My site has been confirmed! Last week I made a visit to my new site, leaving Mbarara and driving west for about one hour. The Seventh Day Adventist Hospital grounds take over an entire hill overlooking the town of Ishaka. Along with a hospital they have a nursing school and a laboratory technician school. They have an HIV clinic where they have a CD4 machine and can deliver ART to patients. As I walked in some 40 Ugandans were sitting in a semi-circle listening to a health worker give counseling prior to the HIV testing. The outpatient department was overflowing. There were mosquito nets over the beds in the hospital. There are two operating theatres, one for maternity, the other for everything else. I can go on, but I will just say that the services being offered are incredible, I am very excited to learn more about it and see where I can put myself to work.
Sam, a man who has worked at the hospital for 32 years, met me when I arrived and immediately took me to my house. Holy shit.
They are moving me into the guest house. This house is used by visiting doctors, med students, whomever. I have been told that it is typically occupied 1-2 months of the year, so while I am here if someone comes, they will stay in the other bedroom of the house. There is a fully furnished living room with sofa, two sofa chairs, dining room table, chairs, (non-functional) fireplace, and shelves. In the bathroom is a toilet, sink, bathtub, shower head, and water heater for hot showers. The kitchen has cupboards, shelves, utensils, a stove, gas, a full size refrigerator, and plenty of counter space. Of the two bedrooms one has its own bathroom, the other, a walk-in closet. I have a large front porch, a decent back porch space. I have unlimited running water and electricity that I am told rarely goes out. The hospital will do my laundry. Kitty Kitty, Bang Bang is going to go nuts with all the space.
I visited the nursing school, however my supervisor was in a conference so I did not meet her, and I don’t officially have a counterpart. The school seemed very professional and western leaning, they have a LCD projector and a library with pretty current nursing books. I am very excited to go back into nursing and brush up on what I know and learn some new things while I am at it. For right now, I don’t have much to say about my assignment since I have not had a formal discussion with anyone about specific responsibilities. It looks like nursing professor/consultant/tutor for nursing students. We’ll see how this goes.
The town itself was awesome. It was clean. There were multiple grocery stores with refrigerated items and tons of other stuff I’ve had to travel hours to get until now. There were lots of clothing stores, there was a fantastic vegetable market, that again, was super clean. There were a few butchers, I saw signs for a bakery. There is a night club. There are a bunch of restaurants. I cannot wait to move in.
I am officially moving this Thursday, the 20th. I cannot wait.
Oh also, I will try to put up pictures this week when I have more internet.
Holy cow that sounds unbelievable! I hope it turns out to be as amazing as it seems - at the very least your house seems off the HOOK! Ima need to see pics at mid-service, as well as stories of your first few days there. Yay!
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