He only has himself to blame!

When you have too much of a good thing, you pay the price!!!

One of the Finance Staff is John Bosco. In addition to his work counselling patients who have difficulty paying their fees, JB has opened a small bakery and coffee house which we visit occasionally. Last week we went with Dr Jim and Suzanne, and their American visitor Barbara, and enjoyed a cup of coffee, cakes and short bread biscuits. A Good thing!!!

 

Last weekend Dr Jim and Suzanne returned to America having spent 3 months here. To say farewell we had a buffet lunch on a neighbour’s verandah where we ate food, cake, snacks and fresh papaya. Another very Good thing!!!

 However, this week Malcolm lost a filling, which meant he had to visit the hospital dentist.  A Bad thing!!! Yet, the experience was without pain (there being no need for an injection or drilling) when he had the tooth repaired. Mark the dentist was also quite pleased as most of his patients come when they are in so much pain he has to extract a tooth. The 3 patients before Malcolm had extractions but what was remarkable was that they all seemed very stoic and not bothered by the event – unlike Malcolm.

The lesson is, if you indulge too much in the good things, such as biscuits and cakes, beware of the price to pay. (Which in this case was £7.50 – a lot more than the £3 to have an extraction).

 We have a ’bug of the week’ this week which we assume is some sort of caterpillar crawing across our verandah. However it looks like some sort of 'Franken - bug' with two halves joined together.

 

This week’s African proverb from the BBC Africa web-site is from Ghana:  “A butterfly thinks itself a bird because it can fly”

It's not just a matter of knowing what to ask

This week the second hospital quiz night was held, this time with a series of musical items between rounds.

‘Pub’ quizzes are a novel event to staff and students at the hospital as it is not something familiar in the culture. This time two American visitors, Dr Jim and Suzanne set the questions, and Irene’s task was to be the attractive lady to circulate and collect the answers from the teams at the end of each round.

 

 At the last quiz Malcolm’s team (with Irene) won. This time, Malcolm’s team (without Irene) only came second. We wonder why!! 

One lesson, though was that the winning teams were made up of a mix of Ugandan and white people. Malcolm was lost when it came to who is the Prime Minister of Uganda – but, who won the 1966 World Cup!......... Unlike another American visitor, (who could have sung it) Malcolm did know the name of the American National Anthem.

This is a 4 minute video with samples of the music from Staff and Students .

 

One of our friends here, and home group leaders, Dr James and Milly, gave birth to their first child a couple of weeks ago. It wasn’t long before Irene went round to ask if she could have a baby cuddle with Susan – who seemed very pleased to oblige.

 

We again visited the field that the Hospital Medical Director and wife own as their escape about 2 miles from the Hospital. We were offered drinks and popcorn, but clearly when Malcolm asked for some more popcorn he was not going to be successful on this occasion.

 

When it came to cooling off in the pond both of us left this to the younger visitors.

 

 

This week’s African proverb from the BBC Africa web-site is from Sudan:  “Ask for a camel when you expect to get a goat”

Some Jiggery Pokery

Pest of the Week!

An occupational hazard her, especially if you walk around in open sandals or bare foot, is to pick up a tiny flea, called a Chigoe, or ‘Jigger’. These charming, 1mm long, insects bury themselves under the skin on your toes, feed on your blood and grow a large sac of eggs.

 

 

 Irene had the ‘pleasure’ of hosting a Jigger this week.

The good news is:

-         they always leave their ‘bottom’ sticking out, (which shows as a black spot) so that they defacate outside your body, not inside

-         when the eggs hatch they fall back to the ground so that the larvae do not feast on your feet

-         they are easy to remove with a safety pin

 

The other 'pest' this week was in a sketch that Irene put on in morning chapel. It was based on a mother (Irene) having to put up her 4 disruptive children, or which Malcolm was the eldest boy. (For the record the children were not based on our own family, although there were 2 ‘boys’ and 2 ‘girls’ and the eldest daughter enjoyed reading books). Needless to say Malcolm played himself – the naughty big brother who tormented his clever sister. Nothing changes.

 

But, she got her own back.

October 9^th was Independence Day in Uganda and there was a parade on the local football pitch. Various schools and the army paraded with children singing and dancing.

 

 

 

 

This week’s African proverb from the BBC Africa web-site is from Sierra Leone:  “There's no bad bush where you can throw away a bad child”

Con-graduations, and Celebrations

On 4th October there was the Graduation for students from the Nursing & Midwifery School and the Medical Laboratory Training School.

