The One With Helicopters

It's been an interesting week so far.

This past weekend we went to Rakai, we were 14 miles from Tanzania and climbed a hill that gave us the most gorgeous view of the land! The 6 hour trip took us on roads that reminded me of Malawi and I began to miss the people God blessed me with last summer in that beautiful African country. We were out in a more rural area at the Kibaale Community Center. We stayed there and had the pleasure of touring a bit of what they do for the community. They are based out of Vancuver, Canada and have an amazing ministry! They have a school with over 800 children-- each child is fully sponsered by someone at their "partner" school and church in Canada. They also have a health care center for the community, water well projects, & numerous others I cannot remember at the moment. Their work is seriously inspiring!
[Above picture: view from top of the hill we climbed, right picture: A current village school, yes this is still in use today]

I was feeling better over the weekend and was able to eat. Our trip home made me start feeling sick again, I do get car sick so I thought that was the problem. I got back to my families house and eventually went to sleep, in the middle of the night I woke up and had to vomit. I am going to tell you more details so be ware... I couldn't throw up in the toliet becasue the house is locked at night so I swallowed. Nasty, yes! This happened a few more times until I was finally able to go outside and make it to the toliet. For the rest of the day, I threw up on the hour- most of it was just bile. Which is disgusting. One of our interns thought I should go to Kampala to the British medical clinic that is a lot better that the Mukono options. So I did. They gave me pills to stop the vomiting and wanted to do a test. I had nothing in me so I couldn't that day. They gave me the container and was told to come back with it full. On Tuesday, I started to throw up again so I was advised to go to the free clinic on campus. They tested me for malaria found out I was negative, the doctor goes "I don't know what you have so take these pills" They gave me 3 different kinds of medicine, I didn't know what they were so I just take any of them. I was able to eventually get my sample and in the midst had to throw up. Let's just say that was an awkward and disgusting experience I am trying to block from my mind. Me typing this doesn't help. Haha.
Wednesday morning Phil [the intern] and I made our way to Kampala once again. Depending on traffic, it's roughly an hour. I got in and the doctor took a urine sample and apparently I have a Urinary tract infection. Which was news to me. They also took my blood and tested that. I waited 20 minutes and got my results. I was surprised how fast they got them back. Normally everything is just the opposite in Uganda. It was definitely faster than the USA! It turns out I have a bacteria called Helicobacter pylori, but pronouced Helicopters. I keep imagining little helicopters flying around my stomach, which makes sense since it feels like my intestines are being ripped out.
They put me on a bunch of medicine, but it's hard keeping it down. Swallowing it once is not the case, but I get to swallow it about 3 times each time. I am also very dehydrated. I can't really keep much water down but I have been able to figure out that a little sip will stay so that's what I do.

In the end, God is good! I won't let this set me back and I will continue on with Him at my side!

P.S. I finally uploaded pictures into an album on facebook. There are a lot more there, so go take a look!!