Monday, September 27, 2010
9/27 - Monday
Made it safely to Entebbe on a Mission Aviation Fellowship flight. Said a sad goodbye to Val and Heidi but know we will see them again. Val comes to Oregon regularly and we hope to come back to Uganda soon. Heidi lives in New York but hey, it’s in the States at least!
9/26 - Sunday
Sadly our last day in Karamoja – we will miss it. Early church started at 7:15. We were tired from our late night so went to the later service at 10:00. It ended at 2:00, a little longer than usual as they had 84 baptisms! The Anglican Church here only performs baptisms twice a year, each time over 2 consecutive Sundays. Baptism candidates have to complete a several month course first. They baptize by ‘dousing’ (elsewhere known as sprinkling), not immersion, and each person baptized has a parent or ‘God parent’ who is responsible for mentoring them and keeping them accountable. Alcoholism and sexual promiscuity are common here but with strong ties to the church most people give those up and make new friends in the church community. The sermon was very good. The pastor talked about how some churches baptize by immersion and some by sprinkling but what is really important is the change in the person’s heart. Baptism is just an outward sign – the heart change is what really counts.
This particular church was very privileged to have a copy of the Old Testament to read from. There is an elderly gentleman in church who spent 23 years translating the Bible into the local language. The New Testament was published a few years ago and the Old Testament will be published next year. They are currently using his original manuscript in this church! By next year hopefully all the churches will have a complete Bible. In the larger cities in Uganda most people speak English but not in the rural communities – they speak local dialect.
After church we were approached several more times by young boys who wanted to sell us birds they had gotten with sling shots. We had wondered if that might happen after yesterday. Val said they would hunt them anyway and we had not contributed to the demise of the local wildlife population by buying one of them. We decided to decline the rest and let them eat them – none of them were as special as the bird we got yesterday.
We walked into town after church for lunch, about ¼ mile, which took us about an hour as we had to stop and shake hands with and greet everyone we passed. It was fun and great PR for CVM. After lunch evening was approaching and the streets started filling with hundreds of cattle, sheep and goats. In an attempt to avoid the raiders the people had decided recently to bring all the livestock into town every night. For now it is working but Val fears a huge raid in the future that may kill many people due to the large number of livestock in a single location. There is no good solution to the problem aside from hearts changed by faith in Jesus Christ.
Val, Julia and Heidi spent a social evening making a large enclosure for the bird and Liz caught up on the Uganda journal for the BLOG. After nightfall we went cricket and lizard hunting for roller’s dinner. Then we had our last ‘chocolate feast’ on what remained of the stash we brought from the States. We think this was Val and Heidi’s favorite part of each day – they can’t get good chocolate here. It’s pretty much boiled meat, cassava, sweet potatoes and the infamous ‘glucose biscuits’. Val also recounted stories of her experiences with other gastronomic delights here including boiled and roasted mice, hump of camel (solid fat!), 4 days old leg of goat (the lower leg, not the upper leg) complete with maggots and her favorite – goat salivary gland. We have had no internet access for almost a week but hope to send this tomorrow from Entebbe.
This particular church was very privileged to have a copy of the Old Testament to read from. There is an elderly gentleman in church who spent 23 years translating the Bible into the local language. The New Testament was published a few years ago and the Old Testament will be published next year. They are currently using his original manuscript in this church! By next year hopefully all the churches will have a complete Bible. In the larger cities in Uganda most people speak English but not in the rural communities – they speak local dialect.
After church we were approached several more times by young boys who wanted to sell us birds they had gotten with sling shots. We had wondered if that might happen after yesterday. Val said they would hunt them anyway and we had not contributed to the demise of the local wildlife population by buying one of them. We decided to decline the rest and let them eat them – none of them were as special as the bird we got yesterday.
We walked into town after church for lunch, about ¼ mile, which took us about an hour as we had to stop and shake hands with and greet everyone we passed. It was fun and great PR for CVM. After lunch evening was approaching and the streets started filling with hundreds of cattle, sheep and goats. In an attempt to avoid the raiders the people had decided recently to bring all the livestock into town every night. For now it is working but Val fears a huge raid in the future that may kill many people due to the large number of livestock in a single location. There is no good solution to the problem aside from hearts changed by faith in Jesus Christ.
Val, Julia and Heidi spent a social evening making a large enclosure for the bird and Liz caught up on the Uganda journal for the BLOG. After nightfall we went cricket and lizard hunting for roller’s dinner. Then we had our last ‘chocolate feast’ on what remained of the stash we brought from the States. We think this was Val and Heidi’s favorite part of each day – they can’t get good chocolate here. It’s pretty much boiled meat, cassava, sweet potatoes and the infamous ‘glucose biscuits’. Val also recounted stories of her experiences with other gastronomic delights here including boiled and roasted mice, hump of camel (solid fat!), 4 days old leg of goat (the lower leg, not the upper leg) complete with maggots and her favorite – goat salivary gland. We have had no internet access for almost a week but hope to send this tomorrow from Entebbe.
9/25 - Saturday
We started the morning with a few dogs showing up for deworming, a goat which had aborted, and 2 dogs shot with huge, metal, barbed arrows by ‘would be’ raiders during the night. One arrow was retrieved; the other went all the way through the dog. Incredibly they were just flesh wounds in the backs and did not enter the chest or abdomen. They were already infested with maggots (knew you’d want that detail) but we expect them to recover with our treatments (antiseptic flush, antibiotics, and something to kill the maggots).
We were approached by some boys on the street who had been hunting birds with a sling shot. They eat them as a protein source to supplement their starchy diet. They wanted to sell this one to us Muzungo’s (Ugandan for ‘white people’). It was a beautiful green and blue bird called a Rufous Crowned Roller (Liz always has her bird book with her). We hated to see such a gorgeous bird get eaten and it only had a broken wing so we paid the requested 2000 shillings (a little less than $1US) and took it home. We made a nice wire cage for it and named it Corey. It seems quite happy being fed crickets, geckos and sugar water.
In the afternoon we made the trek back to Iriiri to treat more TVT dogs – about 7 I think. One female dog, who should have weighed about 30 lbs. instead of the 20, was in very sorry shape with a HUGE vulvar mass. Liz was not sure it was worth trying to treat her but they don’t euthanize their dogs here and wanted us to try. When we spayed her she had a mass on one uterine horn about the size of a large lemon. Another male had a ‘debulking’ surgery done and the rest were just treated with Vincristine. We always spayed and castrated the TVT dogs so they would not continue spreading the disease. Iriiri seems to have many cases of TVT and we were told about many dogs that had died of it. Julia and Heidi were doing so well at their tasks we let them each perform a castration under careful supervision. This was a highlight for them and they did a great job. Julia did her surgery last thing and got to finish the second half in the rain. Our host was again Alfred, from 2 days ago. He served us lunch before we started and dinner when we were done. It is considered very rude not to eat at someone’s home when it is offered and the food was good but was enough for about 10 people, not 4. Val insisted we had to finish most of it or they would think we did not like it. So part of our ‘work’ was stuffing ourselves with as much cassava as we could without exploding!
