Today I got a letter with my own handwriting on it and I couldn't believe it because that only could mean that it is my visa. But I just send my visa application last Thursday. So I opened the envelope right after I got into my appartement. Do you know what it was?

It really is my visa!!

Now nothing can happen anymore that I can't fly in 4 weeks.

I am so excited about the whole trip and I am looking forward to meet everybody at the foster home.

Hello together,

on the Easter weekend I received the letter from Stephen (the home father) which shows that I will volunteer at the El Shadai Home. End of last week I sent my visa application form to the consulate.

Then I werre shopping to get stuff like the water filter, mosquito net,... .

And I got the message of Nicola (the responsible coordinator) that I will be the lead volunteer form June on. Nicola is in Jinja right now, so that we will meet there, so she can hand over the tasks to me. I will be responsible for the coordination between the home father and the volunteers and I will write the monthly newsletter for the volunteers. I am very happy about those taks and caused through this I will be more often in the internet café as I would be without those tasks.

Tomorrow in 4 weeks I will almost be in Entebbe. I am really looking forward to meet all the guys at the home.

Best regards
Meike

Hello,

you would like to send me a letter or a postcard to Uganda?

If that's the case you can ask me for my snail mail address. ;)

Best regards
Meike

Hello everyone,

on Thursday I had my last appointment with the tropical doctor. Now I am vaccinated against hepatitis A + B, yellow fever, typhus, meningitis and rabies.

I tried the malaria prophylaxis (Lariam) for 2 weeks as well and I didn't feel any side effects. Now the doctor prescribed me enough Lariam, that I can take malaria prophylaxis during my whole stay in Uganda.

With this I did a lot for my health and I only need to prepare my first-aid kit for the travel.

Many greetings
Meike

I am so happy ... today I came to know that I can take more free luggage to Uganda than I thought. At the beginning I thought that I am allowed to take 30 kg free luggage with me. I just checked the homepage of Brussels Airline and I got at confirmed on the hotline:

I am allowed to take 46 KG free luggange with me to Uganda plus 8 KG hand luggage.

*YIIIIPPEEEEEEY*

Today I were at the tropical disease specialist.

I were vaccinated against rabies and typhus. I don't need to be worried about the Ebola virus, it is presented more dramatical in the media than it is. Then the Ebola virus onlyappeared in the areas close to the border to Congo and that's not where I am.

In two weeks I have to go to the tropical disease specialits again, then I will get the second anti-rabies inoculation together with the vaccination against meningitis.

Then I will need a third anti-rabies inoculation 1-3 weeks after the second one.

Then the specialist advises me to take a malarian prophylaxis (Lariam), which I may test in Germany, if side effects appear. If the side effects are to much, then I won't take the prophylaxis and got to the doctor immediately in Uganda when I show any sign of malaria.

Best wishes
Meike

In the last days my insurance certificate of the ADAC arrived. Now I'm health insured in foreign countries through the ADAC from 30/04-30/08/08.

It is going onwards after the booking of my flight.

Hello everyone,

yesterday I booked my flight.

I will take off on April, 30th 2008 in Bruessel (Belgium) at 10:40 am and will be in Entebbe at 10:05 pm.

My flight back will be on August 15th 2008 at 10:40 pm from Entebbe and I will be back in Bruessel on August 16th at 6:10 am.

Now it's getting closer, I'm so excited.

Meike

Another sign of life. ;)

At the moment I need to check a lot of organizational things.

Started with the flight:
Which airline do I take?
Emirates, which is the cheapest from Germany, but I need to transfer in Dubai and on the flight back I would have one night stop at Dubai? It would be allowed to take 20 kg with me.
Or Brussels Airline, which are more expensive, aber I would have a direct flight from Brussels (Belgium) and could take 30 kg with me.
I will call the airlines in front to check if they have special conditions for volunteers, what I heard from someone.

What are the special conditions for volunteers regarding the visa? Ususally a 6 months multi entry visa costs 200 € at the Ugandan consulat in Berlin. With this visa I could leave Uganda in the meantime and travel back in. E.g. if I want to visit Kenia, where friends of my parents live.

Which abroad health insurance should I take?

Which other impacts could it have?

Those are things I can think of spontaneously. Off course I need to take care of other things too, like water filter,…