Ashley's Adventures: Nile Rafting and Clinic Constructing!

It's been a while since the last post--I apologize! It's been incredibly busy this week but very exciting.

Let's rewind a week.

Rafting the Nile--only a flesh wound.
Last Friday nine of us made an impromptu decision to go white water rafting down the Nile. The source of the Nile is in Jinja, a 2-hour drive from Mbale, so we rushed into town, caught the last bus and were in Jinja by dinner! We stayed in (surprisingly) REALLY nice dorms provided by the rafting company. It had a beautiful cabana bar overlooking the Nile and they had hot showers with soft beds--it doesn't take much to impress us these days. We were up early Saturday morning and head to the river to meet our guide Duncan, an English-man turned New Zealander and absolutely hysterical. We had a blast getting soaked by rapids and lazing in the sun during the calm smooth water between rapids. I volunteered to take the brunt of the rapids by sitting in the front of the raft with Josh as my fellow row-captain. We all remained safely in the raft until the last rapid. Duncan warned us that one of three things could happen on our final rapid:
1) If we hit it straight on, we could glide right over it.
2) We could let air out of the raft and IF we hit it straight on, we could surf the rapid before we get knocked out or have to jump out.
3) We don't hit it straight on and we flip the raft.

Our intention was to achieve option #2, but we got #3. I got thrown and tossed under the rapids. It was all fun but when we popped out of the water I looked over to see Samantha, my partner-in-crime, bobbing next to me with blood pouring down half of her face. Being the medical enthusiast, fought upstream as fast as I could to get to her. We got her into the raft and minor clean up with the first aid kit on hand. Turns out that in the chaos of that last rapid with limbs flailing and oars flying, Sam bonked helmets with a fellow rafter (we think it possibly me) and the strap in her own helmet made a pretty little slice into her forehead just above her right eye. Thank goodness it was the last rapid. We got back to the dorms and I had a better chance to look at the wound. It was deep but didn't look like it needed additional medical attention, based on my own opinion. I bandaged it up the best could and hoped we could find someone to take a look at it soon.

The next morning, the LDS District Conference was in the same city that we were staying. We met our fellow branch members and missionaries there and even got to meet the Mission President afterwards. One of our branch missionaries directed Sam and I to the mission nurse so that she could take a look at my clean and wrap job. She said I'd mended it perfectly and that the wound will heal on its own. Sam will probably have a small scar but what a cool story--battle wound from rafting the Nile! After the district conference, we got to watch 3 weddings from members in our branch and a mission call opening! It was so eventful! Overall, minus the head wound, it was an awesome weekend away from Mbale.

Constructing a Clinic--How do you do this??
Tuesday morning we set off for the village to begin construction and I was so excited to see what we could accomplish, hoping to stay on schedule the best we could. We went to the hardware store to purchase all the materials and place them on a truck to be transported as far as automobiles can go up the mountain. The materials would need to be transported by foot the remainder of the way. The brick machine was due to head up Monday morning and we'd meet it up there Tuesday and begin our brick making. We did meet the brick machine on Tuesday, but only half way up the mountain. Throughout the planning process, no one seemed to ask just HOW big this machine would be. As I've mentioned before, the village is only accessible via a narrow footpath along the mountainside and it was not sufficient to push a 1100 lb. machine. By the time we'd gotten to the machine, about 50 men from the village had torn up the road with hoes, constructed two bridges out of trees along the way and were heave-hoeing the machine with ropes and man power from behind. I was AMAZED at their determination and willingness to put in two days worth of intense hard labor to get the machine up the mountain just to begin construction, not having begun construction itself. By Tuesday evening, the machine reached the village and we had carried all the materials by foot except for the cement bags.

It wasn't until Wednesday morning that we began our brick-making. It took awhile to get going, encouraging the men to help us carry 110 lb. bags of cement up the mountain when they wanted to look at the big, shiny, machine. It was one of the most physically taxing days for me, ever. Carrying these bags in our arms was NOT an option so we ended up taking turns carrying these bags on our backs or our heads. It was quite frustrating because you can't walk too fast and you're walking up a straight slope. It was my least favorite portion of the construction. Eventually, we motivated the men to help carry enough bags to start producing bricks. We spent the remainder of the day mixing mud and cement to make the bricks and carrying them to dry inside the church. While we all were making the bricks, the roof technicians finished the school roof. We have since heard that they've finished cementing the floor so, the school is DONE!