We were approached by some boys on the street who had been hunting birds with a sling shot. They eat them as a protein source to supplement their starchy diet. They wanted to sell this one to us Muzungo’s (Ugandan for ‘white people’). It was a beautiful green and blue bird called a Rufous Crowned Roller (Liz always has her bird book with her). We hated to see such a gorgeous bird get eaten and it only had a broken wing so we paid the requested 2000 shillings (a little less than $1US) and took it home. We made a nice wire cage for it and named it Corey. It seems quite happy being fed crickets, geckos and sugar water.
In the afternoon we made the trek back to Iriiri to treat more TVT dogs – about 7 I think. One female dog, who should have weighed about 30 lbs. instead of the 20, was in very sorry shape with a HUGE vulvar mass. Liz was not sure it was worth trying to treat her but they don’t euthanize their dogs here and wanted us to try. When we spayed her she had a mass on one uterine horn about the size of a large lemon. Another male had a ‘debulking’ surgery done and the rest were just treated with Vincristine. We always spayed and castrated the TVT dogs so they would not continue spreading the disease. Iriiri seems to have many cases of TVT and we were told about many dogs that had died of it. Julia and Heidi were doing so well at their tasks we let them each perform a castration under careful supervision. This was a highlight for them and they did a great job. Julia did her surgery last thing and got to finish the second half in the rain. Our host was again Alfred, from 2 days ago. He served us lunch before we started and dinner when we were done. It is considered very rude not to eat at someone’s home when it is offered and the food was good but was enough for about 10 people, not 4. Val insisted we had to finish most of it or they would think we did not like it. So part of our ‘work’ was stuffing ourselves with as much cassava as we could without exploding!
9/24 - Friday
This was the real surgery marathon day. We lost count. About 20+ we think. This time we did a lot of castrations as well as spays. Heidi and Julia have become very experienced assistants and did all the IV catheters, anesthesia, surgery prep and recovery. Liz just had to cut. Val figured out what people needed, treated sheep and goats that showed up, and helped Julia and Heidi with difficult dogs. We are becoming a ‘well oiled machine’ together.
9/23 - Thursday
We went to work with the Army again this morning. Val worked with the cattle, sheep and goats mostly and Liz was called over to help with a dog that had been castrated by a Ugandan using no anesthesia or suture! It was hemorrhaging profusely. By the time she got there a Ugandan vet student working with the US Army had found a suture kit and had the bleeding fairly well controlled. Liz did a spay and a neuter on the tailgate of the army pickup with the vet student watching then helped the student perform 2 fairly bloodless castrations complete with anesthesia! The student was pleasant and bright and she did a great job after Liz showed her how to do it properly. She joked she was sent to Karamoja to work as penance for bad behavior in school!
Next we went the village of Matany where CLIDE has a number of street children in boarding schools that they are sponsoring. They were children who were originally from this area but had ended up in Kampala begging on the streets. A church in Portland, Oregon, has provided a sum of money to provide for very basic needs until individual sponsors are found for each child. Of the ~150 children about 90 now have sponsors. Julia wanted to sponsor a girl in primary school and we got to meet her. We had trouble finding her at first as there was no one there by the name we were given. Here when one is baptized in church one takes on a Christian name if they don’t already have one. Julia’s sponsor child had been baptized and took the name Esther, which is also Julia’s middle name. That was very cool. Esther got to meet Esther. Nikiru Esther is 13 and is in 4th grade. Ages are often mixed in grades here as school is not mandatory and not all children have the opportunity to start school at the same time, if at all.
If anyone is interested in sponsoring a child please let us know and we can put you in contact with the appropriate people. It varies from $150 to $500 a year depending on the grade level of the child (primary to university). Generally if you start sponsoring a child at a certain level you continue with the same child as they move up the grades and possibly into university. The money pays for school fees, room and board, uniform, shoes, supplies and whatever else the child needs.
In the afternoon we returned to Val’s village of Kangole and did 6 more surgeries, including 1 of Val’s dogs. Liz got to do another dental extraction, this time with rudimentary dental tools, and take off a skin tumor. Julia and Heidi also go to perform their first IV catheters and both did very well.
We decided to stay with Val and Heidi in one of the concrete walled, round huts here. When I asked Val why hers were concrete, not mud or all thatch like most of the others we saw, she replied “bullets don’t penetrate concrete as well as the other building materials around”. We felt much safer with that explanation.
Next we went the village of Matany where CLIDE has a number of street children in boarding schools that they are sponsoring. They were children who were originally from this area but had ended up in Kampala begging on the streets. A church in Portland, Oregon, has provided a sum of money to provide for very basic needs until individual sponsors are found for each child. Of the ~150 children about 90 now have sponsors. Julia wanted to sponsor a girl in primary school and we got to meet her. We had trouble finding her at first as there was no one there by the name we were given. Here when one is baptized in church one takes on a Christian name if they don’t already have one. Julia’s sponsor child had been baptized and took the name Esther, which is also Julia’s middle name. That was very cool. Esther got to meet Esther. Nikiru Esther is 13 and is in 4th grade. Ages are often mixed in grades here as school is not mandatory and not all children have the opportunity to start school at the same time, if at all.
If anyone is interested in sponsoring a child please let us know and we can put you in contact with the appropriate people. It varies from $150 to $500 a year depending on the grade level of the child (primary to university). Generally if you start sponsoring a child at a certain level you continue with the same child as they move up the grades and possibly into university. The money pays for school fees, room and board, uniform, shoes, supplies and whatever else the child needs.
In the afternoon we returned to Val’s village of Kangole and did 6 more surgeries, including 1 of Val’s dogs. Liz got to do another dental extraction, this time with rudimentary dental tools, and take off a skin tumor. Julia and Heidi also go to perform their first IV catheters and both did very well.
We decided to stay with Val and Heidi in one of the concrete walled, round huts here. When I asked Val why hers were concrete, not mud or all thatch like most of the others we saw, she replied “bullets don’t penetrate concrete as well as the other building materials around”. We felt much safer with that explanation.
9/22 - Wednesday
We got up at 4 am today and despite 1 flat tire, rolled into Moroto at 10:30 am. Karamoja is mostly grassland and scrub with trees here and there but it has some swampy areas also. There are scattered mountains and rock formations as well. We are in the short rainy season so the area is fairly green. We think it is very beautiful here. Birds, rabbits and frogs are very common and we are told there are some antelope and occasional leopards here. The frogs make a beautiful metallic tinkling noise at night which is nice to fall asleep to.
Val was waiting for us when we arrived, and after a short tea break we went to work on cattle, sheep and goats with the US Army. The Army is here for 2 months doing VETCAP they are mostly National Guard and Reserves providing animal health care training, animal treatment, soccer camps and other good stuff to the local people here. Part of the purpose is humanitarian, part PR and part cross-cultural training for the military personnel. They were doing the practical portion of a refresher/advanced animal husbandry course for local animal health care workers. The workers had completed a 6 week course from Val and CLIDE previously. At the end of this course they will receive a certificate and a veterinary kit to get them started in their own business. They often work together with Val as they like to utilize programs that are already set up if possible it is a mutually beneficial arrangement. The army personnel were great to work with very nice, helpful people. There is still cattle raiding and ambushing of vehicles on the road occurring fairly regularly so we are glad for both the US and Ugandan Armies presence.
