THE JOURNEY CONTINUES

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MAY 2012

Window on Kisiizi - the journey continues...

All is revealed!

after all the suspense here is the mystery animal....

I saw this moth on the wall of the School of Nursing and was stunned by the patterns, colours and detail including the antennae with their spiral structure that looks very like the horns of a gazelle!  The extraordinary spectrum of creation is staggering, and when I think that these animals, and our own bodies, are all coded on 4 base pairs in the genetic code it is breath-taking.

Settling back home...

Home sweet home... but can we remember where we left things 11 or so weeks ago in the rush to get ready to go to Kisiizi after the hectic time with the course in London, the church weekend in Derbyshire and then my mum's wedding on the south coast [giving her away, giving the sermon, giving the "son of the bride" speech and making a video of the day!] before rushing back here overnight... happily mum is sounding very well, the house is still standing, and our neighbours have kindly looked after the garden.

coffee time...

Had a warm welcome back at our church [TFW] on Sunday and now catching up on the practicalities of life having to get the car MOT and tax disc sorted etc etc.

The main challenge now is to edit some of the hours of video we have taken ready for Friends Day next Saturday.  Then I hope to do a more leisurely edit to produce dvd's for promotional use to support the work of Kisiizi.

We are encouraged by all the kind feedback re the blog which has proved quite popular and we will continue it a bit longer so come back and see...

meanwhile, for those of you losing sleep over the quiz animal, here is a bit more revealed...


We would value your prayers for Kisiizi and for Friends Day next Saturday

many thanks
Ian and Hanna

Flying home...

lake in the wilderness

After getting up at 2.30am on Friday, we reached the airport about 3.40am and left for Nairobi on a Kenya airways plane at 5.10am.  Lovely dawn sky as we arrived.

only joking!

Then on the Amsterdam bound plane and treated to a sequence of spectacular scenery, initially with hills in Kenya, then the Nile in Sudan, then the Sahara desert and wilderness areas before reaching the Mediterranean.  On over Crete and up to southern Greece, then over the old Dalmation coast of former Yugoslavia before going on over the eastern Alps, Germany and down over the polders of reclaimed land in Holland.

 Great rejoicing at Schipol airport as we enjoyed meeting up with many of our Dutch family and sharing a meal and lots of stories.

Hanna with her 3 sisters, Elly, Dorothee and Noor

Hanna's dad

Then after about 5 hours on the last plane back to Manchester where we were very happy to see Ruth - she had come back specially from Leeds as a surprise to collect us with a big bunch of flowers so we felt spoilt.

So safely home after an intense few weeks in Kisiizi [I am 4 kg lighter!] - a mix of challenges and joys, buffetings and blessings  but it was clearly the right time for us to go and now we need to digest the experiences and pray about the future.  Next Saturday is Friends of Kisiizi day in Reading so it will be really good to meet up with friends there and be able to share some of our experiences.

Meanwhile tuning back into home life here and enjoying hearing from family and friends.  Keep watching the blog for while as we will update a few things and feedback from Friends day...  Thanks again for all the support we have experienced which has encouraged us greatly.

magnificent...

the "Crocodile tree" with the interesting roots

On Thursday we found ourselves a little unexpectedly with a couple of hours spare having travelled down to Entebbe earlier than originally planned. 

Having settled into our motel [ummm...] we hopped onto a couple of bodas [motor cycle taxis - just climb on the back and hang on tight!] and went to the famous Entebbe Botanical Gardens.  They had been established under the British administration a hundred years or so ago and the site is idyllic on the shores of Lake Victoria [a 180 mile wide fresh water lake] with trees brought from different continents now at a magnificent state of maturity. 

Add some monkeys and beautiful birds and it was spectacular so a real breath of fresh air.
 

Lake Victoria shore

Quiz time

we wonder if you have worked out which animal this is?!  If you think you know then do add a comment to this posting.  We will then publish the full photograph to reveal the answer. UPDATE:  SOME CLUES:1]   The word "animal" is used in the sense that this is not vegetable or mineral!2]  It is not an antelope!

we might need a lot of dough!

You may recall our previous posting about the ideas for a bakery at Kisiizi. This came out of the recognition that we have spare electricity at night and wondering how this might be utilised to the benefit of patients, staff and community.  We have been scoping out a number of aspects and happily it is looking promising as a viable venture.

