Wot? No sheets!

A few weeks ago we brought from England a bag of sheets to Kiwoko. These were used at a holiday club some of the staff organised for children.

 

Someone asked me why we needed to bring sheets from Britain. Surely, being a hospital, there are lots of sheets which are no longer any use for patients?

 

No!

 

In Uganda hospitals do not provided sheets. They also don’t provide food to patients or many of the things we take for granted in Britain.

 

A patient in hospital here relies on their own attendant ( maybe a friend or a relative) for their day to day needs. Firstly, they have to provide their own sheets and bed clothes. This means there are washing and drying areas for the attendant to use.

 

Then they have to arrange their own food. This means there is a cooking area for the attendant to cook and wash up.

 

Lounges or TV rooms? Attendants tend to stay at the hospital most of the day, but sit outside on concrete benches, or on the grass.

 

However, what we do have is medical staff who care and treat the patients in what, in Britain, would be limited facilities.

 

This week’s African proverb from the BBC web site is from Lesotho: “The hands that make mistakes belong to those who work”

No Need to Stand on Ceremony

It’s been a series of ceremonies.

Last week a team of staff from the main funders of the Hospital’s Maternity and Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit, Aspen Insurance and ISIS, visited. They came from America, London, Singapore and Australia and spent time visiting the wards, meeting the staff and experiencing life in Kiwoko. On their last day we had a farewell meal where there was a bit of excitement when it came to cut the cake.

 

 Also one of the doctors, Mushin, was baptised at our church. He had come from a Muslim family but had become a Christian and baptised when at school. However, his father had destroyed his baptism certificate. Because he wants to be married in church he needed to prove he had been baptised, so repeated the ceremony.

On Sunday the Bishop of Luweero came to hold a combined confirmation and wedding service at our local church. When he was introduced to Irene there seemed to be some friendly rivalry about who has the strongest grip.

 

The wedding was for a couple who had been married traditionally, by local ceremony, several years earlier but now wished to be formally married in church. They took the opportunity of the Bishop’s visit to be wed by him.

 

Irene enjoyed her birthday this week. She woke to find that their was no chance of keeping her age a secret, and made the most of the occasion.

 

On Friday the staff arranged a surprise birthday Bar-B-Que.

 

 

The night included fun and games and lots of food.

 

Our fellowship group gave Irene a large shopping bag as a present

 

And as we started the week with a cake, we can end it with one too.

 

This week’s proverb from the BBC Africa web-site is “When a cock invites a cockroach for a birthday party, he has prepared dinner for himself”.

"It's the way I tell 'em" *

Last Saturday we completed the ‘Kiwoko Chess’.

We had thought is was a 16.5 km 'Chase' (10 mile walk / run) around Kiwoko, but unfortunately there was a printing mistake on the tee-shirts. No matter; we don’t think we would be any better at brain-power than foot-power.

 

There were about 120 people entered in the Chase – half of which were walkers wearing green tee-shirts. To avoid walking in the heat the start was at dawn – just after 7am.

 

 

The race was along the roads and pathways around the hospital, and was a good chance to ‘catch up’ with people – by chatting if not by racing.

 

 

At the end everybody got a prize and a certificate.

 

 As for the results, it’s just that some people are simply faster than others

 

 

This week’s proverb from the BBC Africa web-site is from Nigeria : "If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together"



* with compliments to Frank Carson

Build Up for the Big Race

Next weekend we are taking part in the annual Kiwoko Chase – a walking / running race of 7  to 10 miles around the hospital.
 
In preparation he Hospital commissioned the refurbished male ward this week – just in time for Malcolm!!!!

The hospital received a new anaesthetic machine – this was made by a company called Diamedica based near Barnstable in Devon. It is a rugged design intended for easy maintenance in developing countries such as in Africa. The Managing Director, Robert, came this week to ensure the staff are fully trained in using the machine before Irene needs it!!

 

Out on the route urgent supplies are being arranged to keep us going.

 

And even a frog dropped in to see what all the fuss is about.

 

 

Lets just hope we survive to update the blog next week.

 This week’s proverb from the BBC Africa web-site is from USA  “A frog does not run in the daytime in vain””