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Greetings to all!
Well this will be the last blog entry from Natondome Village, Africa (well at least for this year!!), So sit back and enjoy…. It is a long one!
FDNC WEBSITE
Firstly, I have just had a look at the updated FDNC website, which now has information on the 2 programs that Luke and I created during our time in Uganda. I was very excited to see this, and of course a moment of pride flashed by too! Please have a look for yourself as www.fdncuganda.org There are some nice photo’s! Below is how it reads on the website for the lazy ones amongst us!!
The Adelaide - Mbale Children’s Health Fund (AMCHF)
Established in April of 2007 by two volunteers from Adelaide, Australia who assisted FDNC programs, Celeste McLachan and Luke Orr, this fund is designed to help treat patients ages 16 and below from the local area who are suffering from more serious health conditions. The fund’s first patient was Geoffrey Wambi, a 14 year old boy with a chronic leg infection that had led to paralysis and deformity of the leg. The infection was treated with antibiotics and daily cleaning and redressing, and surgery was required to remove the dead femur bone so that a newly forming femur could grow and help stabilize the leg. Jeffrey will require another surgery to reset the new bone so that normal movement can eventually be restored. Initial funding starting in April 2007 will be for one year with UGX 4,000,000 (US $2353). The goal of the fund is to restore an average of one child per month to normal health.
The FDNC Youth Football League
Started in April 2007 by Australian volunteer Luke Orr, this program was developed to engage youth (who have finished Universal Primary Education, but are unable to afford the fees associated with secondary schooling) in meaningful activity. It is designed to created self-sustaining football (soccer) leagues for young men ages 14-21 and netball leagues for young women of the same ages, in communities throughout the region. The program has already started in the Busiu and Musese communities with two football leagues, and has already enrolled over 300 participants. Crowds coming to watch the two leagues have exceeded 500 people in each of the days of play that have taken place so far.
ADELAIDE - MBALE CHILDREN’S HEALTH FUND
Sounds impressive hey!! I have also just completed the final copy of the “Adelaide - Mbale Children’s Health Fund” Master Document. This is a 16 page piece of work that will be a guidance for the FDNC Health Clinic, the FDNC Management, and to have present at fundraising events when we return home. If you would like me to email it to you, let me know!
The main thing to communicate to you, is that Juliet will be taking over my role as Project Manager as of June 1st. I have full confidence in her ability to successfully choose a needy child to undergo treatment, coordinate the care, and provide follow up support to the family, as well as documenting all expenditures for our reference in Australia. Justin (the Mzungu CEO) is in charge of the money aspect, which will therefore be smooth running and no risk of corruption.
Juliet as already identified some possible candidates for the months of June and July. One is a 6yr old girl who suffered from cerebral malaria (when the parasite spread by the mosquito enters your brain and causes convulsions) when she was younger. This severely affected her mental status, and now cannot physically walk. So a consultation at the Children’s Hospital (CURE) in Mbale is on the drawing board.
SHORT STORY COMPETITION
The Short Stories are beginning to be handed in, with the final deadline being tomorrow! This gives me 3 days to read 34 stories in broken English before I pick my parents up from Kampala on the weekend! YAY!!! The presentation will see every participant receiving a prize (5 coloured pencils) and the top 4 storywriters receiving big bundles of stationary. The good thing is that I will get to keep these masterpieces of creativity for keepsake!! Not a bad souvenir I think.
GEOFRY
Ok, now down to business. I had an unfortunate set back on Wednesday when I went with Juliet to visit Geofry at Bushikori where he has been going every 2nd day for the wound dressing. The Doctor informed me that the surgical wound had in fact healed quite nicely, however the development of 2 sinus wounds was evident on both the external and internal side of his thigh. Sinus wounds are small holes that drain puss and can be quite painful…Yuk! Thus it is probable that the infection of his bone was not completely removed in theatre (i.e. some fragments of infected bone remained after surgery - which was always a possibility). All-in-all this means that when we took him back to Kumi on Friday, the orthopaedic surgeon took one look at Geofry and his leg and said, ‘don’t bring him back for 3 months until that wound heals’. I could have cried (but I didn’t!)
Don’t fret however; as we will do everything that we can for this young boy through the Adelaide - Mbale Children’s Health Fund (AMCHF). It may take time, and maybe he in fact wont be able to walk again, but we will never know unless we give it a shot. Both Geofry and his family are willing, and have been extremely cooperative, let alone grateful, in all that we are doing. But the most important thing is that he will finally be returning to Primary School after being absent for 4 years. And let me tell you, he says this with a huge smile on his face.
