Good morning,
It is Saturday June 26th at 8:25 am and I am getting ready for a free day. We went to a medical clinic on Wednesday, and serviced over 600 people. We arrived at around 10:00 am and were led into a single room church which is used for one their traveling clinics. There were already hundreds of people waiting in line when we arrived. We went into the church and were asked to start putting pills into packets, a certain amount at a time and labeling the packets. After the Honorable Idah arrived, one of our hosts for Fort Portal and said a few words to the group, they were allowed to start seeing the doctor and nurses. There were only 3 nurses and one doctor to see all these people. We had bought some medicine at the local pharmacy yesterday for things like worms, general infections and malaria along with the typical Ibuprofen, but there is no way we brought enough for all these people. Idah and her group also brought some meds and we had brought almost 300 pairs of reading glasses with, many compliments of Walgreens who donated 250 pair so we had a station specifically set up for glasses. The day was going on and we were getting hotter and hotter. It had to be 8o+ degrees outside and it felt like over 100 in the building. I'm surprised none of the people ever passed out. Thre was a little pushing and shoving that went along, but all in all a very well mannered crown who were happy to see us, always smiling at us and laughing when we played with the kids. I got pretty good at making balloon people out of the rubber gloves we had to use. We didn't see too many really sick people. There was one boy whose mother laid down on the floor near me. I felt his forehead and he was burning up so I brought him to one of the nurses myself and he moved to the head of the line. His mother was very grateful and he looked so pitiful. All of this is free and many people walked for miles to get here to see the doctor and nurses and maybe get some medicine if we didn't run out. Still they were happy and grateful standing in a 100 degree room for hours. I can't think that they would never happen in America. The people here are so grateful for any help we give them. It is sad and heartwarming all at the same time. Some of them only have an opportunity to see the doctor every couple of months and often have to walk a great distance to see them.We left around 3:30 pm and saw some baboons along the road on the way back. We also stopped to see how far the workers had gotten on the chicken coup at Tooro High. The kids were again happy to see us.
On Thursday we drove and drove and drove, finally arriving at Lake Mbarra where we will take a little safari on Friday. We had planned to stop at a local Kindergarten and give them some school supplies and a soccer ball, but our bus was 3 hours late picking us up. That happens a lot around here. Very few people wear watches. On Friday morning, we went through the National Park with one of their tour guides. We didn't see that many different animials mainly water buffalo, antelope, wart hogs which were right outside our cabins, zebras, and some monkeys. I was able to take many pictures. When I get back in the states which will be on Monday at around 12:20 pm, I'll see if the problem with the internet is out here and will try and upload some pictures. I'll be making a scrap book for anyone who is interested and our team will be sharing all our pictures. The weather here has been a steady 80-85 degrees and sunny although we have been inside sometimes and have spent a lot of time traveling. I'll have at least one more blog to post when I get back. Hope to see you all soon.
