Uganda trip and cheerleader daughter

[Very Duke Blue]

Just caught on reading. So happy CD is having a good experience. Looking forward to the pics. It won't be long before she is home.

[devildeac]

I sent the update to CB&B via an email forward. Let's see if he can get it posted here.

[CameronBornAndBred]

(Claire's email via DD)

My dear family and friends,

It’s hard to believe that two weeks from tonight, we will be leaving Uganda! Our trip has continued to surprise as well as frustrate me continually. We are still enjoying ourselves, and we really feel as though we are making small but significant differences in the lives of those we encounter. Though cliché I must admit that it seems the people here have affected and helped us even more than we have helped them.
Since my last email, we completed the Safe Motherhood Intervention; we saw ~650 women at four village health centers. Now we are almost finished with follow-up appointments for women with risk factors during their pregnancy. The gender-specific focus groups and health worker interviews provided great insight into rural Ugandan culture that we can use to build our program in the future. Our Rainwater Harvesting project group is beginning to wrap up several of their projects. They have completed their water/sanitation education campaign in primary schools, printed water sanitation posters, and organized construction of water collection tanks, which is well underway.
For the next two weeks, we will be finishing follow-ups, visiting (water collection) tank openings, and writing many detailed reports. We will also visit the Millennium Village Project next week, which should be an enlightening and inspiring experience. Though still in the planning stages, our trip should end with a trip to Jinja, an exciting tourist destination and a great way to celebrate a demanding and productive summer!

Again I have chosen to organize my email topically instead of chronologically, though I have been keeping a daily journal … enjoy

Project-Related Stories
-- As I said, we have been following up with women in their homes. Jackie and Gloria, the health workers with us, identified many women with risk factors and complications during the intervention – these are the women we are visiting. It has been an edifying and humbling experience. We have hiked all over Kashongi to find the women, and they are all so grateful for our visit. We have been able to talk to the women and many of their husbands about their families and the efficacy of the intervention. As icing on the cake, most of them show their appreciation with yummy fruit (such as papayas, jack fruit, avocados) and beverages!
-- I helped our Rainwater Harvesting project group one day last week while they were giving education talks to schools. I watched at one school then participated at the second assembly, including a hand-washing demonstration and a cutesy discussion about football players and their healthy habits. I had a fun time watching all the students and taking pictures of them after the assembly, of course.
-- Uganda’s long-standing President, Museveni, actually visited Kashongi last Thursday! Dr. Mugerwa, our Ugandan partner, has known President Museveni since childhood, and since the community members of Kashongi appreciate our work, we were given VIP seats for his speech. We arrived at 2pm and watched countless singing groups and dancers; Museveni didn’t show up until 5:30 then gave his speech from 6-7. He emphasized the importance of modern farming techniques, the significance of individual families, and his plans to build infrastructure in villages like Kashongi. It was a much longer event than expected, but it was definitely a cool opportunity.


*Weekends*
Queen Elizabeth National Park
DukeEngage sponsored our weekend trip to QENP as a necessary “cultural experience,” and we all had a wonderful time. We stayed at Kingfisher Resort, which looks over the expanse of the park. Our rooms were individual huts, and they even had hot water! We rode in safari vehicles for a Saturday night safari and a Sunday morning safari; there were lots of impala, baboons, warthogs, elephants, cape buffalo, and a few lionesses! On a boat tour, we saw more elephants, buffalo, hippos, monkeys, and many birds. The trip fell halfway through our trip (our 5th weekend) – an excellent retreat away from our work for a couple days.

Mbarara
We spent the past two weekends in Mbarara, basically just relaxing and shopping. We found a few good places to eat, a leather sandal maker, a seamstress, and a massage/mani/pedi spa. We can get a good pedicure or massage for less than $5!

Fort Portal
A small group of us are planning a trip to Fort Portal near the Rwenzori Mountains for this weekend. We will probably do a 4-hour hiking/walking tour around the national park and a 35km cycling tour by caves, a waterfall, a (swimming) lake; hopefully we’ll see some of the numerous crater lakes nearby and maybe botanical gardens. It should be a fun weekend in what many consider the prettiest cities of Uganda.

