Koloa Hospital

Today we visited the hospital where we will be doing a lot of work this summer. It was definitely an interesting and sad experience. The childrens ward was the most depressing their methods just looked so archaic it reminded me of something you might see in an old school movie. I wish I could post some pictures but internet is sooo slow! I'm not sure if I will be working in the hospital much since it isn't really my area of focus but I might go every once in a while just to help out. I would especially love to go on their outreach projects to different villages.

Speaking of... Andrea asked me to explain to you guys what it is like where I live. We are living in a little town called lugazi. I think the population is about 35,000 so it is pretty rural. We seriously live right in the thick of the poverty which is a humbling experience. Our house is obviously the biggest house in the neighborhood by far other than our next door neighbors. (It would still be considered a very small house in the states maybe about twice the size of my apartment at college) We all love it though.

The electricity and water where we live is a bit iffy. The electricity only works about half the time and the water works even less. Before today we went three days straight without any water. Luckily our drinking water is all in jugs but still, we didn't have any water so shower with or even to flush the toilet with. That is what I was going to say last time that was so gross... since we couldn't flush the toilets for like two days some of the people in our group finally resorted to using the restrooms in trash bags placed in small buckets. I was grateful I never got that desperate :) It was pretty bad not being able to shower either. It finally rained last night so a few of the girls and I went outside in our bathing suits and showered in the rain. It's the only shower I have had since last Saturday. Luckily the water turned back on today though so as soon as we get home we will all be able to shower.

Everyone in town knows who we are and were we live. The other day we got lost in some other neighborhood and all the little street children showed us how to get home. It made all of us laugh. The kids here are so precious here. Everytime we walk up or down the street they all run out and grab our hands and just walk with us until we finally insist they go back to their moms. They are too shy to actually talk to us but they love just holding our hands and walking. If all our hands are taken the other children stand on the roadsides and shout "hey mzungo, hey mzungo" (Hey white person, hey white person) over and over again while doing a little dance. It is so cute!!

For the most part we will do our work here in Lugazi which means pretty much everything is within walking distance. Every once in a while though we will be branching out and going out into the more remote villages which will be cool.

The food has been pretty good so far except it is all fried and they don't really eat meat other than fish. I know meat isn't my favorite but I could never be a vegetarian.

So things are moving along. We are spending this week looking at all the different projects just so we have an idea of what the needs are and how we can help. Next week we will start dividing up into groups according to our interests and go to work. I can't wait!!

I hope all is well back home!!

Love,
Carrie