Hello everyone! Sorry it has been so long! This past weekend we traveled to the Southern Hemisphere to Queen Elizabeth National Park. We stayed at a lovely cottage and went on two safaris! The first was a water safari where we saw: hippos, water buffalo, crocodiles, elephants, monkeys, birds, leopard (very rare to see), and a lion! It was so fun! There were people from all over the world on the boat, so it was nice to hear about their travels as well. After the safari, we took some time to use the health club/spa and have a great workout! We all agreed that it felt so great to use a treadmill again! After we got cleaned up, we all enjoyed n absolutely DELICIOUS dinner with Sister Lillian at the lodge's restaurant. We dinned by candlelight and enjoyed the company of the creepy flying bats around our heads. A little too close at times.
The next morning we woke up bright and early to head out for our land safari! We traveled in a roofless truck to the Savanna. Here were saw an endless amount of animals: Kob (antelope), warthogs (Pumba), elephants, lions and lionesses (Simba and Nala), monkeys (Rafiki), and a hippo on the way back to the lodge! After the safari was over we did some last minute shopping at the gift shops and headed back to Fort Portal.
Today was another great day at the clinic. Right when we arrived there was a young woman in labor with her seventh child. We learned that this woman was HIV positive and only had one living child of her seven pregnancies. The mother did not receive medical care in time to prevent transmission of the virus to her babies. This baby, born today, will be tested in approximately two months to see if lifetime HIV medication will be needed. It is very likely that this baby will acquire the virus because the mother has no choice but to breastfeed her baby. She does not have the money for alternative feeding methods. In order for her baby not to starve to death, it has not choice but to become HIV positive through its own nourishment. We were all just so shocked to be a part of this experience. Back home, a woman in this same situation would have the best possible care available to her and endless resources to assist her during pregnancy and after delivery. It was a very eye-opening experience.
Since it was Tuesday, we headed out for another Outreach experience. Today's was a much better experience than last week because we set up an organized station and had the mother's form lines with their infants while waiting to receive the immunizations. It ran very smoothly! We also provided antenatal care in the field. This included prenatal assessments and tetanus shots.
It was a good days work and it feels so great to be back here in Kyarusozi with the Sisters!
Love,
Kelley, Meg and Remi
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