Sight Savers

Hello friendly friends and my fabulous fam. Last week was by far the busiest week I’ve had thus far. I spent four of the five days assisting with the screenings at the eye camp. The HELP volunteers and I would do the initial eye test and then the patient would go see an OCO (hired by sight savers) who would make the diagnosis and administer the medication if needed. They would also determine if the patient was a candidate for a free surgery in the following weeks. The first day we went to a hospital in a rural village and when we arrived there were over a hundred patients waiting to be seen. We’d then spend the entire day screening the patients and wouldn’t stop until we had seen them all. On Thursday, we left at eight in the morning and we didn’t return until ten thirty at night. It was a great week, but was also rather exhausting. We still have this week to complete the screenings and next week the patients will be picked up from the rural villages and taken to the Kawolo hospital where the surgeries will be performed. In the picture of me administering the eye test there was a rather large family of bats living in a whole in the ceiling directly over my head. I moved a little more quickly that day so we could be out of there before dark in order to avoid the bats flying our of their hole in the ceiling while I was still standing there.
Last week, we also got to have a little dance lesson by Luta and his dance crew. Luta runs a dance team that performs at weddings and other celebrations. We got to see some of them perform and them we were taught how to do some of the moves. In the picture, we’re all wearing the traditional fur on our bums that they wear in their performances. I filmed most of the performance so I’ll definitely have to show it to you when I get back because they’re absolutely amazing.
This past weekend I had the opportunity to visit the Gandhi memorial at the source of the Nile. Gandhi’s ashes were spread in some of the rivers in Africa, including the Nile, where they have a small monument in honor of him. We were invited to a Fourth of July party at the US Embassy this weekend. There’s going to be fireworks and a barbeque! I’m exited to celebrate our national holiday in a different country; I think it’ll be an awesome experience.
Sorry this is a short one but I’ve got to run! I hope you all have a blessed week!