought it was going to be more school sensitization and thought it would be fun for her to see all the kids and feel like a movie star. Anyway, those terrible roads combined with my medication made me very ill. It was the worst 2 hour drive of my life. When we arrived at the centre I ran to the bathroom (or pit toilet) in case I had to throw up. But I think the bathroom conditions were not conducive to throwing up so I just suffered internally. So I lay in the backseat of the truck praying to feel better. Even my magical ginger wasn’t working this time. Meanwhile poor Carli was also suffering through a parent support group meeting all in Luganda of course. When it was break time her and Bernadette came out and we went for lunch. Soooo funny….we DROVE across the street to the restaurant….ahhh you can only laugh! I think I have it figured out why nobody walks here…kids have to walk so far to get to school, sometimes 2 or more hours and people walk so far to fetch water etc. that when they are adults, they take advantage of vehicles as much as possible. That’s my explanation anyway.



After lunch Carli didn’t go back in to the meeting so we sat in the truck bored as heck. I finally suggested that we go for a walk in town (this was pretty much a one street town so it took less than 5 minutes). It was so hot that we felt like we were in a desert in some kind of western movie. Carli managed to find some nice shoes that she had seen in Masaka and had wanted. Then we just counted the minutes until it was time to go. Such a long day.



The ride home was just as awful as the way there and I became very nauseous again. And my poor neck was saying, “what are you doing to me???” Everyone was quiet on the way home so I think everyone was feeling ill or at least really tired. We have declared this the worst day in practicum history. When we got home we dragged ourselves to the Brovad and forced ourselves to eat despite our sickness. Creepy men at the bar were staring at us and I kind of hoped that it was because we looked like we were dying. I took one of Jen’s muscle relaxants and went to bed really early. Chandra and Jen met up with the DFCU bank manager and his wife (Chris and Nora) for another night of Tropic Inn dancing.



This weekend was originally planned for Lake Mburo to see the zebras but ended up that none of us really wanted to go. We were all tired and full of adventures and sickness from the week before. So I went to Lake Nabugabo and spent the whole night throwing up again. I thought that would be a fun way to spend the weekend. Now I am really scared to eat anything! It wasn’t as bad as Erin’s disease but it was still unpleasant and makes me want to come home now! After some recuperation time on Sunday we went out for dinner with Louise and some of her friends. We just had to laugh (to avoid crying) when we were told (despite what the menu said) that there was no rice, no potatoes, no veggie samosas…and when Carli got her “veggie sandwich” it consisted of just peas!! Ha ha, her favourite ;p It became another early night for Carli and Erin while the party animals, Chandra and Jen lived it up at a Karaoke bar.