Shickel Family

Somehow we have been here longer than a year. Some days pass quick and others much slower. Currently my weeks consist of three mornings at the hospital and one morning in the outpatient clinic with afternoons full with daily life requirements, team responsibilities, or spending time with local friends. By 1pm as I walk out of the hospital I am typically drained mentally and I consider myself a high energy, extroverted person so that’s really telling of the setting where we work.  Over the last year my brain has spent energy on learning a new language, saying English words in a manner that translates, trying not to totally disregard cultural norms, be alert for the possible Ebola symptoms lurking on the next vomiting patient, pay attention to the increase in solider presence and security, be aware of the needs of the person in front of me but don’t shame them by too obviously helping them. That’s a lot. One or two of those things are a lot. And in less than 6 months my brain wi...

Safari at Murchison Falls in January  In January we visited Murchison falls national park for safari with Ike’s parents. It was quite a hike - a full 9 hour day in the car on marum roads plus a stop to visit dear friends in Hoima along the way. When we pulled up to the ferry boarding area and saw the Nile River rushing by, it made it all worth it.  We stayed near the ferry which made for an easy drive to the lodge and a quick minute to change and make it to an outside dinner with muchomo (grilled/bbq meats) and a dessert table bigger than our entire kitchen in Bundi.  We did a morning game drive and a night game drive both with a UWA guide who was AMAZING, named Sarah. Seriously a real gem. A beautiful thing about Ugandans is their intuitiveness - they notice the details, check in on your wellbeing and generally want to be great hosts. Many times I heard Sarah asking Ike’s mom “are you ok mommy?” And she genuinely wanted to know if she was ok...

  Last November we took a dream vacation to ZANZIBAR ISLAND off the coast of Tanzania in the Indian Ocean.  In an ode to this being a blog full of memories from our time in East Africa and a way to share what life is like, here is my list of favorite things to do or see while on Zanzibar Island!   Picking where to stay took us quite a while but after seeing multiple places, you really can’t go wrong because the ocean is beautiful on every inch of that island! I used Booking.com to book the three places we stayed.  We decided to stay in MATEMWE, then JAMBIANI and then the last night in STONE TOWN.     This island is definitely a once in a lifetime place to visit. The ocean is insanely blue and warm and it is strikingly beautiful. The people are kind and hospitable and experiencing African culture mixed with Arab influence in a coastal beach setting is extremely unique. We travelled from Nairobi and the flight was about an hour. It is a quick flight...

So we live in rural East Africa... When you initially hear that statement, you probably imagine a village in the grassy sahara, grass huts, wooden furniture, lack of electricity, outdoor toilets, bugs, and the list could go on. But in reality we live comfortably in a house that was built in the 90's (and reno'ed many times) with brick and concrete, a metal roof, windows with screens (no glass) and indoor plumbing (shower, toilet, sink), an American looking kitchen, and even a CLOTHES WASHER. We drive a car to town when its too hot or when we have too many things to carry home from the market. Sounds pretty nice right? Honestly, it is.  We live next door to Ugandans who cook outside, use a pit latrine, they might have concrete or tiled floors but many have dirt walls and floors, and likely they walk everywhere or occasionally take a boda. What a juxtaposition to our house, literally right next door.  Yet we both have the same basic needs - food, clean water, shelter, w...