Miscellaneous
-- We have all felt very safe since the bombings in Kampala. The DukeEngage directors do not anticipate any potential problems, but they will continue to closely monitor the situation until we leave.
-- Weather: surprisingly there have been two thunderstorms in July and even a minor earthquake on a Friday night!
--We had a day of hospital visits for members of our team. Sophie had minor dental surgery to remove infected gum tissue resulting from wisdom-tooth teething; she feels much better and did not experience any side effects other than numb cheeks for a day. Lauren had increasingly severe stomach pains for a couple weeks, most likely from Doxycycline, but has felt much better after taking several medicines prescribed by the doctors at Mayanja Memorial Hospital. I went with her to the hospital and Gloria, the sonographer who works with us, was not busy so she invited us into her office. We both got free ultrasound scans to check our abdominal organs everything was normal!
--Josh, Bean, and I decided to buy a pet rooster for Tank Hill! We named him Randall the Rooster. Unfortunately not everyone enjoyed waking up to his crow at 5 or 6 every morning, so we had to give him away.
--I have finished 8 books since leaving the U.S. My most meaningful read was Pathologies of Power by Paul Farmer. His stories from Haiti, Russia, Cuba, and Peru combined with my experiences this summer have further encouraged my ambitions to (for lack of better words) provide more medical care to the poor, either locally or internationally.

Well that about sums up the past couple weeks. Please continue to pray for our Ugandan partners as well as the people we are serving. Intercede that we would not grow more homesick so that we would all cherish the last few days we have here. Though I miss home, I am still enjoying my time here and trying to do my best work!

Love,
Claire

[devildeac]

(Claire's email via DD)

My dear family and friends,

It’s hard to believe that two weeks from tonight, we will be leaving Uganda! Our trip has continued to surprise as well as frustrate me continually. We are still enjoying ourselves, and we really feel as though we are making small but significant differences in the lives of those we encounter. Though cliché I must admit that it seems the people here have affected and helped us even more than we have helped them.
Since my last email, we completed the Safe Motherhood Intervention; we saw ~650 women at four village health centers. Now we are almost finished with follow-up appointments for women with risk factors during their pregnancy. The gender-specific focus groups and health worker interviews provided great insight into rural Ugandan culture that we can use to build our program in the future. Our Rainwater Harvesting project group is beginning to wrap up several of their projects. They have completed their water/sanitation education campaign in primary schools, printed water sanitation posters, and organized construction of water collection tanks, which is well underway.
For the next two weeks, we will be finishing follow-ups, visiting (water collection) tank openings, and writing many detailed reports. We will also visit the Millennium Village Project next week, which should be an enlightening and inspiring experience. Though still in the planning stages, our trip should end with a trip to Jinja, an exciting tourist destination and a great way to celebrate a demanding and productive summer!

Again I have chosen to organize my email topically instead of chronologically, though I have been keeping a daily journal … enjoy

Project-Related Stories
-- As I said, we have been following up with women in their homes. Jackie and Gloria, the health workers with us, identified many women with risk factors and complications during the intervention – these are the women we are visiting. It has been an edifying and humbling experience. We have hiked all over Kashongi to find the women, and they are all so grateful for our visit. We have been able to talk to the women and many of their husbands about their families and the efficacy of the intervention. As icing on the cake, most of them show their appreciation with yummy fruit (such as papayas, jack fruit, avocados) and beverages!
-- I helped our Rainwater Harvesting project group one day last week while they were giving education talks to schools. I watched at one school then participated at the second assembly, including a hand-washing demonstration and a cutesy discussion about football players and their healthy habits. I had a fun time watching all the students and taking pictures of them after the assembly, of course.
-- Uganda’s long-standing President, Museveni, actually visited Kashongi last Thursday! Dr. Mugerwa, our Ugandan partner, has known President Museveni since childhood, and since the community members of Kashongi appreciate our work, we were given VIP seats for his speech. We arrived at 2pm and watched countless singing groups and dancers; Museveni didn’t show up until 5:30 then gave his speech from 6-7. He emphasized the importance of modern farming techniques, the significance of individual families, and his plans to build infrastructure in villages like Kashongi. It was a much longer event than expected, but it was definitely a cool opportunity.


*Weekends*
Queen Elizabeth National Park
DukeEngage sponsored our weekend trip to QENP as a necessary “cultural experience,” and we all had a wonderful time. We stayed at Kingfisher Resort, which looks over the expanse of the park. Our rooms were individual huts, and they even had hot water! We rode in safari vehicles for a Saturday night safari and a Sunday morning safari; there were lots of impala, baboons, warthogs, elephants, cape buffalo, and a few lionesses! On a boat tour, we saw more elephants, buffalo, hippos, monkeys, and many birds. The trip fell halfway through our trip (our 5th weekend) – an excellent retreat away from our work for a couple days.

Mbarara
We spent the past two weekends in Mbarara, basically just relaxing and shopping. We found a few good places to eat, a leather sandal maker, a seamstress, and a massage/mani/pedi spa. We can get a good pedicure or massage for less than $5!

Fort Portal
A small group of us are planning a trip to Fort Portal near the Rwenzori Mountains for this weekend. We will probably do a 4-hour hiking/walking tour around the national park and a 35km cycling tour by caves, a waterfall, a (swimming) lake; hopefully we’ll see some of the numerous crater lakes nearby and maybe botanical gardens. It should be a fun weekend in what many consider the prettiest cities of Uganda.