On the flight out here we had an hour stopover in Kigali when we had to stay on the plane while other passengers embarked.  We turned to people in the row behind us and started chatting.  One Ugandan lady who lives in UK was visiting Uganda to see relatives.  When we talked a bit about Kisiizi we mentioned the idea of maybe starting a bakery and she said "oh, my cousin runs a bakery in Kampala!"
So yesterday, after previous phone calls, we went to visit her and look around her bakery.  She and her team were so welcoming and helpful that we left much encouraged and with a much better idea of the issues.  It was surely no mere co-incidence that we had this link up but we felt God had opened up the way.  The size of her bakery was ideal to advise us and they are clearly doing very well and expanding. She really picked up the vision for the Kisiizi bakery and its potential to help the hospital and to reduce the cost of living and be a long term income generating project. 

We also gave her some food for thought as we mentioned we were trying to find out about using waxed paper packaging rather than plastic bags that are so environmentally harmful.  Interestingly, Rwanda has banned plastic bags so we understand that bread there is sold in paper so it may be possible to organise.

The next step is to contact potential suppliers and estimate the costs of the project which will be significant, but has the potential to make a real difference long term.  We will then be looking for support to fund the programme. 

As we have looked into the logistics we anticipate it would be best to purchase raw materials in Kampala and transport them to Kisiizi and this then raises the question of whether we might them move other things at the same time and set up a supermarket, again to reduce the cost of living and to help the hospital with some income generation.

So the overall impression of our scoping exercise is that the project looks viable and we need to go on to write up a detailed proposal...  watch this space.

homeward bound...

After a very full 11 weeks or so we finally said our goodbyes to Kisiizi.  On Sunday evening we had shown an old video we made right back in 1993 in Kisiizi so there was great hilarity as people recognised colleagues 18 years ago now somewhat changed in facial appearance and, in some cases, size!

Hanna, Esther and Nancy - it's hard to say goodbye

We enjoyed the usual chaotic last few days trying to cram in meals with different people, summarise key issues in Management meetings, do our last session in morning prayers, say goodbyes and, finally, very late, pack.  Ian had anticipated an easy journey home with minimal bags as much of our luggage coming out had been surgical instruments [2 Caesarian section kits etc etc] and hospital equipment but we have managed to fill up the suitcases going back with hand-made bags for the “bags of difference” programme that helps some of our Staff to generate some extra income by selling the bags in UK.

We had a good journey up to Kampala, the roads are certainly improving with new tarmac in a number of areas.  The first section of 18km from Kisiizi to the tarmac is still rough but at least the worst sections have been graded so much better than when we came.  They are actively working on the tarmac road in a number of places  on the way to Kampala and the quality of the work looks good whilst in the past there was just a thin token layer of tarmac on a poorly prepared surface.

We stayed a night in Kampala with Josephine who is a doctor in her final year of specialty training in Paediatrics ready to return to Kisiizi as a specialist in a few months time. Josephine’s husband is Moses, our Hospital Administrator, so it will be really good when they are back together again after being apart for such a long time.  Jospehine has faced some difficult challenges in sorting out her research project as it took a long time for the supervisors to approve a project and then the one she had to do has proved very expensive as it involves difficult and time consuming tests culturing TB organisms, having 2 separate independent Paediatric Radiology opinions on all her x-rays etc etc.  But it does sound as if it is a really important piece of research to do that will affect patient care in the future.

Last night we stayed in the “Matoke Inn” guest house which is a very pleasant homely haven, and we will go on this afternoon to Entebbe then up v early to be at the airport for 3am check-in before travelling Kenya Airways to Nairobi and then KLM to Amsterdam where we hope to see some of our Dutch family for a couple of hours before the final leg to Manchester.

We really enjoyed meeting up with Francis and Sarah Ssali last night together with their son Emmanuel.  Francis worked with us as a doctor in Kisiizi many years ago and is now a very senior physician in Kampala. We have very fond memories of working with them and it is so good to keep up with the extended Kisiizi family.  Maybe in the future there will be opportunities to work together again...

Our very special daughter Ruth is celebrating her 21^st birthday on Sunday 25th! 

We remember how at the age of one month she became very ill and was admitted to intensive care with severe bronchiolitis but recovered.  We are so grateful to God for her, she is an amazing person with wonderful gifts especially her care for children with special needs.

We really enjoyed having her here with us together with her friend Beth for the first 6 weeks of this time in Kisiizi.  We look forward very much to seeing her quite soon when we are back in UK.

