Today is Sunday so no real work today. We drove early toward Masaka for Romans to visit a church. He brought them a new keyboard and gave a sermon at their service. 

To thank him for coming and for the keyboard, the church gave him a gift of a chicken, which really made for an interesting 2 hour drive home. 

After church, we drove to Centenary High School. Since I was here last year there has been much accomplished. The land behind the boy's dorm was purchased and new toilets were added. They are quite an improvement over what was there before. The boys dorm now has a roof, is painted, and is housing all the male boarders. It really looks incredible. 

Oxygen for the Ambulance

Today the first part of equipping the ambulance was accomplished. In the morning Sam, Lydia, Cynthia, and I drove in the ambulance to the gas supply company to look into buying oxygen. We purchased a small tank, 1.36m^3 of oxygen, and a very nice medical quality regulator and flow meter. It was fairly expensive but will be very important when the ambulance begins to transfer patients, especially those with severe trauma. 

Returning to Trinity we found a large group of students learning and practicing a new dance. Although we had all seen these dances performed before, it was interesting to see the process by which the students learned a new dance. 

Just a side note: It is about 8:15 PM as I write this from school (on Saturday) and many classes are still in session. 

Photos

The arrival procession. Imagine the siren of the ambulance blaring added to hundreds of students screaming. It was quite a welcome. 

Carolyn, Katie, and Claire are working on a series of murals depicting where Trinity stands in the world. 

Hello from Uganda

After two days travelling I am finally here, and its great to be back. I was picked up by Romans, Sarah, Lydia, Faith, and Frank Tom, and in the ambulance no less. Quite a ride into Kampala, I noted a few odd glances at the mzungu (me, white man) in an ambulance. As we approached Trinity, Romans turned on the siren, and hundreds of students lined the streets screaming and waving to greet us. I quickly met Carolyn Fox and her two friends, Claire and Katie, who were all hard at work painting murals on the outside walls of Trinity. We then had the usual welcome assembly with songs, jokes, prayers, dances, and introductions. Everyone here really knows how to make one feel at home. Pictures to follow. Thanks for reading.

Jeff

Hi From Jeff Kaiser

Hello All,  

As some of you may know I first traveled to Uganda last July. While there I decided that I would somehow provide an ambulance for Double Cure Medical Centre. At that point I had no idea how I would go about raising the $15,000 that Romans and I discovered was necessary to purchase such a vehicle, but I told him I would do it. 

Over the course of the year, my senior year in high school, I was able to raise the money with the help of my family, friends, and my community. My high school, the Haverford School, in conjunction with our sister school, the Agnes Irwin School, raised money throughout the year, culminating in a Talent Show which raised the final $6,000 for the ambulance. The project would not have been possible without the help of this partnership.

Just last month the money was wired to Uganda and the ambulance was purchased. 

Next week I will be returning to Uganda. One of the main goals of this trip is to purchase some necessary supplies for the ambulance and set it into operation at Double Cure. Please check back at the end of next week for my first post from Uganda. Thanks for reading!

- Jeff

Welcome!

Welcome to the new ECHOES Around the World Blog!

Watch for changes to the blog, especially the introduction of a photo slideshow.

As friends of ECHOES continue to travel to Uganda, look for Travelogue updates live from Uganda. 

Thanks for reading!