The times they are a-changing

 It’s another week of ‘all change’.

 Ian and Hannah Spillman left Kisiizi this week  to start their journey back to the UK. They have been here for 3 months and Hannah had been running the Finance Office. Both will be missed, but Malcolm will particularly miss Hannah as she dealt with all the demands for payments and the day to day operation of the office, usually leaving after 9pm. This freed  Malcolm to bring the accounts up to date, writing reports etc etc.

It is important to thank people for their work when they leave and this was no exception, demanding a cake!

One benefit for Malcolm is that he could move again to what is probably one of the best houses, called Valley View. (Sadly the bushes around the house have grown so there is not much of a view!).

Helping with the move was Peace, who works for Malcolm by shopping, cooking, cleaning , laundry etc. Although the houses have kitchens with cookers local woman are used to cooking outside on small charcoal burners. 

Peace has 2 children –the eldest being Olivia.

Another change is that Malcolm and Irene celebrated their wedding anniversary!! For Irene this meant going out for coffee and cake with a friend and then an evening meal. For Malcolm, a piece of precious Cadbury’s chocolate brought from England. (Although Cadbury’s chocolate can be bought here it is to a different recipe so it melts at a higher temperature – which means it doesn’t  taste the same!).

 

As Irene is the Greek for ‘peace’, does that mean Malcolm has a very ‘Peace-full’ life?

Finally, one traditional musical instrument in Uganda is a drum made of a part of a barrel covered with goat skin. This is used to accompany singing at morning chapel

 

 

Climb Every Mountain, Ford Every Stream

 Friday was another public holiday, this one to remember Archbishop Janini Luwum who stood up and criticised  the atrocities carried out by President Idi Amin, and as a result was murdered by the dictator in 1977.

It was  an opportunity for the Management Team to walk round the boundaries of the hospital so that the new Medical Superintendent, Dr. Henry, would know the extent of the land owned by the hospital. This meant climbing up the muddy slopes of the surrounding steep hills. (For Malcolm this was a bit of a shock as in the flat lands of St Neots even a gentle slope seems like a mountain!)

Part way up we passed a typical small mud and wood hut where a worker lives. Outside was a fire used for cooking .

From here there was a view over the hospital’s primary school. Like most buildings the roofs are corrugated iron sheets, sometimes painted but often rusty. 

Very few buildings in Uganda have tiled roofs.However one of the hospital's oldest buildings, now used as surgical wards and the chapel, has recently had an extension with its clay tile roof refurbished.

Further up we met other members of the Management Team. Most had brought a walking stick – being a branch cut from local trees.

At the top of the hospital land the owner of a neighbouring plot approached us, very keen to sell us her land. Most people own a plot of land which they use to grow their food as a way to supplement their income – sadly at this time of year when school fees have to be paid, they feel forced to sell some of the land to pay for their children’s education, which means in the future they can grow less food to survive.

It is usually a woman’s job to farm their land. The tools used are traditional and basic – no power tools here, just back breaking work to clear the weeds and break up the soil

 

Making our way back down was as difficult as climbing up as the ground was slippy following the recent heavy rains (Malcolm only fell over once!) There were few pathways so it was a case of trying to find a way through the undergrowth.

Half way down we crossed the river which feeds the hospital’s hydro electric scheme.

Near here we spotted a chameleon making its way through the shrubbery.

 

Almost back to the hospital and we had a clear view of its location with the hill we had climbed behind

Meetings, Meetings, Meetings!

 

One of Malcolm’s other interests is Potters Village Crisis and Health Centre for Children in Kisoro, about 3 ½ hour drive from Kisiizi. 

This started as a baby’s home form those whose mother died soon after childbirth and the family were unable to care for the baby due to lack of resources to buy formula milk or knowledge on how to care for a baby, as well as abandoned babies. 

Later a Health Centre with Special Care Baby Unit was added.

