UCVM Outreach

Okay, I wrote this about a week ago and haven’t had annnny internet
access since then so I haven’t been able to post this. Since… I have
been up in Soroti and then in Kangole doing small animal outreach
stuff with Dr. Liz and Julia. We are trying to educate people on
Transmissible Venereal Tumors (or TVT) which is very common in dogs
here. So mainly we are doing spays and neuters and have treated a few
real nasty cases of TVT surgically, debulking their tumors (which are
generally on the genitals) and then giving them chemotherapy which Val
and I will go back and do a few more times in the next weeks. I have
learned a ton… can successfully put in catheters (most the time :-P)
and give IV injections… sedation, treatments… shove pills down dogs
throats… neuter (:-O), suture (well… I was having some issues), etc!
It’s been AWESOME. We got a new pet yesterday. Some kid shot a
Rufus-headed Roller with a sling shot so we wanted to save it cause it
was pretty :-P He was going to eat it for a little snack, but we
figure he can find some other protein source with the money we gave
him (2000 shillings… less than $1 American – but that’ll get you
dinner around here!) The little boys hunt birds around here all the
time so now that we bought that one they keep bringing different
things to us… haven’t obliged to any others yet but they’re kinda fun
to see. Trouble the chameleon is still doing well but has not had her
babies. We are currently assembling cages for her and the bird so
hopefully that’ll help. Dr. Liz and Julia leave tomorrow, but then we
have some other vet named Julie coming in on the same flight (if she
makes it… someone stole Val’s phone the other day so communication
will be… well… pretty much impossible if there are issues). So things
are crazy busy, but good :-) Having a ton of fun and loving Uganda!!!
We had church this morning which is the most ridiculously hot and
crowded building ever… about 80 people were baptized at our service
(after a few month long discipleship program) and about 60 were
baptized in the first service… and it was the same last week. It’s
amazing :-) But there are probably about 400-500 people at each
service… in quiiite a small building. But every time they sing and
play the drums I almost melt (I suppose that isn’t really a compliment
considering the last comment) but it sounds soooo cool. I could sit
there for hours despite the heat just listening and watching it. But
anyway… here was my update as of last week:

So… lately we’ve been doing veterinary outreach stuff. Two doctors
from the states came with various family members to join us for a
symposium put on by the Ugandan Christian Veterinary Mission (UCVM).
The first part of it was an outreach in two different villages in the
western part of Uganda. The team split up… I went to Bushenyi with
Val, Dr. Liz Hoffmann, her daughter Julia, a couple doctors from the
vet school here and another student we took from Soroti named Joseph
(or Lobai or Kateok depending on which name you want to use… but since
you won’t know how to pronounce them, I’ll go with Joseph :-P); the
team with the other vet went to Arua.

That name comment brings me to another point which I keep forgetting
to mention. So I have been called MANY things since I’m been here.
Any time I introduce myself, I get a bunch of reallllly blank looks.
NO ONE can say my name correctly (unless they’re American). So…
during our trip to Bushenyi we were working with Dr. Michael who has
probably had the most issues with my name. For a while it wasn’t so
bad… he was calling me Heid-a, which was pretty close. But then… the
problem is, here they don’t do the whole last name thing. Any name
they ‘own’ is a name they can be called… they are all equivalent. So
like Michael – you think it’s funny that an African has a name like
Michael… but that’s because his other name is Kanssiime… which he is
also called. Moses Otim… Kateok Joseph… etc. And they can all be
switched around which gets confusing at times. So… I always avoid
saying anything but Heidi, but while we were in the car, someone was
putting my phone number in his phone and asked what my second name
was. I proceeded to explain the American system… how it’s a family
name and not a second name and people don’t use it… but I knew it was
a risk. The thing was… they guy I was talking to was very
understanding – he got it. But Dr. Michael, who was driving,
completely missed the point. From then on I was things ranging from
Heid-a Jud-y to Jud-a to Heid-a and Heid-a Judd-a, Jud-y Heid-a and
who knows what else. I get a lot of Heid-a… and I have luckily still
avoided anyone knowing/attempting my middle name. No amount of
explaining or clarifying by me or Dr. Val could reverse the damage.
Dr. Michael’s not always one for listening very much anyway so there
was no changing it back. When I’m up in Karamoja… people, of course,
still can’t say my name. And everyone thinks there should be a second
name anyway, so you usually end up being named by the locals. My name
came about when I was in one of the Peace Villages… Nabwal. After
attempting to marry me (he offered five cows… a lot for the Peace
Villages where they aren’t allowed any cows) this man who spoke no
English kept saying one word. Of course I had no idea what he was
saying… eventually (after a long time… and actually I think it was
even later in the day or the next) some lady came over to rescue me
from marriage (actually that’s totally not why… she was African and
was probably just trying to help along the negotiation) but anyway –
she spoke a miniscule amount of English (more than the guy) and tried
to explain to me what was going on. The guy had given me my African
name! Now I am Nakiru Heidi (though with the ‘Heidi’ all
mispronounced if they actually attempt it). So in Karamoja, Val often
introduces me with both names… and the Africans always use Nakiru. It
can be pronounced a bit differently by different people… the first one
used a maaaajorly rolled “r” and he turned the whole thing into two
syllables – kind of missing the “i”. A lot of people say it probably
how you are saying it – though the “r” is rolled a bit or “flipped” as
I like to call it (the cheater roll… my version :-P) My name means
“one who comes with the rain” or something to that effect. It was
funny how rapidly my name spread. As soon as I got back from the
Peace Village I was hearing it everywhere… and seeing that guy in
random places that I didn’t understand how he got there. But anyway…
in Karamoja that’s what I’m called… and down here (in Kampala) I am
usually called Heid-a. Anyway… that was quite a long aside.

