Trip photos

Here's a few photos from the trip. Below are a few people that I joined in a trip to a local arts center. They included a few nurses working in Uganda and one medical student from University of Minnesota.

The arts center puts on a show every Sunday of musicians and dancers. The performance includes music and dance from several of the major cultural groups within Uganda.

One highlight of this trip was being invited to eat in people's homes to meet their families and eat local food. Here's me with Dr. Asiimwe and his wife. Dr. Asiimwe spent time in the U.S. to do research training at Case Western in Cleveland, then returned to his home to set up a research center in a rural part of Uganda.

Fun with the Smiths

Coca and I are enjoying time with the Smiths. Rebecca is an amazing chef; she could run a B 'n B. We had steak for dinner, breakfast tart, massages, manicures, and this is only the beginning.

Coca is being really patient with Ava and Olivia. Unfortunately we weren't quick enough to snap a picture of Coca cleaning the steak (very gently) off of Olivia's fingers. They're best friends during meal-time now that Coca knows that Olivia drops a lot of food from her high chair.

Ava is such a grown up now. She has a very sweet personality, and she's a helpful big sister. When she saw me knitting, Ava said that the little sweater was very cute.

Here's a picture with a happy Olivia:


Coca and Ava spontaneously joined us a little later. Olivia was not happy about loosing the camera to Bryan. Ava and I thought it was hilarious.

Update

Well, I am finishing up in Mbarara this week, heading back to Kampala hopefully Saturday. Things have been going well - I had the opportunity to meet the Dean of the medical school, Dr. Nansera (who has visited Wisconsin previously), and a variety of other people. Many of them are interested in collaborating but all of them are so busy and underpaid with their positions. It will be a matter of looking into funding sources when I get back to the U.S.

This medical school (MUST - Mbarara University of Science and Technology) has been a pioneer in "community based education" for medical students - getting them out of the city and into the villages. Hopefully some of our students will be able to visit here and join those visits to the villages to engage in public health activities at some point this year.

Visit to Lisle and Chicago

While Scott is in Uganda, Coca and I visited my family. Coincidentally, Jeff traveled through O'Hare airport on his way to California from Switzerland. It was great to see everyone at Brad's apartment. Somehow we ate a full dinner at 3 pm...

Kampala to Lyantonde to Mbarara

I've just arrived in Mbarara yesterday. My first 2 days were spent in Kampala at Mulago Hospital, which is associated with Makerere University, one of the oldest universities in Africa. The second picture shows Mulago Hospital. The hospital itself is surrounded by many other clinics and medical school buildings, as well as the buildings of many U.S. institutions that have established programs there. They coordinate our student visits and one of their faculty will be hopefully collaborating with us on a project.

After leaving Kampala I went to the small town of Lyantonde and the district hospital located there. Just recently a group of undergraduate UW students were there with a couple of UW faculty members, but I just missed them by a few hours. I met with the health coordinator in the district and toured the hospital. I also visited a "model" village that demonstrates a variety of sanitation and small farming techniques. The first photo shows the home of one of the village members. In front you can see millet and beans that are out to dry. The goal of the visit was to see if students from the UW med school would be able to spend time in Lyantonde, primarily on public health projects.

Now I've made it to Mbarara where I'll be doing some lectures for their doctors in training. I'll also be meeting with the dean and some faculty about research, and seeing if students would also be able to visit Mbarara for electives. So far it's been a successful and safe visit to Uganda.

Uganda Trip

So I'm going back to Uganda for about 2 and a half weeks. I'm currently waiting for the flight from Amsterdam to Entebbe. Entebbe is the city right next to Kampala, the capital of Uganda, and it is where the airport is located. The initial part of my itinerary will be spent visiting Makerere University and Mulago Hospital in Kampala. During my last trip I did not have the opportunity to visit these places, as I was in Mbarara through most of that trip. Currently there is a colleague of mine from the UW nursing school there, and I'm expecting to run into another colleague on the flight into Entebbe who works in UW's population health department. There is also a group of undergraduates traveling with other faculty throughout Uganda. So there are quite a few connections between UW and Uganda. More updates to follow - hopefully with photos.