I suck at posting. I suck suck suck. I'm sorry to whomever may care that I haven't posted in about an age... But I have good reasons.
Reason A: There were bombongs in Kampala, which is about 29 miles away from Lugazi (or something like that) and we were on lockdown for a short time, for safety purposes. So no internet for Molly.
Reason B: Eye Camp happened! It was stupendous. Fairly stressful and sort of infuriating, but so unbelievably worth it. We screened somewhere around 2000 people, gave out 600 pairs of glasses, and 137 people recieved surgery. Or some number very close to 137, not positive on the specific numerals... But SUCCESS!! I can't even say how exciting and touching it was to see people see, in some cases after a very long time. I saw a young man have his bandage removed, and he simply sat quietly on his bench, staring at his own hands until they took him to test his vision. He had been completely blind for 3 years. You can't know how incredible it is to witness that sacred moment until you see it for yourself; I've never felt humbler.
But we were busy from day until night, so I never had time to hit the internet before curfew. Nine days later...
Reason C: I got sick. Like, hurl your guts out in the nasty bathroom all night sick. It was rather horrible and had me bed-bound for a day and a half, so that prevented me from going to the internet cafe. Still no internet for Molly.
At that point, I left Africa.
That was absolutely one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. As great as my American friends are, I can honestly say that I've never known people as beautiful and loving and genuinely good as my Ugandan friends. Saying goodbye was excruciating. I never thought I could make such close, wonderful friends in 3 months, but I did. The only way I could bear leaving that magnificent country was the thought that someday, I will go back. No maybes. No mights. I will go back someday.
So I ended up in London for a few days on the way back home, and that was pretty great. I saw Les Miserables, which was awesome, and one of the Jonas Brothers was Marius... which would have been awesome-er if I cared at all about them. I can't remember his name but I feel like it was something like Max. Is there a Max Jonas? Anyway, the show was splendid! Really incredible. I also saw Henry IV at Shakespear's Globe Theatre, which rocked my freaking socks! That was some truly unbelievable acting. Never seen anything like it! The London days were a blur of cool stuff: museums, libraries, architecture... it was fantastic. I saw the Rosetta Stone! And the friezes from the Parthenon! And mummies! And ate fish 'n' chips at a pub! It was great. Expensive, but great.
And now I'm back in America. Don't know what I'm doing with my life, yet, so don't ask.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Friday, July 9, 2010
Fish Taxis. Eye Camp. G-nut.
This is probably my last post from Africa. Maybe not, but probably. I’m out of time!
Eye Camp starts on Monday. It’s going to last for eight days; three at Naggalama, two at Nkokonjeru, and three at Kawolo Hospital here in Lugazi. We’ve got eye surgeons coming from Kampala and Jinja for seven of the eight days, and the screening staff from Kawolo is coming to each hospital with us. We have supplies and staff for as many cataract surgeries as we find candidates for, which is spectacular considering all the struggles we’ve had with our lack of funding. Our buddies at Sightsavers came through at the last minute; previously we thought we’d only be able to do 100 surgeries. We’re counting on about 200, now. I don’t remember if I’ve mentioned it before, but I’ve been one of two people who have been working on coordinating this thing from the beginning. I’ve put in a lot of time and effort to make all of this work, so seeing it come to fruition is just incredible. I’ve been to Kampala twice and Nkokonjeru once in just this last week, and neither of those places is a small distance away. I’ve spent somewhere around 13 hours on a taxi in just the last four days, which doesn’t seem so bad unless you understand what taxis are like here. Paint yourself a mental image: more than 20 people crammed in a smelly van licensed and built to carry no more than 14, typically stuffed with nice little extras like huge sacks of reeking fish or live chickens running around on the floor or thousands of ants creeping all over you. Throw in some unjustified yelling, loud fare bartering, and people randomly handing you their screaming babies, and you’ve got it. It’s great fun. Anyway, Eye Camp is going to be incredible, but we have a hell of a lot of work to do to get it done. Two days to prepare. Ugh.
