I love Tuesdays. They are our Outreach days. Maria joins me in going to the health center in the morning and, along with a lady named Jane, we pack up the immunizations and some ice packs in an insulated box. Then we strap that and a bag onto the back of our bikes and head off. We go to four different places and rotate them so that we hit each place once a month. It’s a wind-in-your-hair-sun-beating-down kind of ride through rural Uganda. There are villages comprised of dirt or brick huts, the occasional house, and small trading centers.
When I first arrived here they asked me if I could ride a bike. I said, “Of course!” I think a more appropriate question would have been, “Have you ever mountain biked on a very old bike without gears…in a skirt?” We ride on the “roads” but they aren’t much to speak of. The best I can use to compare them to is a really wide Devil’s Den trail. But even those trails are better than the roads here.
We try and great just about everyone on our way with the usual, “Mi Ngoni?” or “Mi a la?” (“How are you?” ”You are good?”) and we get the usual answer along with a smile. Sometimes people stop what they are doing or walking to just stare at the “Mundus” (white people). Best of all are the kids. They usually greet us with shouts of “Mundu! Mundu! How are you?” which is the extent of their English for many. I have learned that the response they learn in school is “I am fine” so I have started saying that instead of “I’m good.” The funny part is that the kids will greet us from afar, but if we dare try to approach to shake their hands, many will run away in fright.
When we reach our destination, which is usually a big tree or under the awning of a building in a trading center, we tie up the scale and get the medication and record sheets out. When the moms come with their babies (or in some cases the older siblings bring them) we weigh them and look at their medical card to see what immunization they need (which Jane administers). When I pick up the kids to weigh them, some of them are fascinated and some are so terrified that they start screaming. For the toddlers and young children who have finished their immunizations, we give out deworming tablets and vitamin A.
About 12:00, we head back to the health center. The way back is a bit more difficult since the sun is high in the sky (the Ugandans look on in curiosity as I apply sunscreen before heading back), and by the time we get back to the health center we are all very tired and sweaty.
But Tuesdays are one of my favorite days of the week and I can’t wait for next week :)
Pictures
Jane, Maria, and I at one of our Outreach sites
Messing around
Biking home
Maria on her bike
What we use to weigh the babies
Another Outreach Site
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