Life-Changing Week

**Disclaimer***I am at a loss of words with how to begin this blog. Not gonna lie I have somewhat been putting it off, because this entire week has been full of continual life-changing experiences that only solidifies why I am here, what I am grateful for, and what I want to continually do in the future. I am writing this post out of pure humility for all that I have experienced over the previous week. This blog is super long and I completely understand if you don’t read it all the way through. A large part of why I am keeping a blog is for myself. I want to remember the experiences I am having and the emotions I have with them. I keep a journal, but there’s a difference from that and sitting down for a couple hours and just typing my thoughts away. With that being said, let’s begin…
On Monday I went to a primary school and taught a health lesson to over 100 students about the health benefits of hand washing and general hygiene. I had a blast teaching and the students seemed to really enjoy it—probably because two random muzungus were interactively teaching their class instead of the mundane lecture style teaching they’re used to. The schools here are exactly like the ones you see on American Idol Gives Back or something cheesy like that. There are rooms full of rows of benches with around 100 students per class. Most of the students can’t afford notebooks and all their school uniforms are torn and a lot do not own shoes. A lot of students can’t afford to pay for lunch and they don’t come with breakfast, so most of the students don’t eat anything all day or at least till supper. With how depressing this all sounds, the students are truly SO happy; they have permanent grins. They sing to us, clap when we walk in, stand when they answer a question, and call me Madam Megan. They are so cute and I secretly want to hide one of them in my suitcase, but remembering what happened in Haiti…I guess I’ll leave them here for now. L
Tuesday and Wednesday were beyond hectic days for me. I was the project lead of an Eye Camp. We held it at the Kojja Health Center IV in a rural village. Throughout the two days we screened 330 people, gave out 125 pairs of spectacles, and did 18 cataract surgeries. At one point I was even able to scrub in to assist with some of the operations! As stressful as the entire project was, it was completely worth it when I was able to be there when the patients who had the cataract surgery were able to take off their bandages and were given the gift of sight back. That moment made it completely worth it. Some of the people were completely blind for years, and all of a sudden they were able to see. A lot of the patients and their families started crying because they were so grateful that we would give this back to them. One of the ladies who had to be in her 80’s started dancing in her bed (smiling with a mouth full of missing teeth), one lady told me that she felt like she was in a whole new world because it had been so long since she was able to see anything, a lot of people were so grateful because they were going to be able to read their bible again. When the surgeon came in, I told the people that he was the one responsible for giving their sight back and involuntarily every one of the patience started clapping for him. It was beyond touching, I am pretty sure that there wasn’t a single person in that room that wasn’t tearing up, I am just grateful that I was able to be involved in such an experience. Even just giving people glasses and seeing their reaction was priceless, one lady started crying when she was able to put her new pair of glasses on. I will never forget how I felt throughout this entire experience and the gratitude on the faces that we were able to help.
Thursday we held a massive HIV and Aids Football (soccer) Festival in Kiyindi where we focused on joining together to fight Aids. We had 8 different schools, and about 1500 students, parents and political leaders—as a side note, we were only expecting 600 people total. We had all the schools play in the tournament and then we held trainings that focused on the social impact of HIV/AIDS, future planning, leadership skills, good sportsmanship, and responsible behaviors. Though the purpose of this outreach was to focus on the trainings concerning HIV/AIDS and not the football matches, the tournament was an excellent way to gather a community together in a fun and interactive environment. The games were a blast; I would stand on the sidelines with the school that was playing and get them cheering for their teams. The students were beyond excited, they would cheer in Ugandan songs and storm the field every chance they got. At the Festival we also screened a couple hundred people for HIV. The girls and I on my team performed a dance to “Baby” by Justin Beiber, I think it was the first time that they had seen Americans dance so we got about 1000 blank stares at the end—totally hilarious and oh so worth it. To end the day, my team played in a huge soccer match against the CCWA-the woman’s organization we partnered with. Due to my conjunctivitis (self-diagnosed, not really though) that day, I sat the game out and held the job of getting all the kids to chant “let’s go Muzungus, let’s go.” Afterwards we gave each of the participating schools a football because they usually play with wadded up banana leaves because they cannot afford actual balls. We all had a great time, but we were exhausted after the day was over!