 

The costs of running the home and some of the costs of the Health Centre are paid from donations raised by the UK Charity, Friends of Potters Village. The main objective of the home is to care for babies until they are weaned and then, when they are about 2 years old, return them to either their wider family of to foster parents. Fortunately in Uganda there is normally a strong community commitment to care for each other so people are often willing to take in those in need from the wider family or community

 

 Last week most of the other trustees from the UK charity visited the project and Malcolm joined them for a meeting with the Ugandan Board responsible for the project. As trustees we were greatly encouraged by the progress made since the previous visit before Covid, and the plans of the Board in taking the project forward. www.pottersvillage.org.uk

Sadly an abandoned baby has been brought to Kisiizi Hospital. 

The newly born, still with her umbilical cord clamp in place, was found naked in the bush by some children and brought to the hospital. Fortunately she is healthy and the staff have named her Angel. She was brought to morning chapel partly to invite staff to donate towards her upkeep, but also to make staff aware that she needs someone to care for her.

At Kisiizi we also met with a long term friend, Dr Keith Waddell, who visited the hospital as part of his farewell tour of Uganda. 

Keith trained at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London in Oncology in the early 1960s. Over 60years ago he came to Uganda with the Africa Inland Mission on his way to the Congo, but was prevented from crossing the border. He has since concentrated on serving God in Uganda, first in treating those suffering from Leprosy, which was when he first came to Kisiizi. When that disease was eradicated in the 1970’s he retrained as an Opthalmic surgeon and travelled around Uganda doing eye surgery, He has restored the sight of thousands of people who had lost hope of seeing again by removing cataracts and replacing them in the early years with thick spectacles and later with replacement lenses. More recently he has become an expert in retinoblastoma,  which is an inherited cancer of the eyes where the only treatment for children used to be removal of both eyes. He developed pioneering treatments which meant a larger recovery rate and often enabled at least one eye to be saved. He has received a CBE for this work, and was ‘tricked’ into returning to Uganda last October to received an Independance Day Medald from the President of Uganda. Keith thanked God for his time in Uganda and noted that his career had gone full circle having begun his training when Oncology was being pioneered, changed  specialisms when he came to Uganda and at the end of his career combined Oncology with eye surgery.

Finally this weekend the Management team went for a day’s retreat to reflect on how God has blessed the work Kisiizi hospital and to begin thinking about His will for the future, focussing on 2028 when the Hospital celebrates its 70^th anniversary. The sessions were led by the former Medical Superintendent, Ian Spillman and was both a challenging and encouraging time.

After the storm is over

 

It has taken several days to clear up after the storm last week. It only lasted for about half an hour but managed to do a lot of damage.

Although only one house was damaged by a fallen tree, some trees were blown over and destroyed the electricity cables and transformer to Malcolm’s house side of the hospital site. This meant there was  no power to those houses for five days. Because the water tanks are dependent on electric pumps to be refilled it also meant that by Thursday there was no water to some houses. The electricity is supplied to the hospital and the nearby villages from a hydro-electric generator operated by the hospital so the technical staff worked hard to restore the system.

Sadly, in light of the storm and to prevent the potential of further damage some of the large trees have had to be cut down including a tall palm tree that has probably stood in front of the Finance office since the hospital was first built.

This week the new chaplain, Rev Collins, moved to the hospital. He was fortunate that he was able to move his furniture using a Diocese lorry. He introduced his family at the Sunday service.

Kisiizi Hospital is in a remote mountainous area surrounded by hills and forests. It was located here in 1958 to serve the rural community of peasant farmers who live in isolated houses in nestled in the hills.

Since then small villages have formed near the hospital, with people attracted by employment in the hospital, or to open shops to serve the staff.

Early each morning Malcolm walks 2 to3 miles before breakfast through one of the local villages and back. Lower Kisiizi sits on the road at the bottom of the valley that leads,  eventually, to the main road from Kampala to Rwanda. The village ‘high street’ is a group of small shops, some made of wood or mud, others of concrete blocks.

Next weekend the Hospitals Management are holding  a one day Retreat to consider the future strategic needs and direction of the |Hospital.