Another Update

From July 19th

You guys are really gonna be tired of me when I finally get a chance to post...

First of all, let me say that sometimes you would think that all of my family and friends were the ones who are living in the bush - you guys are not so easy to get a hold of! I can always get a hold of at least one person though so I can't complain :) (And Kati gets MVP all star winner for almost always answering AND being my stellar international personal assistant)

I think I'm through the worst of adjusting to being here now. Sometimes you get sad when you're the only white person for miles around and you miss your wonderful family and friends and there's no power so you're in the dark with just a flashlight. But I've gotten used to quiet and dark and I've been spending more time outside at night with the Ugandans (covered in extra layers and bug spray to avoid malaria mosquitoes :) so that's definitely helped. Aaand Bosco comes tomorrow - the Ugandan that I've kept in touch with the most, one of my closest friends from my last trip, and a seminary student who will be on break until I head back to the US - so I'm very excited for that!

So now I'm gonna tell you about one of my most proud accomplishments up to this point... When it comes to meat in Uganda, I'm a chicken. After being a vegetarian for 10 years, I really hate biting into a piece of fat or having to chew any piece of meat for too long. And in Uganda, there are no tender bites that go down easy, you have to work to get your protein. It also doesn't help that you can tell exactly what part of the bird you're eating and that you have to pull off the skin and pull apart the bones and joints to find the meat. But as one of my favorite C.S. Lewis quotes says, it's wonderful what you can do when you have to...

Last night, I decided I needed a little more sustenance than white rice and potatoes, so I was determined. And I really didn't want to offend Christine by not eating the meat she had worked so hard to find and cook. So I took a deep breath and started pulling my piece apart to to my surprise, I actually found white meat! I think it was the chicken breast but as soon as I started trying to picture where it would have come from (based on the wing attached to it) I had to stop :) So I chewed and chewed and ate almost the whole piece until my weak little teeth couldn't chew anymore... You may be unimpressed, but I'll pat myself on the back :)

Today, I spend my first full day at the clinic in teh village. The nurse I'm working with (Mary Goretti) is really nice, smart, helpful, aaand she speaks great English. We did antenatal visits and let me just say that I now believe that nursing programs should seriously send their students to Africa for clinicals because there is plenty of experience to get here. I got to feel more pregnant bellies today than I felt in a whole semester of school. So I'm actually figuring out what different parts of the baby fel like when they're still inside. Also, if you can figure out how to start an IV on a two year old with dark black skin who's dehydrated from severe malaria, you shouldn't have too much trouble starting an IV on anyone else...

So anyways, thank you to everyone who's prayed for me, emailed me, and talked to me on the phone. Your prayers are being heard! My teeth are feeling good and I'm feeling much less paranoid about them :) I've been totally safe and protected everywhere I've gone, I'm feeling healthy, and I'm starting to really do the work that I came to do. So please keep the prayers coming!

Love you all,
Caitlin