WEHAVEHOTWATERWEHAVEHOTWATERWEHAVEHOTWATER… WE HAVE HOT WATER!!! And a working bathroom light!

Today is Heroes Day in Uganda, a national holiday that commemorates those who lost their lives in the Ugandan Bush War. Initially, we planned to have today off, but today was the only day that the chairman of the boda bodas was free to meet with us. So, Jacob picked us at 10:45 for our 10 o’clock meeting. On the bright side, we were able to start today’s blog with the extra time- it’s become a favorite pastime of ours!

One thing that we’ve observed is that people here seem more laid back and spontaneous than people in the US (or at least more so than Haleigh and Amber). The two of us tend to be very “type A” in that we like planning ahead of time and sticking to the color coded timeslots on our respective calendar apps. There are also lots of breaks in between each item on our agenda, sometimes we’ll just sit and chat for two hours in the middle of the day/between meals, something we’re definitely not used to. We’re working on adapting and learning to go with the flow.

We met Sula, the chairman of the boda bodas, and his staff to present our project proposal at the Red Cross. Boda boda drivers— motorcycle taxi drivers— are everywhere you look on every road here. They set up in various “stages”, a centralized location where groups of boda bodas congregate to maximize their chances of getting a passenger. We learned being a boda boda driver is the most common profession of men ages 18-35 here because it only costs about $1,500 for the machinery and is an easy and quicker way to establish some capital. Our partners have indicated there aren’t a lot of jobs available in Mukono, so even people that go to school and train to become doctors and lawyers become boda boda drivers. Anyways, it was a pretty intense meeting! Some members were not fluent in English, so the meeting took place in a mix of Luganda and English, with Jacob translating as needed.

After the meeting, we went to summer terrace gardens hotel to secure our venue for the trainings and discuss where and how to source first aid kits for the boda bodas. The venue is priced per day so Amber and Haleigh suggested having two trainings per day for eight days instead of one training per day for 15 days, to reduce prices almost in half. We had a small lunch of samosas (apparently a very popular dish here), and we found out that one of our colleagues is from the Njovu (elephant) clan. He gave us names from his clan: Nasanga and Nakatte (Amber and Haleigh). Do we sound like sisters yet?

Moreover, we have acquired another nickname, where “Amber” is used to refer to both of us as well as just Haleigh individually. Haleigh will now respond to any variation of “Haleigh”, “Pine”, or “Amber”.

We then went to meet with a restaurant owner to discuss refreshments (and refreshment pricing) for the boda bodas because the training takes around 5.5 hours. Even though neither of us went to business school, we did a fantastic job doing quick math and negotiating.

Finally we headed back to Hannington’s office, where we discussed more specifics about the first aid kits. In order to decide what to put in them, we first had to learn more about how it works in Uganda— that is, how they’re taught to administer treatment and the materials they have at their disposal. For example, we were trying to figure out what to use as sling. We initially had fabric pieces, but Hannington showed up to create a sling using only gauze- not only did this position the arm the same way a sling does but also is it more cost-effective! We also learned that gauze can be used in place of fabric for tourniquets and that gauze can be wrapped around cotton for a more absorbent bandage without wasting the gauze.

We decided that the first aid kits would include cardboard for splinting, gauze, bandages, gloves, a pen for the tourniquet, and a towel for spinal immobilization (check out Haleigh’s clinical trial from last year proving towels are an effective method of immobilization when traditional collars are not available here).

Luckily, we were able to get home by 5:30 pm today and quickly got started on boiling water for our dinner. After thirty minutes of doing some work to prepare for our meetings tomorrow, we checked on the water, with childish hope that it would cook faster. Instead, Haleigh put her entire hand on the electric burner, but Amber didn’t need to treat any burns for her. The stove had automatically turned off. We were heartbroken. We went back to figuring how to turn on the gas burners without causing a gas leak but settled on calling our host for help- our science teachers would be quite disappointed that we didn’t realize you need a match to light a gas stove that has gas coming out but no flames... Bunsen burner anyone? Once we did this, the water boiled within half an hour and even boiled over two times once we added the pasta in! After some knife stabs to the tomato can and some onions cooked in olive oil, Haleigh and Amber were giddy over their delectable meal (especially after last night’s shenanigans) and paired it with cold water (bottled, sealed, and from our fridge) as a treat.

We worked on finalizing our advanced medical curriculum and obstetrics curriculum the rest of the night, as well as face timing Zach, LFR’s operations director, with numerous questions.

One thing we’ve had to get used to is sleeping with mosquito nets at night, as the resilient bugs find ways to enter our Airbnb since the windows don’t seal all the way. Haleigh even got two mosquito bites sitting on the couch wearing long pants, socks, a shirt and jacket, completely lathered in bug spray. We’ve gotten very good at killing the mosquitos on the first try though! Amber now regrets not bringing her mom’s electric fly swatter after her third time washing dead bugs off her hands. However she did have a redemption arc from the bug fiasco with the resourceful idea to cover the holes in our window with tape.

We’re both sleeping better now and Haleigh would like everyone to know that, despite popular belief from her family, she actually does contribute to this blog.