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”