2 April 2017

Dr. Erin Pauling, Becky, Jess, and Tristram at the Uganda Equator

We had such a nice ride down to Mbarara today with a quick stop at the equator in Arthur’s comfy SUV.  It’s really helpful to have a vehicle like that to get over all of  the cracks and bumps on the red dirt roads when we take shortcuts off of the paved roads.  The students were able to see the Equator experiment where the water flows clockwise North of the Equator and counter clockwise South of the Equator and it doesn’t spin at all right on top of the Equator.  For a video, see my blog post back in Sept 2012.

Equator Water Experiment

Upon entering Mbarara, we stopped to get phone SIM cards and “airtime” (minutes) and a data plan. In Uganda, people don’t sign up for phone contracts that include minutes  or internet like we do in the USA where our contracts are often 2 years long.  Here you just buy as much airtime or data as you need for the moment.  It is important that the pharmacy students have access to a phone and data plan so we can always communicate. Plus, if they need to look up drug information on the internet during rounds, as we do at home all the time, they will be prepared.  Of course they also like being able to be in touch with family and friends back home and keep up with social media.

Mark, Jess, Emmanuel, Tristram and Noah socialize after lunch.

After checking into the Acacia Hotel, we visited over lunch/dinner with the 3 students who greeted us immediately on arrival, Godfrey, Mark, and Emmanuel, and also with Noah, the 4th year student who made the arrangements for our visit in the fall. The food was great and the conversation even better.  Below I introduce Mark Opiny, who is one of the students planning this event. It was so fabulous to see familiar faces from last trip and we are all looking forward to our first day of the workshop tomorrow.

The whole group of MUST students and Wilkes students and Dr. Erin Pauling from Binghamton University going on a tour of the university and hospital. (Left to right: Godfrey, Jess, Dr. Pauling, Becky, Tristram, Mark, Emmanuel, and Noah

Mark

I am Mark Opiny, currently in my third year doing Bachelors of Pharmacy (B.Pharm) at Mbarara University of Science and technology (MUST). I am so much interested in practicing clinical pharmacy so that I can improve on pharmaceutical care given to patients especially in the hospital and even outside the hospital and improve the health care sector of this country Uganda. Currently in Uganda clinical, pharmacy practice is not all that developed and for that reason there are still many challenges concerning drug therapy in the country.  I believe if I become a clinical pharmacist it would be helpful not only to pharmacy profession but it will also bring an improvement in the health care system of this country in which clinical pharmacy is not yet well established. I also interested in becoming a lecturer in future so that I could help teach other people about clinical pharmacy and to take part in research especially on the current health pressing issues in Uganda, Africa and the whole world and specifically in line with pharmacy practice. 

I am a Ugandan from Kaberamaido District, Teso sub-region in eastern Uganda. I am currently located in Mbarara, south-western Uganda. I am a Kumam by tribe.