Suffering for the Lord in Jinja...well, maybe not suffering.

I have been absent from my blog due to a "working" vacation in Jinja. The other American professors and I decided to find a new spot to grade papers. An hour and a half later we found ourselves in Jinja, a slightly smaller town off Lake Victoria and the Nile river. There is a rather economical resort just outside of town that we stayed at. The first of our three day vacation was perhaps the most productive for me (the others did a much better job at working under those conditions). After lunch, we sat under the canopies and graded our respective assignments with occasional glances upon the serene beauty of Lake Victoria that stretched before us.

Lake Victoria's serenity (with the little boat we took a ride in in the background)

Eventually, we gave up and spent time talking over afternoon tea. As the sun was setting we partook of a dinner meal. I was ecstatic to get coconut chicken curry! At the moment, coconut is perhaps my favorite flavor and I was not thinking I would get much of a chance to have any here in Uganda. Getting to bed that night in our little hut was made difficult by some very loud neighbors -- two frogs that insisted on sharing their conversation with us.

Our hut/room is just ahead, slightly to the left.

On Saturday, we went into Jinja to do a little shopping. Michelle, one of the other teaching professors here, scoped out the town for coffee, artwork, ect, so she lead us around the main strip to share her discoveries. One of these discoveries included a really cool coffee shop, The Source. It is a Ugandan run Christian store with a gift shop, internet cafe, and training center. They use their profits to support other work they do in the community. At the shop we experienced the miracle of an amazing peanut butter cookie and some excellent coffee! Ugandans are not known for their baking prowess, but even by US standards this cookie would have been delicious. Diane was bold and asked for the recipe, then gave it to me for use while I'm here :).

Here I am with my roommate, Bernie :)

After the coffee stop, we walked down to an art studio that Michelle found. I ended up buying two small canvas paintings depicting, in my view, a place of serenity -- the river with the sun setting behind the shoreline's trees. Several other shop stops along the way left our vehicle full of our purchases. I mostly got a few items to decorate my home with. When we could spend no more, we returned to our resort for a swim. The sun was quite warm in the afternoon, so swimming in the pool felt lovely.

On Sunday, we went for a short boat ride on Lake Victoria. Our tiny boat mostly cruised the shoreline for us to take in the amazing, bright-colored Ugandan birds. Unfortunately, they move rather quickly, so our pictures cannot accurately capture their features (still, these pictures deserve a separate post, so you will see them at a later time). Following the boat ride we went into Jinja for our final coffee, some good bread, and a late lunch at Bansari Restaurant. Bansari is a REALLY good Indian restaurant which left us quite full of the happiness that comes with excellent garlic naan, paneer korma, and chicken tikka masala, among others. Following our meal we headed back to Mukono, immediately understanding our vacation was over and it was time to get back to work :)

Kind of a dark picture, but the moonlight was beautiful while we were in Jinja!

Ugandan Clinical (a work in process...)

Today, I went to clinical with the 2nd year nursing students. Getting all 33 into the bus was a bit of a process, but eventually, after several stops & restarts they all made it on (though one had to chase us down via motorcycle taxi so he wouldn't miss the ride into clinical). Riding into Kampala at 7 am was a slow and methodical. With no traffic this trip would normally take 30-40 minutes. However, at 7 am you are in the thick of traffic, weaving through unmarked lanes --which meant a 1 hour and 45 minute bus ride to clinical!  Sometimes, I heard,  it can take well over two hours. Upon arrival, I broke off with a group of five students and followed them to their assigned ward. Along the way I talked with them some, trying to get to know them better. Since I have interact with this group the most consistently, I really want to learn more about each of them.

The students are divided into 4 different wards (nursing units): male and female medicine/ICU, male and female surgical. Around eight students are in each ward, rotating wards every three weeks. The hospital is a private, catholic hospital with around 25 beds per ward and I think about 2 nurses per ward (one more for the ICU). Before my fellow nurses from the states start to balk, let me say a couple things. First, much of the assistant-type nursing care is done by the family, who also are in charge of meeting many of the personal needs/nutritional needs of the patient. Second, the nurse to patient ratios at this facility are actually pretty good, especially when you take into consideration the couple other ancillary staff that I would see around. Because this was my first time, I still do not have a full grasp of everyone's role. I am sure this will change as the summer progresses and I will be able to fill in more details.

My day was mostly spent learning the role of the clinical instructor in this setting. Grace, the UCU clinical instructor I am following, does such a nice job with the students. She really works at getting them to touch the patients and practice their skills as well as getting them used to reporting off on patients. As the day progressed, I was able to observe how Grace created rapport with the nurses and patients on the unit.

