Monday Susan and I both sleep in until about 9:30, so it's late morning by the time we make our way to BKU. We bring a bag of toys and drop it off at the little ones' dorm, but the treats are quickly devoured, nobody seems too polite, and they seem unable to share the toys, so much crying and wailing ensues. We hand the toys in to auntie, apologize, and leave, looking back to survey our wake of chaos.
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| Obama - for Simone |
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| budding models |
I meet with Rose for awhile and assess Saleh, who has a few lesions on his penis which appear to be a low-grade fungal infection. We start him on some cream and Rose agrees to take inventory and make up a clinic stock list for the next day's trip to Kampala.
Carly, Sue, Abraham, Victoria & I head off to Entebbe in the BKU van. First order of business is a stop enroute at the Barclay's Bank branch where Carly has success withdrawing funds using her debit card. Such a feat was impossible two years ago. I also make a withdrawal and we arrive at the new and very westernized Victoria Mall. Simon and I head for the cell phone store while the girls go to the supermarket.
I have brought along my old Blackberry Tour phone which we were successful unlocking before leaving Canada. In theory, the purchase of a SIM card and buying minutes should allow use in Uganda. Unfortunately the battery is dead and we are unable to test the theory in practice (poor planning on my part).
On one of our previous trips Lou allowed me to connect to a portable wifi hotspot device he had purchased elsewhere in Africa. I was impressed at the ease of use and speed of the unit. I inquired and was sold a similar unit for use on the AirTel network. 125,000 UG shillings (about $55 CAD) bought me 12.5 GB use over 3 months.
Lunch at KFC is not too far off the original thing at home.
We discuss one of the dogs who hang about BKU and has been suffering worsening inflammation of his genitals for several weeks now. He has a permanent erection and the skin is almost completely denuded from him chewing at the area. He often yelps in pain and is getting more irritable.
Dogs in Uganda are regarded and treated quite differently than in Canada. They are not kept as pets, but rather are tolerated to hang about a property unless they become too much of a nuisance. The BKU dogs are not fed (except perhaps by Alicia and other visitors) and they are tolerated probably because they do provide some security warning for intruders at night. Using the stretched BKU resources to obtain a veterinary consultation seems out of the question, yet watching the poor animal suffer and risk him getting aggressive enough to bite children seems inhumane.
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| potential veterinarian aids |
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| obviously NOT the dog to which I refer |
After discussion with Sue, Carly, Jackie and Victoria, we decided to attempt euthanizing the suffering creature in the next few days. Searching the internet on the topic is surprisingly futile, but I did calculate a lethal dose estimate for phenobarbital, which can be administered orally, provided we are careful there are no collateral victims.
Some of the kids are keen to write notes to their sponsors for us to deliver, so Victoria helps with some English composition and art direction.
We treat Carly to pizza dinner at Banana Village (very good wood fired pizza), chat a bit then head to bed. Hoping for a good rest before Kampala tomorrow. The weather's been quite warm - 80 to 90 F highs but lows of 60 at night. Enjoying the break from Canadian winter.
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| we have Jeffrey to blame for Moses' affinity for shades |
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| finally peace ensues and Dan gets to make music on the new guitar |
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