Today was our first full day in Kampala! We woke up to a beautiful sunrise from our guest house. A few of us ate a breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and coffee. After breakfast, we met with Darious for the first time in person. Darious is one of our collaborators in Uganda. He is a Geographical Imaging System (GIS) specialist and is currently a Field data coordinator for the Preterm Birth Initiative (PTBi).
After our meeting, Darious led Leanne, Pav, and I to Makerere University for a tour of the campus. Kim Hwang was feeling the effects of The University was lovely and felt peaceful - we later learned that it was right around exam time and the quietness was the sound of ~academic excellence~ at work. We walked through the whole university and spent time going inside the Engineering Building - I specifically asked to see the Department of Mechanical Engineering and geeked out at the machine shop :) We also stepped into the Bioengineering department building and felt the Makerere version of Clark Hall in full effect. The Bioengineering department building housed a laboratory where people were making yogurt. It smelled like ice cream! We walked back to the guest house and then headed to the mall in Kampala to buy some supplies and water. When we were there, we couldn’t resist the call of ice cream and our whole group enjoyed some afternoon coffee and ice cream.
We headed back to the guest house to rest for a bit and then re-convened for dinner. After dinner, we settled in one of the outdoor workspaces at the guest house for a night of preparing for our meetings the next day. Tomorrow will be a busy day!
