This past weekend, a few of the other interns and I took a 4
hour bus ride to Queen Elizabeth National Park! I didn’t actually know where we were going until I met up
with the other interns, I just agreed to join them on a safari last
minute. Regardless, we had a great
time. We arrived in an even
smaller town than Masaka in Western Uganda then hired a driver to take us to
the city of Katwe. When we got
there we were so shocked to see how different the landscape of Western Uganda
is compared to the region that we live in. The air was different, the
landscape, and most notably to me the color of the sand lol. We arrived and met up with Ouma and
Thomas, our safari guides who work for USAID we randomly heard about through a
girl in Kampala the weekend before.
They were really cool and showed us to the hostel we would be staying
at. So this hostel was… lets just
say…very local. The rooms were
nothing like the Mzungu hostels we usually stay at but I guess its cool to say
we experienced it right? Ciara and me shared a teeny bed but only had to pay
10,000 shillings (4 bucks) a night! So I would say it was worth it. That night we got food then decided to
pay boda boda drivers to chase after hippos in the river for 5,000
shillings. It was one of the most
hilarious things I’ve ever done and now looking back, it could have been
veryyyy dangerous had there been a baby hippo and an angry hippo mama around
but all ended well. All of us
interns had a blast doing it and loved how, “Chasing hippos on boda boda”
sounded haha.
The next morning at 6:20 am we met up with Ouma and Thomas
to take us on the Safari. I know
the pictures can speak more to the experience, but let me say it felt so unreal
to be sitting on top of a moving van, in Africa, trekking for wild animals.
After the safari ride we took a safari boat ride where we got to see even more
animals. My favorites were the
Elephants for sure. Definitely a
day I won’t forget :). Thanks to my Mom who forced me to go on this trip
and sent me some extra money to do it! I really appreciate it!
AND THENNNNN….
Yo girl got malaria. Yup, again. And don’t ask me how
because I have no idea. While at
Queen Elizabeth I felt very sick and
even had a fever. I went to a
local clinic in Katwe to get medicine but by the time I was home on Sunday I
knew something was wrong. My host
mom took me to the hospital Sunday night and the doctors told me that I would
need to say over night. For the time
I was there I had blood work done, injections, and was hooked up to 4 IV
drips. And to make matters worse,
I had to stay an extra night.
While I was lying in the hospital and in between crying and almost
vomiting, I did a lot of wall watching and thinking. Something I noticed while wall watching is that every time
ants pass one another; they always stop and greet whomever they pass. Humans
should be more like ants. What I
was thinking about was, my sucky situation of being suck in a Ugandan hospital
with no one telling me what’s being injected into my body and how grateful I am for the people in my life. My host Mom stayed by my side the whole
time and did everything in her power to make me comfortable and happy. She just met me 5 weeks ago and was treating
me as if I was one of her own. I
was also thinking about my real Mom back home, she stayed in constant contact
with me the whole time and called who ever she could to make sure I would be
all right. She does worry a lot so
I felt bad that I was so far away and she had absolutely no control over the
situation. My Dad helped me to stay calm and made me realize that my health
really does come first. He got
pissed when I told him I was mad I was in the hospital because I would be
missing work haha. Anyway, I’m glad that I am well enough to write this without
feeling the need to vomit. Thank
you to everyone for your prayers and well wishes!
Love,
Mal
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