Is this what it's like to be a Celebrity?

My, how the weeks race by.

Things have got a lot busier here both in the Medical Centre and with our resident children. We took in a set of twins and a single baby within a short space of time. Julia, our 20 year old volunteer nobly took in a twin for 3nights before the need for sleep took over. We now have a set of twins in each baby room and a set sharing an incubator.

I woke at 5am the other night to the most awful heart rending wailing. I knew it meant a mother had just lost her baby in the Medical Centre. This was a 5 month old who had diarrhoea & vomiting for 3 days. While the mother went to get medicine, the grandmother thought she would be helpful and took the baby to the local healer for a local tonsillectomy - piercing the tonsils with a stick or bicycle spoke to let the badness out. The baby was brought to us with a temperature of 40 degrees and the family admitted she had bled profusely after the procedure. Blood poisoning had set in. This was the baby that died. There were 2 others on the ward who had been given the same procedure. Our Uganda Nurse tells them quite firmly the dangers of doing this. Unbelievebly, the parents of one of these children brought in their 4 year old son this morning. Despite what they had been told and despite witnessing the death of the baby, they had taken him for a local tonsillectomy and now he was much worse!

A member of our staff got married last week. I was invited to her Give Away ceremony in her home village. It was an hours drive into the mountains then a steep walk. I would have had to have gone by myself and was somewhat nervous of getting lost and climbing the wrong mountain. I also wasn't sure how steep, steep meant! I asked if I could attend the wedding service the following day instead as at least a taxi could get to the church. One of the other girls who was her attendant told me it had been a really steep climb so I was glad I hadn't tried. Also, the ceremony was supposed to start at mid day but didn't begin until 5.30 pm!

The wedding ceremony was joyful. As white people are a total rarity up there and I took tall, blond, Swedish Julia with me, the Vicar stopped the ceremony (we were a bit late) to have us introduced. Very embarrassing. Julia did not like being gawped at and having children in the pews behind her stroking her hair. We got more attention than the bride!

 

Some days the rain is so much - as the locals say in English. On this day it had rained all day and the lower ground was completely underwater. Staff did not know how to get home so Mike did some runs in the pick-up. The roads were muddy rivers and very slippery. A car would not have made it along some of them.

 

 

Another lovely use of English.....Are you coming now, or now now? Now now means right now, now means sometime soon.

 

 

Ivan is very into taking our shoes on and off. It proved very useful after the Tuesday staff meeting. Everyone's shoes were outside the door so there is a bottleneck whilst people slip theirs on. Ivan helpfully collected and brought Mike and me our pairs and put them at our feet which caused great hilarity.

 

Variety.

 

Our biggest ongoing challenge at the moment is the Internet. Sometimes there is no connection at all, others you watch the circle going round and round but never achieving anything and occasionally you find it working......then the power goes off. This evening is the first good signal since Friday.

For two days we felt as though we were in Britain. We woke to find it really cold and for the first time in Africa I put on my fleece and kept it on all day. In the afternoon it poured with rain so long and hard that Mike had to use the pick-up truck to ferry some staff home. The roads were muddy rivers. An ordinary car would have got stuck. The following day was also cold and I was informed that the staff had put the previous day's rain down to my wearing a jumper all day - what power I exert, I can make it rain! I informed them that I was not taking off my jumper and freezing just to prove it would rain anyway. It poured that day as well but since then has gone the other way and been hotter than usual.

There have been a variety of activities. Mike drove the pick-up and helped Festo get in wood to replace the rotten decking where the toddlers play. The wood caused the one remaining latch to break that held the back panel up. It cost 75p to re-solder!

He also got the tyres pumped up at the only air pump. The pump was a hose with no valve attachment so they had to pull the valves out of the tyres and shove the hose in as best they could. How long before our valves no longer fit the tyres?

 

 

 

It seems to be tourist season for the Germans and Scandinavians at the moment. It is always enjoyable to show visitors around and the babies enjoy the cuddles. We are now on the local tour guide 'things to see in Kisoro' list.

 

 

 

 

With the arrival of better weather and a Saturday off, Mike decided to try climbing Gahinga, the third highest volcano. It took 4 hours to get up and 3 to come down. It was a real achievement - though he is now not so sure about tackling Muhabura which is even higher. At points he had to scale rickety ladders which made him feel very exposed and unsafe. He wasn't too stiff this morning so he did very well indeed.

 

 

His guides complete with rifle to scare away animals - mostly rogue buffalo. They did see some golden monkeys in the trees when in the bamboo forest. Occasionally elephants have been spotted but there are very few left.

 

 

 

 

Looking into the crater at the top.

The wisps are cloud, not steam!

 

 

 

 

 

The maize stalks were cut down and the view from our kitchen window is beautifully African. Women tilling the land and behind them school children dancing to drum music. In no time the maize will grow again and our view will be stalks once more.

 

 

 

The Medical Centre has been quieter this week. We had a premature baby in 2 days ago who sadly died this morning. She arrived 6 hours after delivery and was very cold. Another prem arrived today. She is 1.7 kg so a better weight but she was sent home from hospital after delivery. The neighbour thought the baby didn't look good so the family went back to the hospital who then referred them to us. The baby was blue when she arrived and with an unrecordable temperature. She has warmed up but is causing concern. There is the possibility of a bowel blockage but to take her out of the incubator and back to the hospital to wait for a scan would be too risky. It is hoped that by tomorrow there will be a clearer picture of the problem - or a resolution of the problem!