March 20, 2012
Today (3/20) and yesterday (3/19) I spent most of the day at
the Birth House. It has been very slow
and there have not been any women laboring or birthing. I have spent my time typing information into
the computer, organizing materials, reading reports and getting to know the
women and men at Shanti Uganda. I had
the opportunity to take some photos of the facility to share:
I really enjoy spending time at the Birth House because
there is such a wonderful breeze there.
The house we live in is inside of a compound and the tall stone walls
keep the heat in and the breeze out. At
the Birth House you can sit just about anywhere inside or outside and catch the
breeze. Today I sat under a tall shade
tree on a yoga mat on top of a thatched mat and read through some information
on Midwifery in Uganda. It was quite
pleasant. The heat is really bad here,
especially at night when you get into bed and pull the mosquito net down around
your bed.
Central Room of Main Building (Top 3 photos)
Antepartum Room (Main Building)
One of many inlaid floor designs
Water source for Shanti Uganda – collects rain water and is
filtrated for use
Mural Artwork done by a volunteer
Cato, gardener and all around “handy man”
I brought several small tubes of Moravian Cookies with me to
Uganda (thanks to Susan Doran) and have been passing them out. I gave some to Ben, the driver for Shanti
Uganda and Medina, the woman who has helped me so much with my phone purchase (bless
her heart I have been a “stupid American” when it comes to purchasing, using,
and understanding cell phones here). I
brought a tin to the Birth House today to share. Everyone loved them and talked about how good
they were. When I give them to someone, I always give a brief history of the
Moravians and then talk about other items that they are known for and how the
items are made in North Carolina.
Florence, one of the birth attendants at the Birth House, asked if she
could keep the empty tube today and was so excited when I gave it to her. I had
gone to her home yesterday and she shared some sweet bananas so we are becoming
good friends.
Florence (in pink) and Family in front of her home, see the
sweet bananas to the left, yum, yum!
A baby asleep on the front porch, still not sure who she belonged to.
Florence’s two boys (right) and a friend (left)
A well-loved, but very tired momma.
Overall, my experience has been great thus far. Everyone is very friendly and helpful. I am trying to learn some Lugandan words, but
I find them very difficult to learn. I
have resorted to having David (the manager of the Internet Café) speak various
simple words into the digital microphone that I brought with me, then as I walk
the 34 – 40 minutes to the Birth House I listen and practice and then I do the
same on the return trip. It seems to be
helping, but each morning I feel as though I am back where I was the day before
trying to imprint the words into my long term memory.
Before I end, I wanted to share another “Mzungu” story with
you. This morning as I was walking back
from the Internet Café (I had left the house while the electricity was still on
in hopes of posting my blog, however it was off by the time I finished the 10
minute walk to the Internet Café and still remains off 9 hours later) I came
across a couple and their young daughter, maybe 2 years old. The daughter sat on the ground crying,
refusing to take another step. Her
parents stood 20 feet a head of her trying to entice her with a coin. As soon as the mother saw me coming toward
them she said something to the little girl in Lugandan that contained the word
“Mzungu”. The little girls jumped up off
the ground, began to run toward her parents, and ran a large U to get past me,
obviously scared of me. I am guessing
her mother told her something like, “The mean white lady is going to steal you
if you don’t get up and come here.” I
had to smile as I am sure that little girl’s thoughts about me were similar to
the same thoughts my grandmother and her friends had about gypsy’s when they
were growing up and it was rumored that they would steal young children.
March 21, 2012
Last night some friends of Sadie’s and Margot’s came over
for dinner and to celebrate Sara’s (woman who is for CO and works for the Peace
Corps teaching English to Ugandan teachers) 31st birthday. Sara is the oldest of the group so that tells
you about the gap in age between me and “them”. There was a couple from Ireland that work in
the northern part of Uganda and help to install irrigation systems and a young
woman from Japan who works here in Luwero as a teacher at the special needs
school. They were a lively bunch and I
enjoyed playing BINGO with them and felt all around welcomed. We even had two
birthday cakes that had been cooked in Dutch ovens, a type of a lemon pound
cake the other was similar to a chocolate pound cake. Cooking in a Dutch oven sounds difficult to
me, but these women evidently are very adept at such type of baking.
I got up early this morning to post to my blog and had
planned to attach the above blog to it, but it took forever to upload the
photos and then I hit the wrong button and forgot to save my work, so today’s
blog is combined with the 2nd part of yesterday’s, making for a long
read I do realize.
There was a baby girl born this morning at Shanti Uganda,
but I was not there. I did however get
to meet the mother and baby. I am
hopeful that I will be present for a birth or two, but it has been rather slow
and is common women tend to go into labor during the night time hours.
Mother and baby girl!
I thought it would be fun to take a few pictures on my walk
from here at the volunteer house to the birth house so I did that this morning
on the walk in and here they are:
A couple owns the volunteer house and they live in the front
of the house. The volunteer section is
in the back and is reached by the sidewalk to the left.
As I walk out of the gate to the house and turn right headed
toward the Shanti Uganda Birth House.
Some children I met along the way today. I took their picture and then showed it to
them on the camera and they all giggled in delight.
This is the long and hilly, never ending road that I spend
the most time on during my walk to the Birth House. Did I mention how hot the walk is? It is HOT!
Handmade bricks sitting out to dry. Most bricks are mud red,
but these were a wonderful tan color.
The biggest ant hill that I have ever witnessed.
You know you are close when you see this sign welcoming everyone to Shanti Uganda.
Shanti Uganda! The main building connected by breezeway to
the Birth House.
In gratitude and appreciation from Uganda!