In the afternoon we went to Iriiri to treat 2 dogs with TVT (transmissible venereal tumor). The male had been afflicted with the tumor for over a year and it was huge and he could not urinate well. Liz slit the sheath open and excised most of the tumor as we thought it would take a very long time to treat it medically. The surgery went well and the dog did not bleed to death! Alfred, the dogs owner, really liked the dog and was very thankful we could help it.
Most people here have dogs primarily to act as warning signals for intruders. Many are handled very little which makes treating them difficult at times. Some people really did like their dogs and considered them companions which made it much more fun and rewarding to treat them. Cats are primarily for catching rodents but many are also enjoyed as pets by the children. Most of them were surprisingly easy to handle.
It was night when we headed back to town, and we got to encounter many drunken people. They grow sorghum here and use most of it to make beer which is fairly high in alcohol content, about 6%. When I asked Val if all the women with large bellies were pregnant or if some were protein deficient she replied that many have liver cirrhosis and ascites (fluid in the abdomen from liver failure) from chronic alcohol consumption. When we stopped to buy diesel Julia and Heidi encountered their favorite drunk man, he kept smiling at them and licking and kissing their window!
We spent the night at a fairly rustic guest house. Liz took a cold water wash in the evening and Julia took one in the morning. Half an hour later the maid showed up with a pitcher of hot water for our morning bath -oops!
Val was waiting for us when we arrived, and after a short tea break we went to work on cattle, sheep and goats with the US Army. The Army is here for 2 months doing VETCAP they are mostly National Guard and Reserves providing animal health care training, animal treatment, soccer camps and other good stuff to the local people here. Part of the purpose is humanitarian, part PR and part cross-cultural training for the military personnel. They were doing the practical portion of a refresher/advanced animal husbandry course for local animal health care workers. The workers had completed a 6 week course from Val and CLIDE previously. At the end of this course they will receive a certificate and a veterinary kit to get them started in their own business. They often work together with Val as they like to utilize programs that are already set up if possible it is a mutually beneficial arrangement. The army personnel were great to work with very nice, helpful people. There is still cattle raiding and ambushing of vehicles on the road occurring fairly regularly so we are glad for both the US and Ugandan Armies presence.
In the afternoon we went to Iriiri to treat 2 dogs with TVT (transmissible venereal tumor). The male had been afflicted with the tumor for over a year and it was huge and he could not urinate well. Liz slit the sheath open and excised most of the tumor as we thought it would take a very long time to treat it medically. The surgery went well and the dog did not bleed to death! Alfred, the dogs owner, really liked the dog and was very thankful we could help it.
Most people here have dogs primarily to act as warning signals for intruders. Many are handled very little which makes treating them difficult at times. Some people really did like their dogs and considered them companions which made it much more fun and rewarding to treat them. Cats are primarily for catching rodents but many are also enjoyed as pets by the children. Most of them were surprisingly easy to handle.
It was night when we headed back to town, and we got to encounter many drunken people. They grow sorghum here and use most of it to make beer which is fairly high in alcohol content, about 6%. When I asked Val if all the women with large bellies were pregnant or if some were protein deficient she replied that many have liver cirrhosis and ascites (fluid in the abdomen from liver failure) from chronic alcohol consumption. When we stopped to buy diesel Julia and Heidi encountered their favorite drunk man, he kept smiling at them and licking and kissing their window!
We spent the night at a fairly rustic guest house. Liz took a cold water wash in the evening and Julia took one in the morning. Half an hour later the maid showed up with a pitcher of hot water for our morning bath -oops!
9/21 - Tuesday
Today was a lesson in patience, not uncommon on mission trips as Liz has discovered in the past. We were SUPPOSED to travel to Moroto in Karamoja today to meet up with Val and start work there. The how of the getting there has been under discussion for several days. Val was unavailable to come and get us and The MAF flight was not an option as they are currently not flying that route. Even though Liz suggested several times the idea of traveling on the local bus, it was vehemently vetoed by our Ugandan hosts they obviously felt they were saving us from a horrible fate! They tried having a CLIDE vehicle repaired yesterday which stretched into today and now into an undetermined period of time. Val even sent us a driver on the night bus who arrived at 6am. Unfortunately we had no vehicle for him to drive. Next, Moses contact YWAM (Youth With a Mission) they have a huge work in Soroti. YWAM was happy to provide us with a vehicle but wanted their own driver to take us there. The driver, Andrew, was nowhere to be found and is currently without a cell phone as he recently dropped it down a pit toilet. About 5:15 pm Andrew was located, but it was decided making the 5 hour trek to Moroto that late was not wise.
Liz occupied her day bird watching, catching up on Bible reading and doing some financial paperwork she brought from home. Julia went butterfly and cricket catching and did some Bible study and Bible reading. Heidi hung out with us and joined in our Bible study as well as working on her own. We all went to see the house Moses is building for his family and to harass the auto mechanics (politely of course) in hopes they might get the vehicle fixed.
So the current plan is to leave at 5am and God willing (literally) get there about 10am to start the work Val has lined up for us. If we make it, it is unlikely we will be able to post on the BLOG again until we get to England as INTERNET in Karamoja is rarely accessible. Keep praying for us!
Addendum to yesterdays BLOG entry Liz was responsible for the grammatical foible. No, we do not expect our patients to bring their own dental instruments (the wording in yesterdays post went something like We extracted a tooth in a dog without dental instruments). We just wished we had some! We did check on the patient this morning and she was, most importantly, alive and also hungry. Prior to our surgery (OVH and extraction) she had not been well for several weeks, had aborted puppies 2 weeks ago and had not eaten for several days. Amazingly she even wanted to eat as soon as she woke up last night found some scraps we put out for another dog and ate them, bones and all. Dogs here are tough! We did discover, however, that she does not like carrots! Oh - and power outages are common here. We did part of our last spay by headlamp at 11pm last night.
Cultural note: Barrack Obama is VERY popular here. The Ugandans claim him as being from their country as the location his grandfather was from in Kenya used to be part of Uganda before the borders were changed. When he was elected as the 44th US president there was a national celebration in Uganda. The feeling here was a black man from Uganda now rules the world. There are stores named after Obama, Obama calendars, Obama posters and Obama clothing. Dr. Kasiime bought Julia and me Obama flip flops as souvenirs!
Liz occupied her day bird watching, catching up on Bible reading and doing some financial paperwork she brought from home. Julia went butterfly and cricket catching and did some Bible study and Bible reading. Heidi hung out with us and joined in our Bible study as well as working on her own. We all went to see the house Moses is building for his family and to harass the auto mechanics (politely of course) in hopes they might get the vehicle fixed.
So the current plan is to leave at 5am and God willing (literally) get there about 10am to start the work Val has lined up for us. If we make it, it is unlikely we will be able to post on the BLOG again until we get to England as INTERNET in Karamoja is rarely accessible. Keep praying for us!