Typically, the day on the ward starts with ward rounds, were doctors round in a group on each patient on the ward. The nurses will follow and help write down the plan of care and usually anyone else on the care team listens in as well. In many ways, this is a great assets because it can ensure that orders can be immediately clarified, nursing questions can be answered, and everyone is in on the plan of care. As in all hospitals, though, this is the ideal and various issues come about preventing this from perfectly occurring. While going around, one thing I really tried to emphasize with the students is the importance of patient education. Often ward rounds focus on talking about the patient, but forgetting to educate the patient. This is an issue in the states as well. Having the students there, however, created a great opportunity for the patient to have a lot of available teachers and for the students to get in a lot of practice with teaching.

Even though on the surface it is easy to identify the differences between health care in the states and in Uganda, the more you analyze some of the issues, the more you identify similar care problems (though perhaps on a different scale at times). There is so much more I could write about this experience, which left me feeling exhausted and overwhelmed, but I feel I am still processing much of it. Since I want to do justice to the experience, I will write more at a later date. In the meantime, please be praying for me and the students as we care for the patients each Thursday this summer. May we work with the grace of God and touch others with the love of Christ.

"This is the way we go to school"

Now that I am attending classes more regularly, I thought I'd share the way I go to school.

I go up these steps.

When I get to the top of the steps, I like to look back at Mukono.

Then I walk down this path.

Here's where I take a right.

Then I go past this building, being careful not to slip and fall down the hill.

The path continues on the other side of the building.

I hang a right and go up this stone path.

I keep following it along the side of the building until...

....I get to the classrooms. We meet in either the upper or lower ones.

The front of the building with the nursing classrooms.

Feeling cold in Uganda and increased walking speeds:

Uganda lent me another new experience today, I actually felt a little chill. The morning started out rather humid and warm, but slowly, dark clouds began to consume the sky. Eventually, the wind picked up, signalling me to pick up my pace as I rushed to Karen's house for a meeting. I kept praying the impending downpour would hold out until I found shelter under her roof. God must have taken my prayer quite literally, because the rain started the exact moment of my arrival into Karen's home! When the showers dissipated, cool air was left behind. You could observe students huddling together as they walked, covering bare arms with their scarves. Usually my fast walking pace is a bit of a burden here, but today it was an asset as it helped prevent me from experiencing any negative side effects of the cool breeze.

I have noted on several occasions that I walk too fast for Uganda. Perhaps my nurses walk has not yet left my frame-- I am so used to having to rush from patient room to patient room to maximize my time! In reality, such speediness is really a difficulty here. Any time you are in the sun, it is hot, and increased walking speeds simply add unnecessary body heat and, need I elaborate, sweat. The risks of walking fast highly out-weigh its current benefits under ordinary, Ugandan circumstances. Now, I have to remind myself to stop weaving around casual walkers. I should instead take in the sites and appreciate the advantages gained from slowing down. Hopefully, as I continue my stay here, I can learn to appreciate the positive aspects of slowing down in other, non-walking, facets of Ugandan life.

What's on my nightstand

Since I think that what is on your nightstand can say a lot about you, let me share my nightstand with you.

*Sign of Faith = The sign reads 'Faith is when you close your eyes and open your heart'. I had this sign up in my home in the US. Here, it reminds me of why I came -- because I have faith in God's promise to me,
"I will be with you and watch over you wherever you go and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised" (Genesis 28:15).

*Journal #1 = This particular journal not only helps me process what I am feeling and experiencing here in Uganda, it also is filled with reminders of God's promises and words of encouragement. The title of the journal is, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength" (Philippians 4:13).

*Bible = This Bible, in particular, is lovely because it is just the right size for travel, the right size for reading, and is filled with great verses that I have underlined. What is perhaps not lovely, is that I believe I somehow stole it from my father, because I see his handwriting in it as well...sorry Dad.

*Journal #2 = My second journal is used to take notes during church. You know how you sometimes come home from church and think, "That was a great service", but then can't remember exactly all that was said? I do that, which is why I started taking notes. Also, it helps me study the topic further during my quite time or I just save it for future reference.

*Lotion = Smells nice and makes my hands as soft as my heart (aw-shucks...)

*Light = The candle provides light in the darkness, physical and otherwise. The Lantern provides light in the darkness when I can't light the match to light the candle....so really I usually just use the lantern.

*Glasses (in the case) = To see people with, and also, I hope, to see people as God sees them.

*Water = To feed my thirst for adventure, for service, and to alleviate night-time dry-mouth symptoms ;)

*Quarter = It fell out of my bag and onto the floor, so I just put it on the nightstand. If you want me to be dramatic: then it stands for the change I want to see in Uganda :)

What's on your nightstand? I'd be curious to see it. You could email it, Facebook it, or, if you are really bold, post a comment.

