Fellows Blog: Day 9

We jinxed it yet again folks! Last night we found a gecko on the wall of airbnb and the power went out again.

When the wifi was working for a good 2 minutes, Haleigh googled “Are geckos in Africa poisonous” quickly followed by “How to get rid of a wall gecko.” While we found out that they are not venomous, we also learned that their mouths can harbor a lot of bacteria. Amber then proceeded to devise a contraption that entailed aggressively cutting slices of fresh mango to put in an empty water bottle. Haleigh placed it on top of the doorframe in hopes that the gecko would get trapped in the bottle, but it had other plans in mind. It began scurrying across the ceiling.

Naturally, Haleigh and Amber also blew a fuse/short circuited part of the apartment during this terrifying time. Half the lights and all the outlets (and the fridge and hot water) no longer worked, so Amber decided to experiment with the circuit box (against Haleigh’s better judgement lest she get electrocuted). It did not go as well as it had on the plane ride over; Amber expertly tried flipping all the switches off and on again but nothing happened.

Fortunately, everything appeared to be fine by the time we woke up this morning. Unfortunately, our gecko friend was nowhere to be found.

We met up with the boda boda chairman to go around Mukono to recruit participants for our training. The boda boda drivers here cluster in “stages”, or areas where they’ll get the most customers. We explained our project to them and most were very excited about signing up! We participated in many fist bumps, which we learned is the Ugandan equivalent of a handshake, except more informal and more frequent.

4.5 hours, 5 miles, 9 stages, and 100+ people later, we finally took a lunch break at Café Delish. We were starving and forgot to take a picture, but we had rotisserie chicken and fries followed by our favorite African coffee.  Afterwards we headed back to Mukono Access Clinic, only stopping briefly to pick up pens for the first aid kits and to hide from the rain.

The weather here changes on a dime! Just today, we encountered two different thunderstorms and almost had heat stroke after walking outside for an hour. You can imagine what 4.5 hours nearly did to us… It was also very smoky and foggy today all around Mukono. We recently learned they dispose of trash here by burning it, and wondered if everyone usually burns their trash on the same day.

After discussing what still needs to be done before the training with Hannington, we walked to the venue for our trainings to double check the projector they have works. Neither of us are very tech savvy, but we knew enough to know our macbooks would not fit all the plugs required for it to work. We plan to try try, but we will likely be using Jacob’s computer or ask Kyrillos to bring a cord that works when he arrives.

We realize we haven’t mentioned Kyrillos yet! We’ll give him a proper introduction when he gets here on Saturday, but he’s another one of the fellows that will be helping us with the training.

After the venue, Hannington took us to one of his patient’s homes, who has a spinal injury from an accident two years ago. Hannington assessed his sensory function and applied a brace to help relieve pain and adjust his spine. It was very cool to watch his medical process!Hannington then told us about witchcraft, which seems to be a type of medicine that combines herbal medicine, spells, and convincing the patient they would be ok (or telling them that they would die). Hannington said he didn’t entirely believe in this, but appreciated that it helped some patients feel better. Amber immediately asked to be brought to a psychic after this conversation… probably better if you don’t know what for.

For dinner, Sammy proposed we try matoke with ground nut sauce and avocado. Matoke is a local dish consisting of mashed and boiled plantains. Ground nut, or g-nut, is a nut similar to peanuts. While we were glad to have the opportunity to have as a home-cooked meal, Haleigh and Amber agree that we will be sticking to posho and rolexes for the time being.

We ended up making stir fry. WOr rather, attempting to make stir fry. The lowest setting on our stove is apparently too low to simmer things, which was problematic when it came to cooking both rice and veggies. In spite of the fact the water kept boiling over when the rice was covered, Amber successfully managed to make fluffy rice by leaving the pot mostly covered for 20 minutes and adding in more water when needed because it would boil and evaporate very quickly. She then fluffed the rice and covered it for another 10 minutes and it actually turned out really yummy! During this time, Haleigh chopped carrots, bell peppers, onions, garlic, and just missed a chunk of Amber’s arm. Our VTCA colleagues decided to call us in the middle of this, so Haleigh left to deal with logistics of our first aid packaging. This meant that Amber was left with the veggies. They did not go nearly as well as the rice.

Ultimately, there was just rice left. After some discussion on what to do, we settled on rice with soy sauce and crushed peanuts for dinner. #culinaryinnovators

This was both Haleigh and Amber’s first time cooking rice and attempting to make stir fry… let us know if you have any other suggestions on how to cook the rest of our vegetables.

All images posted with permission from included parties - except for the gecko

Our little gecko friend! We decided to call the little dude Isaac because it appears to be the most popular American name here- we’ve already met five people with the name so far! Runner up names included Henry, Owen, and Adam.

We really thought we did something here

“It’s fine as long I don’t touch the actual copper wire part right?” -Amber

Amber still has yet to fulfill her task of carrying mattresses on her head, but it looks like Haleigh’s making some progress! #haleighsboxthistime

Haleigh started a new tradition of “rain selfies,”  where every time it rains and we’re outside, we take a selfie.

“If all the raindrops were lemondrops and gumdrops oh what a rain that would be” -Barney

-Amber

Another rain selfie featuring Devir!

When it rains, all the Kiko market vendors are quick to cover their products with tarps!

Homemade matoke! Even though it wasn’t our favorite, we would still recommend that you try it should you ever visit! #openmind

The rice vs the veggies… a picture’s worth a thousand words.

Amber: 4/5 stars, the peanuts add a very crunch texture to what otherwise would be texture less

Haleigh: 3.5/5 stars, much better than the grilled cheese, I added some whole peanuts on top for the garnish