Immunizing Babies

So this was an awesome day. All of our drivers were out and, being wednesday, the clinic we have on site was scheduled to be going out to a local village and doing immunizations for all the wee ones. I was asked by our clinical officer to fill in and help to drive some of our nurses down to the village of Mbirizi which is about 15 minutes drive away. Really, I love kids, but have no idea what to do, so I figured it would be best for everyone if I brought a camera along rather than trying to "help" in any other way. Going on 28 years of previous experience, this was the right move, and I'm sure lives were saved.

Some of the pictures turned out alright. Looking back at them now I'm more moved by how beautiful these women and their children are in the midst of some pretty iffy conditions. That and the unceasing amazement at the beauty of the country and the vibrant smiles of everyone living here. If you need a lift, just go hang out in a village for awhile and witness the capability for extremes our emotions give us. It's a ride.

Anyway... check out these pictures of babies :)
-S

PS - some of these photos have needles in them, for those who tend to faint at the sight of such things

From Immunizing Babies

One of our nurses, Naka, giving a shot

From Immunizing Babies

Another nurse, Deborah, managing the books and helping with shots

From Immunizing Babies

From Immunizing Babies

This is Godfrey, a volunteer community mobiliser who has been helping KCC with immunizations for years and years. This guy is a fireball and made people I never thought could smile bust out laughing. He's not paid for his work but lives in the village and just wants to help

From Immunizing Babies

From Immunizing Babies

From Immunizing Babies

From Immunizing Babies

This man was a drunk, but still showed up to have his son immunized. The comedy value was pretty high but someone had to walk him home and carry his son for him.

From Immunizing Babies

From Immunizing Babies

From Immunizing Babies

From Immunizing Babies

From Immunizing Babies

From Immunizing Babies

From Immunizing Babies

From Immunizing Babies

...

written while listening to Ocean Cloud by Marillion

Ivan

Investing in the kids around here is pretty rewarding. This is Ivan:

From Ivan

Ivy

I probably spent 45 minutes with him the other day just messing around with the webcam so he could see himself. (Funny thing, you would have thought I could get a decent picture in that time, but I didn't...) I've been rewarded for that by his presence at my desk every day just to hang out. Ivan's only in P1 so his English is just starting to come along, but every day he'll slip in the door and give me a 'good morning', then give me a hug and start to communicate through hand signals. We've had enthralling conversations, such as "My name is Ivan" and "the drums are loud."

Anyway, I'm enjoying it and thought I'd post up. Otherwise things are good, though a bit slow. Jamie and I have had a great time over the past few weeks taking our office staff out for dinner at a local restaurant called Hajjat's. The restaurant has somehow perfected this fried beef thing. I couldn't even begin to describe it, but it's amazing. Amazing enough to balance out the fish-head soup.

Oh yeah! The Farm Borehole is finished.

From Ivan

Water all up in my farm

Remember that post? Things weren't going smoothly. Drilling company went, broke their rig, welded it and broke it again, finished, came back to install the pipes and all that came out was sludge. So they redrilled, installed, and dropped the pipes. Keep in mind - this borehole is 100 metres! Came back to get the pipes back out, and had to put so many other pipes back in to retrieve them that 15 of our builders couldn't lift them out - too heavy. Used a truck to lift them, broke the truck. Came back one final time with a huge crane and, after briefly breaking the crane, managed to lift them out and finish the install. End result is there is water on the Farm.

And not a moment too soon. Dry season continues, and though we've had a spattering there are just no words to describe the dust.

Cheers from Kibaale.

Pump *clap* my water

Lame title. I know.

Dry season has been upon us for awhile. Today we were fortunate to have 20 minutes of drizzle and some chilly weather. It was a nice break from the hot heat and dry dryness of dry season.

We're choking on dust most days. It hasn't rained in eight weeks, other than a tiny speckle here and there. The grass looks burned in some places, the cows wander through our yards at night searching for greens, and our tanks are running dry. All is not lost though (depending on how you look at it) - we're all pumping water now.

From Pahmp you ahhhp

Shortly before this was taken, I say "There's a 50% chance my hand is going to look bent and femmy when you take that." This is the school's borehole. The big metal box on front is an iron removal plant to get rid of the iron in the water.

From Pahmp you ahhhp

Our jerry can.

From Pahmp you ahhhp

... in the shade.