Backyard Fun!

Hey Everyone,

When we first arrived here, we were impressed by the way everyone lives off the land by growing their own vegetables and herbs and raising goats, cows, chickens, and sheep. Although we were impressed, we never thought that we would attempt to do any of those things. I grew up most of my life on our family farm on Wadmalaw Island, so I am used to this lifestyle, however I myself have never tried to plant anything in my life. I watch these people here plow, rake, plant, and harvest an entire field with their own 2 hands: no tractor, no combine, and no machinery what-so-ever. My back hurts just watching them.
When we first arrived, we were overwhelmed with getting used to just BUYing food here. I couldn't fathom growing our own. Well, four and a half months later, we find ourselves getting a little more comfortable and a little more adventurous. We started out with a small planter we had built for some herbs. I had it put right outside the back door over our patio so that we had something nice to look at when we sat on the patio, and so that I can just reach over the railing and pick some fresh herbs while I'm cooking. Our neighbor supplied the fertile soil and the seeds, and we crossed our fingers and hoped our little babies would sprout. Here's what we've got so far!

 

From closest to the furthest we have: dill, basil, and cilantro

 

They have actually grown even more than this. I took this picture a few days ago. We ate a few basil leaves with our supper last night and they were delicious. Fresh herbs are SO much better than dried.

 

So after having some success with this project, we have grown a little bolder. We decided to make a small garden in the yard. Another reason for this is if Newman doesn't have a house project, he gets a little antsy. (even though he is crazy busy already...go figure)

 

I took a few pictures of Newman prepping the ground by slashing the grass, hoeing the dirt, and raking the weeds out. Wilson came by Saturday morning and had a look at what he had done. He approved and offered to help more which was nice. We always run everything by Wilson to see if we are doing things correctly. Us mzungus don't know what we are doing half the time when it comes to this stuff.  Here are some pictures of phase one.

 

 Newman slashing

 

Newman Digging

 

 

After working for a little while, we had some visitors. Our little neighbors, who we’ve gotten to be good friends with, came over for a little Friday evening soccer or football as they say here.  My mother-in-law Lynn sent us this ball, and these 2 little boys have enjoyed it immensely. Sorry for the bad quality of the pictures. The sun was going down, and this is not a fancy camera.

 

 

 

Newman headed back outside early on Saturday before it got too hot to do some more work. Our friends joined us again for most of the day. I did some reading with the little one, Walter, and we played some tag.

Walter reading Mother Goose

 

Wilson and Newman then got on a little bunny trail and decided that we needed a compost pit too so that we will have good soil for the garden. They took turns digging. I just watched J

 

We will start planting this week I think, and hopefully will be able to harvest a few things by October. I think we will start with some lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, and jalapenos. We’ll keep you posted! I’ll be excited if we only get to eat even just one tiny carrot.

Thanks for following along with us!

Love,

Trish

Life is good

Hey Everyone!

I'm sorry its been 2 weeks since the last post. We have been pretty busy, but we are doing really well.

So since the last post about the team not coming and the Ebola outbreak, we have been focusing extra hard on what needs to be done to open the new ward. Its really starting to look like we are nearing the end. Beds have been assembled, equipment has been delivered, and its been cleaned from top to bottom. There are still some logistical things keeping us from opening at this point, but we are making progress in those areas too. One main one being that we need to hire on a full time doctor. We have some good prospects, and I know that God is sending us the right person. I can't wait for this ward to be open because I know that I will learn so much.

As far as the Ebola situation, it has been contained within the Kibaale district, and it is being considered "under control" but not yet eradicated. We are so glad that it was taken care of quickly and that it did not reach our district, but we are also so sad for the many many people who were affected. Only 16 people actually died from the virus. About 165 people remain under observation, and the 200+ people who were thought to have come in contact with the virus have all turned out to be negative. We thank everyone at home soooo much for your prayers and thoughts throughout this time. We felt so looked after, prayed for, and taken care of. We obviously wish that the team that was supposed to be here this week was with us now, but we know God has plans for all of those team members as well as those patients who we were going to treat.

We made a quick trip down to Kampala this week to pick up 3 incubators, a sterilizer, and an oxygen concentrator. It was a good trip, and its always nice to have a change of scenery. We love taking advantage of having some good meals out while we are down there. We tried a new place we hadn't been to called Lotus. Its a Mexican place, and it was really good. We got there in time for happy hour, so we had some yummy half price margaritas and some delicious chips and salsa. We had really been missing Mexican food, so this definitely cured the craving. Even though its nice to go down to Kampala every once in a while, I am always happy to get back to Masindi and into our house. It really feels like our home now.

