Just a Piece of Cake

It’s party time!!!

 Another year has passed and it’s Malcolm’s birthday – again.

As you might expect cakes featured a lot. John Bosco, one of the Finance staff, made a decorated cake for the office which was very much appreciated.

 

There was a second cake at a birthday meal arranged at Dr Rory’s house which took the wind out of Malcolm.

 

However, this didn’t mean he didn’t try to sneak some more food when he thought no-one was looking.

 

 With all that over-eating even Dr Corrie couldn’t face him any more.

 

 

Other people, fortunately, were taking life a bit more seriously. There are a lot of student nurses from Ireland and Germany doing work experience at the hospital, and Sunday was a chance to relax over ……. coffee and cake!

 

 

This week’s African proverb from the BBC Africa web-site is from Ethiopia:  “One who eats alone cannot discuss the taste of the food with others”

(Cakes this week were presented by John, Sarah, Malcolm and Denise)

 

Doing It With Coviction

Its been Sarah’s final days here.
 

 

The Hospital has a Ministry Team which visits a number of the prisons in the region, This week Sarah went with them to a low security open prison (just one murderer and one rapist) to speak at a short service.
 

All of us spoke with Sarah talk about the parable of the Prodigal son. Fortunately we all managed to escape! (from the prison, not the talk)

 

We had an ‘escapee’ at our house. A couple of birds have built a nest in our verandah and hatched 2 eggs. One of the fledglings had a bit of a hard landing on its first test flight but seemed to recover OK. He and his brother left the nest for good the next day. 

 

We then had a day away ourselves with Dr Corrie. On route the ladies took the chance to do some more bird watching.
 

 

Then there was the chance to try out some of our swimming skills

 

This week’s African proverb from the BBC Africa web-site is from Cameroon:  “As man has learnt to shoot without missing, the birds have learnt to fly without perching”


  

Simply Batty!

Its been a bit of a batty week.

 

It started of with a bar b q with Rory last Saturday. It started well enough with Rory skilfully lighting the fire to cook the beef burgers. However it all got a bit soggy when the rain soaked the crisp burgers, as well as Rory.

 

And then there was the birthday party for Susan, the Chief Executive of one of the Hospital main funders, Isis. Malcolm was a bit surprised when she appeared to have taken exception to the birthday card he presented to her. Fortunately no lasting damage was done.

 

And as for our other visitors!!! Sarah from Chesham decided she needed to imitate the stars of a 1969 cult movie by riding pillion. as she toured the local countryside. With a bit of imagination, and with your eyes closed, Bosco, an HIV counsellor working at the hospital, could almost be mistaken for Peter Fonda.

 

We had thought Steve Burgess, our boss from the Church Mission Society, had come to check up that everything was OK with us. However, he soon took the opportunity of scoring a rounder’s home run – against a team of children who attend the hospital’s HIV clinic.

 

The local animal wildlife was also acting a bit batty. This included a goat. He had clearly decided to go climbing to read a hospital poster (only kidding).

 

Sadly not all the wildlife is so endearing. Bats are a menace as they spread diseases and rabies, so from time to time the hospital has to take steps to remove them. This week it was a bit like a bat cemetery around our house. Not something that would be permitted in the UK?

 

Another practice which would be frowned upon in the UK appeared quite happily in a national newspaper here. What is this? A business awards ceremony in Uganda where a white business man is carried in by what appears to be 4 black male slaves…………. Surely not. Is it Uganda, or the UK which is going a bit batty over being ‘PC’?

 

This week’s African proverb from the BBC Africa web-site is from Nigeria:  “Don't befriend a goat if your cover cloth is made from plantain leaves”

Totally eclipsed?

There are times you may feel totally eclipsed by your friends and colleagues.

 

Last Sunday where was a solar eclipse in Uganda, which was almost total in Kiwoko. Many people found safe ways to view the eclipse – some more effectively than others.

 

Every weekday there is a morning chapel, and on Friday’s different departments arrange the morning. This week it was the term of the medical Workshop. They presented a sketch raising issues about looking after the hospital equipment so that patients can be cared for. The all male cast caused great hilarity aongst the staff and students, particularly in their roles as nurses and the ambulance.

  

On Tuesday Joseph, the hospital Finance Manager, Joseph, left to start a new job in Kampala. He has worked at Kiwoko for 4 years. His friends arranged a farewell party.

 

This week’s African proverb from the BBC Africa web-site is:  “The shadow of a stick cannot protect you from the sun”

He only has himself to blame!

When you have too much of a good thing, you pay the price!!!

One of the Finance Staff is John Bosco. In addition to his work counselling patients who have difficulty paying their fees, JB has opened a small bakery and coffee house which we visit occasionally. Last week we went with Dr Jim and Suzanne, and their American visitor Barbara, and enjoyed a cup of coffee, cakes and short bread biscuits. A Good thing!!!

 

Last weekend Dr Jim and Suzanne returned to America having spent 3 months here. To say farewell we had a buffet lunch on a neighbour’s verandah where we ate food, cake, snacks and fresh papaya. Another very Good thing!!!

 However, this week Malcolm lost a filling, which meant he had to visit the hospital dentist.  A Bad thing!!! Yet, the experience was without pain (there being no need for an injection or drilling) when he had the tooth repaired. Mark the dentist was also quite pleased as most of his patients come when they are in so much pain he has to extract a tooth. The 3 patients before Malcolm had extractions but what was remarkable was that they all seemed very stoic and not bothered by the event – unlike Malcolm.

The lesson is, if you indulge too much in the good things, such as biscuits and cakes, beware of the price to pay. (Which in this case was £7.50 – a lot more than the £3 to have an extraction).

 We have a ’bug of the week’ this week which we assume is some sort of caterpillar crawing across our verandah. However it looks like some sort of 'Franken - bug' with two halves joined together.

 

This week’s African proverb from the BBC Africa web-site is from Ghana:  “A butterfly thinks itself a bird because it can fly”