Last week was a pretty typical work week... other than shadowing the surgery I guess. Alex and I worked with Grace a couple times at the Physical Therapy clinic. Grace has really let us take the reigns and have full control in treating some of her patients. It's so fun! I am really enjoying it, and the more I get to know Grace, the more I love her. She is such a fun woman.
Monday was a really heart wrenching day. We spent the morning working with Grace, and we saw the saddest case. Robina, a little 5 year old girl, came in with terrible burns on her hands. She was a victim of child abuse. She was staying with her aunt and ate some food that wasn't given to her, so her aunt put her hands in a pot of boiling water. It made me sick just thinking about it. I never would have put burns and physical therapy together, but now it totally makes sense. When a burn is severe enough, it damages the nerves and the new skin also tends to be so tight. So physical therapy is needed to re-stimulate the nerves and stretch out that new skin. Despite all the trauma she'd just been through, she was the cutest, happiest little girl ever. After working on Robina, Alex and I observed the C-section of a still born baby. I cannot imagine being in the position of that woman, 19 years old and all alone at the hospital going through traumatic surgery and having a still born baby. She was so strong though, and was holding up surprisingly well through all of it. These people never cease to amaze me. After finishing at the hospital, I went around with Francis, the town council leader for PWD-persons with disabilities, to visit the homes of some disabled individuals. We met the cutest little boy named Bryan who can't walk or talk, but he is very sharp mentally. He stays with his grandma and his grandpa who is blind. Amazing people! I can't wait to get the Ability Soap project up and running to help these people who are so deserving and in need to generate a little extra income. We are also working on starting a choir for the disabled children and the children of disabled parents.
On Wednesday and Thursday Alex and I taught our first lesson to the nurses and women of Uganda. We taught them how to properly care for your back and did exercises with them to strengthen their core muscles. I was a little nervous because I didn't know what to expect... how many people would show up? Would they be interested in what we were teaching them? Luckily, it was a huge success! We had a huge turn out, at least 25 nurses on Thursday, and they were very accepting of the things we were teaching them. They asked lots of questions, took notes, and participated in the exercises. I can't wait to teach them again this week!
Friday:
A few of us went out to Kayunga again this week for our Physical Therapy outreach with Emmanuel. We saw so many patients, and many of them were returning patients from the last time we were out there. They actually did their exercises and had improved a lot! It was so exciting to see the healing effects of Physical Therapy in action and to see how it was benefiting the lives of these people. Work was awesome! Lunch was... DISGUSTING!
They were so kind to feed us lunch, but I would have rather starved to death... or eaten a huge bowl of matoke. They fed us rice with geenut sauce with SILVER FISH. Never eat silver fish! They were little fishes about an inch or two long and they stuck the whole fish in the rice. The stuff smelled like cat food. I had to plug my nose so I didn't vomit. Thank goodness for Novida Pineapple, the best soda ever, it's the only thing that got me through that meal. I'll admit, I didn't actually eat a fish, I scooted the sauce and fish to the side as best as possible and tried only to eat the rice, but the flavor spread onto the rice and it was still almost deadly. We were all gagging it down. I'm so glad we weren't eating with the cooks and it wasn't one of those situations where you are forced to eat all your food. I wouldn't have made it. I've eaten some pretty weird stuff in my life... chicken hearts, snails, fish eyes, grasshoppers... silver fish definitely wins for being the worst!
We went rafting on the Nile on Saturday! Just wanted to let you all know that I am alive and survived the experience. There were a few minutes that I wasn't sure if I was going to make it. I love you all and will write more about rafting when I get a chance!
Welaba Mzungus!
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