it is not possible...

the longer im here, the more i realize that nothing is simple, not even the most mudande or ordinary of things. take for example, the loading of kayaks onto a matatu (public taxi van for hire). going to kayak this past weekend became such an ordeal, loading the kayaks wasnt even the half of it. even so, it took a solid 30 minutes to the load the boats while the taxi drivers constantly fight you for the straps and the boats, trying to help and to protect their vehicles. though the more i think about it, loading boats is never easy, because everyone has their own system-and when you add in the language barrier its no suprise that there is mass confusion. on sunday, paul, our new volunteer (med student from alaska) tried to load the boats his way, ignoring the ugandan way, confusing everybody. even so, it all worked out until we tried to meet up with jessie and jurg, resulting in us driving to several locations to find them. finally we put on the rivah and managed to meet the taxi driver with no problems. loading boats went much smoother as we did it uganda style. when in rome i guess. that carriers over here to most things. there is a very ugandan way of doing things- for good reason. one of the biggest challenges here at the clinic is treating withing our limitations, and being able to think like a ugandan. paul had a funny story about his first about his first encounter with dr. judith- suffice to say looking in someones ear to determine if they had an infection was deemed "not possible".. seeing as there was no eartool, or the one we had she didnt feel like using.
"it is not possible" is one of my favorite ugandan phrases, along of course with "disorganize your bones" for get a move on, or "very smart" for you look nice. "it is not possible" sums up much of the daily experiance here- from ordering food not explicitily described on a menu, to dr's visits, to car and taxi rides. it makes for an interesting cultural experiance, being forced to do things the ugandan way, on ugandan time, or in ugandan portion size. there are equally as many equally as many "only in uganda" moments, for example, bargaining down the price of something in a supermarket.

its a funny time of year here. ive never done christmas in a awarm climate which is weird in itself. so many peoples families are comng to visit now, and so mny other people are heading home. annie left fr new york, jessie and jurg flew to switzerland for the holidays *jurg will saty, jessie is coming back in a week* Jim and Sheri flew home yesterday to suprise their parents, kristen and shannon both left. the other shannon leaves in a week, as does Steve. our makeshift family is falling apart a bit, so that combined with some stuff in my personal life has mad e the last week a hard one. the good part is tht things are always in flux here, and our family has extended to include Karl, Tara, and Steve, and of course Dr paul, our new SPH volunteer. We aree having our own family christmas tomorrow, which i am super excited for. We dont know what we are doing yet, but no matter. morgans family is here now, and i got to guide a raft down the day 2 stretch here for them, which was fun. ive also been trying out a bunch of new boats, so kayaking is going well, when i can find the time because last week was overwhelmed with net sales and work. a little time off for the holdiays will be much appreciated, as have been all the holiday wishes.
love, and happy new years.
a