Addendum to yesterdays BLOG entry Liz was responsible for the grammatical foible. No, we do not expect our patients to bring their own dental instruments (the wording in yesterdays post went something like We extracted a tooth in a dog without dental instruments). We just wished we had some! We did check on the patient this morning and she was, most importantly, alive and also hungry. Prior to our surgery (OVH and extraction) she had not been well for several weeks, had aborted puppies 2 weeks ago and had not eaten for several days. Amazingly she even wanted to eat as soon as she woke up last night found some scraps we put out for another dog and ate them, bones and all. Dogs here are tough! We did discover, however, that she does not like carrots! Oh - and power outages are common here. We did part of our last spay by headlamp at 11pm last night.
Cultural note: Barrack Obama is VERY popular here. The Ugandans claim him as being from their country as the location his grandfather was from in Kenya used to be part of Uganda before the borders were changed. When he was elected as the 44th US president there was a national celebration in Uganda. The feeling here was a black man from Uganda now rules the world. There are stores named after Obama, Obama calendars, Obama posters and Obama clothing. Dr. Kasiime bought Julia and me Obama flip flops as souvenirs!
9/20 - Monday
Today was surgery marathon!! We did eight dog spays, two dog neuters and one cat spay. We also removed a tumor, repaired and umbilical hernia, treated a TVT (Transmissible Venereal Tumor), and extracted an abscessed fourth pre-molar in a dog without any dental instruments. We improvised. The dog with the abscessed tooth was VERY sick and we gave her one liter of IV fluids with about seventeen, sixty cc syringes. It was fun! Moses got quite a work out drawing them all up! We finally finished with everything at about 11:00 pm.
In between surgeries, Julia had a few minutes to work on her butterfly collection using a coat hanger and a plastic grocery bag. She caught a really pretty black swallowtail looking butterfly with radiant blue markings.
Most of the dogs had lots of ticks and Heidi occupied herself with pulling them off. We had a little bit of Frontline that we used on the worst cases.
In between surgeries, Julia had a few minutes to work on her butterfly collection using a coat hanger and a plastic grocery bag. She caught a really pretty black swallowtail looking butterfly with radiant blue markings.
Most of the dogs had lots of ticks and Heidi occupied herself with pulling them off. We had a little bit of Frontline that we used on the worst cases.
9/19 - Sunday
We went to church with Moses and his family this morning, a small Baptist church. The service was in English interpreted in Ateso (the local language of the Teso people). They sang some songs we were familiar with and others were new, all with an African flavor.
Val started an NGO here called CLIDE Community Livestock Integrated Development. Moses has been her right hand man all along and she recently turned leadership of the organization over to Moses. There are a total of 12 employees, 6 reside in Soroti and 6 in Karamoja, about 4 hours north of here. Val leads the group in Karamoja and Moses leads the group in Soroti.
In the afternoon we traveled about an hour to the small village where Moses grew up and where his parents still live. Family is very important in Africa, divorce is rare and families are large. Moses was very excited for us to meet his parents. They are subsistence farmers and also support a number of extended family members as is common here. Moses comes from a small family of 3 children. He is the only male and as such will be responsible to care for his parents when they are too old to care for themselves. On the drive I asked Moses about his people, the Teso.
The Teso and Karamojong descended from common ancestors who migrated to Uganda from North Africa. The Teso have been peaceful but the Karamojong have a long history of being warriors. In the early 1980s the Karamojong invaded this area and stole all (yes, every one) of the cattle from the Teso and murdered many people in the process. Moses lost several family members and told us he had to hide in the bush many nights when he was a child if the raiders came. The Teso had the largest population of cattle in Uganda at that time. The Ugandan army did not help the Teso so there followed a period of conflict between the Teso and the army.
When Moses first went to work with Val and the Karamojong, his parents objected and did not trust them. Since then Moses has brought Karamojong to Soroti to visit and brought a large contingent to his wedding in 2004. The people here are beginning to trust the Karamojong and now see that they are not all bad people. In this decade the Ugandan army has recruited Teso men to help guard the border between Teso and Karamoja where the raiders pass. This has helped ease tensions but there is still a lot of distrust.
Val started an NGO here called CLIDE Community Livestock Integrated Development. Moses has been her right hand man all along and she recently turned leadership of the organization over to Moses. There are a total of 12 employees, 6 reside in Soroti and 6 in Karamoja, about 4 hours north of here. Val leads the group in Karamoja and Moses leads the group in Soroti.
In the afternoon we traveled about an hour to the small village where Moses grew up and where his parents still live. Family is very important in Africa, divorce is rare and families are large. Moses was very excited for us to meet his parents. They are subsistence farmers and also support a number of extended family members as is common here. Moses comes from a small family of 3 children. He is the only male and as such will be responsible to care for his parents when they are too old to care for themselves. On the drive I asked Moses about his people, the Teso.
The Teso and Karamojong descended from common ancestors who migrated to Uganda from North Africa. The Teso have been peaceful but the Karamojong have a long history of being warriors. In the early 1980s the Karamojong invaded this area and stole all (yes, every one) of the cattle from the Teso and murdered many people in the process. Moses lost several family members and told us he had to hide in the bush many nights when he was a child if the raiders came. The Teso had the largest population of cattle in Uganda at that time. The Ugandan army did not help the Teso so there followed a period of conflict between the Teso and the army.
When Moses first went to work with Val and the Karamojong, his parents objected and did not trust them. Since then Moses has brought Karamojong to Soroti to visit and brought a large contingent to his wedding in 2004. The people here are beginning to trust the Karamojong and now see that they are not all bad people. In this decade the Ugandan army has recruited Teso men to help guard the border between Teso and Karamoja where the raiders pass. This has helped ease tensions but there is still a lot of distrust.
9/18 - Saturday
We heard from Val this morning she made it through the night OK but no sign of Punzel yet. She plans to look again tomorrow.
Liz did 3 spays and 2 neuters today. Julia and Heidi assisted with administering various medications (dewormer, pain meds, flea meds, antibiotics and sedation), maintaining anesthesia, keeping records and recovering patients. The owner had been giving two of the female dogs human birth control pills therefore one had a great pyometra (pus filled uterus)!
We met several other American missionaries in the area who work with the people in various capacities, including working with handicapped children. The attitude toward handicapped people here is about 50 years behind what it is the US mostly they are hidden or ignored. We were pleased when we did the trip to Bushenyi to help in Dr. Kasiimes village. When all the relatives filed by to great us and shake our hands I noticed there was a very happy looking mentally retarded young man who was included.
Liz did 3 spays and 2 neuters today. Julia and Heidi assisted with administering various medications (dewormer, pain meds, flea meds, antibiotics and sedation), maintaining anesthesia, keeping records and recovering patients. The owner had been giving two of the female dogs human birth control pills therefore one had a great pyometra (pus filled uterus)!
