Welcome to Uganda!

We made it!!! We arrived in Uganda around 8 AM on Tuesday morning (it is Wednesday for us now) withOUT our luggage.  We followed an entire FLIGHT who lost all of their luggage, so needless to say we waited at the Luggage Services office for quite some time.  A driver was awaiting our arrival and we took the hour long drive from Entebbe to Kampala and went straight to The Edge Guest House where we are staying.  The Guest House is similar to a hostel and we are staying with some amazing and helpful international students.  They have all been here for at least 2 weeks and are very comfortable getting themselves (and us) around the city.

As soon as we arrived, we changed into scrubs and a medical student came to give us a walking tour of the University.  Heavy scrubs may not have been the best idea, as it was very hot on our first day and Mulago Hospital is about a 25 minute walk from the Guest House - ALSO, people don't really wear scrubs here so we looked pretty ridiculous, a kid told Dan "you look WEIRD".  Kampala is a bustling city full of people - the hospital really reflects the level of need in the area and we are glad to be here to help.  Mulago Hospital is the largest public hospital in the country and patients are referred here from all over the place.

Dan, Katie & Marc in front of the Dental Clinic

We finally got to meet with our contacts - Susan, Annet, and various others and were introduced to a dental student, Ben, who took us for lunch with "the white girls" (the Swedish exchange students staying in our house) at the student cafeteria.  They were serving local foods - rice, beans, and posho-a local cornmeal style starch...for 200 Uganda Shillings, which is about....8 US cents.  We have been called "muzungu" millions of times (which means "white" and/or "someone who roams around aimlessly") and the little girls are loving Katie and her blonde hair. After our tour, we got to take a nap and then decided we needed to wake up and mingle with the housemates.  They took us out to eat at a great Italian restaurant, negotiated our cab fare, and introduced us to Kampala in the evening.



Dan, Dr. Annett Kutesa, & Marc



This morning we got our first taste of the dental clinic.  We sat in on a group-style Perio discussion (very similar to what we had in class this summer but less chaotic and detailed) focused on the effects of nicotine/tobacco.  Then we attended the Perio clinic and each got to see patients - some with mild sensitivity, and some with VERY VERY extreme perio needs who were there for extractions.  We loved the openness of their clinic and the group involvement during presentation and discussion of patients. 

The dental students took us to lunch after clinic at the student cafeteria again, and today we got to try the pineapple and avocado - DELICIOUS!  We are heading back to our house and might explore the city a little on the way back. 



Dan & Katie with 2 Final Year Dental Students in the cafeteria.