Can't believe we've been here for 8 months!
on Jason and Anna in Mbarara (Uganda), 24/Oct/2009 05:54, 34 days ago
We've just realised that we've been here for 8 months already - time is definitely flying by. It's been a pretty busy time for both of us lately, as the university semester is now in full swing - which means writing mid-term exams, marking assignments etc.We went to Kampala last weekend, which was a nice change to Mbarara. I think we would possibly go there more often if the journey wasn't quite so horrendous - 5 hours in a battered old bus, driving along a road that is being resurfaced, and basically being thrown around the bus (you drive over the non-surfaced parts!). The bus seats are covered in plastic, to allow for easy cleaning (although I have doubts whether cleaning ever takes place), but it also makes the seats very slippy....I nearly ended up on the floor on numerous occasions. When we got to Kampala we stayed at the International Landmark Hotel, in Muyenga, just around the corner from the VSO office. It's not in the centre of Kampala, but it is near some pretty nice restaurants (proper pizzas, yum!) and an Italian supermarket that sells ice-creams, so it was a good place to be.Hectic Traffic in KampalaOn the Saturday, Jason and I had to go to the Uganda Wildlife Authority office to get an annual pass for the National Parks. If you get a 2 year resident's permit, they will let you get this pass, and it's really good value - only $150 for a couple, so it pays for itself in no time at all. After that, we went to Garden City shopping mall, which is amazing - well, actually it's a bog-standard shopping centre in western terms, but we don't have anything like it in Mbarara so we are always quite impressed.Shivaun and I went to have our hair cut by a Serbian lady nearby (too chicken to brave the salons of Mbarara!), and she did a pretty good job. After that we met up with some other VSOs in Centenery Park, and had lunch. The afternoon involved a big supermarket shop, with me scouring the shelves for things to use in my extemporaneous dispensing practicals (making creams and ointments etc). The lab at the university has hardly any equipment, and I really wanted the students to be able to make something, so I decided to buy all the stuff myself.The journey back to Mbarara on the Sunday wasn't going too badly, which meant something had to go wrong....and it did! The bus broke down quite far away from town, but luckily the driver managed to start it up again. It then broke down again about 2 miles from Mbarara, so Jason and I decided to walk up the road and get a boda boda to take us home.Things in the pharmacy department are going quite well, and I'm feeling a lot more comfortable in my role here. The fourth year students have to do a research project next semester, so we gave them a research workshop a couple of weeks ago. I did a presentation on plagiarism, which it seems that they have not heard of before, and didn't realise it was a bad idea (which is maybe quite worrying).I did a practical with the third years this week. I'm teaching them Pharmaceutical Technology - so lots of theory about the manufacture of different dosage forms (like creams, ointments, suspensions) but very little opportunity to put it into practice. Anyway, the practical was quite successful - they made Calamine Ointment, and Lassar's Paste. We didn't necessarily use the right tools, as I couldn't get hold of them - instead of a porcelain ointment slab, we used plastic chopping boards, and instead of spatulas/palette knives we used decorator's scrapers! But the principle was the same, and it seemed to work quite well (despite me having to put them in groups of 5 to do it, which is less than ideal). Sometimes I really feel sorry for the students here, they pay lab fees, but I don't know where those fees go (cos it's almost certainly not spent on lab facilities). Hopefully things will get better soon, as the pharmacy and pharmacology departments have won a $1.2 grant from the Millennium Science Initiative, to improve facilities and develop the course etc.Students doing their extemp. dispensing practical in the LabCalamine Ointment - note the non-scientific implements used!