Currently I am trying to squish some mosquitos and enjoying the lovely climate and sounds of Africa. It really is beautiful and so much more different from anything I've experienced before!
After over 20 hours of travelling and no sleep for 30 hour I am finally at the ARA in Kampala, Uganda with Tom and James. Qatar airways overall was a good airline to fly with and looked after us well on our Journey. We arrived 30 minutes late at 07:10am (not bad) to Entebbe "International" airport that looked rather like a minor UK airport but serves the majority of Uganda. Visa entry went fine and you have to pay $50 to an immigration officer with a rather unfriendly smile. They take a picture and collect finger prints on a digital scanner.
We was greeted by a taxi driver at the airport who was to take us to the hotel, I was optimistic that we would be able to book in straight away and get into bed for some sleep...NO CHANCE! The hotel needed to get our room ready...and 4 hours later we managed to get some sleep. That was until we got a phone call from the hotel saying that a Medical student from Gulu University was coming to collect our bags. Finally we got some reprieve and slept for 5 hours.
The hotel is very nice and the staff are very friendly. A coke costs around 50p for a large bottle and food is reasonable. We went for a swim in the pool for an hour to cool down and wake us up. Tomorrow the plans are to go to the centre of Kampala to get some pillows and supplies for Gulu. We will then take the 4-8 hour journey to Gulu by road with 2 others nurses who are meeting us later this evening. We have been pre-warned that it is much hotter in Gulu and they currently have no power or running water (This should be fun!).
There is also the African Medical students conference to look forward to all next week, where the First Lady of Uganda will be present. There is still that potential promise of a Sarafi, which I am anticipating with much excitement. I also need to get in touch with a Lab in Gulu for prices for processing blood samples for the Aspergillus/HIV/TB study by next friday.
Will blog next when I arrive in Gulu (and hopefully we some pictures!)
sounds like you are having an energetic time. i will continue to read. jean mc x
ReplyDeleteglad you got there ok - exciting stuff
ReplyDeleteSounds truly wonderful! Maybe think of the mosiquitos as your bees and you'll get on just fine (do hope your eye is better now)! Fury McG seems very happy and has attacked me on both days I have taken the dandelion flowers from your front lawn. As this is the most important news from Whitsand Road, you can tell things are nowhere near as exciting here as in your part of the world. Hope to read more...if you have any power.
ReplyDeleteDebs - mossies are EVIL, you can't think of them in anyway nicer way!
ReplyDeleteEye is back to normal, Fur McG is pretty evil too...she will never grow out of kitten mode!
Danielle - some photo now up for C.
Jean - I still wont lose weight no matter how much I walk and sweat...unless I get GE or malaria x
stay well x
ReplyDelete