With faith, hope & love

Procrastination

Procrastination, it seems, has followed me to Uganda. Not to say I haven't been doing anything today, because I certainly have. Rather, the thing I should be working on, I am not working on. I'm avoiding it actually... In a couple weeks I will be lecturing on the basic use of Microsoft Excel in Faith's technology class. So, over the next few days I need to look over the program to remind myself of it's basic functions and create an assignment that will encompass them. However, I have yet to do this because I am procrastinating :). Instead I spent my day doing laundry and cooking meals, worthy tasks at least. Since you may find it interesting to see some of the things I am eating, let me show you.

A very large sweet potato. It's white on the inside and not quite as creamy  as the ones at home.

Native mushrooms. I now have a mushroom seller who comes to my door with a bag of fresh mushrooms for me. I was a little leery at first, but another American gal here has been eating them for over a year, so I think I'm good. I cooked them up this morning with some onion and beautiful brown eggs --they were delicious!

These are mini bananas that fit into the palm of your hand. They are  a little sweeter then the traditional banana.

Ugandan life wouldn't be complete without beans. This is the native bean in Uganda which tastes similar to a kidney bean, but not quite as strong of a flavor. This was my first time soaking dehydrated beans and cooking them up. I  seasoned them with some garlic and red onion, they turned out okay. But, my recipe could use some tweaking.

Stoney is a ginger flavored pop/soda. It is not the same as ginger ale, more like  actual ginger flavor. I like that the ginger is so strong it makes my whole mouth tingle!

Things to pray for:

*That I would be able to focus and develop my lecture.

*That said lecture would go well 

*That God would continue to show me areas he wants me to work in.

With faith, hope, and love,

Joy

Another place to call home...

Now that I've settled into my apartment, I thought you all might be a little curious to see it. Please come in:

Enter

The dinning/living room ---it's an open concept home :)

Go past the comfy chairs to get to the kitchen.

Go strait to get to the kitchen.

The kitchen to the right of the door (already with dirty dishes).

The kitchen to the left of the door.

Now if you go out the back, you can see the laundry room ;)

My office/'Sparest of spare rooms' (for those Anne of Green Gables fans :)

My simple bedroom.

Although it was a little weird to not have Karen as my roommate anymore, there are always people around my apartment, so I won't get lonely :)

Attending Class

Monday marked the beginning of my work life in Uganda. I met Faith, Grace, and Elizabeth, the three full time Ugandan nursing instructors, on Monday morning to discuss my role this first semester. Mostly I will be working with Faith and Grace who both teach in their 'Direct Entry' program (which is the equivalent to the Bachelor's of Science in Nursing [BSN] program in the states).

This week I will shadow Faith as she teaches Pharmacology, Dimensional Analysis, Research, and Informatics/Technology. Already I have watched Faith teach a couple classes, and I have to say she is a very good instructor! I was so impressed at how she interacted and explained things to the students. Everything she taught she paired with a relevant example or explanation. Faith took her time explaining, stopping to ask if students understood the direction she was taking them. It was just wonderful to be able to learn from a seasoned instructor.

Attending classes, though, also made me realize the lack of resources available to students. In Faith's Dimensional Analysis course she combines two class groups, so she has about 60 students all together. Unlike in the US, students do not always have the access or ability to buy the books needed for class. Often there will be nursing textbooks available for checkout or review in the library. For these 60 some Dimensional Analysis students, however, only 6 textbooks are available to them. Which means that all their information about the class needs to come from the lecture. Then, to do the course work found in the book, they have to get together in groups and checkout the textbooks in the library. Since Dimensional Analysis deals with calculating correctly the IV medication drip rate and the amount of other medication patients are getting, this is rather an important class. Even more so because there are not usually IV pumps here to help calculate the correct rate. This situation just makes me appreciate how much of a privilege it is to be able to buy and own a textbook! You just do not think about how wonderful owning even one book can be. It also makes me appreciate Karen and her resources. Since her husband is coming tomorrow, they were able to get a few more books into his checked bags to help with this shortage. Though it won't fully meet their need, it will certainly help.

I will continue to attend classes with Faith this week, then next week go to Grace's classes. Grace teaches clinical as well, so I am sure I will have more to reflect on after that clinical shadowing experience.

You know you are in a different country when...

You know you are in a different country when the monkeys jumping on the roof wake you up at 5:30 in the morning. Here are pictures of these delinquents. Don't be fooled by their innocent appearance.

Becoming a missionary

Missionary seems to be a term attributed to me lately. Often, I am introduced as, "This is Joy, she has come as a missionary to teach in the nursing program." To some of you, perhaps, this does not seem surprising. After all, I told you about feeling God calling me to serve Uganda and you helped me raise a starter fund to follow this passionate call. Is that not the essence of a missionary?