So my team went to Bushenyi… a seven or so hour drive from Kampala.
On the drive we saw a Uganda Cob (antelope kinda thing) and some
ZEBRAs!! They were adorable. Then there was one on the side of the
road that had been hit a while ago and was teeeeming with maggots. SO
cool. Of course I went over and took lots of pictures (while holding
my breath) :-P We then stopped at a market kind of thing and some
people shoved sticks with beef and liver on them in our faces trying
to get us to buy them. We hadn’t eaten lunch (it was about 4:00 by
then prob) so I got a beef stick and the guys got us all roasted maize
and roasted bananas. The maize is… funny. It looks like it’ll be so
good… but that’s thinking in terms of sweet corn (which looks very
similar). But basically it’s realllly dry and tastes a bit like
popcorn. It’s actually not a baaad taste… I think it’s kind of fun,
but it’s so filling and it makes your jaw tired chewing on it. Just
think about munching on some Indian corn – the kind we decorate with
in the states. It’s the same thing (though the colors aren’t so
exciting here). Anyway… we proceeded on to the village. First thing,
we had to go to a radio station to speak because they were giving us
an hour of free airtime to do some public service kind of stuff
(talked about a few zoonotic diseases) and to introduce the exciting
news of the year – that the muzungus were in town!! So the next
couple of days we treated animals… huuuuundreds of goats, lots of
cows, sheep, pigs, dogs and a few cats. Dewormed and acaracide
(flea/tick killing) sprayed pretty much all the animals and treated
the sick ones for various things… pneumonia, trypanosomiasis, east
coast fever, anaplasmosis, foot rot, wounds, etc, etc, etc. During
the outreaches, we would take a break and talk to the people. We
would share Christ with them and about five people came forward to be
saved. The first guy… it was cool… he was probably late 20s – I’m not
sure. But when he came forward both Val and I really felt like he was
going to have a ministry. He just had such boldness to come in front
of the group and really accepted God and prayed. Val brought out the
“Evangi-cube” (funny name…) which is an evangelism tool – just kind of
a guideline of the story of Jesus that is in one of those little flip
cube things that you can open in different directions. So she showed
him how to use it and gave our last one to him. She really saw some
potential in him and I totally agreed – it was cool to have
confirmation like that… we talked about it that night. So pray for
him! :-) Then there were some little kids the next day and lots of
appreciative people which was cool.

One story I just heard today actually… we were staying at Dr.
Michael’s house – the house he grew up in. They had had neighbors for
a looong time who were Muslim and refused to associate with any of the
neighbors. They wouldn’t even go to anyone’s funerals (funerals are a
very big community thing here) and wouldn’t let anyone have anything
to do with them. One of the mornings, the neighbors brought their
animals over for treatment! They had missed the first day of
treatment and had decided to actually come into the compound of the
home (where they had refused to set foot before) the next morning. We
didn’t know anything about this during the time, but Dr. Michael was
talking about how amazing it was that they came. Their animals needed
treatment, and we were able to show them the love God has for them in
helping them just the same as all the others. We even had gotten out
early in the morning because they were waiting. It’s cool how we can
reach out to people through the profession. We never would have
gotten to talk to them and just help them with their animals if we
didn’t have that connection. Now we’re praying that that relationship
can continue and grow and that they can see the love that we (and God)
have for them (no matter how they feel about us)!

