Medichine in Africa

Medichine is taking a break from Asia and has followed the Chinese businessmen, politicians, and oil traders to Africa.

I touched down in Entebbe on the shores of Lake Victoria on Tuesday evening and have spent the past two days setting up shop in the Muyenga district of Kampala. Our apartment is perfect -- we have a large common room with a TV that plays American and East African hip-hop, walls furnished with African handicrafts, a djembe, and bamboo furniture. A patio looks out onto the gated parking area, and in the near distance you can see a magnificent hill rising up to the north and a lush valley to the east.

My housemates are Liz and Lindsay, both medical school classmates of mine. Liz is a Christian ska groupie with hair dyed a deep reddish black, and Lindsay is from Chicago, but moved to New Jersey because of the "diversity", in her own words.

We were greeted yesterday by our driver, Haruna, a fit gentleman with three young children. Moreen is our housekeeper. She's twenty-five, hip, educated, and witty. We are quite happy to have met them. Simon is the tuberculosis attending physician who is one of the research project administrators on the Uganda side and has just returned from advanced pulmonary training at Yale.

All the people I've met so far have been phenomenally nice and compassionate. Not just the locals, but the expatriates and foreigners on my flight from Amsterdam were quite the joyful bunch. Many, if not all, were missionaries on short or long-term journeys to ministry positions in East Africa. While my trip is ostensibly for research purposes, I can't help but be reminded of my constant mission, to be a bold and passionate witness for my faith at all times.