Synergy Winners & Christmas Dinners!

A Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!  We have had a great past couple of weeks, starting with the triumphant success of Synergy in the Amoured Brigade Cup.  The Tournament has been running for the past 6 years, and oddly enough (or not), the Armoured Brigade has won every time.  We do wonder why?!  It is perhaps telling that in the semi-finals, the referee decided to add on an extra 15 minutes of “injury time” when the Armoured Brigade team was losing 0-1 to the opposition.  They scored (immediately after which the final whistle blew) and then won on penalties.

Our hopes were therefore not high for unbiased officiating, but on the day, God was definitely on our side, and when, with a score of 1-1, the referee indicated publically that there was only 1 minute left, within 30 seconds a final Synergy goal was scored, and the referee had no choice but to finish the game 30 seconds after.  We did feel a little sorry for the opposition (well, Sarah did), who soberly packed away the congratulatory cake that they had made for themselves, and cancelled their celebration party. They did however go away with their pre-printed winners certificates and also a quickly acquired "runners up cow." All in all a good lesson for them regarding counting chickens before they hatch, but as we're not sure how well that proverb translates into Luganda we decided not to share it with them!

 

As is now a tradition, we have a little Christmas musical gift for you – perhaps not an extravaganza worthy of your expectations, but nevertheless....  Please find it at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgXyS0wY-WY

And of course, we would like to clarify that we intend no offense to the illustrious King of Buganda, for whom we have nothing but great respect and admiration!

Other people enjoying gifts this Christmas included our malnourished babies on the Nutrition Unit, who each received a very sweet knitted toy, courtesy of a very kind knitter from Saltash.

This Christmas period has been a busy one, but very enjoyable, with our first ever River of Life Church Christmas Service.  With our involvement, a certain element of chaos could be expected, and indeed we did not disappoint.  All the same, it was good fun, and (we hope) enjoyed by all. 

As well as a splendid time spent dancing and singing to Christmas Carols on Christmas Eve, whilst munching on mince pies (thank you Mum for the mincemeat so we didn’t have to endure my home-made stuff again!!), we also had a fantastic day consuming a delectable BBQ pork lunch with Rob, Katherine, Elena, and some of the White Eagles who don’t have families that they could spend Christmas Day with.  The only sad moment was the huge disappointment in realising that “The Snowman” doesn’t end happily.  Now that snow is just a distant memory for us, it’s easy to forget the tragedy of combining it with a sunny day.

Finally, along with the New Year comes the joyful opening of the Baby Unit.  Not a moment too soon, as Sarah is likely to pop a spring in her head if she has to encounter another newborn baby who hasn’t been fed for 12 hours, or another baby with meningitis who has endured 48 hours without antibiotics!!!  ARGHHHHHH.

And that’s all we have time for – but we do send you all lots of Christmassy love! 

The Ever-Expanding Crow Clan!

Greetings from an ever-expanding Sarah and her faithful beau Timmo.  This month has prompted Sarah to learn a very important luganda phrase: “Ndi omunene alinga enjovu”, which means “I am fat like an elephant”.  For any doubters, here is a photo to prove it!!

On that note, we have been busy researching parenting tips, just in case our chicken Petra was not able to bestow adequate wisdom upon us.  Luckily we happened upon the following book in a local book store, so at least we have options!

Whilst our human family is increasing, so is our animal family, with the arrival of a new baby chick (no, not Petra’s – she is well and truly banned from reproduction for the near future – but a friend from church gave us a new little chick).  We have called her Bam Bam, but alas, like previous chickens before her, she is being bullied by Petra.  After Tim found Bam Bam wandering in a nearby garden with blood on her crest, we decided separating them for a while might be the most sensible option.  It makes us feel slightly less sympathetic when Petra is in turn mauled by an effervescent Jaffie. 

Within the next two months, we shall be heading back to the UK, but rest assured that plans are being made to tend to Jaffie’s needs.  Indeed, we have found three (semi-) welcoming friends at a nearby cafe, and so provided the least friendly of the three resists the obviously great temptation to eat Jaffie, she may be spending the following months playing with her new buddies.

Security-wise, we have been delighted to note that Jaffie has developed a good bark, which comforts us, since we were not that keen to get a night guard.  We feel vindicated in this decision by a sad tale that one of our friends told us.  Turns out that their night guard found their pet rabbit just a little too tempting, and decided to kill and eat her, after giving a small “fillet” to their cat in order to shift the blame.  At least you can trust man’s best friend not to shirk the consequences of their action!

