Back Home!

Well I haven't written for quite a while... I arrived in Switzerland yesterday and it's so good to be home!
The last two weeks in Uganda went well. We were able to do many mobile clinics in internally displaced peoples camps. We saw a huge need for health care. We were continuing health education though by the end of the outreach we were so sick of teaching on diarrohea and re-hydration, worms, personal hygiene!...
The accomadation and food were really good considering there is no electricity or communication with the outside world. We were staying in a little mud hut and the Ugandans really spoiled us with their best local foods. We travelled to places in a truck on dirt roads which was pretty fun...:)
Then it was time to return to England. We had our graduation after just 2 days of staying there. Then came a few days of well needed rest.

Lingira Island

We have just gotten back for 3 weeks on an island on Lake Victoria. It was a gorgeous place as you can imagine! There was only 1500 inhabitants on the island we lived on, Lingira. Historically, criminals escaped to the islands for safety. They never expected to stay so nothing is done towards developpment. Now they are having children and families there... There is a big potentiel but not really any going forward.
We joined a YWAM base there (2 staff!) and helped out with there clinic. We were also going out to different islands around doing mobile clinics and health education. Those places don't get any health care so it was sometimes quite intense and overwhelming though also a very interesting time. It was fun to be travelling everywhere by boat (leaky boats too!)
We were able to make very good contact with the people working at the Lingira base and I know I'll miss some of the friends I made there. We have really felt part of the base and work that was going on.
Also, we had the opportunity to teach in schools as well as just helping out at the base with cooking, cleaning the compound...
We are leaving this Monday (3am) and traveling to the North of Uganda where we'll work in a camp for internally displaced people during the war.
We really praise God for his safety and for good health. All the team is doing well and growing a lot from what we are experiencing.

Week 2

We have now been here for 2 weeks. It feels much more normal and I feel much more comfortable here. We have been mostly going to the clinic with is an hour to two hours drive away depending how many stops we make on the way! The diver always seems to know someone, have somebody to pick up, something to buy... Then there's the boda boda where you ride on the back of a motorbike. Because girls have to wear skirts we ride sideways which is kinda fun! And then the taxis which they pack so full we are practically sitting on knees!
In the clinic we have mostly been observing and getting used to the common diseases out here. We have been able to go into the lab and work in the pharmacy. My favorite parts have without a doubt been the antenatal care. On that outreach we would go out to villages and palpate pregnant women, take their blood pressure, check for danger signs.... We have also done some home visits (HIV positive households or disabled children households). We have made some good friends here, the people are very friendly.
We are leaving on Monday for an island on lake Victoria. I am really looking forward to that.
All the best to all! Have a great summer!

UGANDA!

I arrived safely...we are having an intense time that is for sure! There are so many new things to see and learn. It was quite overwhelming at first. All our team (6 of us) are doing well, we are adjusting to the Afrcain way of life.

We have done antenatal clinics in a rural area and worked in a clinic about an hours drive away. Yesterday i worked in the pharmacy and it was good to familarise myself with local diseases and drugs. Tomorrow we are going to the clinic and working with disabled children. Saturday is free, we may go to town though transport is so crazy and all the town is looking at you when we walk around and trying to sell their produce at the double price so it's not the nicest experience! Sunday we are participating in a service then invited for lunch in the local village. We are now staying at Hopeland, a YWAM base.
It's really a gorgeous country; very lush and fertile. Poverty is evident it is true. We saw some pretty incredible things already... I am glad we have come to help and no just as tourists!
Food has been very good until know: it's tasty. Plaitain bananas, avocados, maize stiff porridge, mangos, pineapples some rice...we probably wont have that much luxury on the islands...
So we are starting slowly and then going more rural. It seems like we have been here for ages already.

Getting ready to go...

Durham's Cathedral

Yep, we are leaving on Friday 27th. It's very stange, it hasn't quite dawned on me yet. I guess partly because I had so much going on that there was no time to think about it. It will be difficult for me to keep in contact over there. Firstly we will be working in a clinic for a few weeks and living in a YWAM base near Jinga, than we will move to an island on lake Victoria (Linguera). Lastly we will travel up North to a camp for internaly displaced people (Pader). So it will become more and more rural and elementry as time goes on. I know there is so much need and many opportunities which means we'll be doing some very exciting stuff. We get back to England on the 19th of August and on the 24th I fly back to Switzerland. :)

It was really nice to spend some time with my dad this weekend and see my extended family at my cousin's wedding. It was a beautiful event!

Otherwise we have been learning about pregancy and labour and about a few physio exercises.