 

This was the first Graduation ceremony for 3 years and so there were about 300 students waiting to receive their certificates.

 

 

The ceremony was held in the open air – fortunately this week the rain had decided to finish about an hour before the ceremony.

 In addition to the Guest of Honour, (a University chaplain) there were speeches by 6 other special guests.

 

 

The entertainment was singing and dancing by current students.

 

In addition to receiving their certificates graduates had to make an oath to serve patients faithfully.

 

Everybody had to dress up; including Malcolm!

 

 

A 3minute video is avilble on Youtube by clicking the link at: http://youtu.be/PtStyWsfWdU

 

This week’s African proverb from the BBC Africa web-site is from Zambia:  “The wise create proverbs for fools to learn, not to repeat”

Overwhelmed by Blessing

A few weeks ago we were told that if it rains at a wedding it’s a sign of God’s Blessing.

 

Last weekend we went to the wedding of one of the Hospital Board members. Livingstone, a sprightly 80+ year old marrying a young bride of about 60.

 

 

For the event women had new outfits made. Irene made a suit from local material while Joyce made traditional tribal dresses, called Gomez, for Denise and Mairaed.

 

 

The wedding was held in the St Marks Cathedral, and the reception in its grounds.

 It was a delight to see the (not so) young couple so happy.

 

One of the local traditions is for the bride and groom to enter the reception through a decorated arch – a sign of honour.

 

At the end of the formal speeches the blessings came - in bucket loads.

 

 

 

The wedding breakfast was a traditional Ugandan meal - rice, matoke, potato, meat and a pink groundnut sauce

 

 

 

Irene found another serving area in a tent

 

 

 

However, getting served was not straightforward.

 

 

Fortunately there was enough shelter around the Cathedral and in tents for the wedding food to be eaten.

 

 

This week’s African proverb from the BBC Africa web-site is from Uganda:  “A tree that does not give shade when the sun is hot cannot give shade when it rains”

Wot? No sheets!

A few weeks ago we brought from England a bag of sheets to Kiwoko. These were used at a holiday club some of the staff organised for children.

 

Someone asked me why we needed to bring sheets from Britain. Surely, being a hospital, there are lots of sheets which are no longer any use for patients?

 

No!

 

In Uganda hospitals do not provided sheets. They also don’t provide food to patients or many of the things we take for granted in Britain.

 

A patient in hospital here relies on their own attendant ( maybe a friend or a relative) for their day to day needs. Firstly, they have to provide their own sheets and bed clothes. This means there are washing and drying areas for the attendant to use.

 

Then they have to arrange their own food. This means there is a cooking area for the attendant to cook and wash up.

 

Lounges or TV rooms? Attendants tend to stay at the hospital most of the day, but sit outside on concrete benches, or on the grass.

 

However, what we do have is medical staff who care and treat the patients in what, in Britain, would be limited facilities.

 

This week’s African proverb from the BBC web site is from Lesotho: “The hands that make mistakes belong to those who work”

No Need to Stand on Ceremony

It’s been a series of ceremonies.

Last week a team of staff from the main funders of the Hospital’s Maternity and Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit, Aspen Insurance and ISIS, visited. They came from America, London, Singapore and Australia and spent time visiting the wards, meeting the staff and experiencing life in Kiwoko. On their last day we had a farewell meal where there was a bit of excitement when it came to cut the cake.

 

 Also one of the doctors, Mushin, was baptised at our church. He had come from a Muslim family but had become a Christian and baptised when at school. However, his father had destroyed his baptism certificate. Because he wants to be married in church he needed to prove he had been baptised, so repeated the ceremony.

On Sunday the Bishop of Luweero came to hold a combined confirmation and wedding service at our local church. When he was introduced to Irene there seemed to be some friendly rivalry about who has the strongest grip.

 

The wedding was for a couple who had been married traditionally, by local ceremony, several years earlier but now wished to be formally married in church. They took the opportunity of the Bishop’s visit to be wed by him.

 

Irene enjoyed her birthday this week. She woke to find that their was no chance of keeping her age a secret, and made the most of the occasion.

 

On Friday the staff arranged a surprise birthday Bar-B-Que.

 

 

The night included fun and games and lots of food.

 

Our fellowship group gave Irene a large shopping bag as a present

 

And as we started the week with a cake, we can end it with one too.

 

This week’s proverb from the BBC Africa web-site is “When a cock invites a cockroach for a birthday party, he has prepared dinner for himself”.