to Bwindi and back again

LAst weekend was spent in a car driving to eastern uganda, to the Bwindi Impenetrable rain forest to engage in net sales over in that area. it ended up being about a 14 hour train ride, during which i tried chicken on a stick (delicious) took my picture at the equator, sang along to a lot of cheesy songs with morgan, and marveled at the ugandan countryside, which is absolutley beautiful. on the way to bwindi, the landscape completley changes, and these green bulbous hills develop, that just roll through the countryside, seemingly with out end. it was almost surreal l0oking. Jurg, jessies boyfriend, and swiss mountain man said it reminded him of new zealand. i wouldnt know, never having been, but ive never seen anything like it, and if new zealand does look that way, it is certainly high on my top five places to visit list. The rainforset itself is beautiful as well, really diverse in trees and plants, and everything there was ginourmous in size (except of course, the pygmies) I saw a giant centipede and an enormous tree snail. Bwindi is apparently also home to the largest population of gorillas, the park hosts 326 (half the remainign wild population, i had no idea gorillas were so endangered) I didnt get to see any gorillas while i was there, as i opted not to do a gorilla safari. i kept hoping one would show up, but no such luck. maybe next time.
The net sales we did were rather anticlimactic, which is disapointing. after hearing that bwindi depsratley needed nets, we brought 1500 to sell. The first two net sessions i went to had either been poorly moblized, or the villages we visited has recently recieved free gvt nets, leaving no interest or money for our nets. we sold only 21 nets in two days, but we left jessie and jurg in bwindi for two more days to see if they could organize another sale. they should be visiting the pygmies today to trade nets for arrows and honey. sadly, i dont get to trade with the pygmies this time, but i did get to trade nets for matoke (plantains ) and nkoko (chicken) which was exciting. The villages are much poorer in the west than the one here in the east that we visit. the difference was suprising.
One thing i learned this weekend that was slightly disconcerting was about the pygmies. they used to live, hunter gathering, in the bwindi forest. but after the gorillas became so endangered, the forest became a national park / conservation land, and the pygmies were forced to relocate, leave the forest, and attempt an agricultural life style that has pretty much forced themn into abject poverty. pretty depressing. JEssies plan is to try and mrket the honey we get from the pygmies in exchange for nets, and sell it at one of the fancy lodges i nbwindi to try and raise money for the pygmy population. there is already a similar project going on calle d hives save lives, sold under the label of "not tonite honey" . clever. very clever. so were going to try and come up with something just as good.
Our trip ended with a stop in kampala, the capital city where morgan and i treated ourselves to a sushi dinner thanks to a gift certificate she won in the festival. the sushi was amazing, way better than anticipated. sushi in uganda... who knew?
Its been quieter here in the aftermath of the festival, which is probably a good thing. On a side note, morgan and i ahave decided (in the interset of comfort and the safety of our things, to move into a banda together at NRE. after months of tenting, a bed is really suprisingly great. im l0ving the new digs, and it definatley helps it feel more like home.
things are super busy at the clinic as we head towards the holidays, the pres holiday rush never changes, nor do the cheesy christmas songs playing on the radio. it will be interseting for sure to see how uganda celebrates the holidays...

Malaria Musings

The more i learn about Malaria, the more fascinating i think the disease is. The great thing about having Jessie back in the country (besides from the fact that work has picked up like 78 %) is that she is just such a wealth of knowledge to bouce ideas and questions off of. I find that i am learning so much here about Malaria, and medicine, and even how much i enjoy the medical sciency stuff. (note: i have not taken a "science course" since AP Bio my senior year of high school. Its definatley been a while. And while i am in no way considering medical school, i ve really been enjoying this experiance.
Malaria is such an interesting disease for so many reasons. Here in Uganda we are dealing with Malaria Falcipirum, which is the deadliest of all the three types (vivax, and i dont remember the third) Because it has the capability of crossing the blood/brain barrier, attatching to the cerebellum, and wreaking absolute havoc on your body. The Malaria parasite itself is ridiuclous- the way it has adapted and controlls the anopholes mosquitoe-
check out this link to an old NY times article about the parasite... http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/09/science/09para.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
the parasite can survive in the stomach of a mosquitoe for two weeks- (average lifespan of a mosquitoe is about 6weeks: which means about three feeding sessions to infect someone with malaria parasite). The Malaria parasite, once it enters your blood stream actually feeds off your redblood cells- and this is where i think things get so interesting, esp. with regards to treatment / causes of malaria. Anything that affects your red blood cell count or your liver can have a huge effect on your bodies ability to stave off malaria. Drinking alcohol: bad. (kills the liver cells, liver is wehre the malaria parasite first reproduces). Taking Ibprofin or Advil- Bad during Malaria because it divides or affects your redblood cell platletes- its a much better option to take tylenon or acetomenaphin becuase they reduce fever without affecting the red blood cells. Anemias and iron count in the blood stream can also have and effect, and there is the natural immunity of sickle cell anemia gene carriers- people who carry one copy of the sickle cell anemia gene (its recesssive) have a natural immunity to malaria because the parasites are unable to attach onto the bloodcells (they have a different shape).
The way the disease evolvesand continues to eolve is just so fascinating here as it pertains to real, everyday life. I was suprised to learn how much mis-inforamtion about malaria is out there as well...
so yeah. im a dork, but im really enjoying being able to leran about this stuff, and i wish i had a better base in it. Maybe i will end up doing something medical in the long run... you never know. Thats about it for now, im going to consider to fdream up new malaria questions to pester jessie with...
There is a malaria education session today, our second of the week in which i will be doing the family planning lecture, and then this weekend, off to Bwindi, about a 12 hour drive to give nets to the pgymys. im not sure yet if ill get to go on this trip, but i hope so...

festival again..

