We have arrived safe and well!

It seemed a little surreal on descent to Entebbe earlier this morning. Tropical storm conditions with green, lush landscape and lake victoria spreading out in the distance. Horrendous landing conditions but the nice BA pilot got us on the ground safety...the second time around. Bit of a jolt touching down as I think we'd been so busy arranging, organising and packing we'd forgotton we were actually going. Some how we had arrived in Uganda!

Coming through arrivals we were expecting the typical african crazy touts and packed arrival hall so we were pleasantly suprised to find it actually ok. Changed some dollars to shilling and headed out to get a typical overpriced taxi to our camping place.

Arrived at Entebbe Backpackers and scoffed our usual travelling fare of banana pancakes whilst waiting for the rain to ease so we could pitch. Delicious.

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Think we looked liked we knew what we were doing, the tent went up quickly and had a little snooze in our corner of paradise. Then we woke up....to be surrounded by a pack of overland tents with names like horny rhino, cackling hyena and lippy lizard. All of which proved to be in their late teens and touting bits of paper with headings "things you can do now you are a big girl" No joke. Don't get me wrong I think its a great thing to do in your gap year but not really our scene anymore, too old!


 Having a pretty quiet day just adjusting, chilling out and reading. Next stop Ssesse Islands... H&K xx

We're off...

Hey everyone,


Well we're leaving so I guess we'll see you when we get to Entebbe. Been a hurried last few days and couldn't have got everything ready in time without our family and friends so thanks! 


Had a quick quick visit from Dr Grady this afternoon to sort out details of data collection and general details about what to expect in Mbarara. Expect it to be daunting, a little apprehensive but exciting none the less. 


Had last Sajans curry with Kit to send us on our way last night so ready to go!


See you all soon,


H&K xx

Welcome!

Welcome to our new blog. Although our cousins and nephews probably see us as luddites-we see this as a major technologic advance...many of you asked that we keep in touch and when it was suggested we keep a blog of our work it seemed like a great idea-so here we go....

Most of you know, and for those of you who don't-sorry for the surprise, we're off to Uganda for 3 months. Yes-reality has finally kicked in-we are actually going!

Uganda - the Jewel of Africa; a lush, tropical, volcanic landscape is famous for its biodiversity and amongst the most famous of these are the magnificent mountain gorillas.

Beauty aside it still suffers from many of the hurdles faced by the developing world. Uganda ranks 140 out of 181 in the maternal mortality table (Lancet 2011) and although rates of maternal death have dropped in the last decade there is still a long way to go. Backed by the AAGBI we are forming part of the 'SAFE Course' - more about that to follow in future posts...

Our base will be Mbarara. A small but busy thorough-fair for the south of the country. We will mainly be working in Mbarara University Teaching Hospital but a significant amount of time will involve travelling to some of the more rural medical units.

Hopefully our blog will help us keep in touch with all of you at home and elsewhere and we hope you'll enjoy following our adventures and sharing our experiences. Maybe it will give you some ideas to do something similar or some tips on planning your own travels. Either way please keep in touch and let us know what's happening back in Blighty...

Take care and see you on the blogosphere soon!

H&K

11th July 2011 Getting ready to go...

Not long now until we're off. Since we were shattered post nights we decided it best to get to grips with the new tent, so we don't look like complete idiots on our first night! Gorgeous day outside and we managed it pretty quickly and without a squabble I might add. The cats thought it pretty weird though. 


We've just written a list of things we need to do before we leave, and its long.... Trying to just work through it but the last month seems to have crept up on us and now less then 2 weeks to go.  Only a few more days and a couple of nights at work then we can concentrate on the last little things. 


The guys are now back from the SAFE course in Mbarara so hopefully we can catch up with them to hear how it went and get some insider info on what to expect. Fingers crossed it all went well after all the planning. We'll have more of an idea of the number of hospitals we need to travel to, length of time for follow up etc. 


My passport and ugandan visa arrived today to great relief, it runs out mid october so will have to leave the country and come back in to get another one or extend when we are out there. No big deal but may be another reason to head to Rwanda! 


K