I don't remember if I mentioned this in a previous blog or not, but we were so excited to discover that we could boil g-nuts here, which are basically just like peanuts, and they taste just like boiled peanuts from home. It was harvesting season these past few weeks, so we had several batches of green g-nuts brought to us. Once people found out we liked them, they were so generous and kept bringing them. I couldn't cook them fast enough, and we had to give a lot away. They were so good though, and we felt like we were back home in the summer. If only our feet were dangling off a dock into some salt water. We did fill our little bucket with water a few times to keep our feet cool while we sat out in the sun, so if we closed our eyes we could trick ourselves to thinking we were back on Wadmalaw or Seabrook. Below are some pictures of Wilson and Newman picking off the g-nuts to be washed. They are so funny together sometimes, like little buddies. They spent a lot of the day Saturday "slashing" the yard by choice, because they like swinging around long pieces of metal and cutting things down I guess....boys. They even competed to see who could do the best job trimming the bushes with the slasher. Wilson definitely won that competition. He's had a lot more experience. He said that when you are bad at school or if you are tardy, the teachers will give the students slashers and have them cut the grass around the school. I have seen children doing this, and I thought it must be some kind of African PE, but apparently it was African detention. Wilson said he did his fair share of slashing at school for not tucking his shirt in. We are reaping the benefits of his punishment.

So that's all the updates for now. Thanks for following along with us and thank you especially for your prayers! Also, I want to give a big shout out to my parents for making the move to Wisconsin this week for my Dad to begin Seminary!! I'm so proud of yall and the commitment you are making to follow God's calling on your lives. I cannot wait to see what he does for yall the next three years of school and beyond. Also, pray that my Mom doesn't freeze! She hates the cold, but I think they will love it up there. Love you Mom and Dad!!!
Love
Trish

Updates

Hey Everyone!

What a crazy time it’s been here in Uganda. You seriously NEVER know what you are going to be hit with day by day. So here is a summary of what we have been doing these past couple of weeks.

Last week we spent Tuesday- Saturday in and outside of Kampala for a Peace Corps training since PMI now has their own Peace Corps Volunteer, Emily!! We are soooo happy to have her and we know she is going to do an amazing job working with us. She is going to be focusing mainly on community outreach and health initiatives. She is extremely outgoing and fun loving and I think she is going to do a fantastic job. She will be with us for 2 years, so we will basically be living in Masindi with her the whole time we are here. It’s nice to have another American around. She has actually been staying with us ever since we picked her up last week because they are finishing up a few things on her house. She will most likely move in to her house this weekend.

Upon our arrival back in Masindi, we were greeted with the terrible news that there has been an Ebola outbreak a couple of hours south west of us in a town called Kibaale. Uganda has had a few Ebola outbreaks over the years, and the worst one being in 2000 where over 200 people died. Since that was not so long ago, people have vivid memories of that and are still traumatized. Our own clinic officer, Alex, was actually quarantined during an outbreak in 2007, but thankfully was not infected. So, as you can imagine, this news was quite unnerving to Alex and everyone who remembers that outbreak.  So far there have been 16 deaths, 18 who are isolated and being watched carefully, and over 100 more that have been quarantined due to potential interaction with others who were infected. Luckily, there have been no cases in Masindi so far. The CDC and WHO are all over this as you can imagine, so every effort is being taken to isolate the virus. We feel safe here in Masindi and our clinic is taking extra precautions while continuing to operate and provide care. We are unable to isolate anyone properly with Ebola, so anyone complaining of any symptoms similar to those of Ebola is being referred out to the proper facilities which have been set up by the CDC. We are not taking any chances and want to keep our staff and current patients safe, although it is so hard to turn anyone away. PMI has made the difficult yet wise decision to cancel the August mission trip here which was supposed to arrive next weekend. Newman’s brother Will Henry was supposed to arrive this weekend and stay for the week with the team as well. Obviously we were very sad that he and the rest of the team could not come, as we had been looking forward to seeing some familiar faces, but we completely agree with the decisions that our leadership has made. With the nature of these trips being medical outreaches where we ask people to travel and congregate in large groups to be seen by our medical team, anyone who was already infected by the virus could easily spread it amongst the group. We did not want to put any Ugandan’s lives in danger by asking them to congregate after the President of Uganda has already warned against large gatherings. We do not have the proper facilities to isolate patients who we are suspicious may have Ebola, so we all thought it best to cancel this trip. We hope that these team members will be able to go on a future trip coming up soon, and we feel certain that Will Henry will be able to come over another time as well. I have been asked to not do any patient care for a short time, so I am trying to help Newman out in any way I can, and am staying just as busy as ever.

This weekend, instead of heading to Entebbe to pick up Will Henry, we will be having a quiet weekend at home during which I hope Newman and I can catch up on some sleep. Despite knowing that we are safe and taken care of in our own home, I can’t say that we haven’t lost some sleep over this the past few days.  

Thanks so much for all of your prayers and understanding for those of you who were supposed to join us next week. We love you all and are glad to have the peace of mind that everyone is staying safe. Please pray especially for those families who have been directly affected by this terrible virus. The saddest part of this is that most of the people who have died, were a part of just one family. I can’t imagine how devastated I would be if my family was wiped out in a matter of weeks. We love you all and will keep you posted. My reading this morning from Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost for His Highest was so reassuring with a quote from Psalms 91 which reads: “…No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling…” We feel well prayed for and looked after, and we thank you for all of your support!

Love

Trish