We met several other American missionaries in the area who work with the people in various capacities, including working with handicapped children. The attitude toward handicapped people here is about 50 years behind what it is the US mostly they are hidden or ignored. We were pleased when we did the trip to Bushenyi to help in Dr. Kasiimes village. When all the relatives filed by to great us and shake our hands I noticed there was a very happy looking mentally retarded young man who was included.
9/17 - Friday
We made the 8 hour trip to Soroti today, the main town Val is based in. Of course it took more than 8 hours! The roads and traffic varied from pretty good to pretty terrible. There is a lot of road work going on to repair pot holes and wash out from the seasonal rains. I don't think we've ever seen as many speed bumps as they have here! After making several stops and 1 flat tire we arrive at 9pm. The most fun part for us was a stop at the head of the Nile where it exits Lake Victoria. We hired a boat for a short tour of the river and lake. Lake Victoria is HUGE and is jointly owned by Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. We saw just a small portion of it and along the way got to see many beautiful birds and a Nile monitor lizard. We were near the town of Jinja, so we stopped there for lunch. Jinja is a tourist town, quit different from any other places we have seen - lots of tourist shops and many international travelers. Liz had her first non-instant coffee there real French press! Julia and Heidi had fruit smoothies. Check out our Picasa album for the guy on the bicycle selling ice cream. We loved his sign ho ho ho, ha ha ha, ice cream for sale!
On the way Liz plied our driver, John, for information on Uganda. He hires out as a driver and safari guide, is a good friend to Val, and is a believer. He belongs to a church of 20,000 in Kampala that sponsors about 1500 orphans, mostly from AIDS loss. His girlfriend leads choir tours with some of the children and tours for 6 months at a time in various locations around the world. They have recorded with artists such as Chris Tomlin and Michael W. Smith as well as giving their own concerts as fundraisers and child sponsorship campaigns for the orphanage. The children are set up with widows in home settings so they grow up in a family structure. Men from the church volunteer on the weekends to work with the children as father figures.
In the 1980s Uganda had one of the highest AIDS rates in Africa, around 30%. A massive Aids awareness campaign was launched based on ABC (abstinence, be faithful, if you fail at those use a condom). The AIDS rate is now down to about 6%. Currently they are pushing circumcision as studies have shown that circumcised men have a 60% less chance of contracting AIDS.
The president of Uganda has been in office for over 20 years. 12 years ago the constitution was amended so the president could only serve two, 5 year terms. 5 years ago the constitution was illegally changed to remove that restriction. Most people here that we have talked to like the president and believe he is basically a good man who tries to implement policies helpful to the people but is surrounded by self serving people who are not so benevolent.
We drove close by the Elgon mountains where Arabic coffee is grown. Uganda used to be a major exporter of African coffee. They also export a lot of tea and export sugar locally. They have never seen refined sugar here; it is all the raw, brownish sugar and is very good.
We talked to Val last night. Please keep her in your prayers. She had gone out into the area where her dog, Punzel, was lost over a month ago. The last reported sighting of her was 10 days ago but they don't know how accurate it was although Val found her footprints at that time. The army refused to go with her as they thought it was too dangerous so she went alone and was spending the night out there by herself. Pray for safety for her and success in her search for her beloved Punzel who was a gift from her late, best friend, Lori Walker.
On the way Liz plied our driver, John, for information on Uganda. He hires out as a driver and safari guide, is a good friend to Val, and is a believer. He belongs to a church of 20,000 in Kampala that sponsors about 1500 orphans, mostly from AIDS loss. His girlfriend leads choir tours with some of the children and tours for 6 months at a time in various locations around the world. They have recorded with artists such as Chris Tomlin and Michael W. Smith as well as giving their own concerts as fundraisers and child sponsorship campaigns for the orphanage. The children are set up with widows in home settings so they grow up in a family structure. Men from the church volunteer on the weekends to work with the children as father figures.
In the 1980s Uganda had one of the highest AIDS rates in Africa, around 30%. A massive Aids awareness campaign was launched based on ABC (abstinence, be faithful, if you fail at those use a condom). The AIDS rate is now down to about 6%. Currently they are pushing circumcision as studies have shown that circumcised men have a 60% less chance of contracting AIDS.
The president of Uganda has been in office for over 20 years. 12 years ago the constitution was amended so the president could only serve two, 5 year terms. 5 years ago the constitution was illegally changed to remove that restriction. Most people here that we have talked to like the president and believe he is basically a good man who tries to implement policies helpful to the people but is surrounded by self serving people who are not so benevolent.
We drove close by the Elgon mountains where Arabic coffee is grown. Uganda used to be a major exporter of African coffee. They also export a lot of tea and export sugar locally. They have never seen refined sugar here; it is all the raw, brownish sugar and is very good.
We talked to Val last night. Please keep her in your prayers. She had gone out into the area where her dog, Punzel, was lost over a month ago. The last reported sighting of her was 10 days ago but they don't know how accurate it was although Val found her footprints at that time. The army refused to go with her as they thought it was too dangerous so she went alone and was spending the night out there by herself. Pray for safety for her and success in her search for her beloved Punzel who was a gift from her late, best friend, Lori Walker.
9/16 - Thursday
We arrived at the university to find the students waiting for us. Today was lectures in the morning and wet labs in the afternoon for the students. Jay and Liz lectured on a variety of surgical techniques then demonstrated ear and leg surgery in the afternoon (Zepp, ACL repair, 2 types of rear leg amputation). The students really liked the wet labs these are things they dont usually get to see and they asked lots of questions.
We spent our final evening with Dr. Kasiime and his family, said goodbye to Dr. Jay and his family and packed for the next days trip.
We spent our final evening with Dr. Kasiime and his family, said goodbye to Dr. Jay and his family and packed for the next days trip.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
9/15 - Wednesday
9/15 Wednesday; this was a pretty low-key day. UCVM had a meeting in the morning that again started on Africa Time. We sang, shared, and held a Bible study. Next we went to visit the Uganda Veterinary Medical Associations (UVMA) small animal clinic. We missed most of the appointments. They do vaccines and minor surgeries there (spay, neuter, wounds, skin tumors). Fractures and anything complicated they refer to the university which is close by. Parvo is a big problem as most dogs are not vaccinated. They have very few supplies and even less equipment. I think we were all impressed that they managed to do surgeries there at all.
Tomorrow should be very busy as we are lecturing to the 3rd and 4th year vet students in the morning and doing wet labs in the afternoon to demonstrate surgical techniques.
9/14 - Tuesday
9/14 Tuesday - Today was the symposium, slated to start at 8:30 with devotions. We started on time for Africa at 10:30! Incredibly, we got done only 30 minutes late as we had a short lunch, had tea during the lectures and did not need all the discussion time that was allocated. The dean of the vet school gave a devotion about recognizing that we are each only 1 person in the midst of many others; sort of like what the Bible says about don't think too highly of yourself. Next he talked about the danger of Islam in Uganda and that many Muslims feel Uganda is the key to (or the country in the way of) the spread of Islam in Africa. I had asked Dr. Kasiime earlier in the trip about the prevalence of Christianity in Uganda. He estimated that 30% of Ugandans would profess to be Catholic, 30% Anglican (also called Episcopal or Church of England,) 20% other Christian denominations and 10% Muslim. Of those who profess to be Christians about 1/3 are actually born again.
