First day at the lab

I awoke to my alarm and roosters (It is 4:30 and they are still crowing). And breakfast waiting for me on the dining room table. I could get used to this. A second driver, Patrick, picked me up in the morning to take me to the Joint Clinical Research Center (JCRC from here on out). We had to stop at the labs in Mulango Hospital, where I was instantly surrounded by a group of smiling children. Most hadn’t learned English yet, so had resolved themselves to staring and a lot of waving. Julie, can you start fixing up the finished attic upstairs because I am fairly certain I’m coming home with a couple of them.

On the way to the JCRC, we almost hit the proverbial pack of cows being shepherded through the street. I also saw a few ‘zebra crossing’ signs—apparently they are quite a problem. The other interesting tidbit I noticed during the daylight is that there are no stop signs. And very few stoplights. Hence, the free for all I was describing earlier. The labs are incredibly charming. White stucco buildings scattered across a beautiful, palm filled campus. The researchers were all very welcoming, although most of them had no idea I was coming, including the woman whose lab I am working in. There was also massive confusion about the samples. Myself and the researchers based at Case were told we’d have 10ml of blood for extraction. Turns out we were only given 1ml. Someone at Mulango, where the samples came from, is investigating. Lunch at the Canteen was delicious. And completely Ugandan. The only thing I didn’t like was the pumpkin, but I don’t like that back in the states, so there’s no big surprise.

I got back to the compound, and took a couple of snapshots for you.