Mbale

Sunday was our last day in Kampala for a while. It was another quiet day on Ward 14 (only 3 births) but one was intense to watch -- the Ugandan midwife decided an episiotomy was necessary, and she performed it with a razor blade (which, to be fair, was her only available tool) with no anesthetic -- once again, I was reminded how lucky we are in Canada to have access to so much equipment for birth, even though we rarely end up using much of it. After that, Angela taught us all an old-school midwifery trick to speed up the last little bit of pushing when necessary. Fortunately the rest of the birth went very smoothly, and the mother was absolutely overjoyed to meet her beautiful little boy. Not only that, the woman's husband was allowed on the ward a couple hours later to say hello and meet his son, in spite of the "no guests allowed" signs, and he took the time to thank me and Sarah for assisting with the birth. We certainly encounter a lot of things in the hospitals that are done very differently from in Canada, which can make the environment a difficult one to negotiate.

During a quiet moment, we also visited the special care nursery at Lower Mulago hospital. One of the babies from Ward 14 had been transferred over at the beginning of our shift the day before, so we went to check on him. To enter the nursery, we all had to take off our shoes and socks, and go in barefoot -- another new experience. We were able to spot the baby because we recognized his little knitted hat, donated by some wonderful ladies from Saskatchewan. Fortunately, he was doing much better -- it's always a relief when a visit like that ends in good news.

In the evening, we stopped by the market for our first "Rolex" -- a Ugandan treat, basically an omelette on a chapati, that makes for a very affordable dinner at the equivalent of fifty cents.

Today (Monday) was our "day off," so we were on the road at 7:00 am to try to catch the "Elgon Flyer" bus to Mbale, which was scheduled to leave at 8:00. It left at seven, so we waited on the sidewalk, with our many suitcases full of medical supplies, to catch the 10:00 bus -- which left at 11:00. :) The ride itself had lots of beautiful scenery, and we shared the bus with three pallets of chicks -- their cheeping made a charming soundtrack for the beautiful scenery. Whenever we would stop for passengers to get on or off, the bus was swarmed with people selling matooke, soft drinks, and meat-on-a-stick, passing the food up through the bus windows.

Our dormitory-style accomodations in Mbale are slightly more rustic,  but this is balanced somewhat by the widespread availability of fresh mangoes and avocadoes that only cost about 10 cents each. Sarah and I also enjoyed some mango juice with dinner -- we didn't realize when we ordered it that it would be prepared to order from fresh mangoes! What a treat!

The air quality is certainly nicer on the hospital grounds here than at our guest house in Kampala, and we have a stunning view of Mount Elgon from just outside our door. Because the hospital dormitories aren't too busy, we each have our own double room for at least the next few days, which is an added bonus!  Tomorrow we start on the wards -- should bring a whole new set of adventures!

Posted by Lyanne