Sugar and spice and not everything that is nice.

Hello friends!

Yesterday, Monday 7 June, we traveled to Kakira Hospital on the grounds of the Kakira Sugar Factory. This was a NGO (non-governmental organization) which means that the government does not pay for the services provided at the hospital like they do at the district hospitals, such as Iganga Hospital where we have spent much of our time. There were 3 different security gates that we had to pass through before we were allowed on the hospital grounds. Inside the factory gates, there were paved roads, sidewalks (!) and people cleaning the sidewalks everywhere. A huge change from the dirt roads with no sidewalks. The hospital grounds were beautiful; flowers and plantings everywhere. We toured the hospital, the different wards and then each spent time in a different ward. I was in the Maternity Ward; Labor/Delivery and Postpartum area. The actual delivery area was separate from the postpartum beds, in a very private area. The beds were more primitive versions of the delivery beds in the US. They even had a metal pan underneath to catch all of the extra "stuff" during a delivery. Each labor/delivery bed was separated; very different than the three cots which were lined up in the L/D area in Iganga Hospital with no privacy or separation between them. There were two babies born the previous evening, including a little boy born to a mother who was diagnosed with Breast Cancer two years earlier. She has been undergoing chemotherapy in the nearby city of Jinja (paid for by the Kakira Sugar Factory) and was not expected to be able to conceive. She also had a mastectomy in Jinja as well. The father of the little infant was telling us that the boy would be named along the likes of a gift, since he was such a precious gift for their family. The naming ceremonies take place one week after birth. The Kakira Hospital provides services at a very affordable/minimal or even zero charge for the factory employees, spouses and up to 4 children under the age of 18. It was a very touching story; miracles really do happen here. I enjoyed seeing the differences in the hospitals...Sugar is one of the largest crops here. Other crops include coffee, bananas, tea and maize. The corn is not like ours in the US; it is not sweet at all. I will try to find some sugar to take home with me. If anyone has special requests for gifts, please let me know! I have two shopping days coming up!!!

After our experience at Kakira Hospital, off we went to return to Mum's for a farewell dinner of sorts. Joseph, our wonderful chef, prepared a special feast for us in the VIP upstairs area of the hotel. The staff had arranged for a DJ to provide tunes during dinner, and then naturally for a huge party following. Wine all around and dancing till the late hours of the evening. I cannot say enough good things about the entire staff here and our stay. I think without Joseph's cooking, we would have been a very crabby bunch indeed. The entire staff came upstairs to dance with us; traditional dancing and African music as well as some American tunes. Joseph's fiancee, Samantha even came!

On Sunday, Joseph invited us to his house, and then for a walk with his fiancee and her best friend, Sophie. Sophie comes from Kenya and had a very difficult childhood. She is a journalist and attends school here in Iganga. She was telling one of the students here more about child sacrifice and the practices here, especially in Uganda. Apparently some witch doctors are also sought for help in making families wealthy; and in order to send messages to the spirits, he will need an organ of some sort from one of the children-apparently the youngest is often selected. There are many accidents here that result in deaths in childhood, and Sophie speculated that many of these are due to this practice. She told the story of a recent death along the railroad tracks which run nearby our hotel. A young boy was apparently sliced in half by a train and she heard the screams. I am not sure the exact details of the situation, but I doubt that a child would just lay on train tracks on purpose; and even if they did, likely they would move, crawl or scramble out of the way so perhaps only they suffered an amputation.....a horrible story regardless, and one that makes my stomach just lurch. I have no words to express my horror with this practice. I do not understand it at all and it angers me to tell you about this practice here. The topic of child sacrifice was brought up last week in one of our school presentations; we were interacting with the students about violence and asking them for examples. I was shocked to hear about it and was even more horrified to hear Sophie's story.

This morning our group gave our final presentations at BU. I am pleased to report that all of my assignments have been completed and I am looking forward to relaxing for the remaining time here. Tomorrow morning we are leaving to travel to Queen Elizabeth National Park. We will travel through Jinja on our way, and likely stop for a little shopping. Thursday is the actual day we will be visiting the park and then we are traveling back to Entebbe on Friday. Saturday we will be shopping in the nearby capitol city, Kampala and we will depart for the US on Sunday from Entebbe (I believe our plane leaves around 7PM local time/11AM CST). I will be back in Chicago on Monday, around 1240PM. I can't wait to be home.

A few words about what I am looking forward to...such as driving on Hwy 41, which is incredibly safe in comparison to the traffic here. Passing here can happen at any time, anywhere, and as many vehicles can be passed at a time as you can pass. Often this results in a crazy game of "chicken" or even a third lane on the shoulder of the dirt road. I am looking forward to all of the rules and regulations back in the US.

I hope everyone is well. Love you!