Monday, I started my day by making name tags for all the staff members for the board in the Community room. There are spots on the board each of the 5 stations, the lab, and then "off duty", so now we can hang the name tags and know who is working where. I also finished making the MUAC strips (mid-upper arm circumference strips - they are the creation of Doctors without Borders and are used to determine the malnutrition of children by wrapping this strip around their mid-upper arm - if the strip shows green, they're ok, yellow is risk of malnutrition, orange is moderate malnutrition, and red is severe malnutrition) for all of the CHE's. I also spent time with Andrew at Station 3 - which is like a typical examination room situation, like at a regular doctor's office. Andrew sees patients, and prescribes drugs or sends them to the lab for test, or prescribes other treatments (there are signs all over the clinic reminding patients that the goal is to give the best treatment possible - and sometimes that means NO treatment. A lot of people come in and feel cheated if they don't leave with pills but that's not always the best thing for them, obviously). I also spent some time in the lab with Prisca. She showed me how to do the malaria and HIV tests, and I got to look at malaria under the microscope (which most people in the US will never get to see, since no one there has malaria!). It was pretty cool.
Our afternoon workshop with the CHE's was given by Stacy, a Peace Corps Volunteer who is nearing the end of her service here. She talked about RUMPS (re-usable menstrual pads). I know now everyone is thinking GROSS! But most women here can't afford to buy disposable pads or tampons, because they are very expensive here and they make less money than the average American anyway. In fact, a lot of girls miss a lot of school if they can't get pads, because they are embarrassed (understandably) about bleeding at school and having it show - so they miss about a week every month. The RUMPS program teaches you how to make reusable menstrual pads. Basically, you sew a strip of cloth into a little pouch, then put a piece of towel inside to absorb. There are little "wings" that button under the knickers (underwear) so it stays in place. Both parts can then be washed, the towel and the sleeve, so most girls would need about 3 4 so they can wear one while the others are being washed. Actually a pretty cool program. Stacy had brought all the materials to make them, so we did. She also talked about the menstrual cycle and how it works.
Most Ugandans don't have a very good idea about sexual health and stuff like that. They are like a bunch of fourth graders who laugh when you use the correct terminology for people's genitals. Imagine talking about a pregnant woman's vaginal bleeding to a roomful of adults and they all start giggling - this happened to me last week. So Stacy went over the menstrual cycle and when you are most likely to get pregnant, but emphasized that since people are different, birth control methods like Moonbeads (essentially a string of beads that you use to count the days of your cycle - the rhythm method on a necklace) are just unreliable.
Tuesday I got working on the map project Lisa wanted me to do. This is a map of Manawfa district, the district our clinic is in. There are 23 Health Centers II, III, or IV in the district. Then I included on the map an inset of the Bupoto sub county, where our village is. So, I am living in the village Matuwa, in the sub-county Bupoto, in the county Bupoto, in the Manawfa district, in the Eastern region of Uganda. That's the full breakdown. I had to figure out the right distances to enlarge each map I was given and re-draw it. It took a while (I finally am almost done today).
Tuesday afternoon was the vital signs lecture for the CHE's. We went over temperature (they laughed when we said rectally is the best way, typical!), heart rate, respiratory rate, and blood pressure, and taught them how to take each measurement. Honestly, I'm not sure they could measure them on their own just yet (I still have a hard time with blood pressure, to be honest!) but the idea is for them to recognize DANGER SIGNS, so we keep coming back to things like fever and irregular breathing.
Got the MCAT scores Tuesday night - don't get excited I'm not posting them. It wasn't as good as my practices, but I still did well, and so I am not planning to retake or anything like that! Its over, I'm happy, and I'm just trying to make the most of my experience here, and write a kickass personal statement. Lisa and I were talking last night about the essay, and she said she'd be happy to read it for me and give feedback. I already mentioned that she's writing me a letter, and she said she was impressed with my score, and with my work here and being here and everything, so that should be a good letter.
Wednesday, Doug and Lisa went to Mbale (and then Doug continued on to Kampala to pick up the volunteers who will arrive in the village tonight at the airport, they got into Entebbe last night), so I was really "on my own" for the first time here, with just the Ugandans! It was pretty cool. I worked on my map during the morning and talked with Anthony about his ideas for the Girls' Group. This might actually be the hardest group ever to get going, compounded by the fact that the next several Saturdays I won't be here (in order by Saturday I will be at Sipi Falls, Jinja, homestay in Bududa, Bududa with Cait, Kenya, Rwanda. Then I might have 2 or 3 Saturdays in April here in Matuwa). So I need to have a sit down with Lisa about it... its just kind of a frustrating project, but its one of Joyce Wanda's pet projects (Joyce and John Wanda are the couple from Uganda that started AAH, so we like to keep them happy), so we need to give it our best shot.
In Mbale they got a lot of good stuff, like little hand mirrors for each bed room, new floor mats, and a bigger mirror for the common room. Now I can see how the sun reaction on my face is going away! w00t. Also got tape, so I put up some posters Lisa had in the rooms for the new volunteers and one in my room too. She also got a blanket for the extra bed in my room so it gives it a little more color now.
Wednesday afternoon, I spent time at Station 4 with Jackline. Station 4 is like the pharmacy station - she dispenses drugs and gives injections. I got to help count the pills and label the envelopes we put them in. Then later in the afternoon, I pretty much taught the CHE training on my own. I talked about blood donation (we are planning tentatively to have a blood drive up here in late March), adolescent issues, and oral health. It went pretty well, I guess I have adapted to/learned the Ugandan teaching methods.
Today I finished up my map. It actually looks pretty good, I'm surprised at how well it came out. I will post a picture tomorrow when its completely done. My desk for now (when we get a manager here, it will be theirs but for now I can use it) is in the lab, where Prisca and David work, so its nice to have people to chat with. At lunch time, a man came by selling Avocados. They were HUGE. He was selling them for 200 shillings - that is about 10 cents US. Imagine how wonderful it would be to have avocados at that price back home! wow.
Afternoon, the CHE's came for a session, but Doug had the papers they needed and was still on his way back from Kampala with the volunteers. So we had a quick session, and then I showed them all how to put their handprints on the staff wall in the clinic. So we all put our handprints up, it was kind of chaotic, but a really cool thing for them to do.
Today was the first day it really was dark and rainy for most of the day. March is when the rainy season starts, so I guess I need to get used to more of it. I just hope it doesn't interfere with our various excursions that we have planned!
Sipi falls this weekend!
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