First
things first…Erika’s back! She’s a nurse and was here from October til the end
of December last year; she’s here for a year so if I come back, she’ll still be
here. Given the turnover in this place, it’s particularly wonderful when a
familiar face returns to the house.
A
couple weeks ago, there was a rat in our bedroom…we get a fair amount of them
in this house. I got home just as a couple of the volunteers had seen it and subsequently
hid themselves up on the top bunks. I moved suitcases around, peered under
beds, but couldn’t find it. I convinced the girls that it most likely went out
through the hole in the screen (where it likely came in) so they’d be able to
sleep; although I did have to switch bunks with my current bunkmate so she was
as far from the floor as possible. J I store one
of my suitcases under my bunk and a couple days later, I opened it to find two
little beady eyes staring back at me. We shared a little moment before I closed
and zipped my bag up, rolled it outside the gate (as per everyone’s insistence)
and let it go. The little bugger ate a granola bar and pooped on my Sunday
dresses…
I’ve
been trying to knock things off my Jinja bucket-list this past couple weeks so
last Tuesday Emily H, Erika, Erica (a current short-term volunteer) and myself
went on a 2 hour horseback riding “safari” along the Nile and through some
local villages. At one point, we were given the opportunity to split off into
two groups: those that wanted to go fast and those that didn’t. The former was
a small group consisting of a guide and…me. I’ve cantered on horses enough to
feel relatively confident, but I expected a bit of a heads up - maybe a
progression from a walk to a trot to a canter - but before I had even enough
time to sufficiently gather my reins, he shouted “Let’s go!” and took off. My
horse, naturally, followed suit causing me to flail around while I tried to
tighten the reins and pull back, all the while yelling “Whoa!” at the top of my
lungs. Luckily my guide, Charles, had the sense to stop…at which he informed
me, “If you want to stop, just call my name.” “Thank you, Charles, I’ll try to
remember that while I’m holding on for dear life…” is what I thought, “Ok” is
what I said. Not willing to let the first go scare me off, I asked that we go
again. 3 more times we took off running and apart from a brief section of
cantering along comfortable, each time I ended up being thrown around, barely
staying in the saddle, frustrated but assuming that since cantering is a rather
bouncy gait it was simply error in my form. Our last attempt, I was thrown
forward so hard that I ended up flat on my stomach, gripping my horse’s neck
with my left arm and trying to pull back the reins with the right. It wasn’t
until just before that moment that Charles looked back at the right time to see
what the problem really was…my horse wasn’t cantering; he was
bucking…repeatedly… Shortly after, the other girls caught up and Em asked me
quite sincerely if I was ok; I didn’t really understand her concern until I
realized that they had all seen the whole thing and that it looked terrifying
and that they couldn’t believe I hadn’t fallen off. I suppose I can be proud of
that.
Thursday
afternoon, Em H and I hopped on a matatu to go to Kampala to hang out with
Annelise. She’s the one I know from home and who was here for 6 weeks back in
February; she’s returned to work with an organization called Watoto for at least
a year. She’s a nurse and she’s currently in the process of getting certified
to work as a nurse in Uganda which entails an 8 week rotation at a local
hospital. This was her second week in the special care unit at Mulago hospital
for preemies and really sick newborns. Despite the sign on the door saying “No
Visitors, Do Not Enter”, Annelise ushered us right in and we were graciously welcomed
by all the nurses. The place was full of crappy old incubators (some held
together with duct-tape) and there were so many babies. Not only were we able
to walk around, peer in and read all their charts, but Annelise even showed us
a newborn that was born with his intestines outside of his body. I even “helped”
Annelise with a tiny newborn who, we found out the next day, didn’t make it
through the night. By help, I simply mean putting on a glove and adjusting his
oxygen tube so that it was snug inside his tiny little nostrils, but it was
still staggering to me that I was able to do that.
After
hanging around for a bit, the three of us walked back the swanky Watoto
volunteer apartment where Annelise is currently staying (and we’d be staying
the night) to drop off our things and headed back out to get a tour of
Bullrushes, one of Watoto’s babies homes. The place was beautiful and since it
was only meant for babies under 2, we got to cuddle some pretty precious little
kids; I actually spent a fair amount of time holding a preemie named Precious. Watoto doesn’t do adoptions;
they send all their kids to Children’s Villages to be raised in Uganda. I don’t
advocate for this but, in this case, it was probably a good thing because I
could have lost my heart in that place.
It
was already a great afternoon but we proceeded to a café called Mish Mash; Em
had had it recommended to her. We sat outside on oversized couches around a
stage that was clearly being set up for some live music and we weren’t disappointed:
2 great friends, steak with mashed potatoes, a big oversized glass of white
wine and 3 Brits doing a set of old familiars…altogether one of the most
relaxing evenings I’ve had in the last 10 months.
The
rest of our time included a cold boda ride home through Kampala at night, all
three of us squeezed together, a wonderful sleep (waking up to something that
is rare and precious…silence), a quiet morning in the empty apartment reading,
writing and drinking tea and a stop at Garden City to see a movie. We were planning
to FINALLY see The Hunger Games, but 30 minutes before the showing, they
crossed it off the schedule because “It hadn’t arrived”. They’ve been telling
us that since April 13th when it was originally supposed to open
here. We were so irritated we complained and got ourselves 2 free passes to The
Avengers instead.
Those
two days weren’t actually meant as a vacation, but it turned out that way and has
kind of increased the anticipation of my holiday in Amsterdam. Friday is
looming and I’ve made myself quite numb as I busy my way through these final
days. I said my first goodbyes on Sunday and was also part of a group that was
called up to be prayed over. Everyone is invited to come up and join the prayer
if they’d like to and the whole Ekisa crew came up and stood around me…and if
that wasn’t enough, we had a talent show for the staff this afternoon and a
number of the mamas said kind things and dedicated their dances to me…why do
they have to make it so hard?? I feel I’ve been fairly strong about it so far,
but it’s becoming clearer to me every day how hard this is going to be.
On
Friday, Erika and both Em’s are planning on coming to the airport with me. We
will hopefully be able to see The Hunger Games and then eat dinner together in
Kampala before heading to Entebbe and saying our final goodbyes. I’ll be flying
overnight to Amsterdam where I’ll be catching the train to a city an hour from
the airport and meeting up with my friend, Kyla, and her family to spend 5 days
exploring Amsterdam and the surrounding areas. I actually think it will be a
really good transitional period before having to adjust to life back in Canada.
So,
here goes…
Just a couple keepers from the photo shoot I did with Christine and baby Janet (the one I saw delivered)
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