I encountered a number of setbacks related to getting my nursing license. It started with the fact that I came to Uganda on the date that they would have done the interviews for the license transfer. This meant that I had to wait an entire month to be able to go to the next interview.
I had tried to research qualifications and requirements for obtaining my license while I was still in the US, but unfortunately due to a very unstable website, I wasn't able to access the page that I needed to look at for what to bring as far as paperwork. As a result I only brought copies of a few documents that they wanted the originals to compare to.
Frantically I messaged my sister to see if she could get the documents from my Grandma's house and send them to me. Come to find out that was much easier said than done. (Have you ever tried to ship anything to Africa? Its not cheap!) So instead, my Dad emailed me the originals so I could print them out here.
This would have worked but I needed to get some nice resume paper to print it on.
In the heart of Kampala there is an entire street (Nassa Rd.) which houses basically a massive "Staples" broken up in different little shops. (Now those of you who know me realize this is way more tempting than the entire road that is a massive Hobby Lobby. I love office supplies, I just do!) However, I only needed 2-3 sheets of resume paper, and almost all the shops sold them by the ream. So after running all over looking for a shop that would let me buy only a few sheets, I finally found a place, even though I had to buy 16 sheets to get what I wanted.
Finally I was off to the printers. The friend that I was with had to run to another errand and had to leave me there in the good hands of the copy shop people. So I pull out my flash drive to print the files, and every single one is corrupted. Every. Single. One. And I had just put them on the flash drive that morning, so I'll never understand what happened.
The copy shop lady was really nice though, and helped me get a boda boda back all the way across town to Kitintale to get my laptop which still contained the original files. He would take me there, wait for me, and then bring me back, since I wasn't really sure how to get to where I was at the moment
We had almost reached Bugolobi, which is about 15 min walking distance from Kitintale when something goes thump on the boda boda. I look down and our tire has completely popped. So we limp off to the side of the road to find someone to fix the tire.
Thankfully we weren't far from a boda stage and there was a guy there who could easily fix the flat. Come to find out it wasn't the tire itself, but the inner tube which had popped, which was the good news. They told me it would probably be about 7 minutes to fix (which I took with a grain of salt, knowing about African time.)
The boda guy was really nice though and above that, he knew where I needed to go back to, so I was a little more than hesitant to part with him and get another boda the rest of the way. Instead I plopped down to wait it out and watch the proceedings.
Naturally a small band of bodas grouped around offering their friendly (but not terribly constructive) advice to the guy fixing the tire, and the boda driver. There was also some obvious amusement regarding the "mzungu" who had chosen to wait at the side of the road instead of rushing on to where ever she was bound.
Its one of those surreal moments when you look around at your situation and just have to laugh. That is exactly what I did. I sat on the base of a sign post at the boda stage and just laughed quietly to myself amid the growing confusion. I watched the taxis and bodas whiz past me stirring up clouds of red dust and sat there with my legs crossed wishing I had someone to take a picture of the whole absurd scene.
As I'm sitting there contemplating my fate, another friend (the one I'm staying with) swept past me on a boda. She did a double take wondering if that was me sitting there, then decided that there weren't any other white women in Kampala with braids like mine (she put them in herself.) She called me to find out if I was okay, but by that time I was safely back on the road.
The story gets better from there, as I was able to get everything printed after finagling the images a bit to get everything ready. I journeyed back home using the same boda guy for part of the way. (He gave me a good rate, saying I was now an old customer.)
I set off for the conference the next day feeling that everything was in order for the interview on Wednesday. I planned to catch a ride back to Kampala on Tues night and make sure everything was set for the next day.
Half way through the day on Monday, the guy from the nursing council calls me to make sure that I have everything ready to go and tells me that I also need to come with 20 US dollars for the interview fee.
**LONG SIGH**
I have $13 in my wallet left over from the US. I don't have $20. This means I have to leave the conference early on Tuesday to go to a Forex and get the money I need in US dollars.
I've had issues with my phone since I got here. Its one that I brought from the states, so it objects at times to doing anything in an expedient or convenient manner. In order to call anyone, I have to manually type in their phone numbers instead of pull them from the phone memory, and I can text the US, but for some reason my phone refuses to text locally. Add to this variable battery efficiency and highly questionable performance in all areas of general function. All evening at the conference I was unable to reach anyone in Kampala to tell them I was coming back early. So Tuesday morning, after a rather harrowing drive through the pouring rain, and a sprinkling wet boda ride, I found myself sitting outside the flat between the hours of 8-9 until I could raise someone from within from their slumber with my knocking. I tried calling, but my dependable blessed phone blacked out. I don't think I have ever been more tremendously cold in all my times in Africa as I was that morning. Even after snuggling under the covers with my housemate, my toes didn't thaw out until mid afternoon.
But there was no rest for the weary, as since I was there Aki dragged me off to help her babysit for a birthday party for her 1 year old nephew. Now personally I love kids so it really kills my soul when some of the kids in Africa get scared of me because I look funny to them. This is true for 1 of Aki's 3 neices/nephews. It just so happens that one is the 1 year old, so I was a bit apprehensive about meeting more kids of the same age that might have the same reaction to my presence. Luckily, all of the kids who came to spend the day at the house playing were older than him, so I was pretty much accepted.
Aki shares Janalee's idea that "sugar is good for kids". I saw soda, and a bouncy house and my heart dropped out of my chest with sheer panic! All in all though, I only made one kid cry so I'll consider the day a success in African babysitting.
That evening I was able to get the extra few dollars that I needed from a friend who came to the house and I was all set for the morning.
Wednesday morning dawned bright and early (and I mean early!). I had to be at the Nursing Council by 0800 hours, so I left my house around 0700 just to be on the safe side. Caught a boda to Wandegeya on the other side of town... and then I was lost. I had been to the nursing council once before, but where I thought it should be I wasn't seeing it. By the time we hit the second round-about that I didn't remember my boda guy had less and less confidence in me as well. He pulled over and waited for me to get my wits about me to remember which way to go.
Do you all know what flare pra'ers are? Cause I sent one of those up right then and there. Suddenly one of the roads looked familiar. We set off and less than a block down was the road that I needed. God is good!
Well after waiting for over 2 hours, they called me in to the interview.
Somehow they are confused about what I am going to do at the clinic since I am not a midwife, so they want to talk to Akiki before they agree to give me my license. We are supposed to go back this week together, so hopefully that goes well and I can give you a joyous report that I am finally a nurse in Uganda!
All in all, it has been an eventful week. Ridiculously exhausting. Fabulously worshipful. Incredibly comic. Rather long.
I am glad it's over, but very thankful for everything that God has brought me through. He continues to give me new strength every day, and to surround me with caring friends to encourage me.
