She's back. Hooray!

Irene arrived back today. We stayed for the last week with our grandson Jonah (and his parents, of course) in Plymouth where Irene was brought up to date with all the latest technology, ably assisted by Jonah, and a box of sweeties.

 When we come to Kisoro we do so via Kigali in Uganda as this is only about 4 hours drive away. Kigali is a rapidly growing city set amongst the hills of Rwanda.

In 1885 the European powers agreed that Rwanda would be a German colony – which was a bit cheeky as no European actually came to the country until 1892. Surrounded by mountains in central Africa it was very difficult for strangers to reach. After the First World War Rwanda and Burundi were transferred to Belgian as a ‘protectorate’, which must have made the Rwandans very happy.

The good news is that Malcolm now has Irene as well as Eve to look after him. He is also very happy  and that is true!!!

On Rwanda TV on Thursday, their short International News, following an item about Turkish troops building up on the border with Syria, reported that David Beckham has not been selected for the Olympic football squad for Britain. But nothing about the Spice Girls getting together. Fancy that!

This weeks Proverb from the BBC is from South Sudan:

 “Half a meal in freedom is better than a full one in bondage”

Keep it in the family

This week just some photos of our family in England:

 

Back in Care

 Those of you having sleepless nights worrying how Malcolm is coping alone, you need worry no more. Eve has come to his rescue.

Malcolm has moved up to Jenny’s house, now that she has gone to England, and is being waited on, hand and foot, by her friend Eve.

No more washing up………………



No more burnt food……………….



The only problem is that the house is up a very steep hill which Malcolm has to climb twice a day, so he has no energy left to wash up or cook if he wanted to. Half way up, though, he sometimes meets a group of children who are keen to have their photo taken, which gives him a good excuse to stop and rest.



In addition he has received an emergency food parcel from David and Sarah in England. He has a sneaky feeling that it is meant to be shared with Irene …… but she will never know????



But, he has been working as well.

In Irene’s absence the VTC computer ‘suite’ has been moved to another room. Though smaller, it means they no longer have to share with the University library.




On Friday was the first meeting of the Committee responsible for the Water and Sanitation project funded through Tear Fund. Many houses in the Diocese do not have easy access to clean water, with people often walking long distances to fill up jerry cans at water company taps (if they are lucky), wells or streams and as a result there is a high incidence in many remote areas to water borne diseases. The purpose of the project is to provide communities with access to clean water though harvesting rain water or developing gravity feed water sources.


This weeks proverb from BBC Africa's web site is from Uganda:

“Do not tell the man who is carrying you that he stinks”

Home Alone!

Malcolm has been left alone in Kisoro.




Irene has returned to the UK for June leaving Malcolm to fend for himself!!!!

What mischief can he get up to?

Will he survive?


The last instruction Irene gave him was to ‘iron’ his shirts. I’m afraid this does not come naturally to a man, and an iron is a complex and dangerous instrument.



And then there’s the cleaning. Well, the less said about that the better,



And as for cooking! You would have thought ‘cooking’ toast was easy enough. But barbequed?  …..



And this morning he almost managed to flood the bathroom when one of the pipes burst. What will he get up to next?



He had to get up early today to go with colleagues to a workshop 50 miles away in Kabala. Half way there they had a puncture – well there were only 7 in the car, but no spare and no tools. Fortunately the party included several clergy and here the sight of a dog collar still brings out the best in people. A taxi driver stopped to take the wheel off, and a Good Samaritan stopped to lend his spare wheel. Unfortunately his car then refused to start. However, by that time the Bishop’s driver, a mechanic, arrived, and identified the fault as a burnt out main fuse for the ignition, fixed with a bit of wire from the battery circuit. Well done Ivan, for not letting Malcolm have a go!



Malcolm has been trying to make a video for the parent’s evening of Nursery School that meets Potters Village. He spent a day with 14 lively 3 to 5 year olds – hopefully he wont start acting like them, just yet!

This weeks ‘proverb’ from the BBC News, Africa website was sent in from South Africa: “Coffee and love taste best when hot”. He's sure Irene know that. 

"Elvis has left the building"

Dr. Mike has left Kisoro.

For his last meal we went to ‘Graceland’ – not the home of Elvis Presley, but a restaurant with a reputation for fast, good food.

It is also alongside the main road to Kampala and is a good place to see the world go by (at least this small part of it).




Mike is coming with his wife, Sue, to work at Potters Village Medical Centre and Rutaka Health Clinic next year. This week he visited Kisoro to find out more about the work, and to find out more about the town. This included visiting a range of restaurants.

His visit coincided with the first community health immunisation clinic held at Potters Village, where about 300 children were immunised against polio and measles.

We spent a day visiting Rutaka Health Clinic. This is located about 20 miles away in one of the remotest parts of the Diocese, along a dirt road which is often impassable .

 It is beyond the Safari Lodge we stayed at last September when we were cut off by landslides (blog of 23rd September 2011).

The clinic is staffed by a Clinical Officer, 2 nurses and cleaners.


There were very few patients when we were there but we were told it gets busy, particularly in the malaria season.

Although the clinic is in a stunning location it is very isolated, providing an essential service to villagers unable to make the difficult journey to Kisoro Hospital. Unfortunately the mid-wife left some time ago which means women are unwilling to use the Centre for child-birth preferring to travel many miles on foot to be attended by a female mid-wife.

This weeks ‘proverb’ from the BBC News, Africa website was sent in from the Cameroon: “The elephant that decides to crush a cricket also risks breaking its back”