An Interesting Snack or Two!

Time for another trip away. This time to Masindi which is about 100 miles north on the edge of Murchison Falls Nature Reserve. 

On the way we stopped at a very smart diner for Breakfast. Here Malcolm bought a Rolex – which isn’t a fake watch but a genuine egg rolled in a Chapati (Rolled egg - Rolex).

At our hotel Dr Corrie decided to try a sizzling beef Chinese dish, which was very nice but resulted in all low flying aircraft being grounded because of fog!

 

Malcolm was then caught pretending he was some kind of airline pilot – not terribly convincing I’m afraid.

 

Having grounded all the planes Corrie had to ground her car for a puncture. Here tubeless tyres are repaired by pushing a piece of rubber covered in glue through the hole – a method used in England till about 40 years ago when it was deemed unsafe.

 

Back at the Hospital (and we do work at the Hospital in-between weekends away) Irene as been working at the HIV clinic to identify how they might improve their admin procedures. On Friday the clinic had a staff briefing which included Irene updating staff on her review.

 

Out and about Malcolm noticed a lot of children and women collecting things from the side of the road. On closer inspection he saw the wings from flying ants which occasionally swarm at night and then lose their wings in the morning. We used to have some flying inside our house in Kisoro. The people were collecting the ants, eating some of them alive. We understand they are often fried as a nutritious snack. These are the bug of the week.

This week’s Swahili proverb from the BBC Africa web-site is from South Sudan  “A chick is not taught how to scratch up the ground for food”

All On Board

At work Malcolm has had two Committee meetings – his first Finance Committee and his first Hospital Board. As its almost the end of the financial year it meant he was busy presenting and explaining the Hospital budget for the first time.

 In between meetings we have been busy. Friday was a ‘Praise and Worship’ evening at the hospital which was an opportunity for staff and students to have a proper religious ‘knees up’.

 

 On Saturday Malcolm went with the Hospital lorry to collect some furniture given to us and other Church Mission Society workers at the Hospital. Nick and Kate Wooding have worked in Uganda for 16 years, originally at Kiwoko Hospital but more recently Nick has been vice Chancellor in Health Sciences at the International University, Kampala. They return to the UK to resume life as a GP and his wife.

Although most of the homes in the village around the hospital are modern brick built structures with corrugated iron roofs there  are the occasional traditional round houses made from wood and mud with a thatched roof.

 

This week’s bug is another large beetle which visited our home. This one rushed into our bedroom where Irene was sleeping as soon as the picture was taken - Malcolm failed to go in and rescue her.

 

 

This week’s proverb from the BBC Africa web-site is from South Sudan  “The pot of water falls from your head when you have just reached the door of your homestead”

Timbaah!!!!!

Occasionally we need to attend a school ceremony. 

Last week Malcolm was invited to the swearing in ceremony for the new Guild (Student’s Union Committee) at the Hospital’s Training Schools. This event lasted for about 2 hours and included several speeches and entertainment. Part way through, and to his surprise, Malcolm was asked to present prizes to the outgoing committee members. You need to be ready for anything here.

 

One of Malcolm’s responsibilities is the hospital farm with its herd of 24 cows. This has not been doing very well with the previous Farm Manager sacked for stealing trees. The new manager, James, invited us to visit the Farm to find out more. Whilst there we met Sarah, one of the milking cows, but unfortunately not Rachel.

 

Talking of cutting down trees a team from a church from Northern Ireland are visiting for 2 weeks to do a number of jobs. Steve is a former forestry manager who brought with him the equipment to cut down some of the older, dieing trees around the hospital.

 

This week’s bug is a large flying beetle which visited our home.

 

 

This week’s proverb from the BBC Africa web-site is from South Sudan  “To love someone who does not love you is like shaking a tree to make the dew drops fall”

Just a Matter of Style

Not wanting you to think that we are always on holiday……………….

 

June 3^rd, Martyrs’ Day, is a bank holiday in Uganda. To celebrate (the killing by the King of Buganda of 45 Catholics in he 1870’s) we had a long weekend by Lake Victoria.

  Some of the pictorial highlights of the weekend were:

 

 

This week’s bug is a large fly in a Kampala Shopping Centre.

 

 

This week’s proverb from the BBC Africa web-site is from Nigeria  “A fish has nothing to do with a raincoat”

 PS Malcolm swimming? – Still no miracle!

Somtimes Miracles Do Happen

 It’s a hard life in the mission field!!!! 

