June 19
It was a full day when Dr. William picked us up to go with him to vaccinate cattle in the local region. We were vaccinating for foot and mouth disease, a virus that has been eradicated in Canada but remains an annual problem in Uganda during the dry season. There was an outbreak at a local farm and he was doing a ring vaccination in the surrounding herds.
The morning was quite toasty and we worked up a bit of a sweat running the first batch of cattle through the wooden chutes. It was a pleasant relief to handle the vaccine bottles since they had to be kept cold in a cooler with ice. The fist cattle we worked with were Friesens, very similar to Holstein cows from home. While we had no problem working with these cattle, we were a little intimidated when the second herd was run through. These were the famous ankole cattle, whose horns are so long they dwarfed some of the shorter members of our team. They even posed some problems to the cattle themselves since they couldn't fit into the chute due to the massive width of their appendages and posed a bit of an occupational hazard to Dr. William.
We also visited two other farms that which consisted of Ankole/Friesen crosses, which combine the hardiness of the local breed with the increased production traits of the latter. Our team had a chance at trying our hands at vaccinating and by the end of the day we were covered in a nice smattering of feces and felt like real vet students again. Thank goodness for the stain removing power of the local brand of laundry detergent, "Omo".
Monday, July 14, 2008
Days of Our Lives in Mbarara (Team B)
Please excuse our lack of chronological order in posting our blog entries. Internet usage is sporadic and we couldn't figure out a way to reorder our posts. Many apologies.
June 03
Today we took the bus from Kampala to Mbarara and waited 1.5 hours for the bus to fill up before we could leave the station. The wait wasn't all that bad and we were entertained by the people getting on the bus peddling everything from actual meals on real china to newspapers, watches and anti-nauseau medication.
After about a 5 hour trip we finally arrived in Mbarara andmet Boaz Buyinza, the director of FAOC. He took us to a local trade fair which had representation from people from all over East Africa. We tried some of the local cuisine including muchomo ("meat on a stick") and another local delicacy... crickets! They really weren't that bad and reminded us of... no, not chicken but shrimp!
We also met up with the other team and had a nice renunion as we swapped stories about our trips so far.
June 13
Today was another busy day as we headed out again into the field. This time it was to help an elderly member of the Nyamunyanja parish build a pig pen for her sow. We still feel as if we are mostly figure heads since wielding machetes and hammers doesn't appear to be our forte. However, we do believe that the women really appreciate that we come and express an interest in the project and their lives.
The same day we also stopped at two women's farms to look at their goats and try to discern what was ailing them.
Even though we have only finished second year, we felt that we had enough knowledge to know both cases were not emergencies and told the women we would let Dr. Judy and Dr. Leanne (2 recent WCVM grads volunteering through Vets Without Borders) know about the cases when they returned from their vacation. Thank goodness for pathology class and the five signs of inflammation!
June 18
We were able to go out again with Dr. William on another field call. This time it was a first time calver that required another c-section. It was nice to be able to do a surgery in the daylight and actually be able to see what you are doing! We were able to assist in suturing the animal and Dr. William was a great teacher with a lot of patience and encouraging words.
After the surgery, we went for lunch in town where we gave him a small gift to show our appreciation for letting us tag along.
June 03
Today we took the bus from Kampala to Mbarara and waited 1.5 hours for the bus to fill up before we could leave the station. The wait wasn't all that bad and we were entertained by the people getting on the bus peddling everything from actual meals on real china to newspapers, watches and anti-nauseau medication.
After about a 5 hour trip we finally arrived in Mbarara andmet Boaz Buyinza, the director of FAOC. He took us to a local trade fair which had representation from people from all over East Africa. We tried some of the local cuisine including muchomo ("meat on a stick") and another local delicacy... crickets! They really weren't that bad and reminded us of... no, not chicken but shrimp!
We also met up with the other team and had a nice renunion as we swapped stories about our trips so far.
June 13
Today was another busy day as we headed out again into the field. This time it was to help an elderly member of the Nyamunyanja parish build a pig pen for her sow. We still feel as if we are mostly figure heads since wielding machetes and hammers doesn't appear to be our forte. However, we do believe that the women really appreciate that we come and express an interest in the project and their lives.
The same day we also stopped at two women's farms to look at their goats and try to discern what was ailing them.
Even though we have only finished second year, we felt that we had enough knowledge to know both cases were not emergencies and told the women we would let Dr. Judy and Dr. Leanne (2 recent WCVM grads volunteering through Vets Without Borders) know about the cases when they returned from their vacation. Thank goodness for pathology class and the five signs of inflammation!
June 18
We were able to go out again with Dr. William on another field call. This time it was a first time calver that required another c-section. It was nice to be able to do a surgery in the daylight and actually be able to see what you are doing! We were able to assist in suturing the animal and Dr. William was a great teacher with a lot of patience and encouraging words.
After the surgery, we went for lunch in town where we gave him a small gift to show our appreciation for letting us tag along.
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