The radio station had us give another hour on Saturday, and they even
taped us so we could get on TV! Big news… muzungus + free vet care!
Now we’re back in Kampala and I’m staying at Dr. Michael’s house. Val
had to head back up to Karamoja to search for her dog that got away
about a month ago. There have been several sightings and Val had seen
her footprints about a week ago, but it is so tough to survive out
there in the bush (and one of the most dangerous areas, too), so it’s
hard to know if she’d still be alive. It would be SO amazing for Val
to find her, though… she means a LOT to her. Please pray that God is
protecting Punzel and that Val can find her and/or be at peace about
the whole thing. It’s been hard because there’s been so much going on
that she hasn’t been able to search really at all. I’m staying in
Kampala to help out with the rest of the symposium.

Staying at Dr. Michael’s is fun(ny?). It’s amazing… two adorable
(though semi-crazy) little kids… his wife is awesome (and cooks SO
well) and they are very welcoming. But I am eternally discovering
more about Ugandan culture. The way it works with girls is
interesting. Usually we are treated as visitors around here… which
means they alllways want to serve us and take care of us… and that’s
definitely the case in a way. But in a way, Dr. Michael really enjoys
treating me like a daughter. Sounds great… homey… part of the family
and all… but what that really means is that I should get everything
for him. He actually doesn’t do it all the time – just he’ll have
periods where it’ll be one thing after the next. “Heid-a go get me
tea.”; “Okay, now I need dry tea.”; “Jud-y everybody wants the tea
outside”; “Can you believe I don’t have any tea??!” (talking to his 3
year old daughter Esther… hint hint!); etc. It’s funny because a lot
of the time I think he’s kidding. Just the way he says it – if
someone said that at home they would be completely sarcastic (or they
better be!). But that’s not how it works here. He actually expects
it – and you can’t be slow! (which is difficult when you don’t know
where anything is and when the water is not boiling yet) There have
been many times when he says things… like the last time – I had just
made him a mug of milk tea – it was very complicated anyway for
various reasons – involving the tea bags and loose tea and confusion,
etc. When he finished it he says “Heidi… okay, so now I need some dry
tea” – holding up his cup – I was pretty convinced he was kidding and
I gave him a kind of blank look while laughing… but he kept talking to
someone else… holding his cup and expecting me to take it. Luckily I
caught on, but there was no water. And the kids were playing with the
tea and licking the jelly top and the sugar spoon… being as unruly as
usual. It was quite the adventure and I even failed (NOT for the
first time) to get everything together. But there have been many
blank looks – me not understanding that he’s actually serious (“this
time he must be joking”). Don’t get me wrong… he’s a very nice guy…
that’s just how it works… he sits on the coach and other people get
him things if that’s what he wants. (Just to support my statement
that he’s not so bad, he just asked me if he could get me a glass of
juice :-) so sweet.) But it’s fun stuff.

I’ve had lots of expectations for interesting foods… I haven’t had
anything too bad though I have had a few adventures. One of the US
guys got a cockroach in his food for lunch today though. Not such a
surprise – they’re little ones – and they’re all over… but that’s how
things are. There’s allllways a fruit fly in the sugar and rice and
occasionally a worm-like thing in the beans… or some other surprise.
They’re all nice and cooked… can’t hurt. I had cow tongue yesterday
for dinner, which I figured must be semi-normal because I’ve at least
seen it sold in the states. It wasn’t bad at all. Wouldn’t choose it
out of a pile of (what I would call) “Real” meat but it was acceptable
– a little bit above liver… which is way above some other things! I
also tried sugar cane while we were in the village! That was… … an
adventure. I must say I could NOT handle the texture. It’s fun to
eat cause you have to rip the outside of the stalk off with your teeth
and you tear some sugar cane off and chew out all the sugar water then
spit the stuff on the ground. I’m def glad I had the experience, but
between the super super sweetness of the liquid and the feeling of the
pulp stuff on my teeth… I was not a big fan. The kids watching me
were entertained though as I attempted to eat my first sugar cane…
smacking myself in the face with the stick (which was about 3 ft.
long) and all :-P

Oh, one last thing before I let you stop reading! I have OFFICIALLY
applied to vet school! I submitted my application to Cornell last
night (with mom’s help doing it over phone cause I had no internet)!!
But that means I am DONE :-D Which is nice… but please pray for those
admission people… His will be done! I’m gonna try not to think about
it too much now – not sure when I find out but I’m thinking maybe
January? I dunno, but hopefully it’ll work out well :-)

Thanks for reading! And thanks for your prayer! And your support!
Love ya and miss ya all :-)

