#5: Getting to and Settling into Kakumiiro

Eventually, Patrick arrived.

And then the 4ish hour drive began. I was no longer suspended in Entebbe but moving westward, toward Kakumiiro, over roads that stretched longer than I expected. We pulled over on the side of the road and were swarmed by people selling plantains and goat meat. We bought some. They were mostly young kids and one girl drew a heart from the red dirt on my window. I drew one back :) Most of the boys were screaming "mzungu!", which is the Swahili word for white person.

By the time I arrived, my priorities had quietly rearranged themselves.

I had come with goals. Very earnest ones. I wanted to learn medicine in a way that felt human and grounded. I wanted to understand rural Uganda beyond what could be read or researched. I wanted to learn a Ugandan language, make real friendships, and figure out how to bargain at the market without getting ripped off or feeling embarrassed. I wanted to become a better writer and document the experience honestly. I wanted to pass the MCAT, take the class seriously, eat better, and come out of the year improved in ways that could be measured and explained.

Those goals still matter to me. But arriving here made one thing clear: none of them would happen on my timeline.

Daily life was built around constraints I did not control. Electricity was inconsistent. Internet access was unpredictable. Transportation depended on weather, roads, and other people’s schedules. Nothing was impossible, but almost nothing was immediate. This was not inefficiency for its own sake. It was simply a different structure of living, one that did not reward urgency.

I realized that if I insisted on productivity as I once defined it, I would miss the point entirely.

Learning medicine here will not look like mastery or accumulation. It will look like listening, observing, and resisting the urge to intervene too quickly. Learning a language is going to mean being bad at it for a long time and letting people laugh kindly while I try again. Making friends will take repetition and shared time, not instant intimacy. I am going to have to get comfortable with uncomfortability.

This was not the version of growth that fit neatly into bullet points or résumés.

I did not feel transformed. I did not feel particularly wise. What I felt was grounded. Present. Slightly stripped down. The noise had faded enough for me to notice what remained when distractions fell away. My goals were still there, but they were quieter now, less performative, and more patient.

For that moment, it felt like progress. Once again, I acknowledged that I could only control what was right in front of me. So, I got my room set up. I am thrilled to announce that I have my own bathroom with indoor plumbing. My room has everything that I need and more. I don't have any drawers or a dresser, so all of my clothes are just organized on the floor....but other than that, it looks very similar to a dorm room in the United States. Besides all the lizards on the ceiling, the cockroach the size of my palm in my bathroom, the spider webs that mysteriously appear, and the sounds of the African plains outside my window.

I have no idea what this year is going to give me. I do not know which of my goals are going to be met and how they will change shape along the way. But I am here! I have moved into a new home. Let's hope I really focus on savoring the present moment.