Time off

Malcolm is half way through his 3 months at Kisiizi Hospital, so time for a bit of a break. It also coincides with a visit from our friend, Dr Corrie, from Kiwoko Hospital.

They had a long weekend away on an island in Lake Bunyoni. When they booked the log cabins they thought the island was called ‘Natures Prime Island' – very relaxing. When they arrived they discovered the place had been rebranded ‘Supreme Adventure Camp’!! complete with a treetop assault course and zip wire across the lake.

 

In order not to show up the younger visitors they decided to avoid the course and the zip wire and to remain focused on relaxing.

 

As the lake is at a high altitude it was a bit chilly at night. Fortunately the restaurant included a log fire which was a welcome sight.

 

 

 They didn’t spend all the time doing nothing. On Saturday they got up early to go ‘birding’ around the lake, and to see what the locals were doing.

 

One of the small islands, Punishment island, was used to abandon unmarried pregnant women. There they would die, or be saved to become the wives of poor fishermen who couldn't afford the 'bride-price' normally required to get a bride.

Heart Surgery

When the first Mission Doctors opened the hospital at Kisiizi they made God the centre of the work. The existing old flax mill building was split into 3, with a ward on either side of the central chapel.

 

Services are announced, not by the peel of church bells but by the sound of African drums.

 

 

Faith remains central to the work here. Every weekday there is a morning service in the chapel, attended not only by hospital staff and students but also some of those patients who are mobile.

 

 

Sunday services is led by one of the hospital chaplains. As part of the Anglican church of Uganda many parts of the service are familiar.

 

Each morning a short message is shared by a member of staff. Ann is a Church Mission Society Mission Partner who has worked at the hospital for many years. In addition to taking her turn to speak at morning chapel she also leads a weekly bible study for staff.

Voting with their feet

Uganda has recently introduced a way to cut the cost of local  elections that might save money in the UK.

The opening of thousands of voting stations, employing staff and printing ballot papers is expensive. About 9 years ago Uganda introduced a much cheaper method, but just for electing the local town council.


At 11 am the candidates for chairing the Council arrive on a piece of land and the electors turn up. Each elector stands in front of the person they want to vote for. They have an hour to decide. At 12 noon the person with the most supporters is elected chair of the Council.

He, or she, then chooses from their supporters the other Council members.

 

All done in just over an hour. No delay in counting unnecessary secret ballots etc.

 
The bad news is that most people Malcolm spoke to didn't intend to vote. If they were seen to vote for the wrong person, who lost, the successful chair person might hold a grudge. The Local Council Chairman does hold a lot of power in the community,

The good news is that everybody gets a Public Holiday in order to be able to go and vote.

In Kisiizi the current chairman was unopposed so he got straight on to choosing his Councillors.

He then paraded through the village to celebrate his victory.

 

This week Malcolm left the hospital site for the first time. He needed to go the the nearest town, Kabale, to help pay money into the banks to pay staff their mid-month salaries.

 

It was also an opportunity for the Guest House Manager to purchase stock to cook meals for guests.

 

When he returned Malcolm discovered a visitor had walked to the front of his house, also looking for food.

Despair to Hope - Darkness to Light

The grounds of Kisiizi Hospital includes a traditional site which is not only a popular tourist destination, but also symbolises the work of the Hospital; Kisiizi Falls.

 

For the local tribe, the Bakiga, it is traditionally great shame when an unmarried woman gets pregnant. Up to 100 years ago this resulted in the woman’s family pushing the woman to her death from the top of the Falls. The task was given to her oldest brother because he was the one to suffer financially. On marriage the eldest son benefitted from the ‘bride-price’ paid by the groom to the woman’s family – having a child severely diminished the woman’s value on marriage.

 

The United Nations Tourism Development Fund paid a local craftsman to construct from concrete a memorial which highlights the despair caused by this practice, (which ended in 1921, in part it is rumoured because one woman pulled her brother over the falls with her).

 

In agreeing to the memorial the hospital wanted to contrast the despair of the tradition with the hope the Hospital brought to the area. Rather than the Falls bringing death to mothers and their child, it brings hope.

 

It is possible to climb to the top of the Falls to get a view of the Hospital grounds

 

This is Kisiizi Hospital

 

Sixty years ago, (when Malcolm was but a lad) a Church Mission Society doctor, John Sharpe, visited a remote location in the mountains of south west Uganda where he found an old flax mill with its own hydro-electric scheme. The extremely poor peasant farmers would have had to walk 40 miles to reach the nearest hospital.

As water, electricity, patients in (desperate) need and a doctor are some of the essentially ingredients for a hospital he raised donations to buy the flax mill and convert it to a hospital.

The original mill building became the original wards. The central part was converted into a chapel and the wings are still used as 2 surgical wards.

 

Over the years further donations were raised and additional wards built.

 

The maternity ward probably saves most lives. Without a hospital or health centre many women died whilst in labour due to not receiving the proper medical assistance that we take for granted in the UK. Even today the maternal (and baby) death rates are unacceptably high in Uganda because many expectant mothers cannot access, or cannot afford to pay for ante-natal care and rely on traditional practices in child birth.

 

Many children suffer illnesses or accidents. Malaria continues to be a killer for the vulnerable; there are diseases such as measles and polio which we have almost forgotten about in the UK, and accidents are common. The childrens’ ward brings hope to the children and their parents.

 

There is a play area for children recovering from operations – (playgrounds are not a common feature in Uganda).

 

Sadly, when Malcolm first came to Kisiizi about 7 years ago a 4 year old boy, Jamie, visiting the hospital with his parents, died from a bacterial infection after visiting a zoo in Kampala. His parents wanted to raise money for the hospital in memory of their son. Kisiizi is one of the very, very few hospitals in Uganda to have a mental health ward and clinic. This was based in one of the flax mills original buildings and was in need of replacing so the supporters of ‘Jamies Fund’ paid for a new ‘Ahumuza’ centre. (Meaning a place of comfort)

 

Where there used to be Despair there is now Hope.