As joey showed me.. there is a sweet writeup of the festival online by Jamie- the event organizer and the man in charge of kayak the nile, the local kayak school here. check it out... http://www.kayaksession.com/nile-river-festival.php heres one of the photos, and again, i will update more asap.

phone number :updated as of 25/12/06

In other news... i got a ugandan phone number. Feel free to contact me- i can get texts from the US.
to dial, i believe it is 011 256 77550304158

if that doesnt work, try also 011 256 7755304158

sweet.

the Nile Freestyle Festival

Oleotia!
(Lusoga for Hello)
So things are going well here in Bugajali. This past weekend was the nile freestyle festival, which was absolutley insane. The festival was a three day long kayaking competition comprising three events: the first day was a big air competition in which kayakers got points for their three biggest different moves on the nile special wave- there were over 60 competiters, locals and mzungus (whites), and a huge spectater turn out. The second day was a 45 kilometer race down the White Nile from NRE and Bugajali Falls to the Hairy Lemon- (their website, check it out is www.hairylemonuganda.com) and the third and final day was a sprint race down from Nile River Explorers, one of the rafting companies here, down to silverback, a class five big wave train rapid. From silverback, you have to sprint up a hill and jump on a boda boda (moterer bike taxi) drive back to NRE where there was an obstacle course set up with greased rafts, and then it all ended when you and your boda driver funneled a beer or soda after completing the obstacle course. Needless to say, it was a ridiculous weekend, and a lot of fun.

after a lot of deliberation, Morgan and i decided to enter the competition, and ended up doing all three events. The first day, the freestyle competition, as i said was amazing. it was so much fun to be a part of, and there was such a great atmosphere. Music was playing, and the turn out was amazing- tons of locals showed up to watch everybody compete, there were free shuttles going back and forth making it easy. There was even more pressure because the top three finishers for the ugandans were going to be the new ugandan kayaking team- huge bonuses... and a large cash prize for the over all winner of all three events . I ended up getting to judge the first part of the freestyle comp- where i had to shout out to someone who was scribing the moves i saw, if they were big, huge, clean, and stuck (stayed on the wave)- pretty funny and a great time. I ended up placing 6th in the freestyle out of 14 women, i was a little disapointed in my rides (we got a 30minute heat to get rides on the wave with 5-6 other women in the eddy) but had a great time. morgan placed second, and one of the highlights of the day was efinatley the beatdown morgan got on her second to last ride, where the whole crowd went ooooohhhh.... and then gave a huge cheer.
The secon day was a 45 kilometer race, which was brutal and grueling for there is a signifigant amount of flat water on the nile, wth upstream currents, whirlpools and boils. The race had to be done in teams of two, so morgan and i competed together, placing second for the women with a time of 3h29minutes... so we were pretty stoked (and exhausted.. man. that was hard) The next day was the day i was dreading the most, but it ended up being the most fun- Morgan and i do a lot of morning runs down to silverback, so we knew the lines, and our boda drivers. The race and the sprint up the hill was super tiring- and i think harder than the 45k race.. I was terrified on my boda as my driver was flying (you sit on the boda with the kayak on your lap, its like a 7-12 minute ride ) and then we got to run through an obstacle course built with rafts. I got stuck in one of them, and was laughing so hard i couldnt breathe. It was awesome. I was suprised to come in third, but really excited about it. running through the obstacle course at the end was great, becuase all the male competetors were there cheering us on, as were a ton of spectaters. Jim, Sherri and Annie were huge during the comp. cheering us on taking pictures, giving us gatorade, etc.. it was just a great weekend. Morgan ended up finishing first for the women- which is amazing! I think i took 5th or 6th over all, which iw as pretty happy with. Prizes for the festival were donated from places in kampala, and were crates of beer (nile special, one of the local breweries was the sponser) so of course the whole thing ended with a huge party as well.

On a professional note, things are also going well. Jessie Stone is back in town, and a lot of things are definatley changing. we are redoing the family planning unit, and staying super busy with net sales, follow-ups, etc. There are four education sessions and netsales this week, which morgan and i will be helping to teach again.

thats about all i got.. im going to try and steal some pictures from friends from the festival and post them if i can....