This now leads me to the emotionally exhausting day of Friday. I was the project lead for a Dental Outreach; we went to a local school called St. Josephs Naggalama Primary School. To begin, the doctors showed up 2.5 hours late so I had to improvise by teaching 900 students “Popcorn Popping on the Jackfruit Tree” and singing the National Anthem. The doctors finally showed and we were able to screen over 1000 students/parents and extracted teeth of over 200 people. The students would first be screened by a dental assistant for any obvious cavities and then sent to a waiting room to get anesthetics to numb the mouth. The students would then have to sit and wait and listen to the heart-yanking shrills of their peers getting the shot. It was HORRIFIC, screams that you only hear on horror films were spilling out of the mouths of these little children. The students waiting in line were bawling because they knew it would be their turn at some point. I had some of the volunteers sit with the children and hold them literally down while the doctors injected them and other volunteers sing and dance to Shakira to entertain those students waiting in total horror. The children would then have to go to another room where they had their teeth extracted. We had one kid who had to get up to 6 teeth pulled. This process was just as emotional for me as was the anesthetic room. As I continually witnessed this throughout the day, I would find myself tearing up because I felt so bad. We didn’t make too many friends that day. If when I was a child a random group of people who were completely foreign to me came into my school and did this to me and my friends I would probably…utterly despise them! These kids have never had their teeth worked on or even seen a dentist, so everything was completely foreign to them. As hard as it was to witness the children going through this, I kept reminding myself that it was completely for their benefit. Some of them could hardly even eat because their teeth were so rotten. I was able to look at a few teeth that had a complete black hole going all the way through to the root. Overall, it was a huge success I believe and definitely a neat thing to be a part of.
Friday night…oh Friday night…I went to a goat roast, which I do have to admit was the ultimate African experience. So random, but so fun! A local school that a few volunteers work at invited us to join them in their festivities of dancing around a fire and singing tribal songs. It was a blast and the goat was surprisingly really good-quite chewy though. The kids were stroking my skin and playing with my hair and telling me how beautiful I was…white people fascinate them. I believe that anyone who has self-esteem issues needs to come to Africa because you can be completely horrendous looking and they would still love you and tell you look like an angel.
Saturday I held a meeting with the head doctors that we worked with for the eye and dental outreaches and the head person of Nakasero Hospital. To put this in perspective, Nakasero Hospital is the wealthiest and most advanced hospital in Uganda; it is where President Museveni and all the political leaders go. One of the doctors is actually the son of a former President of Uganda. So to be sitting with these men like we were friends was a remarkable thing for me. They are such good, genuine men and just truly want to help those that desperately need medical care. That is what they said as their reasoning for doing these outreaches. They told me that they asked themselves, how to pay back to the ‘small’ people who made them want to be doctors in the first place? They can accomplish this through such outreaches. I just keep thinking, in the States, I would never had that kind of opportunity to meet and hold a meeting with such influential people,
This now leads me to the last and final day of the week, Sunday. I understand this is probably the longest blog post ever, and I really do apologize for it. But I congratulate your for getting thus far, and I promise it will be over soon. Sunday, I went with our cook/dear friend to visit her family in the village Musaka where she grew up in. I am constantly astounded by the hospitality of the people here in Uganda. The family was so kind to us. It was such a relaxing day that consisted of sitting on mats in the shade of a gorgeous day eating delicious fruit and chatting about their hopes and aspirations and day-to-day living. The family had been living on their land for generations back; they even have their own cemetery going all the way back to their great-great grandfather. Edith was so pleased to see her family and to actually bring gifts home for her family. The Ugandan culture is so based on family unity that I wish America were more like it. When an extended family member dies, their children go to your family willingly. So they have ‘brothers and sisters’ that are technically their cousins. On our way home, we stopped at the equator. I was so excited to see it, but to be honest it was slightly anticlimatic. Our way home then followed with a stressful 6 hour ride on a taxi.
It has been an unforgettable week that I will cherish the memories from it forever. Like I said at the beginning, this week solidified why I am here, what all I am grateful for, and my desire to do this in the future. I have fallen to love the people of Uganda and their culture. Thank you back at home for all the support, I miss everyone so much. It is crazy to think that I am about to hit my half way mark. Love you all.
Meg