Grateful

Week 4 was similar to week 3 in that I spent the majority of my working time at the Outreach House doing some organizing and getting to know the new patients. A new group arrived on Monday evening from a village called Luka. This group is unusual because it consists of more adults than children- 3 women, 7 men and 6 boys. As far as I know, the reasoning for this odd composition is that SH invites the people, regardless of age, with the worst jigger cases in a given village to come to the Outreach House and most often these are children, but not always. This group was similar to the last Outreach group in that they were very shy and apprehensive upon arrival and have begun to warm up to me and the idea of being at Outreach over time. With this group I've played a lot of soccer in the backyard and learned how to say a few colors in Lusoga (fun fact: "yellow" is the same as in English and "blue" is just pronounced "ba-lue").

One of my favorite memories with this group is of a brief conversation Kayla and I had with the men and the oldest boy using the Outreach director, Moses, as a translator. We learned all of their names and they learned ours. We asked them what they do back in their village and learned that they hold various jobs from farmer to construction worker. Finally, we asked them to describe how they felt about being here at SH Outreach- Were they scared to come? Worried about leaving their families for a couple of weeks? Nervous about what others from their community would say? I expected there to be a long pause and some encouragement from Moses before anyone would speak up simply because Ugandan men are usually fairly stoic, but to my surprise, several of them chimed in at once. They explained that they are very grateful to be here because having jiggers is very stigmatized in their community and also very painful. By getting rid of the bugs, they feel they will be more accepted within their village and be able to work and play more easily. To hear the gratitude pour out of them was definitely a neat experience!

Class time at Outreach

Kayla and I attempt to learn a math game with the kids

Eating lunch at the Outreach House 

After our conversation with the Outreach men 

 Clinic this week was held at a school in the gorgeous village of Bwende. There were so many kids who needed to be treated that we will be returning to Bwende in the near future. The kids were so cheerful in their bright yellow uniforms! I tried washing feet for the first time which was great, but also slightly uncomfortable because you're bent over and scrubbing foot after foot after foot. Thankfully, another volunteer who had been taking foot notes switched with me about halfway through,

Clinic in the gorgeous village of Bwende just outside of Jinja

Lining up to have jiggers removed

Clinic friends 

Highlights from Week 3

I spent week 3 really settling into the groove of things at Sole Hope and in Uganda in general. One highlight from this week was watching the transformation of the kids being treated at the Outreach House over their two weeks here. When they arrived on a hot and humid Monday, they seemed extremely nervous, timid and overwhelmed. As we took pictures of them for their treatment charts and gave them new clothes, not a word was spoken between them. They watched every movement made by a staff member with terrified curiosity. No matter how much I smiled, waved and tried to tell them everything was okay, no smile crossed their lips. 

The next day, the SH staff held a min-clinic at the Outreach House to remove the still-timid patients' jiggers. Throughout the next ten days, Kayla and I initiated games with the kids, I studied their charts to learn their names and let them play with my hair and slowly, slowly they began to trust us. By their last few days with SH, they would run to the gate to greet us, lead us to the yard to play football (soccer), dance with me, hold my hand and even help me learn to count to ten in Lusoga. Just seeing how much their attitude towards being taken from their homes to receive treatment for their jiggers from complete strangers changed from extremely apprehensive to grateful and joyful in such a short time was really incredible. 

Arrival Day

Arrival Day

Vincent getting his jiggers removed

Sarah, Joy, Rose and Kaouda on arrival day

Joy, Sarah, Asuman, Joy and Zaina 

Playing with precious Kaouda

Towards the end of their time at Outreach

Joy and Rose doing me up

Over the weekend, our new friend Kendall took me and Kayla to a passion fruit farm that's owned by one of her Ugandan friends. We got to pick our passion fruit right off the vine! 

Picking passion fruit straight from the vine

Robert, the owner of the farm 

And like the others before it, I spent several evenings loving on the kids at Arise and Shine. They have completely stolen my heart with their laughter, kindness, consideration and joy. They're so well-behaved and so loving :)

Katu took this one himself 

Katu, Vanessa, Tendo

Vanessa snuggles

Vanessa

Isiah 

Oh and I saw a real live chameleon!!

It was a big week at Arise and Shine babies' home! Some of the men who work and volunteer there set up a brand new swing set and merry-go-round for the kids! Considering how few toys they had beforehand, this is a big development. The kids got a kick out of helping collect the water and to pour on the cement. We also played "slumber party" with a purple sleeping bag and introduced the kids to Carmen, a Sole Hope ambassador from Washington, and they loved her! These kids are beginning to steal my heart :)

Clinic #2

The highlight of my second full week in Uganda was definitely clinic. We held clinic this week in the village neighboring last week's clinic village which was only about 35-45 minutes outside of Jinja. There were already a ton of people of all ages gathered in the schoolyard when we arrived and we still blasted the recording of our social worker explaining what would be happening at the clinic and inviting everyone to come. As the Sole Hope staff and volunteers set up our clinic equipment, the kids sang, danced and played games. It was such a pleasure to see them all beaming with such energy, joy and anticipation. My new friend Allie (she's from Boston and is teaching math and English in a school in Jinja for 4 months) and I ventured off to find a place to use the restroom and found ourselves in a 3-foot tall mud hut with two "stalls" each with a hole in the ground. Quite a mini-adventure! My role was taking foot notes again like last week. This means that I stand behind two people who are removing jiggers and for each child they treat I fill out a personal chart that shows current jiggers, past jigger wounds and rot for the children's feet (I'll try to post a picture of one of these soon so you can get a better idea). These charts are later used for statistical and follow-up purposes. I'm actually hoping to figure out an effective system for organizing the foot notes as part of my internship because they are currently organized by village and stored in overflowing binders. Both of the clinics that I've participated in thus far have felt kind of like a beautiful blur. As a volunteer, you are so focused on doing your job and comforting the children who are scared that you have to make a conscious effort to take in all of your surroundings. What stuck out to me about this clinic was how the Sole Hope staff and volunteers work like a well-oiled machine to ensure we're able to treat as many people as possible and we do so with smiles and hope for better futures for these kids. There were so many people who needed to be treated in this village that we're holding this week's clinic there as well.