Heidi

Chameleon Food

Oh my goodness. Who thought it could be SUCH an ordeal to bite into a cheese sandwich… well… not exactly a cheese sandwich, but it still would not seem possible to take about 45 minutes to eat a roll about the size of a White Castle Burger bun (are those all mini? I mean the kind that Tristen used to eat if not… the mini frozen variety). Yeah… that size. And yet… at least 45 minutes while writhing around on the bed like the snake we killed last week. The problem was… there was an added crunch to my cheese sandwich. I would love to say that after the initial challenge of biting in it got better. But that would be a lie. After about 20 minutes convincing myself (with Val’s encouragement and much to her enjoyment) that I should do it, I managed to chew (at least a little) and swallow. The initial swallow was exciting. The biggest hurdle had been cleared (or so I thought). But then I looked down for the next bite and saw something that is now plastered into my mind’s eye. The eyes of a grasshopper were staring up at me. Much to my chagrin I had not miraculously swallowed all the grasshopper pieces that were in the midst of my sandwich and the worst was yet to come. It turns out the first bite only had maybe an abdomen… it was slightly chewed with one or two minor crunches but then was easily swallowed within a bolus of also partially chewed bread and cheese (appetizing, right?). The next bite turned out to have multiple pieces… a good number of them… and they were plenty crunchy. The piece could not be swallowed nearly whole like the last, but I was going to have to bite down, not knowing when I would hit one of the crunchy little morsels. Every hit was like a blow to that snake’s head… a convulsion would overtake me as my teeth landed on the chitinous body of what should have been my chameleon’s dinner. Every one was also an ENORMOUS source of enjoyment for Val, who sat dyyying of laughter on the other end of the bed while I underwent the most traumatizing dinner experience I can think of. Once I caught my breath, I proceeded to look at the rest of the sandwich. This was the one with the eyes. Sure the others all had eyes and antennas as well, but this one was staring at me. I had decided not to lift up the top bread on the last bite… not wanting to know what all I was in for. Now about half of the sandwich was left, but I knew that things would not end well if I had another experience like the last. I saw the one gigantic grasshopper that might as well have jumped out at me and realized that in a minute that creature would be between my teeth. Then I made the biggest mistake of the night. I lifted the bread. As it rose, I saw something dark that contrasted strongly with the light Gouda cheese constructing the rest of my sandwich. It was… a thorax. Well, I think. The thought of consuming more than that one gigantic, people-watching, grasshopper was daunting and I immediately collapsed on the bed in despair. I decided to eat the rather large section of sandwich all at once, knowing that I could not undergo much more of this torture. At least it was my last piece. I had been trying to avoid anything but the bread touching my tongue during this whole process, with some success. But this guy was so long that there was no way. To get my teeth in a position where they could accomplish anything remotely useful in eliminating this creature from my mouth, there was no way to avoid him from sensory stimulation via the taste buds. Fried with onion, that was by far not the worst part but now I could feel his mouthparts (which I had been watching earlier when his cousin munched on some sugar cane in the chameleon’s cage) as they rubbed up against my tongue. I could picture the skull, which I now had to crush between two molars in order to swallow it. A final crunch resounded through my head before I hid the pieces within chunks of wet chewed bread for immediate passage down the esophagus. FINALLY it was over. I will never look at a cheese sandwich in the same way again.



Anyway… yesterday a couple vets arrived from the states and we left Kampala with them to go to a small village on the west side of Uganda, working with UCVM (Uganda Christian Veterinary Mission) through Uganda’s vet school. So now we’re there and we will be doing an outreach through Sunday, treating people’s animals and doing the whole Gospel thing at the same time – you think that’s a strange combination, but trust me… it works! These people rely entirely on their animals for food, milk, and a living most of the time, so we are able to show them God’s love through the profession. Yesterday we were even on the radio! So I’ll be here for the rest of the week and then back in Kampala for a symposium that goes with this whole thing. Val won’t be with me in Kampala later, so I think I can even get out of eating more grasshoppers!! (YAY :-D)

Story-time!

Hey there! I hope you are all doing well. This is a realllly long post – sorry about that. And on top of yesterday’s too! Craziness. But I thought I should make up for the lack of information, so hopefully you enjoy (maybe over the course of a couple days!) I am having a great time and loving it here. I do miss you all… and the puppies, too, so tell them I say hi! Thanks for the thoughts and prayers… you are in mine as well :)

Activities have included:
1)Medical outreaches and becoming a pharmacist
2)(Our friend) with a gunshot wound
3)Chameleon care-taking
4)Becoming a mechanic
5)A witch doctor burning her pots!
6)Vet-ing with the US army
7)Rejecting many marriage proposals
8)Attempting to get internet… in the strangest ways

