Hospital style bed with adjustable incline on both ends.

We having been working the last 6 months or so on getting a small nurses office built.  It is our goal to register it as a clinic and be able to treat our sponsored children internally.  Well at least first diagnose and treat the minor issues and refer out the more complicated or serious cases.

I.V. pole and examination table

Both Jackie and Katie are excited to get this up and running because of their draw to medicine and health care.  For me it has been more fun getting it built.  Here in Uganda we face an interesting situation that is so different from what most of you identify with.  In the U.S. everything is mass produced and if you can't find a shop to buy what you want you can always order it online.  Here most everything is made from scratch.  This is a blessing and a curse.

Seating for reception area of nurse's office

 I will start with the negative side of this.  It takes longer.  Sometimes much much longer and can often be frustrating if you are in a time crunch.  Oh and I suppose sometimes you may struggle to get the same quality of item if it is something weird or complicated to make.

Long lasting night stand

Now for the good stuff.  I absolutely love to design and create.  Everything can be built to the exact specifications you desire.  It is always a fun exercise in creativity and ingenuity.  Obviously, the longer I've been here and the more practice I get the better the outcome is. 

Desk

 It makes a huge difference knowing where to go for what.  A few examples:
1) I have 3 carpenters I use. Knowing their strengths and weaknesses is helpful in choosing who to go to for what.
2) Having a connection with the guys at the foam factory.  Who woulda known how often that comes in handy.
3) I can't take any credit for this, but a friend of mine connected me with the best welder in town.  We have become very close.

Medicine cabinet

Heavy duty exterior bench for outside our nurses office.

In this one there is the clothesline, water tank stand, and nurses office windows.

It has also been a blessing to have Chris Kramlich here working with us.  Being able to bounce ideas off each other and having two people thinking about solutions makes a big difference.  These last two designs were more him than me and I am very pleased with the outcome of both.

On top of this building we had to design a homemade roof vent.

This is the roof vent up close.  It was a bit of a challenge to make it waterproof, bugproof, and rust resistant.

This is a hand cart Chris had made to help with our farming project.  A bit physically intensive, but did the job well.

I don't believe I have shared that I got a new truck several months back.  Previously I had a 1992 Landcruiser pickup and now have upgraded to a 2003 Landcruiser pickup.  I really like my old truck but being 20 years old it was showing its age.

I still can't believe I was able to find a newer Landcruiser pickup.  Since being here I have heard about 4 of these trucks for sale.  Because of their rarity, generally the ones you find have been driving in Uganda for many years and are beaten up from the rough roads and rough use.  Unbelievably, I found one in the import bonds that had just been brought in from United Arab Emirates that was in really good shape. 

Max is making sure everyone knows that this is his truck

You wouldn't believe the use I have already gotten out of this thing.  I seem to be hauling cement, timbers, furniture, eucalyptus poles, school supplies, and many other things on a daily basis.  Due this constant use I had a heavy duty ladder rack made for it and have been so pleased with its addition to it's functionality.

When you buy timber here all the pieces are cut into 12' pieces and when you buy eucalyptus poles they usually are 20'-30' long.  These items were difficult to accommodate in the bed of the truck, but now that I can put them up top it makes transport much easier.

You will see in some of the pictures that I had a decorative Celtic cross made into the ladder rack.  The metal workers here are pretty amazing and create detailed designs in much of their work.  All the windows here have bars on them, and most doors and compound gates are made of metal as well.  This gives them the opportunity to put fancy designs into their work so things don't end up looking like a jail.  Anyway, I figured why not make my ladder rack with a little personality.  I've always been proud of my Celtic heritage and love religious art so I went with a Celtic cross.  Sure makes my truck unique.

 

I know this update isn't one with tons of great stories or words of inspiration, but I have decided that there are many of you who just want to hear what is going on in my life and so I will do my best to accommodate.

Well it has been a whirlwind few months over here and much has happened.  I've done a terrible job keeping ya'll updated.  I want to give ya'll a couple other blogs that you can check in on to see what myself and Amazima are up to.

http://working-love.blogspot.com/2013/02/update.html

This is a blog written by Chris and Jackie Kramlich.  They were actually friends of mine and Brian & Lisa's back in North Dakota and have been on staff with us since August this past year.

They have quite the combo of talents and have been an amazing addition.  Chris oversees our farming projects and helps with other building projects.  He is currently training in our Farm Supervisor, Andrew, to eventually take full control of our farm training programs.  Jackie is a registered nurse and also an amazing photographer.  She coordinates our medical work as well as in charge of all our media (photos, videos, and stories).

The second blog I want to share is our organizations.  I would like to think that maybe some of you already follow it, but if not, it does a good job giving a picture of some of our activities over here.

http://www.amazimaministries.blogspot.com/

The next month will be a crazy busy month, but I hope to get some photos taken and some updates written.