Rugarama Hill

This is our hill... at the bottom. If you are facing this way, Kabale town is to the right and behind you. I am standing in front of the hospital--it's on my left.

This is a shot of a field and school that we cut through to get to town on foot. It seems to be a bit of a city park on the week-ends--lots of families and kids playing football.
A few houses behind the hospital.
The walking trail is on your right--pedestrian yield to bikes, motorcycles and cars, so this is an important path :).
A group of bicycle boda boda guys (bike taxi's) They are all over town--these are in front of the hospital and honestly, an intimidating group. I took this on zoom :). Hey, muzungu, I take you to town??? No, thanks, Bakiga, I love to walk...

Ok, so this is the point where the walking path goes on a short cut. There are short cuts all over town, but it has taken me a bit to recognize them :). to the left is walking, straight ahead, the road continues on to a steep curve.

OK, we made it up the path! Now, you see Rugarama Loop. It circles around and you would see houses, schools, church offices, the university and a few small shops and hotel.
I have turned around and am looking down the short cut.
One thing I love are the trees. This is a pine tree, but it looks like a weeping willow! Amazing. Also, did you know that banana trees sound like flags in the wind? I had no idea.

Loads of history in this area--from the ancient to the modern.

A construction sight. Loads and loads of rocks--actually, there are several rock quarries near us and people just tapping away and piling up rocks for building and such.
We have a bit of a driveway coming from our house and then it connects with the main road. This is the view from our driveway.
Our house sits on the gates of the university--if you look closely under the white sign, there is a boda boda--there is almost one or two waiting for students or faculty to transport.
Same shot, but now you can see our driveway and house on the right.
This is the scene. The hill is quite steep and the folks walk their bicycles up. Notice the motorcycle--they always coast down!!! We wondered if this would change the price since they cut the gas, but found out they charge for what it takes to come up the hill :)--no half price deals.
Here is a walking path along side our house--this is our fence to the left. I also found out this leads to another short cut to town, but according to my friend, she would never use it--too isolated. Hmm...
Here is the neighbor's house.
Neighbor's garden and hills beyond. If you are on the campus, you would get an amazing view, but we have a great forest to look at.
Another cool pine tree.
I thought these were weaver bird nests, but I discovered that they are the pine cones--funky!
Another endearing shot--the path that leads up to the library. Gorgeous trees that have these purple flowers that drape the ground--it's like a wedding.

It is more vivid in person, but I tried.
Another favorite shot on campus--lots of history.

Rugarama Hospital

You can read more about the hospital from their website here

Front of the hospital.

To the right as you come in--the parking lot. The Lions Club helped with the dental center, which also houses the x-ray and ultra sound rooms.
Reception.
Chapel--staff and patients begin the day 8-8:30am in chapel--yes, there is a drum!
Pharmacy.
For the babies.

Still learning names! One of the nurses in a patient room.

On the right are the men's wing and women's wing and this path leads out to the maternity and children's ward, which includes a program for malnourished children, as well as different counseling and education offices.

Families and friends come to take care of the patients--cooking meals and doing laundry, so they stay on the grounds and there are outdoor cooking. toliet and washing facilities.
There are several clinical officers and Aaron has been rounding with them as he starts. This is the preemie room with up to 3 little preemies per incubator.
Tiny baby!

Here is one of many of the young mothers in the room.

Bedding tucked away until the night.

The lab.
A new CBC machine! This was Aaron's first time to talk to the lab technicians--it was encouraging to hear their heart for what they love to do and how they love microbiology and a bit discouraging to hear of the lack of resources. The training is there, the facilities are not--yet!


There is a nursing school in town and this guy in rust/yellow is one of the nursing students--they have so many! We were encouraged to see them being trained--we love students!

Here are some of the moms and babies waiting for rounds--they empty out of the rooms and just go about their lives and then they come back in when the doctors come--like the freedom :).
Inside the dental--it's a great facility.

A normal week!

Yes, it's true--this is Mallory's little homework book. She is in preschool and they teach drawing, numbers and letters and this is her notebook the teacher is sending home so she can practice drawing.

Aaron and I both have a pattern of making severe situations more depressing. The day Emma Shae got diagnosed with a blood disorder, we had a date night and watched The Book of Eli at the movies--in case you don't know, it's post-nuclear U.S. and while a good movie is not the choice if you are already in a crisis.

So, we are in the full throws of culture shock and in the first few days of moving to Kabale--a unique and overwhelming time of feeling helpless on every level. No problem--to be expected. We have just moved from being high functioning in our own society to low functioning in our new culture. Fine. Well, I was looking around for something to read and spotted The More with Less Cookbook. A GREAT cookbook. I made the mistake of reading the introduction written in the 1980's about how we in the U.S. are over consuming and about obesity and how we live in excess as a lifestyle--totally depressing. I've just moved to a developing country and I am further exposed as a westerner AND I can see with my own eyes the poverty and destruction. If this was true in the '80's, how much more true is it now? Great.

I do like the term "deconsumerism" Now that I am burning my own trash, I am trying to get into it! In the U.S., I can put things in the trash and these nice people come every week to take it away and it entertains my children and I can make a little pre-school lesson out of it. The kids are still entertained by the burning of the trash, but I can't wrap my mind around this.

So, coming out of some severe culture shock, we had a very good week. Not that circumstances have changed per se. Something inside of me has changed, which is nice. Is this acceptance? Power outages, water outages, making from scratch, waiting on furniture to be built to organize our lives... fine. Trying to live my life anyway and enjoy things! Aaron started work this week at the hospital. I enjoy Aaron going to work :)--it encourages me greatly to have a routine and to see him reviewing medical notes and journals. To pray for and support him in what he does brings me joy.

I also like fresh food!!! Wow, this week, Precious who helps us in the house came with a load from the market. She can get better prices than me and after I scoped out what they have I can send her in like a secret weapon. Score. Secondly, there are a couple of nice people who come around to your house selling vegetables that appeal to westerners--herbs, lettuce, etc. I have never been so happy to eat lettuce and salad and he gave me some swiss chard for free. I am a recipe girl all the way, but this week, I successfully adapted chicken pot pie and pizza sauce--from scratch!! So, we had real meals this week. We also had a Subway night with chips :). Bread like we are used to is harder to get in Uganda. There is a bakery in town that sells western type baked goods, which is nice although it doesn't always taste like you think it will. So, we spotted a baguette last week and came home with it to make subs, since we also found salami. Precious got a big kick out of it--it is quite a long baguette--she said, "Is that a walking stick?" ha!

One thing that is great is having Precious because she can do a lot of the work that is harder for me--deboning a chicken :)--and I was chopping some fresh green beans and to my surprise, she came over and did some karate moves and within minutes had the whole kilo "processed" by hand, including removing some kind of hard stem, which I didn't even notice. I have a lot to learn and I hope Micah, Mallory and Emma Shae can pick up some of these skills. We do have to soak the lettuce in bleach to kill the unwelcome critters and I just do the rest too, out of habit from staying in Kenya. Not everyone does this.

Here is a happy site--drying veggies.

Leslie's birthday party. It also feels normal to socialize :) We are so glad to be here with friends and glad Leslie was born!