Day two in Africa!

Today has been another eventful and fun day! We woke up and had breakfast and Josh and I heading to Wentz Medical Clinic (the picture above is the hallway where they keep pediatric inpatients there). The had 5 inpatients there today (3kids and 2 adults). We got a quick tour of the clinic (thanks to Faith one of the administrators) and then I observers with some of the doctors who taught me about tropical medicine and the types of illnesses they primarily see in Africa. All three of the kids that were inpatients were there for malaria. I saw two patients with typhoid, some coughs/cold, miscarriage, and skin stuff. It amazing to see how tough these people are. While I followed them around in the clinic, Josh helped at the reception desk..... the pictures of us above are with a little girl named Shalom. The receptionist brings her little girl to work so she was behind the counter with Josh. This was a big source of entertainment for both the almost two year old and Josh!!! I have some video footage on my phone of them interacting and she mocked everything he did.... It was precious. I took some breaks from the clinic rooms and played and read to Shalom. By the end we got her talking and smiling more. So then David (Dowdy.... its how we say David in Ugandan) came and picked us up and we headed to the orphanage. The kids we SO excited to see us, they ran up to the car calling us Muzunga"s (white people) because they didnt know our names yet. We unloaded the car with our suticases of donated stuff for the kids. Then the FUN began! After sorting by size we played dress up with the girls to try stuff on and see what fit which girl. Meanwhile Josh kept the boys entertain outside with the new nerf basketball and rim and footballs! The had lots of fun and loved Josh, who is a big kid at heart!!! Next we dressed the boys in there new clothes, it was too funny! I thought they wouldn't want to stop playing to try on clothes but they stripped down and started dancing around and the sight of new clothes..... WOW what dose of reality. Each boy got a BRAND new shirt plus donated clothes. Allen made a comment that it was the first time that they had ever had a brand new piece of clothing and they saw the tags and smiled :) My heart sank but also filled with joy that God blessed me in that moment to witness something so simple yet beautiful. These kids are incredibly grateful and gave us all hugs and told us how much they liked the stuff and thanks over and over! Its hard to imagine to go back home to my overfilled closet of clothes that still have the tags on some stuff and not want to give more. I wish I could of brought a million suitcases full of clothes and supplies. After we handed out the stuff in the suitcases we all went outside to witness Josh SHAVE his head.....Yes you read this right! There will pictures to follow..... David (Dowdy) cuts all the guys hair and charges $2.50, Josh paid him $5! He did a good job and to be honest I actually kinda like it..... I mean I am partial to long hair but dont blame him for wanting to do it while we are in Africa. Josh said he decided to do it because he wanted to be like the kids..... He is ALWAYS a kid a heart & it will probably never change! After hanging out a little more at the orphanage we changed clothes and went into town. Its not too safe here to get out and serve at night time in the outskirts/slum so Carrie has been wonderful to plan fun stuff for us to do at night and experience "city life" in Uganda. We went to the area called Garden City (traffic was BAD it took us 1.5hrs to go 10 miles or so!) and had dinner at a restaurant called Spur. Josh had steak (for CHEAP!) and I had a hamburger...... All SAFE food for us to eat. Then we went to the movie theater and saw Prince of Persia. It cost $4! Still didnt beat the dollar movie on Lorna Road in Bham :) After the movie we went to a place called I heart NY for dessert..... YUMMY! Josh and I shared a cinnabun! I also bought a piece of red velvet cake to go..... its a little more than a piece its like a 4th of a cake!!! Oh and African Mountain Dew is TONS better than American Mtn Dew (Dad you would love it!!). Our night ended we headed home and just hung out..... We have lost power the last two nights. Tonight it was out for almost an hour, but we had candles!

I dont think I have talked much lately about Uganda driving and the roads.....SCARY!!! Carrie describes as a video game and Josh proceeded tonight to describe it as Nascar with a lot of the game Chicken being played.....very true! They have round abouts here in the road (loops) and he described them as aggressive bumper cars + merry-go-round! But we made it home safely. Thursday we get to experience a Boda ride which is a motorcycle taxi.....Should be interesting!

The picture of Carrie and I above is us preparing and cooking dinner Monday night for 14 people! Pasta Alfredo with sausage..... it was yummy! Carrie is SO good at making Alfredo sauce homemade.....even in Africa!