I volunteered at Miryante from August 13-24, 2014, minus a 3 day safari.

I worked alongside a nurse practitioner student from Ohio State. Our project was to perform a health survey of all of the children staying at Miryante. I am a pediatrician, so this was a normal thing for me. We saw 108 children, ranging in ages from 6-  19 years old. We found that most of the children were rather healthy, well cared for by the caretakers, and growing well. A few of the children required additional care and attention provided by doctors at the local Ugandan clinics and hospitals.

One of the highlights of the trip was meeting the child I am sponsoring, Alex. He reminded me a lot of myself when I was that age. I look forward to keeping in contact with him and watching him grow into the "future president of Uganda", as he says.

I have two favorite parts about Uganda: the children. and the cranes. Despite so many hardships, the children are able to laugh, play, learn, and thrive in an amazing and beautiful environment. The cranes mesmerized me. I had never seen anything so large fly in front of me before! And that unique sound they made still kind of freaks me out!