Next up was Dr. Val Shean. I love listening to her talk about the work among the Karamajong in northwestern Uganda. It is so inspiring and encouraging. She has been there 18 years total. The first 15 years was relationship building through veterinary medicine. There are a number of tribes in the area and their culture is based on cattle. Val and her associates provide animal health care free of charge to all of them. The average bride price in 100 cows. Most people only own a few cows so stealing cows from other tribes is considered the only way to raise the necessary bride price for a wife. Cattle raiding has gone on for decades but in the 70s arrows and spears were replaced by AK47 rifles. Many people have been killed in the cattle raids. The Uganda army is present to try to help stop the violence but that does not change peoples hearts. Val and the local Ugandans working with her had a vision to develop a lasting peace between warring factions by teaching them how to resolve their conflicts and forgive each other through the love of Jesus Christ. They prayed for a long time about where to start and finally felt God was leading them to begin in the most difficult area. They held long talks and workshops with each side individually until the people felt they were ready to meet with each other to discuss peace. In 2007 the first groups came together in the 20 Km strip on "no mans land" to settle together in "peace villages". Initially 2000+ people came. Val talked about waiting anxiously with the first group for the other tribe to arrive, wondering if they would show up with guns or gifts. They heard the sound of drums in the distance then saw the group approaching, military style. Anxiously they waited until the people got close, then they ran to meet the first group dancing and singing for joy and embraced people who a few months ago they would have killed. Now there are over 12,000 people living together in the peace villages with more entering all the time. The violence is not over but huge progress is being made. The peace villages are located in the middle of the raiding corridor between the 2 tribes. They don't keep any cattle there so there is no reason for them to be raided and when raiders try to pass by the people block their way and try to talk them out of it. The land where the peace villages are located is some of the most fertile in the region. They are learning to grow crops to support themselves there. Over 2000 have made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. Julia and Liz are starting to get really excited about going to work in this area in a few days!
The rest of the conference seemed anti-climactic to us after that, but everyone still seemed to appreciate it. There were lectures on otitis and ear hematomas; wound treatment; greening the veterinary profession; LEGS (livestock emergency ---- services) which provides services to areas with disasters to help reestablish and improved the livestock the people depend upon; Gods perspective on how we should care for animals; Liz presented on Communicating with Clients and Transmissible Venereal Tumors; Julia and Evan presented a synopsis of what was done at the outreach sites.
9/13 - Monday
9/13 Monday. Today was final preparation of lectures for the symposium for Liz and blogging for Julia. I know, really interesting. It was relieving to finally get some internet access!! Dr. Mugisha let us use his office for the day to do all of our projects.
Monday, September 13, 2010
9/9-12 - Bushenyi Trip Report
Julia was asked to type up a trip report for our trip to Bushenyi which was from the 9th to the 12th. It is a follows:
Bushenyi Trip Report
September 9th 12t, 2010
The first day, we spent driving to Bushenyi. We traveled 300 Km to Bushenyi which took about 8 hours. Dr. Val brought 2 interns with her from Karamoja Joseph, an animal husbandry student from the Sudan, and Heidi, an American pre-vet student from New York. Dr. Liz Hoffmann from Oregon came with her daughter, Julia and another vet named Luke, from Kampala, came with us as well. Dr. Val's driver, Godfrey, from Karamoja made a total of 8 in our group.
The drive, though very long, was surprisingly not very boring. We talked a lot, slept some, and got to see some wild zebras! We stayed in the house of Dr. Kasiime's father and, though they didn't have any electricity or running water, the house was very nice. We used pit toilets, kerosene lamps and wash basins, and cooking was done over charcoal fires. The food was very good as well!
That morning, Dr. Kasiime had contacted the local radio station to see if we could advertise our clinic and talk about UCVM. They gave us 1 hour of free air time! So, that evening, after we had left all of our stuff at the house, we went over to the station for our program. We all introduced ourselves and Dr. Kasiime quoted Scripture and talked about the purpose of UCVM. Dr. Val, Dr. Luke and Liz talked about zoonotic diseases such rabies, brucellosis and anthrax. When we returned to the house it was full of local people there to welcome us. They sang and prayed with us and served us a very nice meal very welcome after 8 hours of driving follow by 2 hours doing the radio program! The people were very glad we were there as many of their animals needed care.
The next day, the 10th, we held a clinic at several locations and treated about 300 goats, 50 cows, 10 pigs and a few dogs (mostly puppies). They were all treated for worms using either Ivermectin or Albendazole depending on the animals condition or stage of pregnancy. We sprayed all the animals with Amitraz for ticks and lice. We also treated some animals for mange, mastitis, pneumonia, and trypansomiasis. After treatment, all the animals were marked on their forehead with a colored marker to prevent double dosing (we were out of marker by the end J ). We gave an evangelism message at the end of the clinic and 1 young man was saved.
We had another full day of clinics on the 11th with about twice the number of animals including about 10 cats! The local TV station sent a videographer with us to document the event. They planned to air it on the TV there although most of the people did not have a TV for lack of electricity.
Of all the animal we treated, we saw anaplasmosis in a cow, treated an abscess in a goat, dehorned a cow, saw RDA in one cow, a few nasal bots in some goats, photosensitivity and liver toxicity from toxic plants (Lantana and Camera), and treated lots of wounds, mostly on the legs from where they tied the animals up. All the people seemed so grateful for the small amount of help we were able the give them. They had never had veterinarians come in and do work for them free of charge and most could not afford to pay for services. Dr. Kasiime asked Dr. Liz to give the evangelism message and two more came forward to be saved. At the end of the day, we had treated a total of 548 goats, 54 cows, 65 sheep, 32 pigs, 16 dogs and about 10 cats.
We were invited back to the radio station that night to do another broadcast on our work and again had the opportunity to evangelize over the radio. The show was live and most people there had access to radios and listened to that station so we know they got to hear it. We listened to their DJ report the news before our program started and Dr. Kasiime was indignant that we were not mentioned in the news! He insisted this was a very important event and must be on the news. He insisted they talk to the manager about it. Sure enough after our show, the news was aired again with Uganda CVM being mentioned several times. Dr. Liz teased him that he would be a politician some day!
On the 12th, we packed up early in the morning and planned to head out after the church service. Dr. Liz was the main pastor for the day and gave a very moving message about truth and servant hood and tied it in with her testimony about her own salvation and how God wants us to live as believers in Christ. Many of the people there were already believers but 1 young man and a young woman came forward to accept Christ when she was done! When the offering was called for, everyone came forward to contribute something. If they did not have any money to offer, they offered some produce which was then auctioned off. The proceeds were then put into the offering.
We brought 3 huge bags of clothing with us from Kampala and distributed them at the end of the service. There were many widows and orphans at the service who were very grateful for the free clothes.