If you would like to pray for me during this time I would appreciate it.
Pray for:

• Health and unity of our team (6 of us)


• Protection and favor


• Compassion and love to be fuelling all we do


• It has been spoken over me that I would step out in new giftings and leadership: pray for boldness to do so and step out of my comfort zone


• That God would work through us and touch people's lives, for godly appointments and relationships


• That we would come to grow closer to God during this time, I have been struggling spiritually a bit and long for more intimacy with God


• And that when I come back all might fall into place (housing, schooling, finances...)

Thank you so much...
Hope you are all well.

Handling Needles!

This weekend was so much fun. We went to parks, museums and to see a musical. Majorly fun...
AND... today we did our first injections! And you know what, it's easier then I thought. So we've been learning about vaccinations and cold chain...
On Wendesday we taught an other school very basic health care. We really enjoyed it: twas a good laugh.
This weekend I'm going to Durham to see a friend. It's quite a way, so it'll be a lot of travelling.

Two weeks left to outreach!

Worms and parasites, yum yum

We have been completely wormed out last week! Fascinating, I'm amazed at those little (or big; they can grow in your intestines up to 10m long!) creatures who know exactly what to do to survive at our expense!
Last weekend I was busy with a course work project I wanted to finish. We are leaving for Uganda on the 27th June which is pretty soon! So we've been talking about that quite a bit. All my weekends are full from now on, which is kinda crazy!

This week was on HIV/AIDS. It was great! It was so challenging, did you know there is 40 milion infected worldwide and 6000 are newly infected every day worldwide! It's growing every year. Most countries cannot afford treatment. This is a world crisis... we have to do something to prevent the continuous expansion. The worst is that the church wants to have nothing to do with it; we associate it to sin and bad life style. It's terrible the assumptions and stigma we have built around the disease. We should be the first out there, compassionaltely serving them.
God has been growing my heart for people around the world. He has been answering prayers and has been so good to me.
I have been challenged by religiousness. How easy it is to fall in that trap, of wanting to do things by our own strength for our self-glorification.
This weekend I'm going to London, which I'm so excited about. Banana. I hope it will be nice weather.

Community Development

An other crazy week! I was sick for the beginning of it so it was really hard keeping up with the work and having the right attitude. You know how it's so easy to fall into self pity! Most of my free time therefore was spent on sleep. I was still able to go to most lectures and the subject is a complex but compelling one. It's all about the way in which we, as outsiders, should come into a foreign country and bring long-lasting development. So you can imagine how vaste that is! And it's so easy to make mistakes, grave ones too. We don't know much about anything in the culture. It's so important to come as learners and not be the ones with the answers. It must be the local people who learn skills and rely on God. Your role is mostly prayer, education, empowerment, and encouragement.
This weekend I'm keeping busy with work and visitors to the Lodge which i'm really excited about. A friend and my grandparents are coming :)

Abdomen examination

Missing you all!

Just got back from a trip to Stratford... it was so amazlingly good! A lot of fun and was blessed to do stuff I never thought in my life I'd be doing! I can't believe how good God has been to me.

The weather has been beautiful all week, so we have been able to hang out and work outside, which has been really nice.

Lecture wise the week has been soo vaste! From listening skills, to the eye (including disection :)), to the ear, to the endocrine and cardio vascular systems (aneamia, diabieties...).

It is sometimes furstrating having to make new friendships, even tiring. But God has been challenging me to continue pressing on and not give up even though it may still be more superficial than I'd like. Needless to say I miss friends and family back home who know who I am. :)

We are already nearly half way into the lecture phase which is a bit scary but we're all excited about our outreach to Uganda.

This is our team. :)

Itchy itchy skin!

We had a gorgeous weekend, with bursting sunshine! It was so refreshing to be able to spend some time outdoors and do some painting :)

This week is about skin and the diseases of the skin. Wound care and dental care included.

These are some of the goodies we bake... as you see I have the best work duty ever! And now you're wishing you were here, as you rightly should be!

Nottingham

I went to Nottingham this weekend: WOUAHOUOuuuu!!!! T'was a wonderful time...it's a beautiful place. And great compagny :) Saw my first bluebells which got me really excited!

This week is on the digestive system. So great subjects like diarrhoea, cholera, desentry, malnutrition :s But also nutrition, weight monitoring and all that cool stuff!
5 milion children die because of diarrhoea every year and nearly all the casulties are preventable! That's a huge amount we can save just by a bit of simple education about re-hydration.
I'm really enjoying being on a Christian base and living in that atmosphere. The times of worship and intercession are a blessing and the friendships and fellowship are encouraging and challenging. Hope you are all well. I'm glad you got to visit this page. :)

Nutrition:

Worldview & Poverty

This week we learnt more about how to teach people so that they can put it into practise and remember it. But we also studied about a biblical worldview and health and poverty. It was a very challenging week of lectures. I realised that we (at least I) often have a very fatalistic understanding about the world that doesn't leave much space for hope. This is actually conditioned by our societies and churches. We often believe the world is going down the drain anyway, that there isn't much we can do to change things globally.

