Africa - January, 2015 (Day 4)

January 14, 2015        

After a poor night’s sleep of only 4 hours or so, I got up and headed with the volunteer group to the GUW office (which is now called the “secretariat,” a bit pretentious in my opinion).  The suitcases with supplies for Kayoro were loaded on the truck which was driven to the St. John’s Kayoro Health Centre II (to give the clinic its full and legal name) with the vans tagging along.  After a minimum of formalities, offloading began; the clinic staff carefully wrote down all the items on their inventory list.  There was a LOT of medical supplies and equipment, about which the staff was very enthusiastic occasionally exclaiming when they saw something particularly needed.

  

It was impossible for staff to keep up with organizing and shelving materials as the suitcases were emptied so eventually the supply/drug room looked like this.

 Rebecca, officially the clinic cook and cleaner but so much more, gave Jered and Lea Anne (from St. John’s Church who hadn’t been to Uganda previously) a tour of the clinic, and I tagged along.  Some of the spaces are being used differently from originally planned on, but they seem to be using all the space well.  It was fun to see Ray Frisby’s watercolor of St. John the Evangelist church front and center and all tiles still firmly adhering to the walls.  (Jennifer and I who had helped install them four years ago were grateful; I’m sure Bob Horn who purchased the adhesive and helped with the installation shares in our relief.)  

Since two years ago, a cooking building has been constructed.  It’s functional, if not beautiful, and is certainly better than cooking outdoors which is what had been being done.  The clinic staff gave the funds for construction (to get things moving) but were later reimbursed.

 

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There was a lot of activity occurring although I didn’t have much to do.  At one point I tried to help a couple of clinic staff set up the diabetes monitoring equipment.  I knew nothing about how such monitors worked but did know one should read the directions and follow them step by step rather than leaping in and pushing buttons indiscriminately as was being done.  Eventually with the help of Cammie and some more knowledgeable people, the calibration was completed.

A planning meeting was set up to talk about how the next day’s diabetes screening clinic would go.  To the western mind it was an incredibly inefficient meeting; Cammie’s patience was infinite.  A protocol was established [which it turned out on the day was not followed], and people returned to unpacking suitcases, inventorying the items, and setting up the meters.

At that point Eunice, GUW staff person, told me that Mariam, the girl I’ve been sponsoring for school for almost four years, had stopped by.  (She lives perhaps a half mile from the clinic.)  It was so good to see her.  She’s as beautiful as ever – but now a gorgeous young woman rather than a pretty girl.  And, not to be indelicate, she has filled out quite a bit.

She had come with her sister Susan.  This was a bit of a surprise to me because I thought she had two brothers; turns out she has one brother and one sister.  Susan is 15 years old and doesn’t go to school – one of many in the country who is not being educated.

  

Most of the work of supply unloading and screening day preparations was completed by 2:15.  So there was a lot of chatting amongst volunteers and with staff.  This was a slow day at the clinic with only 5 or 6 patients stopping by although numbers are increased by relatives & friends. This cute boy and girl had come in for some procedure.

We had the opportunity to chat with three student nurses from the Netherlands who had been doing an internship at the district hospital and the health centre.  Today was their last day of internship; they were heading toward home the next day.  All three were charming and very enthusiastic.  We all hope that the relationship with their professor continues and more nurse interns will be sent to work at St. John's Kayoro.  The skirts they are wearing were gifts from the clinic staff at Christmas.

Jered wandered off to check out the bore hole; residents were pumping water so it was working.

Cammie had finished all her organization work, and we left at 4:15 to return to the hotel with a stop at the bank to change dollars into Ugandan money.  At 8 we gathered for a group dinner and discussion at the hotel.  Ademun Odeke, who was born and reared in Kayoro and now lives/works in England, joined us.  Ademun came to St. John's last year to speak and express appreciation for the clinic and support for the area so it was like greeting an old friend.  

 I did a little preparatory work for the blog and got to bed at midnight (too late).