Next was the 8 hour drive back to Kampala, which was pretty much the same as the last time. We got to see zebras again as well! We all felt that the trip was very successful, the people were very grateful and we wished we could have done more. Throughout the clinics, we were joined by the local Veterinary District Officer, Dr. Manuel, who was extremely helpful and hardworking. He knew the people and areas very well and we were able to exchange knowledge and services. Many of us felt that making connections like this in other areas was very useful in furthering the purpose of UCVM. Everyone is excited about trying to reach out to more locations in the future!
9/8 - Wednesday
We woke up at 6:00 am this morning and drove to the vet school at Kamerere University, the largest university in East Africa (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi) to met the rest of the team. The drive was a little scary. The roads are partly dirt and the paved ones have no lines. They do have some traffic lights but they are mostly for decoration and no one pays attention to them if they are on. They follow few traffic rules and think nothing of passing three abreast on what looks like a two lane road with pedestrian and motorcyclists on either side. When we got to the University, we me the other Vet, Dr. Jay and his wife Sue and his son Jay. We planned the next 4 days of outreach to distant communities in Uganda and Dr.Val Shean (an OSU graduate who has worked here 20 years with CVM) gave us a crash course in African livestock diseases.
We are splitting into 2 groups tomorrow. One will go 500 KM northwest of here and we will be going 300 KM southwest of here. Our goals in these communities are 3 fold: veterinary care, training in animal husbandry, and Christian evangelism. Of the 800 vets in Uganda I am told about 300 are Christians and interested in being involved with CVM. We will treat animals, veterinary faculty will lecture on animal husbandry, and we will meet with the people to pray, give testimonies, and preach.
The goal of the newly formed AFRISA (not specifically Christian but run by men who are all believers!) is to take veterinary training to the communities, rather than the people having to come to the university. Many are illiterate but still skilled in caring for their animals. AFRISA will offer short courses in animal husbandry such as yogurt making, leather tanning, raising better beef, milk pasteurization, and business skills in how to cooperate as a community to market their goods. AFRISA aims to exchange ideas not only teach those in the rural communities but get their input on what has historically worked for them and combine ideas to make it work in that community. They are interested in forming a more formal partnership with CVM. Sounds like a great combination to us! Dr. Kasiime will be leaving us for 1 day on our outreach to teach the first AFRISA course in a nearby community.
We also got to meet Dr. Val and Heidi's patient, a Chameleon named Trouble. They found her several weeks ago with a broken leg, two broken ribs, and an injured eye. They think she fell off a moving vehicle. She is also pregnant and they are hoping for some baby Chameleons soon!
For Lunch, we ate at the University. We ordered beef, rice, sweet potatoes and a slightly carbonated, very strong ginger drink called Stoney. Liz had had it before but Julia thought it was very potent.
We are splitting into 2 groups tomorrow. One will go 500 KM northwest of here and we will be going 300 KM southwest of here. Our goals in these communities are 3 fold: veterinary care, training in animal husbandry, and Christian evangelism. Of the 800 vets in Uganda I am told about 300 are Christians and interested in being involved with CVM. We will treat animals, veterinary faculty will lecture on animal husbandry, and we will meet with the people to pray, give testimonies, and preach.
The goal of the newly formed AFRISA (not specifically Christian but run by men who are all believers!) is to take veterinary training to the communities, rather than the people having to come to the university. Many are illiterate but still skilled in caring for their animals. AFRISA will offer short courses in animal husbandry such as yogurt making, leather tanning, raising better beef, milk pasteurization, and business skills in how to cooperate as a community to market their goods. AFRISA aims to exchange ideas not only teach those in the rural communities but get their input on what has historically worked for them and combine ideas to make it work in that community. They are interested in forming a more formal partnership with CVM. Sounds like a great combination to us! Dr. Kasiime will be leaving us for 1 day on our outreach to teach the first AFRISA course in a nearby community.
We also got to meet Dr. Val and Heidi's patient, a Chameleon named Trouble. They found her several weeks ago with a broken leg, two broken ribs, and an injured eye. They think she fell off a moving vehicle. She is also pregnant and they are hoping for some baby Chameleons soon!
For Lunch, we ate at the University. We ordered beef, rice, sweet potatoes and a slightly carbonated, very strong ginger drink called Stoney. Liz had had it before but Julia thought it was very potent.
9/7 - Tuesday
We arrived in Kampala today, and were picked up at the airport by Dr. Michael Kasiime, with whom we will be staying. We got to meet his wife Pamela, his 2 children, Esther and Moses, and Michaels orphaned Cousin Nimrod. Pamela is pregnant with their third child and is due in December. Michael reminds mom of her employer DuWayne he has so many projects going. He works as a professor at the vet school, is running the newly establish AFRISA, has a couple of private businesses on the side and is trying to start a large scale cattle ranch in the Congo with several other investors as a model for others to imitate. There are not large tracts of land available in Uganda any more but the Congo is much less developed and they are trying to lease about 20 square miles from the government for the project. He is building wealth, but has a Christian desire to use it to help others. He always seems to have someone in need living with him.
One of our packages, for some reason, didnt get put on the plane from London but should be getting in tomorrow morning. At least it was the box with all the supplies that we wont need until Thursday, and not the one with all of our cloths! On our drive to Dr. Kasiimes house we were very surprised by how green Kampala was but they are apparently at the beginning of their short rainy season so everything is very lush.
We had to tell Michael about all of Lizs dietary restrictions and he decided to take us to the market to get something she could eat! The currency here is very interesting, 2100 shilling per 1 American Dollar. Its king of weird to see all these things labeled 5000 or 20500.
When we got to the house, we got to take our first shower in 3 days! That was so nice! They fed us some nice fruit for breakfast (though it felt like evening to us!) and asked Julia if she thought about getting married in Uganda. Ummm No? Liz said the bride price would be about 100 cows (Later we were told that Heidi (Vals intern vet student) was offered 200 cows so we should up it to 300 J ). We spent the rest of the day mostly catching up on sleep and resting. We gave the children some chocolate which we had brought with us. We are their best friends now! At about 8:30, we had a nice dinner of boiled rice and beef, beans cooked with onions, greens, roast sweet potatoes and watermelon.
We got to show Pamela and Michael some family photos after dinner and they wanted to see more of Lukes wedding! Afterwards mom and I decided to turn in for bed.
One of our packages, for some reason, didnt get put on the plane from London but should be getting in tomorrow morning. At least it was the box with all the supplies that we wont need until Thursday, and not the one with all of our cloths! On our drive to Dr. Kasiimes house we were very surprised by how green Kampala was but they are apparently at the beginning of their short rainy season so everything is very lush.
We had to tell Michael about all of Lizs dietary restrictions and he decided to take us to the market to get something she could eat! The currency here is very interesting, 2100 shilling per 1 American Dollar. Its king of weird to see all these things labeled 5000 or 20500.
When we got to the house, we got to take our first shower in 3 days! That was so nice! They fed us some nice fruit for breakfast (though it felt like evening to us!) and asked Julia if she thought about getting married in Uganda. Ummm No? Liz said the bride price would be about 100 cows (Later we were told that Heidi (Vals intern vet student) was offered 200 cows so we should up it to 300 J ). We spent the rest of the day mostly catching up on sleep and resting. We gave the children some chocolate which we had brought with us. We are their best friends now! At about 8:30, we had a nice dinner of boiled rice and beef, beans cooked with onions, greens, roast sweet potatoes and watermelon.
