Ebola and other devastations....

Over the past several days I have been putting together a lecture on Ebola. Not to scare anyone, but last August there was a small outbreak in Uganda. This made me happy, though only because it made for good teaching material. Having a relatively recent outbreak engaged the students in the topic and meant that there were many videos on You-Tube to choose from. So, if you want to know anything about Ebola, I am well versed on the subject.

Developing and delivering the lecture presented some challenges. Since Ebola is so specific to Africa, none of my textbooks cover the subject. Finding material online was not difficult, especially in light of the recent outbreak, but having internet issues made for a languishing search at times. Eventually, I gathered enough material to sift through, but I constantly found myself referring to Iggy, my old pathophysiology book, for reminders on different metabolic processes. For those of my readers not proficient in medical speech, I am sure the last few sentences have been the equivalent of "yada yada yada". Quite honestly, that's fine as this is not essential to my story :). The following, however, is, so perk up!

Now, not to sound too bookish, but I was really excited about my lecture. I developed this great PowerPoint (in my opinion), found a good video that introduced the topic and showed students the site of the recent outbreak, and then I created supplementary activities to help engage them in the material. All of my planning and late-night research left me feeling as excited as I was nervous that this would completely bomb. As the lecture hour drew near, I could feel my face becoming hot with anxious anticipation. When I walked into the room, my first major problem assaulted me. I felt, quite literally, like a dear getting smacked by on on-coming light and wondering, "Where did that come from?"

Allow me to explain. In order to do power point presentations, I need a projector and in order to do a lecture I need (at minimum) a white board marker. I had neither. Both white board markers and portable projectors are high commodities and happen to be kept together in a bag that the class rep is responsible for carrying from class to class. For some reason or other, the bag did not get to my classroom. After a temporary fright, my coworker, Grace, remembered that there was another projector locked up in the nursing lab. So, we trekked across campus to get it. What I find funny, is that in the US this situation would be a state of emergency, but in Uganda this was all taken in stride. As such, stopping to talk to people on the way to retrieving the projector was, naturally, undertaken without regard to class time.

Eventually, I set up the projector, managed to get online, showed the video-clip and began my lecture (it went fabulous by the way). There is nothing like planning something and having it turn out just as well as you hoped! I was on cloud-9 (excuse the idiom) all the way home...that is until a black cat literally crossed my path and temporarily soured my moment. Now, I am trying to convince myself that black cat situations hold a different meaning in Uganda, much like lack of classroom projectors do.

Ebola Video Link, for those who are interested.