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EDITOR'S NOTE:  We apologise to our readers that due to circumstances beyond our control we do not have access to images of Ruth at a younger age to publish at this time as they are on a computer in UK.  However, fear not, we will aim to make amends in due course!  Keep watching this blog.. we will keep it going for a while after we are back to include Friends day feedback etc.

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Friday

up at 6:25, lovely dawn, bread and tea for breakfast, final update to my presentation of paediatric cases.

8am: Chapel, led by Rev Warren the Assistant Chaplain

8:45am:  Hanna off to Maternity, I did the presentation of a number of interesting babies and children we have seen during our stay here.  Attended by a good number of nurses and medical staff involved in the care of neonates or children.

Rest of the morning spent mainly doing video interviews with a range of Staff.  I am hoping to have some video clips to use on Friends Day in a couple of weeks time to give an up to date view of Kisiizi.  I must say it has proved both interesting and encouraging to interview a number of different people working in our community.

Went to see a couple who have had their first baby who has albinism so lack of pigmentation giving her blond hair and pale skin.  Unfortunately the mother was very upset as many of the other women on the ward came to see the baby as they thought it looked so odd.

The baby is otherwise fine but it has been quite a shock to them and in some parts of east Africa there have been horrendous stories of albino children being killed.

I also visited the Primary school and filmed some children singing.  Afterwards I played back the clip on the mini screen on the camera and the children went ballistic with the same sort of celebration one would envisage Dr Francis having if Arsenal ever won the Cup Final!



Reverend Ezra, who is our Radiographer, came for lunch as he had asked for advice re his forthcoming trip to UK [he has never been in an aeroplane in his life].

Back for more video in the afternoon and discussion of some management issues.  Then editing a powerpoint presentation for two medical students who have been here on their electives from Kings College London and who will leave early tomorrow morning.

Reverend Patrick and his wife Kellen joined us for supper and then the two medical students dropped in just in time to share the pudding Hanna had conjured up in an amazingly short time.
Later I took the presentation down to them in the guest house and did a mini-interview on video with them as it will help future medical students coming on electives.

And now as the internet is just slightly better than earlier I am trying to get the photos on...

Run out...

-          of marmalade [tinned, from Kenya]

-          of blue band margarine [tubs]

-          of saliva as the bread is so dry!

-     of soap on baby unit:  “oh, we are using Omo doctor!”

-     of time:   we will leave Kisiizi for Kampala next Tuesday [we fly to UK leaving Entebbe at 5am on Friday, travelling via Nairobi to Amsterdam where we will have a couple of hours to see some of our Dutch family before going on to Manchester ] and trying to fit in seeing everyone, appointments for lunch, supper is proving challenging…

-     of money:  so many staff approaching us with tales of running out of funds for school fees, university fees, etc, we need wisdom and compassion in how to respond

-     of the door:    Sheikh Inwiv-lafter [see a previous very silly blog called “draft manuscript for a comedy drama…”!] re-appeared when Ian rushed out the door with a camera to try and film the crested cranes flying over.  We hear them call but there usually isn’t enough time to gather a camera, glasses etc and get in position before they are past, and the “Mr Bean revisited” episode causes much mirth from the Dutch representative in the household

-     of excuses!:     Hanna promised she wasn’t working today, so not in uniform but “would just cover  maternity whilst Ian led a paediatric department meeting (including the SCBU),…”  finally home at 7.15pm [visitors due for evening meal at 7.30pm – yes she did manage to bake a pudding] and now [11.30pm] not back from “just checking an induction patient”…

-          of superlatives:  to describe the heavens at night when the sky is clear… there is currently a very bright planet to the north east, either Venus or Jupiter I think [if someone reading this has one of those sophisticated google star map programmes and can tell us it would be interesting!

-     of stories:  I have the privilege of having been asked to be Guest of Honour at the School of Nursing tomorrow, but unfortunately that means having to prepare a speech [maybe 15 minutes] and I have told most of my stories in the 10 weeks we have been here!

A trip to the theatre...

I had the chance to sneek a preview of the new operating theatres when David Barret, an engineer from Ireland who has been supervising the building, returned.

The building is spacious and airy and bright and larger than it appears from the outside.  It is awaiting fittings.  They do have some theatre lights received as a donation but currently too long and so hanging down too low which they hope to rectify.

There are 3 large theatres and a smaller minor operations theatre together with an autoclave room, stores etc.

The building is sited adjacent to the existing theatre which will eventually be demolished.  It does have a very pleasant  views one can imagine from an operating theatre on one side of the building!  We are not sure when it will become operational[!] but hopefully in the not too distant future…