1. Most of the time I’ve been here we have been with a medical team. There were two doctors and two nurses who came from the states. With them we did some medical outreaches in the Peace Villages. (The Peace Villages are places where two of the Karamojong subtribes that have been warring and raiding (stealing) each others’ cattle come to live together in peace. There are two now and another in the process of being formed.) They have no accessible medical help or clinics in the villages so it was MUCH needed. There’s a hospital about two hours away, but it’s really hard for people to travel around here. We saw a LOT of things during the outreaches. Many sick kids… a lot of it comes from hygiene issues and just a lack of education on public health. We did training for the Village Health Team (VHTs) before we went out to the villages. We educated them on how to take care of some health problems and how to keep their communities safer/healthier so they could bring that information back to their people. We saw a couple men with leprosy, a girl with really bad meningitis, a boy who broke his femur (we had to take him to the hospital – very bumpy roads, the poor kid), some babies with pneumonia, and many many other things. It was hard when we left because the people were SO desperate. We were running low on medications and they were getting angry. It’s kind of frustrating to deal with but you know how much they need help and always wish you could do more. I was one of the pharmacists, which is funny cause I didn’t know anything about half the meds they were using! And doctor writing is near impossible to interpret. I did learn a lot about human medicine though! If anyone needs to be dewormed just let me know – pretty much everyone got albendezole! They are trying to set up a medical clinic in the larger peace village, but it has no doctor yet, and it’s hard to get working.

2. During the time we were in Iriiri with the med team we had about four people with gunshot wounds. One of them (Mariko) was being taken care of at a church about an hour away. We got the news about him and went to pick him up. When we got there, we hardly walked into the room when the smell almost knocked us over. The wound, which was just above his knee, was about four days old and extremely infected. When we undressed it, we saw that gangrene was setting in and he would have to go to the hospital to have some anesthesia while it was cleaned out. Mariko was quite traumatized by his experiences and mostly refused to talk, looking very dazed and removed from the world. The story gathered over the course of days at the church and what we had found out was that he had been captured by the Ugandan Army. He was probably a raider, coming to steal some cows, and the Army men captured him (edit edit :P). [He was beaten] really bad with sticks – his buttocks were covered with cane marks and his ankles were beaten to prevent him from running. Then they took him to the hospital (which doesn’t make so much sense to me) [edit edit]. Somehow Mariko then managed to escape the hospital… considering he couldn’t walk I’m not sure how that was possible… must have been the adrenaline. But he left and hid in the bush for a few days when someone from the church found him. He was in pretty rough shape… they took him in and fed him and took care of him the best that they could. But the infection was so bad and he was so scared he wouldn’t talk. They called us after a couple days to come and get him (Val is one of very few people who has a car and they had heard about the doctors with us I think). Unfortunately it was so bad we had to take him to the hospital, which he was petrified of because he didn’t want to end up back [with his captors]. We hired a boy to watch him while he was there because otherwise he would probably just run away again. He is now recovering well… we saw him in the hospital today. He still won’t talk much; he isn’t scared of us but won’t communicate with the doctors or people around him. So my adventures have even included harboring [an injured person... haha read between the lines :P]! He wouldn’t tell us his full name… we think Mariko is actually true but he gave us a couple fake names at different points. He should be discharged sometime next week. We’re praying that his mental capacities come back to speed cause he still seems a bit off. Maybe post-traumatic stress disorder kind of thing. He’s young, too… maybe early 20s. There is a pastor at the church who is reaching out to the three patients we have at the hospital. So far, Mariko hasn’t trusted him, but pray that he can break through!

**This post has been edited for safety purposes :P**

3. While doing the VHT training in Iriiri, Jennifer (a missionary nurse living in Soroti who helped with the medical outreaches) and I encountered a chameleon in the middle of the road. It was not looking good. She was mouth-breathing and not moving at all. We picked her up and brought her to the newly-formed ICU (in the back of Val’s truck) for some emergency care. Upon evaluation, Val determined that she had some broken ribs and bad internal injuries. Every breath she took that part of her side would suck in instead of expand like they normally would. This is usually a very bad sign which would involve inserting a chest tube, but I have not yet encountered a chameleon chest tube, so she was gonna have to stick it out. We watched her closely and kept her comfortable, and to my surprise, she was still alive that night! (I had kind of thought I would be dissecting her… which would have been fun… but I would much rather she pull through, so it was good ) We have had her for about a week and a half and she is recovering well. She also had a broken right front leg, which we constructed a splint for out of sorghum stalks and tape. We feed her flies and grasshoppers and some other insects we can get. It’s fun to watch her catch flies… her tongue goes out about 6 inches and sticks a fly on it like a frog! We can also see eggs inside her and we think she’s about to give birth. We made a home that should be conducive to birthing while she’s still under observation while her leg heals. We are learning as we go… we aren’t sure if she’s going to give birth to live young or lay the eggs. She has had them in her for a while and it depends on the type of chameleon I guess, so we’ll see what happens! Hopefully chameleon care will help me during vet school!!