CHOOKS
Next week, Juliet and I are purchasing a family of chooks - a cock and 3 hens. This will act as a small income-generating project for this needy family who have 5 other children to support besides Geofry. The parents are so excited about this gift, as they just need some capital to start with. So Papa Geofry is making a bamboo basket that is to keep the baby chicks in after they hatch to protect them prom predators and the weather, and is also organizing the immunization drops for his new family (of chooks!) So it has been decided that any child that benefits from the AMCHF will also receive some livestock (either a goat or a family of chooks) to continue to support the child in whatever way needed. A family of chooks costs $20, and has the potential to make $350 per year through the sale of both chicks and eggs. Quite lucrative really.
When informing the family of such a gift, Juliet took both Mama and Papa aside in private away from the ears of the many other villagers who had come to see what the Mzungu was up to now! We have to pretend that Papa actually bought them himself; otherwise, it is likely that someone in the village would either steal or sabotage the new family of chooks out of jealousy. The art of giving in Africa is rarely simple.
JOEL
This babe continues to come every Monday afternoon for his weekly weigh and Hb (haemoglobin) measurement. His weight has stabilized at 8kg, however, his muscle tone, skin colour and alertness continues to be improving. He is a happier little munchkin these days compared to 3 months ago, and continues to urinate in our clinic every Monday still!! His g’mother is sad that I am leaving soon, but is very thankful for all we have done for her family.
AIC
This Wednesday the Aids Information Centre of Mbale are coming to Natondome Village to perform at least 100 free HIV tests and voluntary counseling. Juliet and I have been promoting this day amongst the village as well as anybody else who comes into the clinic. I have composed an official letter that will be sent to AIC once a month, requesting their services in the village from here on in. So hopefully we will have 100 people being tested every month at the FDNC Health Clinic.
AN EGG!
During the week I had a beautiful moment as a 6yr old girl came into the clinic and shyly handed me 2 fresh eggs in a plastic bag. She was a patient of ours a couple of months ago when she fell down a latrine with her right leg. She had the natural swelling that comes after trauma to soft tissue “drained” by a traditional healer, causing a deep infected hole on her knee cap! She came in for daily wound dressings; antibiotics and I even gave her a new outfit from the donation box. She told her mother that the mzungu nurse is her best friend and she wanted to give me eggs from their chooks, which I received gratefully and got Kubo (my neighbour) to boil them for me to enjoy that evening! So cute!
AN UPDATE ON MR ORR!!!
Luke’s adventures in Italy have been going very well over the past 4 weeks. His research for his business has been quite successful with accommodation (in Tuscan Villa’s), restaurants, tour guides, mini bus companies and nice routes to go cycling along being established.
A couple of days ago, he had a slight set back and fell off his bike with his heavy backpack still on his back. He gashed his knee, got a free ride in an ambulance while he sat in the back chatting to the old blokes about cycling! When he reached the main hospital he received 5 stitches, a fat medical bill and 3 antibiotics for 20 Euro! But he tells me not to worry!!
THE VILLAGE
With just 4 days remaining of work, and then a week of sight seeing with the olds (sorry Mum!) it has suddenly occurred to me that my African Adventure is coming to an end. I have had a wonderful experience, learnt a lot, met many beautiful people and have learnt to appreciate the simple things in life.
Things that I will miss:
- Riding on the back of a boda boda for the 20min journey into Mbale town from the village.
- Juliet - we have developed a great friendship over the 3 months and I know that we will stay in touch
- Goat stew and matooke (liked mashed potato but made out of green bananas)
- The flexibility to be independent and creative with work
- The farm animals gawking at me as I make the trek to the latrine (hole for waste!)
- The children…happy ones!
- Walking through the village and greeting EVERYBODY!!
- My neat little hut
- EVERYBODY smiling, even though life in Africa can be so, so harsh at times
- The view of Mt Wanale when I go for a walk every morning
- Mai Jessica and all her fun in the evenings with Justin
- Having my meals cooked for me!
- The beautiful people I have met along the way, who have made me think, appreciate, understand, and assisted my work
And those I won’t miss!;
- People attempting to sell you items at “Mzungu price”(normally 3x the “African price”)
- Frogs, dogs, goats, cockroaches, spiders, and other wildlife inviting themselves into my hut!
- The isolation and being without family and friends and people from the same culture
- Injecting Benzathine Penicillin for syphilis (these are nasty!)
- Little kids peering into my hut ALL the time
- Potholes when driving
- Sweating
- The stinky latrine
- Beans, chickpeas, cabbage, spinach and other horrendous foods that make you “muka-muka” (fart in Lugisu!)
- Bucket showers
- Lack of power - especially when I need full vision to spot any crawlies in my hut!
I do hope that you have enjoyed following this almighty adventure, as much as I have enjoyed it too. These blogs have just been a snippet of the every day action, and I look forward to sharing more with you all in September when we arrive back in The ‘Laide!
Take care for now.
Much Mzungu Love all the way from Natondome Village!
Celeste xxxxxxxx
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Ana
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I agree!
Enjoy your last memories!! Who knows, you may be back some day. I hear you re the not missing sweating all the time, bucket showers and unexpectedly finding bugs. Can't wait to see you! oxox