Party, Party time!

It’s Malcolm’s last week in Kiwoko before moving on to Kisoro – and it’s been a week of partying.

The Finance and Admin team had a farewell meal for Malcolm

On Sunday we celebrated Becca’s landmark birthday.

As usual there was a big spread. 

 As usual there was a lot of foolishness.

Even Denise had to make a point of announcing that Malcolm’s socks need darning!!!! Just as well Irene will be back keeping an eye on things soon!

On Monday there was a party to say goodbye to some visiting interns, and also to celebrate (again) Becca’s birthday. As usual there was a big spread.

 

This time it was decided we would all do our national dance.

An Irish dance

Sister Grace dancing (Twerking - invented in Uganda?)

And, of course, there was a cake to cut.

 

This week’s African Proverb from the BBC’s website is from Nigeria: “Only a fool carrying an elephant on his head joins people hunting crickets”

A Bunch of Terrorists?

Who are ISIS? Are they:

1.       An Islamic terrorist organisation, or

2.       A charitable foundation funding Kiwoko Hospital’s Maternity and HIV clinics for the past 10 years?

Because the answer is both,  ISIS (the 2^nd one) have recently been getting funny looks. For example, when they got their car insured in Uganda, they were asked ‘Do you want terrorism cover included?”

They could have taken legal action against ISIS (the 1^st one) about breach of copyright, but decided this may not be a healthy thing to do. So,  this week ISIS (the 2^nd one) changed their name to Adara. 

As part of the communication of this Malcolm came across some staff making a video.

You can see the full video explaining the name change, and the work of Adara on:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=V0lLcpEGuqQ

Not to be out-done, Malcolm is also making a video of the work of the HIV clinic. This involves attending a range of clinics and visiting some of the community work to take video of some of the 2,000 patients.

Malcolm himself almost felt hijacked this week. Not known for his sporting prowess (another of his (very) hidden talents) he finds it a bit unnerving living with those who regularly go jogging and other energetic activities. This week, early morning, he innocently walked onto the verandah of his house to discover a full scale ’30 minute workout with Davina”. Terrified, he had to go back and lie down again.

To round things off, Santa has also been hijacked. Two weeks ago we mentioned Father Christmas had visited Kiwoko Hospital. We are sorry to report that he must have become a victim of the white slave trade. This week an imposter was discovered by the hospital laboratory waiting for his test results.

 

(Editor’s note for our younger readers (i.e. younger than Malcolm, which is all of you): Both  these characters are imposters – the ‘real’ Father Christmas is meant to come on Christmas Eve – he is currently busy at work in Greenland, not Uganda.  It’s just as well Santa is not known in Uganda, as his outfit can be borrowed by children here  like a coat to keep them warm, without attracting any attention).

  

This week’s African Proverb from the BBC’s website is from South Sudan: “A cowardly hyena lives longer but it suffers the most”. 

Hail and Hearty

Sometimes the weather here is surprising. It is the rainy season, so we expect rain. But this week it hailed large stones. Malcolm was glad he wasn’t caught out in it!

 If its raining it must be time for a barbeque. Most of the women had gone away for the weekend so Rory arranged a lunch at his plot of land. At first the fire was difficult to light because all the wood was damp.

Once the fire was going the kids enjoyed freshly cooked popcorn, though we wondered if they were a bit reluctant to share it.

After lunch there was a chance for a quick dip in the pond, though someone thought the weather might turn bad again!

This week’s African Proverb from the BBC’s website is from Ghana: “Butter laughs at the salt when it rains forgetting that the sun will soon shine”. 

'Tis the Season for Festivities

Last Sunday Malcolm was invited, as Guest of Honour, to a fund raising event at Kiruli church. (The building is incomplete and the next stage is to raise money for windows). Malcolm was flattered even though he discovered he was at least 3^rd choice behind Rory and Denise Wilson.

In addition to fund raising there was also:

-          - a Baptism service for several children and adults

-          - a Harvest thanksgiving service

-       

   - and  an auction of harvest produce.

Feeling peckish, Malcolm was invited round to Rory and Denise’s for a pancake lunch. We are not saying Malcolm liked the food, but he wouldn’t even stop eating to pose for a photo!

 

 Their son, Gideon, is taught at home by Lisa. This week the theme at school was trains so the decorations included a steam train in the colours of  Gordon, Thomas and Percy.

To learn about light and dark Gideon had a cave built at the foot of some book shelves.

The work of the hospital continues to develop. The Medical Records Office has moved and there was an opening ceremony.

Finally there was a visitor to Malcolm’s office. Unseasonally early, but' tis the time to produce the hospital’s Christmas card. This year to raise funds to replace our broken auto-clave which sterilises medical tools.

This week’s African Proverb from the BBC’s website is from Uganda: “It is better to eat a mushroom in freedom than to eat meat in slavery”

All that glitters

Each Sunday morning there is a Sunday School for staff children. Last week they were learning about Queen Esther. The craft session was to make and decorate crowns.

These are a selection of photos – did more glitter get on the children than the crowns?

 

 

This week’s African Proverb from the BBC’s website is from the local Bugandan kingdom: “Patience puts a crown on the head..”. 

Out on a Limb

Dr Corrie has a visitor, her sister, Agaata from Holland is staying for 3 weeks. On Sunday we went for a walk around the village.

 On the way Malcolm heard a tree say “Mzungu, Mzungu. Picture”. Looking closely he saw 5 boys high up in one of the trees. (It is common for children to climb trees to pick fruit – and almost as common for them to end up in hospital when they come down too fast!!!!).

Later in the week one of Malcolm’s workers, JB, visited. He runs a coffee shop and Malcolm is one of his regular customers on his home visits.

This week’s African Proverb from the BBC’s website is: “You cannot climb a tree from the top.”. 

The Drums! The Drums are Calling.

There have been some additions at St John’s Church since we left in July. A new set of drums have been bought, together with a local stringed instrument and a wooden xylophone. This is a great addition to the music team as drums are traditional instruments which resonate with local people.

 

This week it also seemed that many people had been called to Malcolm’s office as a queue of people were seen outside all day. 

However, rather than wanting to see Malcolm, everyone was queuing to see Suzanne so that they could collect their monthly salary.

On Friday Suzanne had many more visitors at her house. Friday Night is Film Night, so many of us met there to watch a movie, complete with pop and popcorn. And in keeping with the musical theme we watched “The Red Violin”.

This week’s African Proverb from the BBC’s website is from South Africa: “A wise person adapts to his surroundings but a fool expects his surroundings to adapt to him”.