Day 9: Rest Day

Monday 16 Aug

After a hurried and productive week, Monday was finally a time to rest and recover. Well, sort of.

First thing in the morning we had a meeting at the Ministry of Health with the person in charge of their digital health record system, DHIS2. Like The Guy, he sat straight-faced while we presented our case for and a demo of the technology. After we got our schpeel out, he opened up wide and showed that he was also excited about what this could mean. He gave us a few technical pointers about developing our app in a way that easily integrates with DHIS2 and then pledged his team’s full support. He was very friendly after having heard us out. Later, Dr. Acharya commented that this style of listening carefully without tipping one’s hand through an entire presentation and then responding thoughtfully is not common in these types of government relations situations– it seems to be uniquely Ugandan. This fits right in line with my impressions of their culture as well. We as Americans would do well to emulate their style.

Immediately following the meeting we traveled to the central laboratory to get our Covid tests for our flight to Ghana. There had been some mix up about the location for the testing, and though we were in the wrong place, two technicians visited us in the parking lot and swabbed us in our own van. Talk about service! They promised the results the next morning, which we were a little worried about, but they delivered. I will say this: I missed the luxury of the “drool” tests at Hopkins.

I’ve slowly been figuring out that giving gifts is an important part of helping people understand that you love them. So, I wanted to pick up some fun Ugandan things for my special people. Winnie took us to a little market full of exactly the types of things I was looking for. The only problem was we were literally the only customers in the entire place! Because of this, the vendors were all over us. I don’t know how to handle that well. Ultimately, we just chose one little shop and did almost all of our shopping there.

Then we went to the local mall. We needed some things, though I can’t recall what they were, and we thought the food court might be a good idea. Dr. Acharya helped us pick some dishes at an Indian restaurant there and they were delicious! I think this was probably the first time I had ever had goat, and it’s really quite good. Woah, I think I’m starting to hear Dr. Acharya’s voice in my head with certain phrases! We had some deep discussion that afternoon and evening. We danced all over the board from history and faith to societal structures and philosophy. These are some of my favorite things to discuss! This trip has given us a unique opportunity to explore ideas we’d never get to in the context of school. I always love finding a thoughtful person who enjoys engaging on challenging topics, especially in this serendipitous way.

That evening I wrote while lying on my bed. At sundown I heard through my window what I think was a call to prayer, and then shortly afterward what I thought was the national anthem of Uganda. They have recently won a gold medal, you know, and we’re also close enough to downtown that I thought it might be a government building retiring its flag or something. A quick youtube search disproved that theory, and the music continued to play. It was a balanced chorus of men and women with quieter strings accompanying. The notes were clearly from a powerful audio system, but they had the muffled quality of having traveled far through humid air and absorbing foliage. The way you might hear a concert at Wyman Dell Park from well up the path. I thought it was maybe some kind of local concert, but the probability of that seemed slim, and I couldn’t actually see a source for the sound. There were also ambient sounds mixed in – small frogs, big frogs, crickets, and the occasional bird. The more I listened, the more I became convinced the music was religious. Dr. Acharya could hear it from his room also and thought the songs may have been Sanskrit hymns. We never quite figured it out, but it was interesting to sit in the dark and listen to that music from the void stream through torn curtains there on the third floor of the Grand Global Hotel.