Jolly jolly joe joeee

Wow. Only a week left in Lira. So crazy. 
I don't think I'll ever get used to the fact that I'm in Africa…it definitely doesn't seem like we've been here for almost 4 months. At all. It has become apparent, however, how much Africa is messing with my ability to act in a way that is socially acceptable. I've realized how drastically less awkward I feel interacting with people here. And for a while this made me feel better about myself, but upon further examination, I've realized that this is mostly just because Africans don't really think anything is awkward, and instead of improving my own social skills, I've just moved to an area that is making me more and more socially inappropriate. Not showering for days, yelling at random passersby in whatever language you can think of, assuming you can do anything you want to even if you're highly unqualified…openly picking your nose…the list goes on and on. I had to talk to a white person today. It was very awkward. 

This week I assisted in surgery. Because Dr. Henry is really into hands-on teaching. The beginning interaction went something like this –
"Do you know the names of the instruments?"
"..no."
"Can you hand me the artery forceps"
"..uhhhh..this one?"
"no."
"This one?"
"no."
"This one?"
"no."

We were repairing a hernia on this prisoner named Jolly Joe. If I ever decide to do surgeries as a real nurse in a few years, I'm sure they won't be anywhere near as difficult as this one because the only painkiller he got was some local anesthesia. There were a few moments as I was blotting up blood with gauze and holding his skin open with various instruments and as Henry was cutting and digging around looking for his intestines that he couldn't help flailing around and yelling. Mary and I decided we'd try to distract him in the only way we knew how…which pretty much was just to act ridiculous –
"You know, you have really nice arms!"
"Do you want to marry a Mzungu?!" 
"Why are you in jail?"
"Wow! You have the best sematic cord I've ever seen! It's really nice!"
"Have you ever killed a man? ..Would you actually tell us if you had?"
"Do you want kids?…oh wait..maybe this isn't the best time to be asking…" 
"Your stomach is really nice too. You must be in great shape!" 
There was a point when Brittany made him a song and a dance to aid in the distraction as well. 
It was really rough, but finally he was done after about an hour and a half and the entire time he didn't cry once. Because strong africans don't cry. He's been in jail for 2 years because he stole some money and they haven't told him when he'll get out. 

Another one of my friends, Quinto, Happy's dad, got sent to jail because he doesn't have enough money to pay the teachers at the school he runs. He's probably one of the sweetest men I've met here who's heart is just too big for this economy. He takes in orphans and doesn't make them pay their school fees and doesn't want to fire any of his staff. It's a problem because he's about 500 USDs in debt every month..which is a tonnn of money here…over a million shillings.

Our time here is quickly ending. And as much as all of us have been talking about the first things we're going to eat when we get to the Atlanta airport and seeing our friends and families and sleeping without mosquito nets and drinking drinks with ice in them and …sooo many other things we're excited about, it's going to be pretty heartbreaking to leave here. I can't really imagine not coming back to Africa at some point in my life. 

I know the reentry process into America is probably going to be infinitely harder than it was to get used to being in Uganda. That part of my heart is going to stay with these people I've lived with over the past months and that seeing how drastically different our lives are isn't going to make some things easy. I don't have any idea what to tell people when they ask how my trip was…or how to explain even a tenth of what we've experienced. It's going to be like a venn diagram. haha. Where one circle is Uganda and one circle is America. And me and my team are going to be the only ones in the overlapping area. And I don't think I'll ever be able to pick one circle over the other to fully invest my heart. 
There is comfort in the fact that my God goes with me though. That He doesss know what I've been through and where I'm heading and where I'll end up. That He's allowed me every relationship in my life – whether in America or Lira or that has recently started or has already ended – for a reason. And that's comforting. That the God who goes with me also stays with the people I can't stay with. 

2 weeks from today, I'll be home!