Busy Busy Busy

Hey Everyone!

Sorry for the long break between posts. We have been more busy lately than we ever have. So here is what we have been up to.

We were blessed enough to take a quick vacation for a few days to Tanzania last week, and boy am I glad we took it when we could because since we have been back, we have barely sat down. Our vacation was really amazing and special  and if we weren't living in this part of the world, we would never be able to go to a place like this. We went to a resort on the island of Pemba, which is just north of Zanzibar and off the coast of Tanzania. It only took half of a day traveling but the resort itself was pretty remote. We left Entebbe, Uganda at 5am Wednesday morning, had a quick layover in Nairobi, and landed in Dar Es Salaam around 10:00am. We then very quickly went through customs (luckily there was someone there to push us through) and made our tight 10:30 connection. We got on a little 12 seater plane that was more bouncy than I would have liked, but the view was amazing! You could see all of the beautiful coral reefs below and we sat right behind the pilot so it was fun to watch him fly the plane. We had a quick stop in Zanzibar (total of 5 minutes) for some passengers to get off, and then we flew on to Pemba. When we arrived in Pemba there was a shuttle from the resort there to get us. We drove across the island to the port where a boat was there to pick us up. Then we had a 15min boat ride to the resort. So, it seemed like a lot of traveling with all of the getting on and off planes, cars, and boats, but we arrived in time for lunch. The place was really beautiful and it looked like something the Swiss Family Robinson would have built ( but with a few more luxuries). The food was fantastic, the weather was amazing, and the best part was Newman's phone and internet didn't work there! We only stayed 3 nights, but we were able to really relax. We went offshore fishing together one morning, and Newman went a second time the next afternoon for just a couple of hours while I got a massage :). We spent time by the pool and on the beach and on the dock. Its a trip we will never forget and we felt so blessed to be able to go. In the work that we are doing, if you don't physically remove yourself from that place, then you never really stop working, so we were really in need of a getaway. Here are a few pictures from the trip.

                                           5am on our first flight- sleepy but excited

                                                       Our tiny plane from Dar to Pemba

 

Our final mode of transportation

 

 

Newman fighting his fish

 

Newman's Spanish Mackerel he caught. They made it into sashimi and it was on the menu that night for guests. We got our own big plate of it too, and it was amazing!!

 

The Jetty Bar

 

Where we ate our 1st dinner

 

Traditional Dhow

 

Eating lunch by the pool

 

The pool

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dipping our toes in the Indian Ocean

 

 

Newman wouldn't let me see his shells during our walk because he said he wanted to have "show and tell", so this is a picture of "show and tell"

 

The monkeys would come visit our deck every day and sometimes throw our towels and cushions around. 

Dinner our last night...so yummy

On the tiny plane

 

Our room, which is actually just a fancy tent

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So after this wonderful vacation, we returned to Masindi on Sunday. For the entire next week, I spent all of my time, with a few helpers, doing inventory of all of our donated materials which fills two entire storage containers (like the ones you see on big cargo ships). It was a daunting task to say the least and extremely exhausting, but we were able to count every last item in both containers and have sorted them into categories. There is still some fine tuning to do, but they at least make a little more sense now and its a lot faster to find the supplies we need. I am working on compiling everyone's handwritten lists now into an excel spreadsheet which has also become a huge task but necessary. There now seems to be light at the end of the tunnel of this project. I was beginning to doubt it last week, but we're getting there. Newman too has been very busy of course. Our new Doctor arrived the day we got back from vacation, so Newman quickly made sure he was getting settled in. We have also completed the Labor and Delivery and Surgical ward as well, so Newman was extremely busy making sure we had everything in order to begin accepting patients. We decided that yesterday, Monday, would be the first day to accept a patient, and last night our first expectant mother arrived. To top it off, she is having twins! Everyone is nervous and excited. She has been making slow progress, and as of right now, 24hrs after admission, she has not yet delivered. We are hoping she will make some more progress, or else we will have to do a c-section. We are as prepared as we can be if that is the case. Our new doctor, Dr. Dan, is really great and I think he will do a fantastic job. We are tired right down to our bones, but we are running on adrenaline at this point. We didn't take off any time last weekend because we were still doing inventory of the containers, so hopefully we will have a little time to breathe this weekend. Please pray for this first week the new ward is open that we have good outcomes, good health all around, and a good report back home! Thanks so much for your love and support! Love, Trish

 

 

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

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.

