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Day 9 started on a happy note. We were eating our breakfast and preparing ourselves for the day ahead when a gentleman came and introduced himself to us because he heard us talking. It turns out that he was from one of the places the EVE team had been to in Uganda on their November trip.
After breakfast Barb and Jackie went with Nurse C to do some home visits. The rest of us worked to assemble some gift bags with things we brought with us to leave with the ladies.
Just before lunch time we loaded into the van to head to one of the centres. The ones we were at today is about an hours drive away. The drive is very scenic with beautiful mountain views and scenery. We get to see and experience things like a huge herd of sheep being shepherded along the road so we have to move over, driving through police checkpoints and everything in between.
The ladies began to arrive soon after we did. It was so nice to see them again as we hadn’t seen them since early last week. As they arrived there were many smiles and hugs. It was like we were old friends. It has been so wonderful that these ladies have trusted us enough to open up and let us build this connection with them.
We began our session with a review of last day and then the ladies immediately took us off track with a very heavy but important topic. It was nice that they had many good ideas of how to recognize and help others in their community that needed it. We ended our session by making journals that they could draw or write their feelings in when they had no one to talk to. Very rewarding session.
Next we left the centre and headed for dinner. This was a very very special dinner. We were so fortunate to have been invited by a family to have dinner at their home. This family originally lived in one of the camps and worked very hard to have a home of their own. There are 7 children….add 6 of us, a field team member, and a few family relatives and we were over 20 people in their home! The children are currently all still living at home and working hard to contribute to having this home. They cooked an amazing dinner (I know I say this about every meal but the food here is really awesome!) of dolma, biryani, and salad. Delicious. Four of the children have helped us as translators at some of our sessions. We were so very honoured to be invited.
We finished the day with a very entertaining taxi ride home. Our driver was happy to converse with us all the way home. This experience has far exceeded my dreams and expectations.
-Sara
Home Visits!
The day began with Barb and I being picked up by Nurse C to join her on home visits. We arrived at the camp and Barb stayed at the medical clinic while Nurse C and I headed out for the home visit. While driving to the visit we ran over a chunk of concrete and ended up with some damage to the vehicle. But we made it to the visit. The husband greeted us and let us into the home.
Nurse C introduced me to Mom, grandmother and baby boy. Nurse C completed her assessment of baby boy who was gaining weight and thriving. We shared drinks of water, pictures were taken, it was a happy visit.
Nurse C had called for a taxi to take us back to the hotel as we were unsure if the vehicle would be OK to drive. The taxi driver came checked the vehicle and fixed it! We drove back to the clinic to pick up Barb, Unfortunately we ran out of time for another home visit but Nurse C showed us around the clinic and introduced us to the staff and one of our translators was there it was so nice to see her again. Barb said she had a pleasant morning visiting with the staff and really connected to one of the staff who was in medical school.
Then back to hotel we went to meet up with the team members to start the afternoon activities
Jackie
