Florence Nightingale celebrations.

Yesterday (12th May) we celebrated Florence Nightingale Day. It took a lot of careful planning.

We celebrated Mass at around 7.00am. Then we all processed slowly, dancing and singing, around the Hospital to the wards carrying candles and The Lamp. Patients were either bemused, pleased or too ill to notice.

We renewed our Oath in Kiswahili --not sure what I have promised, hut hope for the best!

We then prepared for our shopping trip to the border town of Mutukula..
My car was requisitioned, and we se off in the pouring rain in convoy with a dala-dala packed with excited nurses and nuns. Sr. Adolphina said a prayer for the journey. Not exactly a vote of confidence in my driving! But in this rain, I was up for all the support I could get.

Mutukula was no longer a dusty town -now there was a sea of sticky mud.. Seemingly the most unlikely place to go shopping on a grand scale, I was surprised. The variety of goods available was amazing, with prices at least 2/3rd or ½ that in Bukoba market.

Lots of very serious shopping was done: blankets, suitcases, kitenge, men’s shirts, bags, shoes, carpets, jackets, household goods. (One nun bought 10 blankets…). All in the pouring rain, getting soaked. We had a picnic of soda and samosas in the rain, before piling back into the vehicles with all the shopping---something of a challenge. My boot could only hold so much. (They all sat on the balnkets). And even I bought one or 2 things..

Really, not too unlike a Works outing to Cribbs Causeway, only muddier....
We made it safely there and back, so clearly God was on our side!

Back at Kagondo Hospital, tired but happy, we were treated to an evening’s entertainement with beer/sodas and “bites” (delicious roasted peanuts).
African dance videos at high decibels featured, punctuated by speeches from important people (sometimes in competition with the music) and dancing. The evening ended with the announcement of the name of this years’ Florence Nightingale Nurse, a sweet nun from Children’s Ward, and a final bout of happy loud dancing, ululating and high fives.

A good day, but bed was a lovely place to be that night!

Nicola's Blog

Nicola’s Blog 06/May/2009
I have volunteered to write this instalment for Mum and Dad, a visitor’s impression!
So 2 weeks have passed and what an exciting time I have had! Landing into Entebbe, Uganda I was greeted by the grinning folks and whisked off to enjoy a week of travelling around the west of Uganda in the Gude-mobile (Toyota RAV4). We spent a few nights at Kibale National Park where we went on a Chimpanzee trek in the forest and spent about an hour following a family of Chimps through the trees, which was pretty impressive. We also saw a huge family of baboons – very exciting for me, for M&D as common as squirrels in UK it appears judging by their blasé…‘oh yes, baboons’.

After the Chimpanzee park we made our way south across the plains to the Queen Elizabeth National Park where we pitched up for 3 nights. With the Toyota we went in search for ‘Game’ – felt I should have brought the right attire of a safari hat, old-school binoculars, long socks and khaki shorts. Had to make do with my stylish budget attire that hasn’t been changed really in the last 10 months of travelling. Don’t think the animals minded.

We managed to get a close view of some hefty Elephants munching in the bushes, saw thousands of Kob, water buffalo – as docile as they are intimidating for me – Water buck, warthogs (hilarious animals), hippo and two lion cubs playing in the shrub. We spent a lot of time driving around, sitting at a café sipping Tusker beer and peering through Binoc’s at animals playing in the water and all the while catching up on 10 months past.

After the park we made a 12-hour journey (made all the more exciting by the range of strange noises coming from the engine and underside of the car!) south into Tanzania. My first time in the land where Mum was born and all other Gude’s in immediate family have come before – needless to say I was full of anticipation.
We arrived into their village on the weekend of May Day celebrations and attended a party held for the workers of the hospital. I got to meet everyone in one go and mumbled what little KiSwahili Mum had taught me 5 minutes earlier in way of greetings and thanks as best I could! They had all dressed up very smartly and looked beautiful. Through some very animated speeches in Swahili, we sat and ate some delicious meat stews with heaps of rice and plantain. Mum wore a beautiful locally made dress (skirtiblousi as Mum informs me– yes, they actually call it that) from local material (kitengi), which made one of the nun’s from the hospital exclaim - “Ooh! You look like the woman of Somebody!” Dad was standing right next to her and felt duly proud!

We have been on several walks in the area, watching sunsets over the mountains and banana plantations, visiting other volunteers in their homes, schools and other hospitals, gone to the market a few times to practice my still nonexistent Kiswahili and witness Mum’s purely magical conversational Swahili (enchanting). On one walk we picked up some ladies and their sisters to take up the hill, but we stopped half way to walk with them so Dad could take their bags to the top in the car – which was straining a little under the weight of us all plus tons of plantain. All the way up the hill Mum chatted very competently with the ladies, making jokes and enquiring about their work and family. I managed to mime that I thought she could speak very well and was greeted with happy squeals and high fives all round!
Whilst Mum and Dad are at work, I am content with staying in their very beautiful, cosy home and catching up on some rest, reading, writing and baking. I have managed to be able to thank Mum and Dad by making them banana cakes and drawing a window with a view on their kitchen wall so that they have something to look at whilst doing the washing up.
We are coping very well with the lack of water as we have some that comes from a reserve tank, but their self-sufficiency is highly impressive. More than I could ever cope with. Washing day is a team effort, Mum’s bread baking fills the house with yummy smells every other day, their reuse of everything creates absolute minimal waste, freshly squeezed fruit juices are plentiful and the vegetable garden is attended to with care. We are even going to create our own hair salon on the patio this afternoon with a chain of cutters! Eek! Pictures to follow??
The walls in the main room are decorated with Dartmoor and Tavistock calendars, a KiSwahili prompt sheet, maps of Tanzania and pictures from around the world. Mum’s handy work has proved invaluable in creating the pillowcases, table cloth and bed spreads, made from local materials and Dad’s commitment to the ironing and innovation with keeping the filtered water in old Gin bottles is priceless – among other thrifty measures only Blue Peter could hope to aspire to.

Despite the lack of some obvious home comforts and vices (Mum – Radio 4 (apparently not the Archers though!), Dad – sailing) they seem very happy and I feel privileged to have been able to come and see it all first hand. They are clearly loved and respected in their village, greeted by everyone (Dad lending an ear to concerns and Mum greeting the ladies with smiles) and for miles around too, as their reputation has already started to precede them. They don’t even seem to tire of each other’s company! Amazing. I am bursting with daughterly pride.