A day in our life in Uganda

Tina and I have spent all of our time together in Uganda so Carole and Sarah may have a different take on their average day. But to give you a sense of what we are up to with our time, here is a typical day for midwifery students volunteering in Uganda.

0645 – the alarm on Cathy’s cell phone, which we borrowed to call home, rings. We curse the alarm that won’t stop ringing. We vow, as we do each morning, to get Grace to fix it and lay there listening to the sound of the broom sweeping outside our window.

0715 – get dressed and bags packed, head outside to breakfast – white toast (no butter), bananas and a boiled egg. In Masaka, subsitute scrambled eggs and potatoes with green peppers and onions plus Matooke (cooked green banana) with last nights leftover beef mixed in. Instant coffee is available, we opt for African tea and add an extra tea bag.

0745 – enjoy the fresh pineapple and remember to take malaria prevention medication but sip African Tea instead.

0815 – leave for the hospital, arrive very sweaty and start in the ward at 0845 for ‘handover’, hope there are no major complications that day and no stillbirths in the night. Greet our fellow students and the midwives with 'Wasu zo tya Nyabo' - make them laugh at us with our funny words.

0845 – look in the supply cupboard to see what they have for the day, clean up the sharps left in the beds, on the floors, in the sink. Wash the beds and get ready for whatever will come, usually one or two births by noon.

1145 – clean up after the births by dumping the heavy black plastic from the bed into the garbage, clean the plastic for the mom to reuse with bleach called Jik with a tiny piece of cotton or if we can find one - a luxury most days - a rag. Dump Jik on the floor and sweep it into the gutters that line the room. Send our moms to post partum and hope they don’t ‘escape’ and go home instead.

1200 – check in the early labour room to see how many mothers are waiting and what stage they are at, chart assessments and get ready for more births.

1400 – bathroom break and a few sips of water (sometimes).

1500 – start thinking about leaving, make a plan to leave but get caught up in another birth.

1700 – leave the hospital, walk ‘home’ and either stop at the internet place hoping it will be working or just go home to eat dinner (since we never get to eat lunch), one of us can call home.

1900 – have 1 beer on the deck (Tina won’t let me have a 2nd) talk about the day and then go back to our rooms to shower, hand wash our clothes from the day and hang them to dry. Try not to slip on the wet floor.

2000 – sort and pack the supplies for the next day, write in our journals and record our births. Tina wonders if she took her anti-malarials. Reflect on the day, the babies that needed our help, the strength of the mothers and the differences between here and home.

2015 – read our books with our headlamps on (I am in LOVE with my headlamp), the music starts outside, complain that we’ll never sleep. Fall asleep two minutes later to dream of the next day…

Jody