A little about my work and my weekend

We have done a survey of private practitioners who offer family planning services in hard-to-reach areas in the Sembabule District and I have been compiling all the information to write a report about it. It's been awesome to find that though most of these practitioners are not licensed by the District Drug Authority, they still make services available to people in their areas, and though many of the nursing assistants don't have formal training, they do have experience on the job and can still help women with family planning services.

I have also participated in a few supervision support visits where the Nutrition/OVC and HIV/AIDS officers go out into the community and talk with the community caregivers and their supervisors about the paperwork they are filling out to track the number of PHAs and OVCs they are offering services to. Unfortunately, my Luganda is horrible so I cannot understand any of their conversations. But the car ride brings me to remote areas of our district I have never been to. And I once again have to say, Uganda is amazingly beautiful. The countryside is so gorgeous, and now that the rainy season has arrived, everything is green and lush. While we were driving, I even saw 3 crested cranes. The crested crane is the Ugandan national bird and is even included on the Ugandan flag. Actually, the three colors of the Ugandan flag (black, yellow, and red) are colors found in the bird's plumage. It's a beautiful bird.

This past weekend, I went to Kampala. I made a few new friends and said good-bye to one (the awesome British girl who is in the picture with me and Lake Bunyonyi in the background). It was very relaxing to just hang out with non-Africans, speak real American English, and eat some delicious food. I was introduced to Cafe Pap, which is this fantastic cafe in the city center. The food is amazing. They have REAL tortillas for burritos and fajitas, which I have never seen in Uganda yet, so I was impressed. I really recommend this place if you're ever in Kampala.

PS Cafe Pap serves real Heinz Ketchup! If you've ever tried to use the other ketchup or tomato stuff the restaurants give you when they serve you chips here, you'll understand why this is so awesome. I've never been a total fan of ketchup but mmmm I do appreciate it here!