Uganda Midwifery 2011: TGIF!

It's Friday. We got to the hospital early, Carolyn caught the baby of one of the waiters at the Zebra. Or more precisely, Carolyn caught the rest of the body as the head was already out when she came into the room. Unfortunately, yet another still birth, a baby that had died several days earlier, and finally one healthy normal birth. We finished at 12:30 today so we could go to the weekly market.

First we stopped by the Zebra and experimented with mixing Nile beer (a barley, maize and hops beer) with Stoney (a local gingerale)- it was delicious! Then we headed into town.

We first walked around Masaka on a Sunday and it was like a ghost town. Today it was full of life and colour and sounds and smelled like dried fish! The market is a large, square walled area with shops around the perimeter and inside. People were selling sandals, shirts and pants, bras, produce, pots and pans, dried fish, gourds and pottery ware, dresses and skirts. Carolyn and I bought some fruit for our bus ride to Mpanga Eco Reserve tomorrow and we each bargained for two dresses. A little girl took Alix's hand at the fruit stand and was very curious about her white skin and the tattoo on her wrist. We took a photo of her and showed her the photo on our screen- her family explained it was the first time she has seen what her face looks like. The colours were beautiful and the choas was wonderful and comforting. Again we are surprised by the variety of greetings we receive here- one woman knelt to touch our feet today while others glare. We both made sure to kneel likewise! Our photos will probably describe the experience better than words.

Back to the hotel for a shower and to change into a dress- we were told we look very smart. Another stoney/nile and Benon, the owner of the Zebra, played a game of bananagrams with us and then we moved on the spite and malice (a card game). A bite of dinner. Tomorrow we will catch a bus out to the Mpanga Forest Eco Reserve and we will return Sunday.