Uh… what else has been happening? I don’t know. I think I’m getting too used to things here. Nothing seems odd to me anymore, though I’m sure if I stepped back and looked at the things that happen I would realize how unusual they really are. I’ll never freak out about bugs again, I can say that much. I’m more tolerant of finding weird things in my food than I probably ought to be. Dead things don’t phase me much anymore, and I can ignore any smell, regardless of how nasty it is. I’m far too comfortable around goats, chickens, and geckos. I’ll eat anything you serve me, in any quantity. Even tiny uncooked fish mixed into my g-nut sauce. G-nut tastes like salty peanut butter sauce, just so you know… imagine it, if you please. Mmmm. (That’s sarcasm. G-nut and silverfish will NEVER be an okay combo.)
Don’t let me drive when I get back. I can’t even imagine what this place has done to my idea of “safe driving”.
You know, I think I will post again before I leave Africa. This is a pathetic blog post. I need to end things with a well-written and interesting one, not a lame story about taxis and the gross stuff I don’t care about anymore. I’m lame.
I seriously can’t think of anything else to write about. I will make the next one less stupid, I promise. Later, everyone!
Eye Camp starts on Monday. It’s going to last for eight days; three at Naggalama, two at Nkokonjeru, and three at Kawolo Hospital here in Lugazi. We’ve got eye surgeons coming from Kampala and Jinja for seven of the eight days, and the screening staff from Kawolo is coming to each hospital with us. We have supplies and staff for as many cataract surgeries as we find candidates for, which is spectacular considering all the struggles we’ve had with our lack of funding. Our buddies at Sightsavers came through at the last minute; previously we thought we’d only be able to do 100 surgeries. We’re counting on about 200, now. I don’t remember if I’ve mentioned it before, but I’ve been one of two people who have been working on coordinating this thing from the beginning. I’ve put in a lot of time and effort to make all of this work, so seeing it come to fruition is just incredible. I’ve been to Kampala twice and Nkokonjeru once in just this last week, and neither of those places is a small distance away. I’ve spent somewhere around 13 hours on a taxi in just the last four days, which doesn’t seem so bad unless you understand what taxis are like here. Paint yourself a mental image: more than 20 people crammed in a smelly van licensed and built to carry no more than 14, typically stuffed with nice little extras like huge sacks of reeking fish or live chickens running around on the floor or thousands of ants creeping all over you. Throw in some unjustified yelling, loud fare bartering, and people randomly handing you their screaming babies, and you’ve got it. It’s great fun. Anyway, Eye Camp is going to be incredible, but we have a hell of a lot of work to do to get it done. Two days to prepare. Ugh.
Uh… what else has been happening? I don’t know. I think I’m getting too used to things here. Nothing seems odd to me anymore, though I’m sure if I stepped back and looked at the things that happen I would realize how unusual they really are. I’ll never freak out about bugs again, I can say that much. I’m more tolerant of finding weird things in my food than I probably ought to be. Dead things don’t phase me much anymore, and I can ignore any smell, regardless of how nasty it is. I’m far too comfortable around goats, chickens, and geckos. I’ll eat anything you serve me, in any quantity. Even tiny uncooked fish mixed into my g-nut sauce. G-nut tastes like salty peanut butter sauce, just so you know… imagine it, if you please. Mmmm. (That’s sarcasm. G-nut and silverfish will NEVER be an okay combo.)
Don’t let me drive when I get back. I can’t even imagine what this place has done to my idea of “safe driving”.
You know, I think I will post again before I leave Africa. This is a pathetic blog post. I need to end things with a well-written and interesting one, not a lame story about taxis and the gross stuff I don’t care about anymore. I’m lame.
I seriously can’t think of anything else to write about. I will make the next one less stupid, I promise. Later, everyone!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
This one isn't very amusing. Sorry.
