Onwards and upwards?

This week has been one of settling into routine, and improvements.

Because we planned to stay in Mvumi for the weekend rather than have a shopping expedition to Dodoma, Malcolm went for an exploratory walk south of the village which took 3 or 4 hours. He headed for a nearby hill to get what he hoped would be a panoramic view of the hospital. He took what looked like the nearest footpath up the hill, but eventually it petered out near the top and he ended up in tall shrubby thorns and managed to almost destroy his tee-shirt – Irene spent some happy moments picking thorns out of his back and sewing up the tears in the shirt. Unfortunately, when he reached the top the summit was covered in the same bushes and the view was limited. He did meet Peter cutting wood at the top (he’s not sure why Peter went all the way to the top to cut wood when there was plenty near the bottom) and managed a short conversation (Peter has five children - watato watanu).

Irene's highlight was visiting the special care unit for new-born babies. There were three tiny premature babies that stole her heart. The facilities are basic. No incubators here - they are kept in baby baths (no water of course) and warmed by heat lamps - very sweet. It made all the filing worth-while.

We get a range of people at our door (not knocking but shouting ‘Hodi’ to attract our attention) selling items or simply begging. On Sunday a man ‘Hodied’ carrying a live hen by its legs. If the villagers need money suddenly they often have to sell something to raise the cash – in this case a hen. Neither Malcolm nor Irene fancied killing the hen (although Irene would have been happy to pluck and gut it), and in any case chickens here are scrawny and do not have the meat on that those sold in Sainsbury’s have. About half our meals are based on meat – about half on beans.

Monday – visitors to the Hospital. A group of health staff and priests representing Atlanta Cathedral visited as part of a whistle stop tour of projects in the area. They are assessing needs in order to recommend to the cathedral where donations should be made. And we had for lunch - rice and chicken – I wonder if the one from Sunday was in the pot??

And Malcolm went to the dentist. Having been to one in Chesham before we left (to make sure we wouldn’t need treatment here) within 2 weeks a bridge fell out and then a filling came out. Fortunately there is a new Dental practice based just outside Dodoma, on the site of a new Hospital (yet to open) which is very slick. Dr Charles did an excellent job and the bridge feels better than it has done for some months, and all is now well. However:

- there were no other patients, we think that day. As a private, new clinic most locals wouldn’t be able to afford to pay (charge for Malcolm was about £18 all in) and business has not built up.
- The facilities and equipment are excellent, though its very communal. If there had been other patients we would have been treated in tha same, open plan, surgery.
- Malcolm soon realised, being the wimp he is, that there would be no injections for drilling out the old filling. Fortunately Dr Charles was very quick

The rest of Malcolm’s week was mainly spent preparing for and paying the payroll. Previously there have been no payslips and staff were paid to the nearest Tsh 5000 shillings below the net pay (about 1.5 days work for the lowest paid, or £2) which meant a lot of time spent ‘bartering’ for change. The system now provides a ‘proper’ payslip and it would have paid to the nearest Tsh 50 shillings, but the bank couldn’t provide sufficient change (it is only a bank after all!) so the staff were paid to the nearest Tsh 500 with the promise that the balance would be paid next month – all seemed happy. Because of the lack of money we were a week late in paying and now have the problem of finding enough cash to pay the Income Tax and National Insurance equivalent by the end of the month.

Irene is breaking the back of the filing system – and probably breaking her own back at the same time. Having roughly sorted the piles of files she first had, more are now being brought up and she is concerned there is no space to file them. The ‘highlight’ of the week was the invasion by a swarm of bees that seem to have nested in the store room adjoining the filing room – anyone for honey??

She has also been checking out the Secondary school’s electric sewing machine. He staff thought it was broken because no-one could get it to work – nifty Irene has sorted out the problem, and its fine.

The Hospital budget is still a challenge. A major problem is that the Government has increased the pay of staff on Government pay scales by 57% but the grant by only 25%. This means that if the Hospital pays the higher salary, it would lose and additional Tsh 130 million a year, on top of its existing losses. The Hospital Manager did try and see the Minister of Health this week to discuss this and other issues, but was unable to do so.

We have uploaded a second video on Youtube (user – the crawfordclan). Its mainly a slide show of the fundraising Garden Fete held on 17th May by St Andrew’s church. The link is:

http://www.youtube.com/v/lgGaB7NVsjg&hl=en

So – onward to next week:
· yet more work on sorting out the Hospital’s budget in preparation for a meeting with the Diocese Finance Board sometime after 19th June
· Irene to find a ‘fundi’ (worker) to make a skirt and blouse
· yet more filing for Irene
· book somewhere to stay in Dodoma next weekend
· and, hopefully, no dentist!!!!!