What do you think? Is the world getting better or worse?

3 little students!

So this is us! The IPHC students (James, me and Chelan). I know, we're a tiny group!!! We went to Nuneaton, the closest town from here. The weather was usual crazy English weather: one minute it's sunny the next it's raining than sunny than haling :)

The King's Lodge

Two main settings

This is a picture of my bed :) I hope to put up a few pics of just my environment during the next few days...

Today was test day: it went very well, it's a good way to summarise and digest what we have learnt.



A few interesting facts for you:

• Did you know you produced enough siliva in your life time to swim in? You could acctually fill two pools with it!
  
• If you unravelled your intestines they would be 4 times higher then you!


• Uganda has the highest rate of pur alcohol liters per person in the world! In Switzerland they count 11l./ person in Uganda 19l.!!!

And my desk and it's pile of books!

Doing Vitals!

This has been pretty exciting; as well and learning about basic anatomy and physiology, we have been learning to take blood pressures, temperatures, respiration, and pulse! So we have all received our own stethoscopes and blood pressure equipment. Fun hey? I am just so excited whenever I hear the heart beat... we are so beautifully made. Otherwise we have been learning about patient assessments and how to train people on health care. As you see it's all quite vast!
I was struck today by how immensly huge God is. He has created the whole universe... What we can understand about Him is soo limitted, so conditioned and tiny winy! Even that God had to reveal it to us. And we ourselves are so small and infignificant in that universe. But He gave up His own life, Him the Creator, for the sins we commited in the first place. It blows me away again. We are so quick to complain about our problems, our stuggles as Christians or the things we don't understand. God IS gracious.
I also learnt I'll be working in the hospitality department of which I'm very glad.

Primary Health Care

First day of lectures!!! We have been looking at what Primary Health Care is and the 8 keys of Primary Health Care. Now I can tell you more about it!!! :)
It is essential and simple health care, accessible to the local community through their participation and at a cost that they can maintain at all times. It is the first level of contact for the individuals with the national health system and based closest possible to where they live. Therefore it is simple but of great impact.
To insure this you have to look at

• food and nutrition (adequate, affordable and balanced diet),
• water and sanitation (clean water, improving hygene),
• disease control (preventing and controlling major diseases through immunisation or teaching),
• mother and child health (pre- and postnatal care, training birth attendants),
• curative care (trainng health workers to recognise and treat diseases),
• essential drugs (obtaining most effective drugs at cheapest costs),
• health education (empowering local people),
• community resources (assisting local community).

Did you know that 80% of the world's diseases are caused by unsafe water or sanitation? Or that 5 million of young children's deaths per year could be prevented? Or still that one third of children in developing countries are seriously malnourished? I meen anyone can do something about that and yet do you know where 99% of the money in Christian countries go? yeah that's it: to itself.

Sunday 6th April 2008

We learnt where we are probably going on outreach; Uganda!!! It's good to know about where we are going. We received a huge pile of books. I'm excited about started the courses now :)

Saturday 5th April 2008

This was a busy day today: orientation and trip to the nearest town... Tonight we are having worship with all the new schools. It's bound to be great!

Friday 4th April 2008

Today was very encouraging for me. God showed me how this school was His plan for me. The staff were thinking of cancelling the school but after praying stronlyfelt it should run however few we may be, that God had great plans and fruit for the school.

"The smallest family will multiply into a large clan. The tiniest group will become a large nation. I, the Lord, will bring it to pass at the right time."
Is 60:22

While I was praying last Summer about what I was to do this year, I received for months on end Isaiah chapter 58, to the point of it even getting annoining! :) but reading the history of the school I noticed it was one of the founding verses It's such an encouragement to know God wanted me here all along.
We also received our squedule and the study plan which seems so fascinating! It got me really excited. The teaching extends from addictions to patient assessments, God's heart for the poor and needy, (mal)nutrition, wound care, burns, dental care, first aid, community development, listening skills, spiritual mapping, pharmacology, injections, malaria, dengue fever, AIDS, child health, pregnancy, and all the systems and diseases...
We have had time to get to know each other a bit which has been great! Hope you are all well!

Thursday 3rd April 2008

So here I am in England (Warickshire, Nuneaton) at a Youth With A Mission base called the King's Lodge. It 's a large red-brick house in the center of green English country side. Spring is just pointing it's nose out and I can't wait for it to burst!
Arriving here, I was able to meet my team mates and staff. I was surprised to find out we were only 4 students at the moment (2 still need visas)! I can't wait to get to know them!
It's always hard to start a new season and I miss family and friends a lot but unpacking my stuff and decorating my room helps me feel more at home. Now it looks all nice and Keldaesque! :)
Anyhow the school starts tomorrow: it will be nice to get busy!