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”. 

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”

Business as Usual

After several months in temporary accommodation the HIV clinic which Irene is helping moved back into their refurbished building.

 

 

Because construction with brick and concrete is cheap here, rather than buy wooden furniture desks and benches have been made out of cement. This means they will last longer and cannot be taken. However, it can cause problems when you fit cupboard doors where you need to sit to use a computer.

 

 

 

At least patients won’t be tempted to loiter in the waiting area –unless they bring their own cushion.

 

 

On Friday Irene was asked to do simple business planning training for a group of women from the local church. Because it was so hot they found it more comfortable to sit under a verandah than in the open.

 

 

This week’s Proverb from the BBC Africa web-site is from Nigeria: “A vulture has no business with the barber”

Welcome Back - The Malcolms

After our 3 week break in England we have just arrived back in Kiwoko, exhausted.

 

So a short blog this week.

 

As we walked around the hospital on our first day back we met the staff from the HIV clinic that Irene has been helping. We don’t think they were dancing in pleasur eat her return, but it was good to meet old friends.

 

 

This week’s proverb from the BBC Africa web-site is from Angola  “If you find a tortoise on your roof, just know that someone has placed it there”

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”