4. So the vehicle is always an experience. In the middle of nowhere there does not exist something called a “mechanic”. The people who do things like that have no idea what they’re doing and tend to cause more harm than good. Hence all the current problems. At one point “they” took apart the whole engine to fix something and put it all back wrong. The other day the fuel line broke. This part had been replaced at one point, but with the wrong tube, so it decided to rupture and spray gallons of diesel all over the ground. Unfortunately duct tape dissolves instantly upon contact with diesel, so that was not a good fix, even temporarily. We tried to find tubes everywhere (without being able to drive anywhere, so basically I mean within our houses and medical things). The one that almost worked was made from the drip part of an IV. Unfortunately it wasn’t quite long enough. Eventually we were able to get to Moroto (thanks to some US army guys we were working with) and we got a piece of a garden hose (still no hope for an actual tube that would work). After much trouble we got it on. There are very possibly little pieces of rubber floating around the engine now, but hey… the car started! (after some pushing since the battery also decided to die) We had to have a boy go get fuel from the other side of town (thank God it was actually there that day cause that’s not always the case!) since the tank was pretty much empty by that point. We also had to change the tire in about a foot of mud this morning when we woke up to an entirely flat one. By the time I get home I may have a new career ready for me!
Oh, and I forgot to mention last time that our vehicle has cow horns on the front! Hopefully a picture will come sometime, but for now I’ll just tell you  The horns were put there to be able to identify the vehicle. Sometimes people will hide in the bush by the road in wait for a car to come by to ambush. After encountering problems a couple of times, Val asked why people were doing this (everyone in the villages love her cause of the work she does). They told her that she needed to be identifiable so they knew who it was – they didn’t want to ambush her. So after discussion they discovered that the best way would be to put cow horns on! The Karamojong love their cows so that was she could she that she did too, and they would know it was her. Since the horns she has not had any issues. A couple of times she has driven past an ambush site and the men jump up and make a horn symbol with their arms, smiling and waving instead of waving around their AK47s. lol. So the horns are a necessary and good thing. Besides, they make Brutus look SO cool!

5. While we were doing our outreaches in Nabwal (the larger of the two peace villages), we had fellowship time at night. We actually just started singing as a small group (the ~7 Americans and the ~10 African members of CLIDE we work with). When people heard they all came to join. After about 10 minutes there were probably about 70 new people there. It was cool and lots of fun. I LOVE the African songs. Jumping is huge around here… it’s their form of dancing and they actually make me join in sometimes! So we were singing and dancing/jumping. Oh, and the ladies do this trilly-screamy thing. Sounds strange… and it is… but I LOVE it. It’s so cool. There was this little girl who was so into it. It was adorable – I have no idea how they make that sound. Someday when I have a soundproof room I will try it :-P But anyway, after maybe 15 minutes, one of the ladies, Anne, from CLIDE went to the middle of the circle to speak (with her baby, Jessie, on her back). She basically gave the salvation message. I don’t remember exactly what she said, but she gave people the opportunity to accept Christ, and we had 44 people give their lives! It was so cool… it started with a couple of the warriors. Young men who wear these FUNNY hats that they knit in crazy colors – they’re top-hat kind of shapes. Then they stick a feather in it (if they’re “available”). But these guys are the tough ones. And they came kneeling in front of Anne before anyone else! Then some ladies and children followed… old and young… so cool. After praying with them they had them go to the side and write down their names so some of the pastors could talk to them and teach them the next day. We counted 44 in total. The next morning there was a gathering off to the side of where we did the clinics. I didn’t know what was going on but there were a couple of clay pots in the middle and a lady standing next to them. She spoke for a while with an interpreter and gave her powerful testimony. After years, she had decided to give up her witchcraft and follow God. I didn’t get the entire story, but she had been one of the VHTs we were training and we had done devotionals each day of the training. At some point, she was convicted and decided to accept God. She wanted to renounce it all. It was a very powerful little ceremony when she lit the pots on fire (with kerosene) and crushed them under her feet. A couple kids who were watching nearby had some stuff smeared on them that was supposed to protect them from evil spirits that were supposedly attacking them. We took them aside and prayed for God to release them as no witchcraft could. We took off their clothes and washed them clean. I’m not sure how much of the whole thing they understood, they were young and probably didn’t know entirely why it had been put on them in the first place. So please pray that God gives them understanding and that He will protect them from whatever was going on to make the people think they were being attacked.

