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Published: September 29th 2013
I went to a village near the Kenyan border this week (don’t worry I didn’t do any shopping) and all I heard from the children was “JAMBO!!!!” This is Swahili for “Hello!"
I started writing this blog on Tuesday, during an amazing thunderstorm and I was slightly wet as I had just run outside to bring in the washing that had taken me 3 hours to do. The washing had built up as we are now entering the short rainy season. It can be a beautiful day, you’ll go into town without your raincoat, although your wife stated you might need it, and the next thing you know you’re stuck in a café with no power for 2 hours waiting for the torrential rain to stop (please note this is a made up story… I always listen to my wife).
Life is going well - I found a job advert looking for someone with hotel management experience so I thought I’d go along and offer my services. Turned out it was a guest house with 5 rooms in the middle of nowhere and they wanted someone to live onsite and do everything. It cost me 5,000 shillings to find
this out, but on the bright side I had a lovely ride out of town over the Nile Dam.
The senior Paediatrician is back so Ness has been able to sort her work objectives for the next 6 months. One thing Ness has noticed is that the nurses do not take observations of the patients, so you only find out if a patient is really sick when they are seen during the ward round. However, this week a breakthrough occurred, on Thursday one of the nurses took the observations before the ward round (shame she did it incorrectly but brilliant to hear!). Then on Friday Ness said more of the nurses had done them, progress!
Last weekend Ness and I had a treat, there are several reasons why we splashed out and stayed in nice hotels, but the main one was to relax. We went to Entebbe which is where the international airport for Uganda is. Another Paediatrician who has been working in Hoima for the last six months was leaving so we went to meet her and her husband before they flew home. The first night we stayed in a new hotel which had only been open
for a month. We arrived at lunchtime and asked to see the menu. After about 10 minutes another waitress came out and said we have two options today; chicken and rice or chicken and chips. I thought sounds good but we decided to go and find somewhere with a couple of vegetarian options! We had a lovely afternoon next to the pool in the sun, one treat Ness and I have come to like is an iced coffee, basically a coffee milkshake. Ness asked the barman if they did them.
“Certainly Madame,” came the reply, “how many ice cubes to you want?”
A little puzzled Ness said “3 or 4 please?”
Next thing we knew the barman brought over two cold black Americanos with what looked like the last remains of 4 ice cubes. I really struggled not to laugh in front of the barman as Ness’s face was so distraught. It was like a kid waking up on Christmas morning to see Santa hadn’t been. Either that, or finishing nights Christmas morning and being given an electric blanket for Christmas from your husband at the age of 30. That evening we had a fabulous BBQ on
the shores of Lake Victoria and were treated to an incredible orange moon rise.
The next day was spent at another hotel where we met the Paediatrician, her husband and several friends they had made whilst in Uganda. It was brilliant to dine with Ugandan families. The children where very well behaved and after their dessert of ice-cream they were allowed to go swimming in the hotel pool. I volunteered to be lifeguard and felt terrible when one of the girls started drowning in the deep end. I was busy re-sizing my goggles for her sister. Anyway after a little coughing and a rest on a sun lounger she was back in the pool, but under the watchful eye of her father, who every time she went more than a metre for the shallow end wall shouted “get back here!”
On Wednesday I went on a little road trip with Pat. I’m not sure if I have mentioned this in another blog, but I’ve been giving project management support to Pat as she is setting up an NGO (Non Government Organisation). Pat has been in Uganda for over 11 years as a Missionary, but due to UK law
the UK Missionary Foundation retired her 5 years ago. Briefly, her NGO trains Ugandans to go into rural villages to train villagers ‘The Three Stone - Health Preventive Programme’. Three stones are used around the fire to support the cooking pot. If one of the stones falls away the food is lost. Pat uses this analogy for the villagers to relate to as the ‘three stones’ are clean water, proper hygiene and balanced diet.
Pat asked if I wanted to join her as she was heading into a village near Bugiri, to arrange a course in the next few weeks. When we arrived we met Pastor Joshua of the Church where the courses will be held. Many Ugandans only attend these courses as they think they will receive payment from Muzungus. Pat is very clear that there is no money, just education. The courses are run in local Churches so there are no travel costs or accommodation needed. All that is required is lunch and Pat asks if this can be provided by Church volunteers. Due to recent drought Pastor Joshua said this would be very difficult and even questioned if the attendees needed feeding. As the course is
8 hours each day, Pat agreed to supply the ingredients if the Church supplied the cooks and equipment.
We finally met up with Charles and Philemon, the two trainers three hours after the agreed time and we then drove to Charles’s home for lunch. This was another hour’s drive and we ended up about 30 miles from the Kenyan border. To get to Charles’ home, we went down dirt tracks, through people’s gardens and across fields. At one point Pat was struggling to drive as she was laughing too much when Charles said turn left and I said there is no left it’s a field?!?
We finally arrived at Charles house at 4:30pm still having had no lunch. Those that know me we will know I can give or take food, so wasn’t really bothered when we arrived to find lunch hadn’t been started. We had a tour of Charles’s farm and it was impressive to see him using all the knowledge from the Three Stones training. He had crops planted where others were struggling, a separate hen hutch to keep them out of the home and next to the toilet was a tippy-tap. This is a clever
way to wash your hands after using the toilet without spreading germs. You fix a jerry can in an ‘A’ frame and use string/wire to attach to a branch on the floor. When you push down on the branch the jerry can tilts to give water to wash your hands. I felt bad when I had a go and pressed too hard causing the wire to snap. Luckily it was easily fixed.
It was 5:15pm when lunch was finally served and it was a feast of Ugandan rice (and I mean more rice than you can imagine), matooke (savoury bananas), chicken and omelette. We discussed the training with Charles and he asked about the lunch on the day. I put my foot in it by saying “It’s all sorted; I’m going to cook pizzas for everyone”. Charles smiled and nodded politely and Pat turned to me saying ‘They’ve never heard of pizza.” It was funny that Pat allowed me to try and explain what a pizza is and then said “They never heard of cheese David…!”
As nightfall was fast approaching it was time to leave so as to be back in the hotel before dark. It is
custom with these sort of meetings to have a Master of Ceremony, this fell to Philemon. He thanked our host and said what a lovely meal it was. Then Pat piped up and sort of the said the same thing. Then all eyes fell on me. I said how lovely it was to meet Charles and his family, thanked them for a lovely lunch and for welcoming me into their home. Then Philemon said we will end with a prayer and said “David as our guest would you like to do it?” I was happy to, but wish I had a little time as I ended up repeating myself from two minutes earlier.
It was a brilliant experience and I hope to return when the course takes place to see the training for myself.
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Jenny Martin
non-member comment
A fab travel journal
Dai, we're thoroughly enjoying your observations and adventures in Uganda - you've had some scrapes and disappointments (especially thinking of lazy afternoons by hotel pools and iced mochas) but you seem to be bearing up admirably and with good humour. Keep up the good work and look after yourselves. Jen & co. xxxx