A few words from Newman

Not too long ago Trish wrote about what her typical day is like here.  The truth is that typical is no longer in our vocabulary.  I find myself making lists all the time of the things I want to accomplish in a day and at the end of that day I have gotten very few of them done because of all the other things that popped up and took precedence.  A great example of that was a Monday not too long ago when our pharmacy rotation students from the US had just arrived.  I wanted to take some time and show them around the clinic, introduce them to our staff, and help them get acquainted with Masindi since they would be living here for a month.  I went to Joseph, our administrator,  that morning and told him my plan for the day, he usually laughs during these conversations and reminds me that nothing is easy in Uganda.  On this particular Monday I also asked Joseph to make arrangements to meet with the Regional District Commissioner (RDC), on Thursday or Friday.  The RDC is the highest government official for the district and is usually appointed by the president, we need his signature from time to time on important documents.  I wanted to take him to lunch, show him how far we have come with the new wards and grease the wheels to get some papers signed a few weeks later.  Joseph called the RDC to make these arrangement’s, which happen in Runyoro usually while I sit by wondering what is being said. When he hung up the phone he told me that the RDC needed to be picked up in one hour for our meeting.  Puzzled, I asked Joseph how Thursday or Friday had turned into one hour to which he replied, “Nothing is easy in Uganda.”  So perhaps a typical day here just means looking at your week backwards and deciding which things you really want to get done Monday and planning those for Friday.  I do love my job here and each day brings new and exciting challenges.  My days usually begin around 7 am when I check the emails that have come in from the night before in the US, that whole time difference thing really gets in the way when you want a fast reply to an email.  I then look at my list of things to accomplish for the day/ week/ month/ etc.  We are wrapping up construction on our new ward and equipment orders are being placed.  We regularly meet to go through our operational budget here to make sure we maintain our sustainability.  I work alongside a number of Ugandans to set up security, food, lodging, etc for the US teams that come over quarterly.  Basically everyday is different and you never know whether it is going to be spent in front of the computer, on a construction site, in line at a bank for an hour, or over a three hour lunch meeting with the highest government official in the district.  Some days, ok a lot of days, actually include a little bit of all of these things but Trish is good about reminding me that I need to relax sometimes and take a break for dinner.  Some emails can wait until the next morning, construction can’t go on in the dark with no power, the clinic closes and most of the staff goes home so I need to put some things aside and watch a sunset before the ice melts in my drink.  But, I am looking forward to starting it all over tomorrow because I absolutely love my job.