We got to show Pamela and Michael some family photos after dinner and they wanted to see more of Lukes wedding! Afterwards mom and I decided to turn in for bed.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
9/5-7, Travel Days
Travel Days
Hey there! How is everything going there? All is well here. On the 5th we spent all day on the planes mostly. Our first flight was a 2 hour flight into Salt Lake City, Utah, where we switched planes and took a 5 hour flight into New York City. From there we took a 7 hour flight which took us into London. We got into London at about 7:30 am on the 6th and spent about an hour going through customs. It only took about 2 minutes for them to swipe our passports and let us through (having British citizenship was awesome) but about 6 planes landed at the same time and the line was insanely long! We met Peter, Liz's cousin, at Hyde Central Park at 10:00 and he took us on a 6 hour tour of London! It was so amazing! All the building were beautiful and I took about 350 pictures. We got to see so many famous landmarks including Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, The Houses of Parliament, the Tower of London, St Paul's Cathedral, Trafalgar's Square, the Eye of London, Westminster Abby and so many more. We had lunch at a nice corner street sushi bar and we went and got drinks at a local pub that Peter used to sell wine to called "The Crossed Keys." Mom got white wine, Peter got Beer, and I got sparkling black currant juice. At 4:00 we had to say out goodbyes to Peter because there was a Tube Strike scheduled for 5:00 and all the trains would be shut down. Peter kind of wanted to get home and Mom and I didn't want to miss out flight which wasn't until 9:15.
At the Heathrow Airport in London, we got through to the airport just fine and we had a nice 7 hour flight to Entebbe. I finally slept for most of the flight (I had only had about 4 since we left the house) and I watched "How to Train your Dragon." It was a really good movie! Anyway, we got into Entebbe and 7:00 am this morning and were picked up by Dr. Michael Kansiime. One of the boxes didn't get put on the plane from London for some reason but it will be coming in tomorrow. Fortunately in was the box with all the Veterinary supplies that we wont need until Thursday that didn't come through and not the one with all of our personal stuff! We got to Dr. Michaels house by 9:15, which is where we are staying, and we got to meet his family, his wife Pamela, she is currently pregnant with there 3rd child, his 5 year old son, Moses, and their 3 year old daughter, Esther. They are also taking care of a orphan named Nimrod, who is 13. He is Michael's mothers brothers son, a cousin I think. Anyway, they fed us pineapple, roast sweet potatoes and tea for lunch and unfortunately, my not taking my Nexium on the plane caught up with me and I was really tired so I went to take a nap. Mom gave the children a Luna bar and some chocolate, we are now their best friends. I also loaded all the photographs from the camera onto the computer, the card reader worked fine. When I got up at about noon I actually felt worse so I had some hot tea and went back to bed until 8:00. We had dinner at 8:30. We had boiled rice and beef, roast sweet potatoes, beans cooked with onions, something they called "greens," and watermelon. After the children were put to bed, mom brought out some "milk-free" chocolate and an bottle of wine which we got at the market on the way to Michael's house (mom told him about all her dietary restrictions so he just took us to the marked to get something she could eat.) We also showed them a bunch of the family photographs that mom put in a slide show. They really want to see more Luke and Anna wedding photographs. Could you send us the link to the Picasa online website? Thank you! Also is there some way that I can send you photos other than by email (it would take forever!) ? Well, its about 11:25 here and we will be going to be soon. We are getting up early to go the the vet school tomorrow and talk with Val and the CVM board about the schedule for the next 10 days. I hope the rest of your day is great and I will talk to you soon! Love you.
Julia and Liz
Hey there! How is everything going there? All is well here. On the 5th we spent all day on the planes mostly. Our first flight was a 2 hour flight into Salt Lake City, Utah, where we switched planes and took a 5 hour flight into New York City. From there we took a 7 hour flight which took us into London. We got into London at about 7:30 am on the 6th and spent about an hour going through customs. It only took about 2 minutes for them to swipe our passports and let us through (having British citizenship was awesome) but about 6 planes landed at the same time and the line was insanely long! We met Peter, Liz's cousin, at Hyde Central Park at 10:00 and he took us on a 6 hour tour of London! It was so amazing! All the building were beautiful and I took about 350 pictures. We got to see so many famous landmarks including Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, The Houses of Parliament, the Tower of London, St Paul's Cathedral, Trafalgar's Square, the Eye of London, Westminster Abby and so many more. We had lunch at a nice corner street sushi bar and we went and got drinks at a local pub that Peter used to sell wine to called "The Crossed Keys." Mom got white wine, Peter got Beer, and I got sparkling black currant juice. At 4:00 we had to say out goodbyes to Peter because there was a Tube Strike scheduled for 5:00 and all the trains would be shut down. Peter kind of wanted to get home and Mom and I didn't want to miss out flight which wasn't until 9:15.
At the Heathrow Airport in London, we got through to the airport just fine and we had a nice 7 hour flight to Entebbe. I finally slept for most of the flight (I had only had about 4 since we left the house) and I watched "How to Train your Dragon." It was a really good movie! Anyway, we got into Entebbe and 7:00 am this morning and were picked up by Dr. Michael Kansiime. One of the boxes didn't get put on the plane from London for some reason but it will be coming in tomorrow. Fortunately in was the box with all the Veterinary supplies that we wont need until Thursday that didn't come through and not the one with all of our personal stuff! We got to Dr. Michaels house by 9:15, which is where we are staying, and we got to meet his family, his wife Pamela, she is currently pregnant with there 3rd child, his 5 year old son, Moses, and their 3 year old daughter, Esther. They are also taking care of a orphan named Nimrod, who is 13. He is Michael's mothers brothers son, a cousin I think. Anyway, they fed us pineapple, roast sweet potatoes and tea for lunch and unfortunately, my not taking my Nexium on the plane caught up with me and I was really tired so I went to take a nap. Mom gave the children a Luna bar and some chocolate, we are now their best friends. I also loaded all the photographs from the camera onto the computer, the card reader worked fine. When I got up at about noon I actually felt worse so I had some hot tea and went back to bed until 8:00. We had dinner at 8:30. We had boiled rice and beef, roast sweet potatoes, beans cooked with onions, something they called "greens," and watermelon. After the children were put to bed, mom brought out some "milk-free" chocolate and an bottle of wine which we got at the market on the way to Michael's house (mom told him about all her dietary restrictions so he just took us to the marked to get something she could eat.) We also showed them a bunch of the family photographs that mom put in a slide show. They really want to see more Luke and Anna wedding photographs. Could you send us the link to the Picasa online website? Thank you! Also is there some way that I can send you photos other than by email (it would take forever!) ? Well, its about 11:25 here and we will be going to be soon. We are getting up early to go the the vet school tomorrow and talk with Val and the CVM board about the schedule for the next 10 days. I hope the rest of your day is great and I will talk to you soon! Love you.
Julia and Liz
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