Birthday Party

We went up to Ndolage Hospital to celebrate Rupert's birthday along with Teresita whose Birthday was three days before. She is a Philipina nurse tutor also with VSO. Ndolage is on an escarpment high above lake Victoria near Kamachumu, the original European settlement in Kagera. The Hospital is run by the Lutheran church and VSO have had a presence here for many years.

We took the opportunity to have a regional VSO volunteers conference so 5 Philipinos, one American and 5 British Volunteers assembled. We went off to have a look at the dramatic water fall and the lovely view over the countryside.

Later we joined together for the joint Birthday party and had a great feast organised by Teresita. There was more than enough to eat and three Birthday cakes. Afterwards Angelita, a retired family doctor and Tersita gave us a great demonstration of Philipine dancing

Outreach Baby Clinic Tanzanian style

Annie works in the Reproductive and Child Health clinic, which covers antenatal mums, babies and all outpatient HIV testing.
The Hospital has four outreach baby and postnatal clinics, each run monthly.
The first visit I went on was to a village by the Lake. Sounded lovely!
It was wet, grey and chilly when we set off. The good vehicle (and it’s driver) went off to the Bishops ordination crammed full of excited Nuns and other VIPs. We had the Toyota Land Cruiser pick-up, definitely past it’s first youth.
Turning off onto a minor dirt road spoiled by the rains, on past an army camp complete with guard and barrier (sapling on 2 forked sticks). We then stopped mid road and turned sharp R, into then out of the ditch, onto a footpath. Mmm.
Footpath got narrower and boggier, definitely bumpier. We turned a corner and there was the loveliest bay. A rocky escarpment backed it with the village nestling near the shore, fringed with trees and shambas. Smoke from cooking fires curling out of the thatched roofs, distant sounds of village life. We then came to the escarpment…still no road, footpath disappeared, only rocks that descended at an alarming angle downwards. We must be stopping here. Ah no.
Over the large rocks we went, lumpybumpy, sloping down at an alarming angle, huge rocks--4WD helped out there--then we bombed down the (relatively) smooth track to the Lakeshore, straight on, into the Lake! Sharp turn R, we drove along the lake shore, nearside wheels on wet sand, offside wheels in about 2’ of water, keep going, keep going! It was now that I realised our driver had never been here before, and was being directed by my colleague, elderly male nurse with whom I was crammed in the front seat. Driver distinctly nervous now, asking where to turn onto land again, and finally chose a less boggy area and we made it. Phew! The "clinic" is a community house, made of mud and wattle, hay on the floor, a small bench and table. There seemed to be about 2million Mums and babies, all squeezed in on to the floor, spilling outside, waiting patiently. We saw over 200 Mums and I vaccinated about 60 babies, in the semi dark, all in 3hrs… Then home time!
Setting off once more, this time with the tarp over the back to keep my 2 colleagues dry, back through the Lake like some latter day landing craft, and up onto the land, over the sandy path and ooops! Stuck in the mud. Driver did something with rocks and 4WD again, with revving and black smoke we were off. Power began to fail at the stony escarpment bit. Now I was worried about the engine. We made it over the stones but then stalled. Driver stressed, bonnet up, running between accelerator and engine. I offered to help (as I was the only other driver on board) by applying pressure to accelerator for him, which helped with the engine, but not his dignity. (I now have a reputation of being able to drive a Toyota Land Cruiser into the Lake!)
The following clinics were interesting, if not quite so exciting, but maybe more of that later…

Our Home

Our home is simple but we are busy making it comfortable. It is a semidetached with living room and 2 bedrooms, a walled enclosed courtyard and kitchen , shower and loo. The basin is in the courtyard so we brush our teeth gazing at the stars in the African sky and I shave with the cool light of the African dawn. Having a shower is challenging as it is cold only and the ambient temp is only about 18-20' C. The backyard is clean but the walls need a coat of paint. We have a few pots of fowers/mint/basil mostly provided by Valerie in various old margarine containers.

The countryside stretches behind and there are many birds including glossy starlings, assorted finches, hawks and what is that large grey parrot? Kids pass frequently morning and afternoon walking to and from school and looking/staring/giggling/running and saying "Good morning, Sir/Father/Doctor" whatever the time of day. We walk 5 minutes to the hospital though it can be a very wet 5 minutes.

This is the view from our porch.

We have been busy planting cuttings and plants that Valerie gave us and hope some take. We went out into the countryside to dig up some pretty flowering plants. One passing Tanzanian woman thought it was good that we had some plants for custom medicine for tummy ache and one of the nuns coming back from the garden thought it odd that we had dug up weeds to put in out garden. The teenage girls next door thought it was hilarious. I suppose somewhat similar to digging up some Queen Anne lace or dandelion to put in ones garden !
Sunset over the valley behind our house.

St Joseph's Hospital, Kagondo

At last we have arrived and been welcomed by the sisters and staff at Kagondo. The hospital is just off the main road down south from Bukoba. It was founded by the White Fathers in 1912 and has undergone renovation so it is bright and airy and very clean. It is staffed partly by nuns and partly by lay staff. It has the usual wards and though it can hold 150 patients, it is only half full. It has Xray, a simple laboratory, physiotherapy and last month connected to the internet through an excruciatingly slow line
Rupert has been set to work in their relatively new HIV/AIDS clinic and there is a surprisingly good attendance and adherence to clinic appointments and drug taking. Annie is working in the Maternal and Child Health clinic also with a brief to work with HIV positive mothers to try to reduce maternal to child transmission.
The Lake is about 4 miles away and we hope to walk down one weekend. It rains almost every day for 2-4 hours then clears in the afternoon. The nights are cool and in the evenings we reach for an extra T shirt or fleece to warm up. The view down the back road shows the blue roof of the hospital in the distance. Our house is in a cluster just to the right and the new secondary school is in front.