Miscellaneous
-- We have all felt very safe since the bombings in Kampala. The DukeEngage directors do not anticipate any potential problems, but they will continue to closely monitor the situation until we leave.
-- Weather: surprisingly there have been two thunderstorms in July and even a minor earthquake on a Friday night!
--We had a day of hospital visits for members of our team. Sophie had minor dental surgery to remove infected gum tissue resulting from wisdom-tooth teething; she feels much better and did not experience any side effects other than numb cheeks for a day. Lauren had increasingly severe stomach pains for a couple weeks, most likely from Doxycycline, but has felt much better after taking several medicines prescribed by the doctors at Mayanja Memorial Hospital. I went with her to the hospital and Gloria, the sonographer who works with us, was not busy so she invited us into her office. We both got free ultrasound scans to check our abdominal organs everything was normal!
--Josh, Bean, and I decided to buy a pet rooster for Tank Hill! We named him Randall the Rooster. Unfortunately not everyone enjoyed waking up to his crow at 5 or 6 every morning, so we had to give him away.
--I have finished 8 books since leaving the U.S. My most meaningful read was Pathologies of Power by Paul Farmer. His stories from Haiti, Russia, Cuba, and Peru combined with my experiences this summer have further encouraged my ambitions to (for lack of better words) provide more medical care to the poor, either locally or internationally.

Well that about sums up the past couple weeks. Please continue to pray for our Ugandan partners as well as the people we are serving. Intercede that we would not grow more homesick so that we would all cherish the last few days we have here. Though I miss home, I am still enjoying my time here and trying to do my best work!

Love,
Claire

Thank you for transferring from your email to CTN.

[CathyCA]

Thanks for sharing Claire's email. She is a thoughtful, compassionate, articulate young woman!

[lawgrad91]

Thanks a lot for posting. DD, y'all must be really proud of CLD. She sounds like a fantastic young lady!

[devildeac]

Thanks a lot for posting. DD, y'all must be really proud of CLD. She sounds like a fantastic young lady!

Thanks.

[DukeUsul]

She's really an inspiration. I hope my Katie Claire grows up to be a lot like your Claire.

[Lavabe]

Any update?

[devildeac]

Any update?

Not since last week. Hoping to get a newsy mass email next 1-2 days. She leaves Uganda 8/11 and scheduled to return to RDU about 5 PM on 8/12.

[devildeac]

Any update?

Heck, you got to Skype with her today, YOU give us an update .

They packed up today and head from Mbarara to Jinja tomorrow. They have a rafting trip scheduled on the Victoria Nile tomorrow or Tuesday and head home Wednesday from Kampala/Entebbe and are scheduled to arrive at RDU about 5PM this Thursday.

[colchar]

This sounds like an awesome experience.

[devildeac]

About 430PM Uganda time. Should be finished her Nile rafting expedition and preparing for her final night in the country before flying out Wednesday AM. My wife is planning on her last Skype call early to mid-afternoon today EST.

[Lavabe]

Any update?

Heck, you got to Skype with her today, YOU give us an update .

They packed up today and head from Mbarara to Jinja tomorrow. They have a rafting trip scheduled on the Victoria Nile tomorrow or Tuesday and head home Wednesday from Kampala/Entebbe and are scheduled to arrive at RDU about 5PM this Thursday.

Any update?

[Lavabe]

About 430PM Uganda time. Should be finished her Nile rafting expedition and preparing for her final night in the country before flying out Wednesday AM. My wife is planning on her last Skype call early to mid-afternoon today EST.

Entebbe direct to Raleigh, or a stopover some place?

[devildeac]

About 430PM Uganda time. Should be finished her Nile rafting expedition and preparing for her final night in the country before flying out Wednesday AM. My wife is planning on her last Skype call early to mid-afternoon today EST.

Entebbe direct to Raleigh, or a stopover some place?

IIRC, Entebbe to Amsterdam to JFK and then RDU.


Entebbe direct to Raleigh?

[devildeac]

She departed Uganda at about 950 PM their time today (they are 7 hours ahead of EST) and is scheduled to land in Amsterdam at about 435 AM their time which should be in the next 5-10 minutes as I type at 1030 PM in Raleigh. If I PW enough tonight, I should be able to give you an arrival status soon.

[CathyCA]

I'm sending my thoughts and prayers for travel mercies.

[lawgrad91]

Knowing you, DD, PW'ing shouldn't be hard.

Please keep us posted. Prayers and vibes for CLD as she returns.

[devildeac]

She is in Amsterdam .

Flight Complete Entebbe/Kampala (EBB) 9:50pm
11 Aug 9:44pm
11 Aug Amsterdam (AMS) 5:15am
12 Aug 4:30am
11 Aug