SeNile and Die?

It’s Easter – and time for a few days away.

We went with Corrie to a lodge on the banks of the River Nile. One source of the Nile is at Jinja on Lake Victoria which is a beautiful part of Uganda to visit.

 We would like to say how active we all were. In fact, the ladies were very active, including swimming several times a day. Malcolm just sat around enjoying the view.

As a reward for all the exercise we all shared in some Easter chocolate. At least the ladies will have worked the calories off.

Corrie set herself a target of doing a large jig saw. There is nothing like sitting outside doing a jigsaw overlooking the Nile.

 

One creature which did not need to feel guilty about being lazy was a small sun bird which had built a nest by the swimming pool. She kept busy by getting food to feed her chicks.

On the way home we were overtaken by a coffin on wheels. You never know when you might need one.

This weeks proverb from the BBC Africa web-site is from Sierra Leone:  "No matter how beautiful and well-crafted a coffin might look, it will not make anyone wish for death"


PS. Despite the title, see you next week?

Palms, Eyes and 'airs.

Every 3 months we go to the service at the local church to give an update on a relevant health issue. This week (Palm Sunday) Malcolm went with Frank, a nurse who runs the eye clinic. Frank gave them the good news that specialist opthalmists would be visiting on Tuesday to run an ‘Eye Camp’ where people could have any problems with their sight investigated. Malcolm gave the bad news about the cut in funding by the US Government to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS (see last week’s blog).

On Tuesday a crowd of people came to the Eye Camp. Because of the number some of the basic tests were carried out ‘al fresco’.

Another ‘al fresco’ event was when Paul had his hair cut by his wife, Tania. Paul looks none to pleased to be photographed.

 

One of the largest birds in this area is the Malibu Stork. We spotted this one on sitting on a small Termite hill.

 

If you want to see what the hospital and area looks like from the air the following link is to a video taken from a small ‘drone’ this week. The video lasts just under 14 minutes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-McNaVGuDQ&feature=youtu.be

This week’s African proverb from the BBC web-site is from Senegal: “Tomorrow is far”.

There are Problems when you mix Politics with Health Care

It’s been a challenging week.

On Tuesday Malcolm was invited to a briefing by the Inter Religious Council of Uganda (IRCU) which represents all faiths in Uganda. Faith based health units, such as Kiwoko, treat over 50% of the population of Uganda.

Because of the controversy about the Ugandan Government’s decision to toughen its laws to prevent the promotion of homosexuality, and the IRCU’s support of the new law, the White House has announced six months into this year’s programme that it is cutting this year’s grant  to IRCU by 75%, and with immediate effect. This grant pays for most of HIV prevention and treatment work of faith based health units in Uganda.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/03/24/promoting-regional-security-and-protecting-human-rights-uganda

(Most of the White House blog is about the US sending helicopters to bases in Uganda to attack the rebels in the Central African Republic. The cut to HIV funding to Uganda is at the end)

We currently treat over 2,000 AIDS patients, with over 700 new cases identified each year. The good news is that for the time being the existing patients will continue to receive their treatment, and pregnant mothers will continue to be tested and those found HIV+ will receive treatment to prevent the infection passing to their baby.

 

 The bad news is that:

-          -    despite what the White House thinks, being half way through the year we have already spent half the grant. By cutting funds by 3/4 there is none left to employ staff to run the clinics or counsel patients unlwss the hospital diverts funds from other services

-      -   any new patients will no longer receive free tests and treatment, existing patients will have to pay for tests for any supplementary infections associated with HIV and,

       -    the Hospital’s outreach and preventative work will stop. 

      To a poor community where people are struggling to survive the impact of the costs of testing and treating a chronic disease is devastating.

Already this week one of our counsellors, Bosco, had to tell a man who had travelled, mainly on foot, 14 miles to get to the Hospital that not only is he HIV+ but we are no longer able to start him on treatment. Instead he will need to travel another 25 miles to the nearest Government Hospital where he may be able to get treatment. Travelling so far for treatment was a prospect the man was unable to face.

In the announcement the White House says funds will be transferred to other partners. We are hoping that this will be to continue the work of preventing and treating AIDS in Uganda and that soon our patients will have some hope to replace the despair and anger against America, as well as the resolve that there should be no compromise on the law that we are beginning to see.

This week's African Proverb from the BBC web-site is from Nigeria: 

“A traveller to distant places should make no enemies”

Monkey Business

There has been a lot of monkey business this week.

It all started when a Colubus monkey visited the garden by our house. We knew there was a small family of monkeys living near us but it is not often that we have seen one so close.

 On Mothering Sunday (or St Marys Day as it is called here) Irene was asked to speak to a group of married couples after the morning service.

 

 

One of the unexpected parts of the meeting was rather than receiving Mother’s Day’s gifts, the wives knelt before their husbands to give them a present as a sign of respect. This appealed to Malcolm, who thinks it is a good tradition to introduce to Britain!!! Cheeky monkey

 

The hospital employs a team of security guards (Askaris) to make sure no-one gets up to monkey business. This week they had a training session to develop their skills.

One part of the training was on how to deal with fires.

 

Talking of monkey business,  on 1^st April we had an email discussion with our family on how well Irene would cope in the jungle. Here are some photos to prove how well she survives.

 

 

 This week’s Proverb from the BBC Africa web-site is from the Cameroon: “If money were to be found up in the trees, most people would be married to monkeys”