I have three weeks left in Africa! I'm sad that I'm going to have to leave soon because I absolutely love it here, but at the same time I can't wait to get back to the States! Ah, the States. Where you can walk down the street without having someone scream "Mzungu!" at you just for the hell of it. Where you can count on food to not give you parasites. Where you can sleep easy knowing that no one is lurking outside your house waiting to throw bricks at you. Where the streets are paved with cheese. Where you can talk about your life without feeling guilty for having so much. Don't get me wrong, I love Uganda and all of my friends here. But I am an American and America beckons me home!
The parasite thing is a legitimate concern, just so you know. One of the members of my team got worms from some kind of food! She's basically debilitated by pain and exhaustion. She is on a ridiculous hardcore medication regimen to get rid of her little friends. It easily could have happened to any of us, I'm actually surprised it wasn't me. These things tend to happen to me.
Nothing too exciting to talk about. All the projects are sailing along nicely; Eye Camp is in three weeks and the AIDS Festival is in one week! All of my old people are going to the Eye Camp, and I can't wait for them to see! At least three of them have cataracts, and there are probably others that I can't recognize with my limited knowledge. It's going to be great! I love knowing these people on a personal level. It makes orchestrating the Eye Camp so much more worthwhile.
There's a song playing on a radio somewhere that is composed of baby laughter, played in different patterns. Odd.
Who's been watching the World Cup?? ME! I love the freaking World Cup. I've never been so into it before, though I've wanted to be. There's just not enough support in the US. But here, everyone is a fan and everyone watches! Watching games is basically the funniest and most exhilerating thing you can do here; the US v Ghana game was hysterical. You should watch! Give it a try. Soccer is fun.
Last weekend I went to the Ssese Islands out in the middle of Lake Victoria. It was... fun? Not really. Adventurous? Totally. The first thing you should know about the big island is that there is one ferry that leaves at 8 am and comes at 5 pm. That's all. Number two: there is no food on the island. Seriously! We had to climb a real mountain just to find simple beans and chapati. Which is delicious, so it was okay. Also, there were no mosquito nets so I was eaten alive. In 8-10 days I will more than likely have malaria; just giving you all the heads up. But we saw a lot of animals and had some enjoyable impromptu hikes, so all-in-all it was sort of mostly worth it.
Anyway, I have very little to say. My time is growing short so I'll wind it down. I love everyone who is reading this. Have a good week!
The parasite thing is a legitimate concern, just so you know. One of the members of my team got worms from some kind of food! She's basically debilitated by pain and exhaustion. She is on a ridiculous hardcore medication regimen to get rid of her little friends. It easily could have happened to any of us, I'm actually surprised it wasn't me. These things tend to happen to me.
Nothing too exciting to talk about. All the projects are sailing along nicely; Eye Camp is in three weeks and the AIDS Festival is in one week! All of my old people are going to the Eye Camp, and I can't wait for them to see! At least three of them have cataracts, and there are probably others that I can't recognize with my limited knowledge. It's going to be great! I love knowing these people on a personal level. It makes orchestrating the Eye Camp so much more worthwhile.
There's a song playing on a radio somewhere that is composed of baby laughter, played in different patterns. Odd.
Who's been watching the World Cup?? ME! I love the freaking World Cup. I've never been so into it before, though I've wanted to be. There's just not enough support in the US. But here, everyone is a fan and everyone watches! Watching games is basically the funniest and most exhilerating thing you can do here; the US v Ghana game was hysterical. You should watch! Give it a try. Soccer is fun.
Last weekend I went to the Ssese Islands out in the middle of Lake Victoria. It was... fun? Not really. Adventurous? Totally. The first thing you should know about the big island is that there is one ferry that leaves at 8 am and comes at 5 pm. That's all. Number two: there is no food on the island. Seriously! We had to climb a real mountain just to find simple beans and chapati. Which is delicious, so it was okay. Also, there were no mosquito nets so I was eaten alive. In 8-10 days I will more than likely have malaria; just giving you all the heads up. But we saw a lot of animals and had some enjoyable impromptu hikes, so all-in-all it was sort of mostly worth it.
Anyway, I have very little to say. My time is growing short so I'll wind it down. I love everyone who is reading this. Have a good week!
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