I ended up going home on Wednesday due to a sickness I'd been battling since the night before but three girls stayed behind to help make more bricks and by the end of the second day, they'd made about 1000 bricks. All the bricks have been completed now and this next week, we'll be heading back to build the walls from the bricks so that they can roof and cement the floors before our deadline on June 18th. We're still hopeful but it will be a stretch! We've been having meetings with local health care providers about getting enough supplies to open up the clinic and have a grand opening. We are hoping to find some donors who are willing to donate supplies or funds for the medicines and supplies to get it started up. They'll have a board in place to run the clinic and ensure that the community is providing a cost share to keep the clinic staffed and supplied. (Please let me know if you are willing to help contribute to these start-up supplies!)

Within the next few weeks we WILL have a clinic and I can't be more excited. I am eager to begin providing health care instead of just constructing the building. I love these people and they are so grateful for us and all the work we are willing to put in for them. They've taught me such great humility and gratitude and I'm amazed every time I return at their determination to build this clinic!

Wait, there's more?
A side note, my other projects such as working in the clinics and writing health curricula is going well. I've been volunteering at a health clinic on Thursdays and this week they had us doing lab work by testing for HIV, syphilis, and malaria. I took the blood samples from the patients and then ran the tests. Luckily, we had no HIV positives but a good number of malaria-ridden patients. Good thing there are antimalarial medications that we could give them and send them on their way. Instead of heading to the school sick-bed on Friday as usual, I went to CURE Hospital to meet the head hospital administrator. CURE is an American-based hospital but specializes in pediatric neurosurgery--mostly cases of Hydrocephalus (excess fluid in the brain) or Spinabifida (a spinal protrusion in the lower back). Derek, the American hospital administrator, gave me a tour and showed me all the AMAZING work that they are doing. They perform about 5,000 neurosurgeries a year working on placing shunts into the brain or tending to neurological deformities. All the medical personnel are Ugandan and are the best surgeons in eastern Africa. This hospital is one of the best in all of Africa because of the specialization and care. Derek told me that no child is turned away but the families are required to pay for a portion of the services. I'm shocked that they are able to perform such a high volume of surgeries and have such little money from each family. Although the hospital is owned by an American corporation, the majority of the funds to run the hospital are provided by private donors in Uganda itself. It's awesome to hear that wealthier Ugandans are giving back to their communities to provide them with health care that is a necessity for some children to live. These surgeries are very specialized and would not be attempted at any other hospital. The grounds are beautifully kept and there are two more buildings being constructed to begin adult neurosurgery. I love to see that the country is learning to become self-sustainable without much outside support.

I've been diligent to work on writing the health care curricula for those who will be teaching in local schools. Lately, I've been writing based on questions submitted from high school students on maturation. It's pretty funny to hear some of their questions and dispel certain rumors, but also saddening to know that they cannot ask their parents. Unfortunately, they live in society that teaches them to fear their parents so typical questions that we'd all asked our parents growing up, are taboo. Luckily, HELP volunteers are willing and excited to answer these questions. My job is just to write a curriculum that best teaches them and answers questions about their own bodies. Josh and I have been teaming up on pretty much all of our projects but he will be leaving next week to go home. I will be the head for most of these projects so it will require a bit more planning and organizing on my part!

Saturday, I decided to take a break and stay home instead of heading to Kampala with the rest of the team for Uganda's first soccer game. They had a great time, but I had an even BETTER day relaxing, doing laundry by hand, and writing my Young Women's lesson for Sunday. I love getting to teach the teenage girls--it's probably my dream calling! They are much quieter than American girls so you have to draw participation out of them a bit more than you would at home. They're so sweet and all gave me hugs after my lesson! I am going to miss this place when I leave...good thing I still have 7 weeks!

Sorry for the epistle of a blog post, but there is SO much going on and not very much time to write. Unfortunately, you have to read about it all at once haha! Thank you for the support and encouraging comments. I love it here and am grateful for every moment. Love you all!

Ash

Some rafting pictures--I'm in the front right in the raft: