This is the Canteen I sometimes get a quick lunch from when I am busy working at the clinic. They love it when the muzungu (white person) nurse comes and tries to speak Runyankore and eat Ugandan food! Their specialty is Goat liver and chips (french fries)...yummy huh? I usually just get chips and a nice bottle of coke, but sometimes I get an amadazi (this hard deep fried muffin thing). Really Ugandan food isn't that bad and I can eat a huge plate full for like $1.50 so it's really cheap. I have had "goat stew" a few times and it's pretty good....I like it better than the cow meat here! 

Here is a view of the hospital grounds. Each "department" is in a separate buidling with a grass area in-between. Patient's family members or caregivers sit outside and cook the patients' food in these areas (cause there's no cafeteria!) It's crazy...I can walk into the wards at anytime. No one asks me who I am or what I am doing...if I want to start treating patients they gladly welcome me.  

This is the female medical ward of the hospital. There are usually 25 beds, but this day there were about 40 patients on the ward...when there aren't enough beds the patients have to lay on the floor. Every patient brings their own matress, bed sheets, and an attendant who takes care of them. You can not be admitted to the hospital without a caregiver!! There are only about 2 nurses for all those patients so it's impossible for them care for each patient. They barely can get the medicines passed out! Can you imagine trying to start an IV on a patient who doesn't have a bed and is lying on the floor? Oh nurse friends...the sights I see!  

This is just outside the medical ward of the hospital. Patients' families and attendents "camp out" literally bringing mattresses and all to stay outside and wait while their loved one is in the hospital. A sight you definitely wouldn't see in America!  

Here is Edward the night guard Christy and I have in Kampala getting baptized!! We had been praying for Edward since he became our guard and now he is a brother! This was my first African baptismal service. After each person was baptized they sang "I Have Decided to Follow Jesus". It was great! 

So here's my wrecked truck. It doesn't seem to look as bad in this picture. But remember we flipped on the driver's side...this was taken after I paid the truckload of 20 men to turn it back over for me. I am just praising God for His protection and that we were all ok....It's amazing God's love for us. This was one of the scariest experiences of my life to be out in the middle of nowhere (literally) in a bad accident where I don't speak the language. But God provided for all my needs and brought me safely home. During the time we were waiting for people to scome and get us we were entertained by all the village children who came to watch. They were all talking in Runyankore and laughing so I asked one of the Ugandans with me what they were saying and he said they were saying it was too bad we didn't die cause then we could have taken their money and clothes and everything! It's really not funny, but it made me laugh. Most of the people who passed by were very nice and wanted to help (for a nice fee of course), but that's Africa. It's just sad...these people see material possessions and wealth as everything. If they could only know the One who brings true joy! 

So after we visited the village church we were near the Uganda/Tanzania border...we were able to walk over the border and this was the only landmark to say I was actually in Tanzania. It was kind of cool just to say I had been there though. It was crazy..all there was was a metal gate dividing the two countries and people were walking back and forth freely! They speak Swahili though in Tanzania which was weird to walk a few feet and hear a completely different language. 

I was able to enjoy a traditional Ugandan meal at Enoch's brother's house. The drink is called obushera it is made from fermented millet and is probably one of the worst things I have ever tasted...but I was able to get a few sips down. Then there is millet in the baskets and cow meat in the bowls. This meat was so tough..i really needed a toothpick! I felt honored though for them to serve me. The best part was all the children gathered around to watch the white person try and eat Ugandan food...they just kept laughing. It was an experience I will never forget! 

Here is Enoch's brother's wife preparing millet...commonly eaten by Ugandans. Millet (oburo..in Runyankore) is like a grain/flour and is cooked to this really thick, sticky consistency. It is a purple/gray color...and honestly doesn't have much taste. 

After church we visited Enoch's brother who lives in the village....2 of these girls are his children. The mountains in the far distance are Tanzania! Enoch said that as a small child they had to walk down this hill everyday to a small creek to fetch water! I can not even imagine....and it would take all morning long. Aren't these girls precious...it looks just like what you think of Africa doesn't it! 

Everyone gathered to tell us goodbye as we left the small village church...even though I couldn't communicate with them much they were so happy we (me, Aloysious, and Enoch..counselors with "Words of Hope")had come to visit. 

Here I am at a village church about an hour outside of Mbarara. This service was all in Runyankore and very African! You can see the buidling which is made of sicks and mud. There were around 45 people there, but only 15 were adults and most of the adults were women. Many African men, especially in the villages, do not want anything to do with church. They don't want to have to change their permiscuous lifestyles! 

This is a view from near my house of my new city....Mbarara. Mbarara is a town of about 50,000 people but there are many more people that live in the surrounding villages. 

Words of Hope...home visits

Here I am with the "Words of Hope" team....Evas (nurse), Allen, Enoch, Aloysious (all counselors), and me. This is my main ministry...going out with these great people visiting AIDS patients from the clinic in their homes out in the villages. We are mainly there to check up on them...make sure they are taking their medication properly and do spiritual counseling; reading scripture and praying with them. I have really enjoyed working with these guys...they love the Lord and are a great team to work with. A big project for the next month or so is getting all the patient records in order for "Words of Hope"....there are over 250 patients that have been visited since this program began a year ago. I am excited about what God is going to do through this ministry. Our hope is to start Bible studies in the villages with patients and connect them with other believers. We have already identified one area and will start meeting this next week and studying the Bible (well right now I will just listen until I can learn more of the language). Be remembering us and pray God would open the hearts of people to hear His Word.

So yeah the village roads I drive on are pretty rough. The other day I was trying to back up...and barely hit the ground that was raised a little on the side of the road and the bumper over my tire fell off...I don't think it was even fully screwed on to begin with though. It was a pretty funny sight...thankfully Enoch was with us and he rigged up the bumper using some neon green rope I had for mosquito nets in the back of my truck. People from the village came out from everywhere to see what was happening and it happened right in front of a school so all the children came out to see the muzungu (white person)....they were just laughing. So thankfully Enoch got it tied up good enough until we got to the next trading center. Then I payed someone the equivalent of a quarter to take a screw driver and remove the remaining screws....oh the joys of life in Africa!

Here we are trucking through the African "bush"....Seriously. I couldn't believe this road (or lack there of) I was driving on while searching for one of our patient's home. We usually do home visits Monday and Friday afternoons and all day on Tuesdays and Thursday. It's really tiring for me because the people in the villages only speak Runyankore and I can't understand much right now. Please pray that I will learn the language fast! We try to see around 5 patients on our full days, but we spend a lot of our day searching for houses cause it's really hard to get directions and of course no one has a phone. It's pretty frustrating when you drive and drive and then the patient isn't home or you realize that you are talking with the wrong person (a lot of people have the same names here)!

It was finally worth it when we reached the small hut though....this is Molly in the orange shirt (pronouced Morry though because there is no "l" sound in the Runyankore language). After Enoch and Evas (Words of Hope counselor/nurse) presented the gospel Molly became a believer!! It made all the searching and driving on rough roads worth it. Please remember Molly as she begins this new journey of faith...her days on this earth may be numbered, but she can look forward to eternity now!  

Some of the fun things I get to see when doing home visits in the village! 

The tall trees are matooke trees (green banannas that are cooked and are the staple food for Ugandans). We travel through lots of bannana plantations out in the villages. The plant growing in front is pineapple. You can buy a whole pineapple out in the villages for 300 shillings which is about 20 cents!! They are sooo good too....I'm going to be spoiled after living here for 2 years.

Some of the beautiful countryside I get to see here as we go into the villages for home visits. And this is dry season....I can't imagine how green it will be in a few months when it is rainy season! 

This is the AIDS clinic here which was started back in 1998 by a missionary doctor here (my supervisor....Dr. Pepper) but it is also apart of the Teaching Hospital for the Medical University in Mbarara. ISS stands for Immune Suppression Syndrome. Even though a lot of the social stimga associated with AIDS has decreased many people do not want their status to be made known to others. The clinic has about 10 rooms but will soon be expanding with a grant that was recently given...Praise God! They are even getting some of the patient's records put into a computerized data base. While there is no cure for AIDS...patients can receive antiretrovial medication which helps them live a longer life by helping increase their immune system. It's really neat to get to be apart of something that is literally changing the lives of thousands of people and giving them hope! This was a special day at the clinic...the US Ambassador came for a dedication of the building. 

This is most of the staff here at the AIDS clinic. Don't you love the pink uniforms (those are nurses kind of like LPN's...the RN's wear all white). The clinic is one of the largest AIDS clinic's in Uganda and over a thousand patients are seen each month...about 50/day. Many patients receive free medication from the money President Bush has given for AIDS and other government organizations. Uganda receives more of the President Bush AIDS money than any other country and they have really seen a decrease in the number of new cases. However AIDS is still a huge problem here....when doing rounds with the medical students in the hospital one out of every 3 patients was HIV positive. Everyone here in Uganda is affected by AIDS in some way....it's a part of life. The patients not only receive medication, but also counseling at the clinic. Many of the staff are also Christians so patients receive spiritual care as well.  

Here I am with some fellow nurses at the AIDS clinic...Shem, Jane, and Debbie (cut out of the pic). On Wednesdays I am in the clinic all day and help out with whatever I can. This day I helped count pills and tried to practice my Runyankore...everyone calls me Kenyangi at the clinic which is my Runyankore name. 

Each friday night some of the University Students from Mbarara Unviersity of Science and Technology meet at the University Baptist Church here for TGIF (Thank God I'm Forgiven). It's just a time for them to have fun and hang out. These students are great...they all speak English really well and remind me a lot of college students back home. My first time at TGIF was "Talent night"....I got talked into being in the eating contest. We had to race to see who could eat some Ugandan food the fastest...a yellow banana, bun (not like our buns...but hard bread), Casava (found in the ground and is kind of like a potatoe but pretty tasteless), and a doughnut (oh but not like American doughnuts...it's pretty much really hard deep fried bread)...oh yeah and a nice bottle of Coca Cola! Well, I didn't win to say the least, but they loved seeing me up there trying to eat Ugandan food...I'm actually beginning to like Ugandan food. It was really difficult to swallow though cause everything was so hard, but I ate most of it. The guy who won ate it all in 4 minutes! 

My new home in Mbarara.....after some much needed work the house is slowly coming together. I am learning the joys of taking care of a house and yard. It's pretty big for just me, but I am enjoying having students from the medical university here over...last week I had 13 girls for a sleepover! I live in a quiet area of town and so far have felt very secure...of course I have a fence surrounding my compound and a security guard, David, at night. I also have a helper, Annah, who lives in the workers quarters behind me. She helps me around the house once a week. Both David and Annah have been such a blessing and I am really thankful for them!