Apwoyo!!

Apwoyo!! That is 'greetings' in Acholi, the local dialect that is spoken in Northern Uganda. I can't believe I have been here for over two weeks, and it is nearly time for me to head back across the ocean. It has been a fantastic trip, and so great to reunite with old friends and meet new ones. There are so many highlights, I don't know where to begin.

The Farm looks fantastic, with all kinds of new buildings going up, including the Clinic, the Vocational School, a teachers quarters, and many new tukels for all the help that is part of the Farm community. We christened the Clinic building with a small medical treatment day. Only about a hundred people showed up. It was supposed to be primarily pregnant women and small children, but you know how that goes, so we worked until it was too dark to see the medications. It has inspired us to strive for solar panels so we can see in the evenings!! All in all, it was great to be working in the space of the new clinic!! So many more works days to come in the future.

The seven women from the Village Healthcare Training are doing fantastic. Alice, Christine, Pauline, Evelyn, Katie, Paula, and Jennifer arrived once again with work bags in hand, ready for more learning!! Brenda, we missed you, it was not the same!!! Richard helped me translate, and everything we reviewed they had in their memory!! Last year Jennifer was pregnant during our sessions. She had twins in the spring, two girls and they named them Brenda and Leigh!!! What an honor!! They almost did not survive as Evelyn was there and had to perform CPR on both babies. The story was unbelievable!!

As I said there are so many stories, I can only tell a few. However, I must share the adventure of Murchison Park. Another highlight because we got to see the lions!! Two cubs that were resting under a tree while there mother was off hunting. It made us a little late to meet Str. Vincentina(I was afraid I might be in trouble), but was so exciting for Ashley, Jim and myself!! Everything worked out fine in the end. We also spent a night at the Red Chili inside the park, and took a boat ride to the bottom of the falls. From the boat we got up close to the elephants, the crocodiles and tons and tons of hippos!! From the advise of Suzan we also got out at the falls and hiked to the top. Bosco accompanied us, and showed us all the places he had worked in the Park. Everywhere we went he knew people. We felt very safe!!

Finally, I want to share our arrival to Kolongo. Str. Vincentina and the whole community have been so gracious. Immediately they put Jim to work, while Nadine, Ashley and I have been visiting with the nursing students and planning our trip to Wipolo. This morning we hiked the big hill behind the hospital. We were up at 5 am and were accompanied by Bosco, Jackson and Lucy one of the students! We saw the sun rise and it was very beautiful. That should be all for now. Alex, a friend here has joined me for a conversation so I had better go. Apwoyo to everybody!! I hope you are all well and staying warm!! Leigh