Leaving Today

Well, my time in Africa is coming to an end for now. Dave and I are leaving here this evening and will be back in Denver Wednesday afternoon. We have spent the last few days spending time with one of the LGH employees here in Uganda. On Saturday, Patrick took us to his home village, which is about 3 hours away. He is building a house there that he hopes to eventually live in. He currently has 2 mud huts on his land that his father lives in. The picture is exactly what you think of when you think of Africa. Mud huts with grass roofs, and surrounded by mango trees and many other crops. It was really fun, because the kids there don't see white people very often. As Dave was playing and wrestling with the kids, Patrick told me that they will tell their friends stories for months about how they touched and played with Mzungus (whites). We had a lunch of goat meat. Patrick also wanted to have us to his house in Jinja, so we ended up bringing a goat home with us in the back of our van. The goat stayed at our house for a couple of days being tormented by the dog. Yesterday we took the goat over to Patrick's house. The girls did not want to see the slaughtering of the goat, so they only showed up for lunch. Seeing a goat slaughtered with the dullest knife imaginable is quite a gruesome sight. I'm not going to lie, it was pretty nasty, but we helped skin it and then roasted it. It ended up being pretty good.
The day before the Suubi meeting and buying of necklaces this week, we were informed that there was a list of 11 women that wanted to be seen by me because they had some sickness. I was a little overwhelmed because I didn't have much to offer, but I decided I would do as much as I could to help. I was amazed at the crazy stuff that I saw. Most of the women just wanted to know that a white doctor thought the same thing as the doctors here. Many of them wanted me to buy their medication for them, which I just couldn't do since I ended up seeing around 15 patients in the 2 house we were there.
There is certainly difficulty in serving the people here. Since people know that you are here to help them, they all ask you for something. Medicine, school fees, money for a business venture, and the list goes on. Dave knows this much better than I, but it is very draining when everyone needs something from you, and no one is there to help you out. I think that is why it is so important for us to encourage those that are in the field, giving of themselves every moment of the day, with every conversation.
One of the only english phrases that many of the little kids here know is, "mzungu, how are you?" They don't even know what the answer means, but they yell it every time you drive by or walk by them. It is kind of annoying, but I think I'm gonna miss it.
I am excited that I am going to come back a different person. I am so glad I came and got to serve, and get to know some of the stories firsthand. I will try to finish some of my thoughts after I get back.