We have reached the end my friends

Greetings from Erie PA!!! I just finished up my first interview at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM); It's appropriate that the last post for this blog comes as I am traveling yet again. I've been back in the States for about a week now, I'm finding that gaining all the weight that I lost while over in Uganda is going to be pretty easy.

Obviously things have been a bit strange in the past few days, not standing out amongst a crowd, now having to speak a different language, even using money that is significantly smaller and all the same color. I still haven't completely processed all of what occurred in the last four months, and frankly it will probably be quite some time before I do. I want to thank everyone back here at home that took the time to read my blog and send countless messages of encouragement when I hit rough patches. I would like to extend a special thank you to all of my friends in Uganda, both local and foreign, who were such great contributors to me both professionally and personally. The main question that everyone has had for me has pertained as to whether or not I am going to return to Uganda at some point in the near future. I believe that fate will eventually bring me back to Uganda at some point in my medical career, but for the time being I'm looking forward to some time at home with my friends and family.

Would I recommend this type of experience for someone else? My answer would have to vary from person to person, there are many pros and cons of going into NGO work, especially in a developing country. Being away from people you know, in a strange environment, completely devoid of western comforts is no bed of roses. The last four months have been filled the most rewarding and heartbreaking experiences of my life, would I do it again? Yes

"Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood." -Marie Curie

Almost

I'm due to check out of my "hotel" here in terminal 4 in about a half hour. I'm roughly twelve hours from McDonalds, hot showers, and all the fun gadgets I had to leave behind.

Last full day in Jinja

This morning I got on the coaster to Bugembe and did the last of my work here in Uganda. I'm headed to my favorite restaurant in about two hours to have one last dinner and say goodbye to the staff. I've been there so much in the last four months that I know most of them by name and the owner put some photos of me in the latest advertisement for the place. Tomorrow afternoon a vehicle sent by the University will pick me up and drive me three hours to Entebbe, the town next to the airport. At 9:05 on Monday morning British Air flight 62 will carry me off to merry old England, there's a good chance that my next post will be from Heathrow airport.

Floating on the nile again

Just got back from Nile River Explorers where I spent the day taking an introduction to whitewater kayaking course. We spent the morning in still water learning how to paddle, exit, and roll the kayak back over. After a quick luck we took about two hours running rapids on the Nile; a few of them really threw you around, but I managed to stay upright through all of them.

Last Medical Outreach Assignment

Yesterday I was asked to go out to a school and have a "quick look" at the students. I didn't find out till I arrived that there were over 180 students, and that I was going to be examining each one of them. Over the course of about four hours I managed to get a pretty good overview of the health of the student population. I gave each of the students a brief exam looking for any major problems, as well as dressing any small wounds that I found. After I was finished I gave a short talk on hygiene and basic health to the teachers, overall I was very impressed with the way the school was being run.

Back from Kenya

I finally got back to Jinja at about one in the morning after being on a bus for almost twelve hours. My return trip from Mombasa was rather uneventful, at least in the way of bad occurrences.
After making my last blog post, I headed toward the southern end of town in search of the ferry that would take me towards the southern beaches and my hotel. I am a firm believer that you should take public transport whenever possible; it allows you to really experience the culture. I noticed a gentleman standing next to one of the minibuses calling out “ferry ferry ferry!”, so I figured that was my ride. After about a five minute ride I was dropped at the entrance to the ferry terminal, along with about four hundred Kenyans, I crowded onto a car ferry and crossed the bay (see photo above). Finding a bus that was heading south to the beach was relatively easy, the gentleman in the seat next to introduced himself and helped me find where I was supposed to get off. Overall it cost me a little less than 500 shillings to make it from the train to the beach, if I would’ve taken a private taxi (which is what most westerners do) it would have been almost 2500 shillings.
Twiga lodge was an absolutely stunning location, right on the Indian Ocean with white sandy beaches as far as the eye could see. I had the opportunity to go snorkeling in a shallow pool; it was like swimming in one of the tanks at the shed aquarium in Chicago. I woke up early the next morning to go down to the beach and watch the sunrise over the horizon, I took the photo above at it’s peak beauty. At breakfast I had an interesting visitor; a monkey came along and sat next to my table, watched me eat for about twenty minutes before finally moving on.
It was hard to leave such a beautiful spot, but I knew that there were things that I wanted to see in Mombasa before I left. I went for a long walk through the old portion of the city; finally arriving at the largest tourist attraction, Fort Jesus. I took about an hour and half to walk around and through the entire structure, this strategic location has changed hands at least nine times in the last few centuries, the historian in me really enjoyed it.
After an enjoyable afternoon, I made my way back to the train and climbed aboard for the return trip. That evening in the dining car, I had the pleasure of sitting with a newlywed Kenyan couple from Nairobi. The gentleman was an IT man for a computer company and the lady was a stewardess for Kenya Airways. As it turns out, her uncle lives in Milwaukee, never ceases to amaze me how small the world can seem. Before going to sleep in my cabin I took the time to take a few photos of my wonderful accommodation.
The next morning I had breakfast with two recent law school graduates from Washington State, the two of them were on a celebratory vacation. At one point, as I ate my eggs and toast, I looked out the window after the locomotive let out a particularly long whistle blow. It was then that I saw five giraffes running away from the train tracks, among those were one or two gazelles that got caught up in the fray. For most of the morning after breakfast I was glued to the windows taking photos of the landscape and the train itself.
Once I got into the city it was already late morning, I walked to the bus station and got a ticket for the next bus back to Uganda a couple of hours later. To pass the time I went out for one last meal and climbed up a hill to take a photo of the city center.
Looking at my passport this morning, the once empty pages have become an indiscernible mess of stamps and visa stickers, there’s only one stamp left to get.

Mombasa

After an interesting ride to Nairobi (one that involved me being detained for an hour), I got to take an incredible overnight trainride across Kenya. I just arrived in Mombasa and my task for the day is to make my way south to a lodge on the Indian ocean.