It's 6 am and the sounds outside are changing. The noisy cicadas give way to a myriad of songs from the wide range of Bwindi's birds. It's time to come out of the lethargy of the night and that, indeed, happens very quickly. By 6:30 am, when the sun rises over the mountains the place has come to life and all the residents of Buhoma, Mukono and nearby areas are engaged in their daily activities or on-the-move to somewhere.
Alarm clocks aren't needed here, nature and human beings are as accurate as the Swiss watches they can't afford. So... it's time for us to get up and get out of the safety of our mosquito bed-net and initiate our morning routine - including freshening up with a 'bucket-and-cup' shower and preparing some breakfast. The most basic activities take their time in rural Africa. Heat up a bit of water to make the 'shower' bearable - not to mention fetching water from the communal tap 100 meters away, and we are lucky it's so near - boil a bit of water for drinking, prepare breakfast followed by bucket-driven dish washing outside the house... By the time all this is done, it's almost 8:00 am! Time to switch on the walkie-talkie (another technological wonder in the hospital) and go to work!
Every morning goes the same, we hear the African drums being played to summon the staff, and whoever wants to join, to the Out-Patient Ward's waiting area to start the day with morning prayers - as you may know, religion in Africa is still very deeply ingrained in every aspect of life. However, it isn't an exclusive exercise; within the staff there are presbyterian and catholics (together being the majority) but also Muslims, animists and those not professing any religion, but they are all encouraged to attend so we can start the day together. After the brief prayers, it's time for announcements; teams going to difficult-to-reach areas for periodic clinics, events within the hospital, welcoming of new staff members...
Anyway, time to go and do some real work!
And there I am, walking to the tent (yes a tent!) where part of the Administration team sits, me included, to plug in the lap-top and load my emails while I step outside to check how the preparation of vehicles, power generators and other equipment is going so the clinics at the hospital can start and the teams going on out-reach clinics can leave as soon as possible.
Nothing is straightforward in a remote place like Bwindi, and in Uganda in general, and last minute improvisation is the most common business technique! That's the main reason, I believe, why, in my 3 months here, there haven't been any two similar days.
(This is all for today! The lap-top battery is flashing so... All the best! and talk soon)
20 December 2009
04 December 2009
Uff, almost Christmas without finding the time to write!
It's almost Xmas and ages since I last wrote something!
So many things have happened to us that I don't really know where to start... Routine has taken us by surprise, as well as, a huge amount of work and finding time to write is quite difficult.
Overall, the experience so far is being really good, with its ups and downs, of course, but very rewarding altogether. It's now over 2 months here! Who could have told us a few years back...
In these 2 months we have done many things, including making our lightless-waterless house a 'home'. This country is so beautiful; wherever you go you have a view (no need to pay extra for a room with a view!). I don't get bored of looking outside the house to the ever-changing hills.
Work here is tough but very rewarding for the very same reasons. Nothing is easy when you are so far away from anywhere - logistics has an entire new meaning - but little by little you see improvements here and there. These months we've been trying to get to know how things work (or don't) here and, actually, work a lot; Iza working with the Community Team analysing health data from surveys carried out by the hospital in the sub-county to enable the planning of activities within the community and I turning upside down the drugs' procurement process to ensure that the most common word in these countries, 'out-of-stock', is removed from Bwindi's dictionary, as well as, acting as Principal Hospital Administrator during some periods - That's a rocketing career... I'm happy it's now over!
But there has been a bit more than work (which it isn't easy as we work Mon to Sat every week) and we have had the chance to enjoy amazing places; that's the beauty of Uganda, on our way to work from another district, one day, we saw lots of wild elephants crossing the road in front of our nose, as well as buffaloes, bushbacks, elans and tonnes and tonnes of monkeys. And, here you go... last Sunday we went for a walk around the area and we saw gorillas, yes, gorillas! It was for a brief moment but we saw 5 of them, including a mother with a baby, which had gone just outside the park as they seem to do every now and then. It was brief, but, I can tell you, they are amazing to watch!
Ok, ok, the lady is calling me to get ourselves ready for dinner so I better attend the call.
All the best to all. I promise a bit more writing from now on
Hasta pronto
So many things have happened to us that I don't really know where to start... Routine has taken us by surprise, as well as, a huge amount of work and finding time to write is quite difficult.
Overall, the experience so far is being really good, with its ups and downs, of course, but very rewarding altogether. It's now over 2 months here! Who could have told us a few years back...
In these 2 months we have done many things, including making our lightless-waterless house a 'home'. This country is so beautiful; wherever you go you have a view (no need to pay extra for a room with a view!). I don't get bored of looking outside the house to the ever-changing hills.
Work here is tough but very rewarding for the very same reasons. Nothing is easy when you are so far away from anywhere - logistics has an entire new meaning - but little by little you see improvements here and there. These months we've been trying to get to know how things work (or don't) here and, actually, work a lot; Iza working with the Community Team analysing health data from surveys carried out by the hospital in the sub-county to enable the planning of activities within the community and I turning upside down the drugs' procurement process to ensure that the most common word in these countries, 'out-of-stock', is removed from Bwindi's dictionary, as well as, acting as Principal Hospital Administrator during some periods - That's a rocketing career... I'm happy it's now over!
But there has been a bit more than work (which it isn't easy as we work Mon to Sat every week) and we have had the chance to enjoy amazing places; that's the beauty of Uganda, on our way to work from another district, one day, we saw lots of wild elephants crossing the road in front of our nose, as well as buffaloes, bushbacks, elans and tonnes and tonnes of monkeys. And, here you go... last Sunday we went for a walk around the area and we saw gorillas, yes, gorillas! It was for a brief moment but we saw 5 of them, including a mother with a baby, which had gone just outside the park as they seem to do every now and then. It was brief, but, I can tell you, they are amazing to watch!
Ok, ok, the lady is calling me to get ourselves ready for dinner so I better attend the call.
All the best to all. I promise a bit more writing from now on
Hasta pronto
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)