For some reason though, I feel fraudulent when this term is associated with my name. Always, I just see myself simply as a volunteer. Being a missionary seems to entail a bigger purpose with a longer timeline. Being a missionary seems sacred, almost holy, and I do not see myself as anything more than ordinary. I am an ordinary person just following the purpose given to me by God. Maybe, though, the problem is my definition of a missionary. My definition transforms a missionary into a unattainable being. Perhaps, I should really be describing them as a simple servant for God, willing to be dependent on him. If I go by this definition, classifying myself as a missionary seems less fraudulent and much more like ordinary me.

Since I've gotten several requests for some pictures of my new home, I thought I'd upload a few for your perusal. When I've finished settling into my little apartment, I'll show you those. I'm sure my Minnesota friends won't be pleased to hear how nice the weather here has been: 70's & sunny! Perhaps, though, you can practice visualization techniques and picture yourselves by my side. I would like that :)

Looking down from the school to the Town of Mukono below.

The Guest house where I partake of some really good dinner meals until I get settled into my apartment.

One of the oldest, most notable buildings on campus. It also houses UCU's president's office.

The other end of the most notable building (as seen above). You'll often see students sitting in chairs under the mango trees.

Though there are several mango trees on campus, when people say "Meet me under the mango tree" this is the tree they mean (so I am told).

The Health and Science building which houses the nursing skills lab, and I believe some nursing offices as well.

This is the new building that the nursing student lab was just moved into. They are in the top corner level of the  Health & Science building (shown above).

 Things I am grateful for:
*Being able to stay with Karen and have her as a guide while I learn to maneuver in such a new environment.
*Getting my carry-on bag back with everything intact
*Having such a welcoming community at UCU

Things to pray for:
*That God would continue to aid my transition and help me grow relationships
*Protection from any unpleasant stomach bugs I may encounter (so far so good though)

With faith, hope, & love

Departure and Arrival

Departure:
As excited as I am about going to Ugandan Christian University (UCU) and serving, saying goodbye to family and friends tempered much of my excitement. Every goodbye felt a little more painful then the last, kind of like when you slowly pull off an old bandaid. Once I was done saying all my physical goodbyes, I still had to get through my emotional goodbye. I found these waves of sadness flowing over me, seemingly triggered by a mere thought of the following words: home, friends, leaving. Trying to find some humor in the situation, I would randomly start repeating one of these words over and over in my head so I simultaneously shed a few tears and start laughing. My seatmates on the plane gave me a few side-ways glances over this, but it helped me get over my emotional attachment and start focusing on my purpose of going. Another aid in helping me refocus was the words of God which kept flowing into my mind with every wave of emotion: "I am with you always" "the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds..." "I have prepared a place for you" "I will give you rest". These encouraging words reminded me that I was not traveling alone, rather God was traveling with me as much as before me. I truly felt His presence beside me. What a comfort that was!

Arrival:
Travel to Uganda happened mostly without incident. I say mostly because on my connection from Chicago to Amsterdam, they made me check one of my carry-on items. Although I presented all the reasons why I should be able to keep my bag, they over-ruled me, checked my bag, and reassured me that it would find me in Uganda. As you can imagine, this was false assurance. Though to give them some credit they did not specify when it would find me in Uganda :). My companions, other professors that will be at teaching at UCU who I met in Amsterdam, and I arrived sleep deprived in Uganda close to 11pm. After getting our visas, we trekked to baggage claim to retrieve our luggage. Almost all our luggage arrived quite promptly. My forcibly checked carry-on bag, however, was no where to be seen. A baggage handler, thankfully, directed me to a sign with my name on it stating my bag had not made it onto my flight. Then, after some waiting, phone calls, and paperwork, I was told it would likely arrive tomorrow. When it comes in they'd arrange for it to get to me. I still don't have my bag, but they sent a text last night saying it was on a flight going to Uganda. Hopefully it will arrive here without incident.

Once we made it through that small incident, we quickly found our driver, Vincent, who warmly greeted us with a hug and drove us to UCU. A little after 1am, we drove into campus and met a fellow professor from Bethel, Karen, who came last week. She has a very spacious apartment on campus that I will be staying at for a few days while I settle into my apartment. I am very thankful to have Karen here. She comes about three times a year to UCU and grew up on the mission field, so she is not only a gracious host but an amazing resource to aid my transition. These next few days will mostly be about getting settled and then I will start to transition into teaching. Please continue to pray for me, specifically about my final bag arriving intact and that I would not be overwhelmed by the settling in process. Also, if you could thank God on my behalf for making his presence known to me and helping me arrive, mostly, without incident :)

With faith, hope, & love