Last weekend a group of us (with Dr Corrie, Denise and Gideon) decided to go for a bit of relaxation at the Sheraton Hotel in Kampala. To most people this would be a thrill – but Malcolm and water do not mix at the best of time, so he remained on dry land.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We don’t want to make too many unsubtantiated claims, other than the camera cannot lie!!! As you can see at one point Gideon decided that he would join Malcolm in the dry by walking on the water. Quite a feat (or is that feet?)

 

To keep with the miracle theme on the way home we spotted a woman carrying what was probably her bed (we would call it a mat) on her head.

 

And then there was the market by the road side.

 

Irene has made her presence felt here – we are just waiting to find Lord Malcolm’s University to complete the set.

 

This weeks bugs are a group of butterflies (is that a flutter of butterflies, or a butter of flutterbies?). For some reason they were attracted to a neighbours garden

 

This week’s proverb from the BBC Africa web-site is from Kenya  “To pick something up from under a bed, you must bend down” 

PS Malcolm swimming – Now that would be a miracle!

A Long and Difficult Journey

Our last few days visiting Kisoro allowed Irene to meet the staff at the Diocese Vocational Training Centre where she used to work. Amos, the Principal, updated her on developments including an increase in the number of students and the acceptance of the Centre as an examination centre. She was also pleased to meet Evasta who had been one of Irene’s first computer students but is now sponsored by our Chesham church on work experience as the Centre’s administrator

 

Potter’s Village Child Crisis Centre received a new baby referred from the local Hospital. Sadly her mother had tried to illegally abort her late-term baby who had survived the traumatic experience. However, the hospital does not have the facilities to care for the 1 kg premature baby, so had sent it to Potter’s Village for care.

 

And then it was our turn for a long and difficult journey. The safest way to travel back to Kiwoko is by Post Office Bus. It is amazing how tiring it can be sitting on a bus all day. The total journey is about 350 miles, or 14 hours door to door.

 

Back at the hospital there was time to take a photo of as many of the 375 hospital staff as were available. This inevitably meant that most of the nurses and doctors were caring for patients at the time. However, a good selection were available together with the support staff such as cooks, cleaners, security and grounds staff.

 

This weeks bug is a preying mantis that decided to drop in for a visit, no doubt looking for her mate.

 

 This week's proverb from the BBC Africa web-site is from Somalia: "Don't set out on a journey using someone else's donkey”

 

 

Old Friends and New

 

We are on our travels again.

On Thursday Joseph, the hospital’s Finance Manager, took Malcolm to Kampala to meet the various financial organisations that he will have contact with, such as the Hospital’s banks (to discuss making him a cheque signatory) the Income Tax and National Insurance Offices and the external auditors. In particular the local branch of Equity bank Max, the manager, gave Malcolm a warm welcome, and tried to persuade him to open a bank account. She and her staff posed for a photo with Joseph – this seemed only fair as they had taken Malcolm’s photo as part of authenticating him as a cheque signatory.

It was a full day of meetings and tiring for Malcolm – Irene also came, and spent the day by the pool at the local leisure centre.

One reason for going to Kampala was also to meet Jenny Green from Potter’s Village who was also visiting Kampala. Because we needed to get to Kisoro to pick up their possessions left in Potter’s Village store, we managed to hitch a lift with her.

In Kisoro we were able to visit old friends and to see how Potter’s Village Crisis Centre for children had developed in the last 7 months. In particular the Medical Centre and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit is now fully operational, receiving patients referred from the Town Hospital, and in particular new babies which need the special care the local hospital is not able to provide. The Medical Centre uses both specialist incubators with oxygen feeds, and, for stronger babies, insulated ‘ice cream’ boxes. In Uganda it is vital to use whatever is locally available as high-tech facilities that we take for granted in Britain are not always available.

 

Another project initiated by a new volunteer, Sue Hughes, is to make strong specialist furniture for disabled children from recycled cardboard boxes and glue – a bit like papier mache. A special chair had just been finished by the Potters Village craftsman, Leonard, for Doreen, a 2 year old child with cerebral palsy. This chair enabled her to sit up for the first time on her own unaided and to view the world as any normal child.
 

This weeks bug is a pretty white moth that decided to cling onto the mosquito netting on our front door.

 

 This weeks proverb from the BBC Africa web-site is from Ethiopia: 

"Do not blame God for creating the tiger - just be thankful He didn't give it wings"