good day.

The following stolen from a fellow GoEd student, Kyle Navis, regarding our morning at The Surgery (the term for doctor's office):


"This morning we went to see Doctor Stockley, a hilarious English physician who has been practicing in Uganda for at least a few decades. The whole presentation was pretty much the scariest stand up comedy routine I'd ever witnessed. His seven rules for staying healthy in Uganda:

1. If you're tired, go to sleep. Most medevac situations arise out of not getting enough rest when your body is fighting the common cold or flu.
2. If you get diarrhea, take the medication and it will be gone within 12 hours; if it lasts, come in for a stool sample.
3. Don't ride the matatus (basic mode of transportation/vans), they are death traps. Boda bodas (motorcycles/mopeds) are better, because you only get broken legs. [Note: we're learning to ride the matatus this afternoon; apparently it's when they get on the open road that they are lethal, but in the city they're safer. And we're strictly forbidden from partaking in the boda boda fun unless we're in the country on practicum and it's the only option for transportation.]
4. Take your malaria medications or you'll get malaria (which sucks). Except, doxycycline (which I'm on) is about 95% effective, so you might still get it. Oh joy.
5. Be sensible and you won't die or get raped. I.e., don't get on a boda boda at 3 am after partying all night. (Actually, that was an "e.g.," if you get my drift.)
6. Play in the water. Even though you can get bilarzia (symptoms and complications include: brain tumor-like growths, temporary paralysis, worms living in various parts of your body, brain worms, etc.) simply by being in the water, it can be treated very easily. So go ahead and partake in some of the best white-water rafting in the world and swim in the world's largest freshwater lake.
7. Keep your knickers on. That is to say, don't have sex and you won't get HIV, HPV, gonorrhea, syphillis, herpes, genital warts, etc. And if you really must, go in for an HIV test before you have at it (although those tests don't cover all the other fun things you can contract).

This came out of an hour and a half comedic lecture he gave us, where he also insisted on multiple occasions that England, Scandinavia, and Holland were all in Mexico. Doc Stock was pretty much something you would expect out of some ridiculous adventure novel: super quirky and eccentric, larger-than-life personality, British accent, and immensely quotable ("I'm sexually active. Of course, I'm married, so not all that often."). This trip gets better and better.

After lunch we'll be meeting our some new Ugandan friends who are basically paid to hang out with us and teach us how to navigate and live in Kampala. Sort of an awkward situation, but still should be a good way to interact better."

Thanks, Kyle. And we did indeed hang out with paid friends after The Surgery. They were wonderful. We took the crazy Matatus. And when I say crazy, I mean crazy. I have never been in a vehicle that actually drives through a market... a market where people are walking... and only about 12 feet across. Wild, but thrilling.

Mzungu. That is the term for me. A white person. Whity. Gringo. Etc.
It is amazing how many times I heard this today. Walking through a crowded large market is apparently prime place to here this. Everyone stops and stares. And then calls out, "Mzungu, Mzungu!" It was a wonderful afternoon.

On a different note, I was exposed to some of the children today. They are beautiful. My friend Rachel and I walked around the backstreets a little and found a group of boys playing soccer (titled "football" here). We immediately chose to walk toward them. They all began to giggle and stare at us (in an endearing form). I asked, "Who is the best football player?" "Me!" "Me." "Me!" A simultaneous answer and jumping and adorable pride. and then of COURSE they wanted to smile for the camera, and when I asked them to look at it they eagerly crowded around the tiny display screen.

I met a few others while walking around, each occurrence warming my heart.

A broken heart was caused by the tiny children who begged in the middle of Kampala. Simply hard to see.