6. The past couple of days we have been working with the US army to do their “Vet-CAP” program. They have an equivalent program called “Med-CAP” that they do some places as well. I think they’re trying to improve relations with the Ugandan military – I’m not entirely sure why they do it; but it’s good! They help to train the local animal health workers and supply them with vet medicines and tools. They use organizations like CLIDE to help with the training because they know they aren’t able to connect and communicate with the people as well. So basically they supply lots of medicines and things which is very helpful! After doing some of the ‘classroom’ training with them, we worked a couple of days at a nearby village (can’t say exactly where :-P). It was the ‘practical’ part of the training for the locals. I got to learn a LOT as well! Saw some East Coast Fever, Anaplasmosis, lots of mastitis, foot rot, etc, etc, etc! We also sprayed all the animals for ticks and deworming. Did some castrations - the tradition for many of the people is to do a half-castration, which is funny because it doesn’t actually do anything – they still produce enough testosterone! It’s supposed to leave them fertile (which it does) but calm them down (which it doesn’t)… but we still tackle the bull and do it – risking life and limb to make them happy :-P Dr. Val got kicked in the face by one of the cows who had mastitis – nice swollen jaw now, the poor lady! We had a bit of a mess the second day. After the kicking injury and one of the army guys getting his arm pummeled by a bull, we were evacuated early. The village had gotten news that a raid was coming. We couldn’t see or hear anything yet, but a guy had gotten killed down the hill a ways and we thought it better not to have a couple hundred cows gathered in one place for treatment when there were armed men coming for the sole purpose of stealing cows. So we packed up and moved on, allowing the locals to disperse and hopefully get the cattle (and themselves) out of the path of the raiders.

7. I have gotten offered quite a range of bride prices. I think it’s been from 5 cows to 200. Those were actually pretty equivalent offers considering the guy who offered five was in one of the peace villages, where they don’t allow any cows (to prevent violence and temptation to raid) – so that was quite a high bid for him. At first, we were avoiding my getting married off by asking for a ridiculous number of cows. Usually the highest offer you can get is about 100 – that’s a LOT of cows around here. So we would refuse ‘because’ we needed at least 200. As people got closer to offering that amount we had to up the ante, so we added 100 goats to the price. For the last one we went straight for 300 cows, which was a good decision because he was the one who offered 200. Don’t worry, though, I’m not going to take ANY of them up on the offer. I’m not going for the multiple wife thing and I think I’m happy where I’m at ;-)

8. Internet is QUITE a challenge. The other day, Val was trying to send some emails and had to put the computer on top of her head to get it at the right level for the signal. Even then it didn’t work well, but at least the emails sent after about 20 minutes. The next night we moved the vehicle close to the tree (for some reason the tree seems to make the signal better) and sat on the roof. This worked about as well as the head and that way you didn’t need two people… one to watch the status and click things and the other with their head occupied. So these sorts of issues are the reason for this REALLY long post after a long time without much. Those two days were the days it was working WELL, so it can be pretty much impossible when it’s not!

I’ve had requests for the basics, so here goes!

Food:
STARCH. lots of rice and potatoes (called “Irish”) and posho (corn starch pastey stuff that you make by “mingling” it with water in the pan) and chipatis (which I think are of Indian origin… bread/tortilla kind of thing) and matoke (mashed up bananas… but they’re cooking bananas and don’t have much flavor… don’t taste like bananas). Always with some sort of soup on it... often beans... or questionable meats. A lot of the time the meat will be beef or chicken. It’s not usually chewable though… you have to get all covered in it and rip it apart with your teeth to have any hope. I’m slowly becoming more carnivorous. Everything is eaten with the fingers (traditionally... sometimes we're lucky and they'll give us "muzungu"s utensils – though I try EVERY time to cut apart the meat and it is IMPOSSIBLE – then I get made fun of and forced to use my teeth!). Kidney tastes pretty horrible, but other than that I haven’t had too many problems except for the meat stuck in my teeth hours after eating (which many of you
will know how much I would love that). Liver is a funny texture but doesn’t have too much taste (at least relative to the kidney). Val has been teaching me anatomy at meal time. Last week I had some sacrum… we’ve had a good amount of lymph node… you have to first identify the body part before eating (Nielly, you would LOVE it! :-P). Oh and also, LOTS of tea. At least twice a day, but usually more. It’s good… lots of milk and sugar added. Sometimes for breakfast we have chipatis with cinnamon and sugar which is SO good! We had a fresh pineapple the other day that was amazing! Man, it’s good to have food that hasn’t been imported from other countries. Though it started to ferment (we don’t have a fridge) and we may have taken in some alcohol by the end of it! Also… did you know that cheese can last at least a month and a half without refrigeration?! (unopened
that is) And it’s not bad that way, either! Water: I have been trying to transition to bore-hole water. The
water is not bad from there… technically clean… but still not tap-water (and for those of you who won’t even drink tap water… you better stay there in the US!). So the transition is going well… I haven’t had too many stomach issues yet! But the cipro is on hand… it is pretty commonly used with the muzungus around here. Dr. Val drinks the water, but even she has to have cipro sometimes! I haven’t resorted to it yet cause I think that would make my transition have to start over. We’ll see what happens.

