A muzungu Auntie!

Before I came to Uganda I would email to Dr. Tusu and ask him a lot of questions about what I should expect in Uganda, was there anything I had to bring from home that I couldn’t get in Uganda, school set up and so on….from these e-mails I met my FAVORITE Ugandan! Maureen. At the time, before Tusu’s retirement, Maureen was his secretary. Maureen is such a kind hearted friendly woman. This year in Uganda she helped me a lot and without her warm hugs I don’t know what would have happened to me. I am going to miss her very much when I head back to Canada…but I am hoping that one day she visits Canada, so I can show her my home.

A couple of months into my visit I found out that Maureen was pregnant with her third baby. She was hoping that this would be her little boy so she could “close that chapter of the book!!”

Last week when I called her I found that she was in the hospital and in Labour…I was so excited, but I was so nervous…I hate to see people in pain and when it’s a friend I get really defensive and protective!!

I had been to Mulago hospital a couple of times during my “Ugandan occupancy” and was quite impressed with the structure…Maureen was in the private ward which meant a little cleaner and a little better care! I found Maureen surrounded by a circle of her lady friends…(In Ugandan the men don’t really appear until its time to pay the bill!).

Maureen is such an amazing woman…unlike myself, she is very tough to read…she kept her composure the entire time…one had to believe that she was in a great deal of pain, but by looking and speaking to her, one could be fooled…

3 days later…. that little bundle had not arrived…I went to the hospital to see her and a few very interesting things were going on!

Quite common for North America, but quite new for Uganda is YOGA…especially in the expecting ward. The nurse told Maureen about the Yoga ball and I said I would show her what to do…it was hilarious…Maureen sat on it for a while and after a while her cousin Helen wanted to try it out and asked me to show her some techniques…

Sidebar: We are not in private rooms here!!! One open area with 4 beds divided by curtains (much like home) with a little hallway in the middle.

In the corridor there was about 6 people who became our audience…

I laid on the ball (so I looked like a see-saw) and then walked my hands on the floor till the ball was positioned almost on my toes and then I showed her how to do push-ups…then I sat on the ball and showed her how to do crunches. The audience watched as this white lady rolled around on an oversized ball. Then it was Helens turn…Helen is…a bit…bigger than me…okay much bigger than me…she is a Ugandan lady! She mimics me and gets the ball to her thighs and then looses her balance and flops to the floor. Maureen and her mom were laughing hysterically, but the faces of the people in the corridor…I bet we made their week!

Finally on the morning of May 5th Dwayne David my little muddugavu nephew was born! What a cute and peaceful baby. I held him and we moved him around and not one peep from him. Maureen told me everyone told her that he is fair skinned because she looked at me too much!

I am a proud Auntie…but even more I am grateful that Maureen is my friend and gave me the chance to be hers and share with me many happy moments.