3 Month Update

Hey Everyone!

Life is as normal and therefore as unpredictable as usual here in Masindi. The time has really been flying by. I cannot believe we are over half way through July. When we were leaving home back in April, we knew that we would have our first 6 weeks with Michael and Amanda, as well as a team in May. That left the time between mid-June to mid-August with just us here, or so we thought. We thought that since it would be just us, the time would go by slowly and these few weeks could potentially have been tough. In keeping with our theme of never being able to predict life here, we have actually had a lot of visitors during these weeks and it has flown by. We have had 2 pharmacy students from USC College of Pharmacy for a month, our Peace Corps volunteer for a few days, and a Citadel cadet for 2 weeks throughout this time. It was our first time having guests in this house, so I now have a better idea of how to host here.

I have not had as much time in the clinic, due to a little more to do at home, but I enjoy the flexibility and the change of pace. Also, I have not been as needed in the clinic these days since we have more staff hired and the new ward is not quite up and running yet. There are plenty of very able hands around, which is great. I have been really impressed so far with the new staff. They are doing an amazing job, and they are a huge answer to my prayers. With the new wards being surgical and labor and delivery, I was really praying for some good staff, and that prayer was answered. So, really everything is working out really well with us having guests and more to do at home, and me not feeling like I am neglecting the staff.

Another thing I have been working on is making sure that I maintain my RN certification while we’re here. There are a few ways that the SC Board of Nursing will allow a nurse to maintain their license.  One way is to have your employer sign off on the hours you worked. Since I am not an actual employee of the clinic and I am not on the payroll, I cannot have anyone sign off on my working hours. Another option is taking 30 hours of approved Continuing Education or CE courses. I was very happy to find that I can take these courses online, and many are free!! Since I have a little down time from the clinic, I have begun to take some of these courses which have also been a great refresher of information.

Newman has been working almost nonstop on many things, one of which is getting everything ready for the new wards to open. This requires frequent trips to the construction site, doing research on and ordering equipment and supplies within a budget, and a working on a host of other details and tasks. It is also time for PMI’s first NGO renewal, so Newman has been working diligently to first of all, figure out how to do it, and secondly, get it done. He is definitely learning on the job. I think he enjoys the challenge and he is learning more than he realizes all the time. The hard part is knowing when to stop. By living just a few yards away from the clinic and having a home office, he has a hard time ending the work day. He is doing a fantastic job though and luckily he is a very flexible person, because there are constant interruptions. For instance this is what is happening at this very moment: Newman rode on a boda boda (motorcycle) into town with Mustafa because our vehicle is being used today, and a HUGE storm just rolled in leaving him stranded in town. What was supposed to be a quick trip to the bank, Masindi Hotel, and the internet store, will now be substantially longer. These things happen and are out of our control, and we have learned to just roll with it.

We were able to get away this weekend for a night which was really great, and much needed especially for Newman. We took the 2 pharmacy students, Brooke and Brittany, and the Citadel cadet, Franklin, with us to Para Safari Lodge in Murchison Falls. Newman and I both did not bring computers which was great, and Newman’s phone was dead part of the time, which I was happy about so that he was able to relax. We went on a game drive and a river safari on the Nile and both were amazing! They were definitely the best safaris both Newman and I had ever been on. We were given fantastic service during our meals from the chef there who we have gotten to know. Michael and Amanda had gotten to know him when they were here, so he knows about PMI and the groups that we bring there. He took really good care of us. When we returned Newman told me that he was so glad we did that and he felt very refreshed. I will leave you with a few pictures from our weekend. More are on facebook if you want to see the rest. Thanks so much for following along with our lives here and for your prayers and support. We really appreciate it!!