Living arrangements:
I have a “mattress” on the floor of my hut that I sleep on. The circular hut is made of cement around the outside and has a
grass-thatched roof. You always sleep under a mosquito net that hangs over the bed and you tuck it under the mattress at night. There’s no electricity so we have kerosene lanterns that we light and we use flashlights a lot! (thank you Alex! :-P)

The Essentials: (well… YOU think they’re essentials :-P)
Bathing… (not essential)… but we have a bathing shelter that has some sheets of metal set up in the shape of a square. No roof. You take a basin with some water (usually QUITE chilly water) and a plastic cup/mug to dump the water on your head with. This morning I had some heated water to add to my basin, though… and it felt like home!! It was amazing. :-P “Bathroom”… called a latrine here… it’s just a shelter with a hole in the ground. Also called a squatty-potty by the most dignified people (Nielly… think I heard that from you first :-P). You have to take toilet paper (or tissues) anywhere you go if you want to have it cause if it’s left somewhere it WILL be stolen within about 10 minutes. There is never any soap anywhere… oh how I love Purel!

Driving:
VERY few people around here drive or have a car. People walk SO much I am quite impressed. Usually they are carrying at least 20 pounds on their heads too… a Jerry can of water or who knows what else. I’ve seen gigantic barrels… piles of mattresses… heavy suitcases… anything can be carried on the head! (though only girls do it… guys go for the shoulder… no, actually, they just have the girls carry things! :-P) No wonder so many people were complaining of neck or back pain during our medical clinics… necks were made to carry a HEAD! We have a Land Rover truck that we drive. It has two fuel tanks and two batteries. His name is Brutus. And it fits him well! It’s AMAZING the roads he gets us through… SO many other cars get stuck and we can help them out or pass on by as necessary. We are also almost always carrying about 50 people in the back of the truck (slight exaggeration). Everyone wants a ride cause they walk SO far!

Wildlife:
I got my first parasite already!!! (mom and dad… remember the close-toed shoe thing? Well… they are over-rated.) Parasites aren’t so bad… the locals know how to get them out real well. It’s called a “jigger”… a little worm-y kinda thing that burrows into your feet to lay its eggs. Mine got pretty big… you don’t feel them the first time you get it until it’s big cause after that one you have an allergic reaction and you know it’s there cause it gets itchy. Val and I had them at the same time, too! So they were both removed… you use a safety pin and kinda dig around it and squeeze it out. The key is to make sure it stays intact and the whole egg sac comes out. Or you’ll have a LOT more to remove! I also saw my fist scorpion the other night! It was really cool looking… not so big. Unfortunately Val said we had to kill it :-/ I guess they don’t feel so good when they get you!
We also “removed” a snake from my hut this morning. I am 99% sure it wasn’t venomous… and just a little thing. But given the fact that we’re in Africa… policy is you have to kill them… who knows. I wanted Frank there to identify it for me!
As for ‘real’ wildlife… there hasn’t been too much yet. The big things we generally think of don’t hang out so much in Uganda… especially Karamoja. In large part because of all the target practice previously done by the warring tribe. But eventually we will make it over to Kenya and go through a safari  Then we will see the cool stuff (and name a giraffe “Danielle”!!)! For now there are a LOT of birds. Real neat ones… I wish dad and Thomas were here to identify
them! There was a baby baboon in one of the peace villages last week. They had probably killed it’s mama for eating their crops, but they didn’t want to kill the baby cause it was cute… so it was tied to a tree. Probably didn’t make it too long though… it kinda needed milk still :-/ But it was fun to play with… friendly (until it gets bigger!)


So my time here has been amazing. You may not think that all that sounds like fun, but I would have to disagree - It’s like 8 months of camping!!! That wasn’t very descriptive with what we’ve actually been doing… I had to set the scene first. I’ll give you some brief stories in my next post (sorry for all this to come at once, but I’ve got some time to make up for!)