Baby Unit update: well, we’re moving on, awash with new frustrations and set-backs... so we’re moving at glacial pace, of course.  But our preparation is complete, so as soon as we have staff, we will be up and running.  Watch this space!!!

On a final note, we have had a complete revelation this week.  After all these years of us condescendingly shaking our heads when people said “oh is that a banana tree?” whilst pointing at the matooke trees in our garden – well, you were right.  It turns out that matooke is actually.... banana!  We cut down some matooke to see if Sarah could muster up a taste for them, and conveniently forgot about the bunch, and now we have a whole pile of tasty yellow bananas that have ripened over the past two weeks J

From Banks of the Nile to Jaffie Style!

We’ve been out and about this month, and thoroughly enjoyed a week in Jinja at a retreat at Mto Moyoni.  Set on the banks of the Nile, it is a beautiful, tranquil setting, with delicious food and wonderful teaching.  We went for the “Transformation of the Heart” week, and felt so refreshed by it. 

 

We departed relaxed and ready to face the coming months, and spent a lovely weekend in Kamapala with the Wooding family (we even had a pain au chocolat that REALLY tasted like a pain au chocolat!).  However, this state of calm and relaxation was soon to be well and truly over, as Sarah embarked on an unexpectedly stressful week of teaching family planning on the East African Diploma of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene in Kampala, whilst Tim returned to Masaka for a busy week of football fixtures and training with Synergy.

Synergy’s start to division 1 continues to go well, with now 4 wins and 1 draw, and also qualifying for the semi finals of the Army Brigade Cup in Masaka. Tim is braced for a busy holiday season with Synergy over December and January which will include Division 1 matches, the Synergy Cup, The Christmas Cup, and continuation of the Army Brigade Cup as well as the training and discipleship of Synergy players.

After months of waiting and hoping and praying, it looks like the Kitovu Baby Unit is truly going to be opened!  The delay came as some of the money donated by a group in Ireland had been accidentally sent to the wrong charity, and after a couple of months, we are still waiting for it to be transferred over to us.  

However, we’ve now been told that, if we have 3 months of nurses salaries upfront, we can hire and get started with training.  Due to kind donations, both one-off and on-going, from our friends and family in the UK, we have enough to get started, so (albeit in faith that we will find the funds to support the unit in a longer-term way) we are advertising for staff, and anticipate starting training in early December.  Sarah is DELIGHTED!

The HDU room is open as well, although we do have a tiny problem: the inverter is broken.  What this means is that if the power is off, the oxygen concentrators cannot be used, regardless of how much breathing distress a child is experiencing.  That is hugely frustrating, but the cost to fix it is huge (in the region of 2750 pounds).  So any bright ideas about cheaper alternatives are very very welcome!

From poorly babies to the baby Crowlett, who seems to be growing well, as is its transportation device/incubator (Sarah), who is also enjoying frequent kicks.  Tim is therefore already lining him or her up for a future football career with Synergy!  And as for our other youngster, Jaffie, she is providing endless trouble. She has recently taken a particular fancy to Mr. Magoo, and can regularly be found either chewing her fluffy behind or else mounting it! She is a rather confused young pup!

Jaffie giving Mr. Magoo some special attention!

Chicken Fools and Synergy Schools!

Well it has been an interesting month, both at home and at work.  Our blog would never be complete without a chicken update, but we have some sad news.  Firstly, our new chicken Penfold, who had previously been rescued from the brink of the cooking pot, was brutally murdered by an unidentified wild beast in the night.  We had thought that Mr Magoo had also been taken, and were delighted to see her friendly face the next morning, after a scared night spent huddled on a high windowsill out of harm’s way.  As for Penfold, it appeared that she had disappeared into the blue, leaving no trace, but Jaffie willingly located her rotting bones about a week later and attempted to bring her back into the house, much to our disgust. 

On other chicken news, we were most excited about Petra’s new broodiness, and eagerly anticipated baby chicks.  Unfortunately Petra's maternal instincts seem to be somewhat lacking, whilst her fat batty on the other hand is anything but! 

And the worst mum in the world award goes to:
Petra for squashing all 3 of her chicks so far!

The result has been 3 seperate, lovely fluffy chicks all subsequently squashed by their mother! One did manage to survive long enough for us to name it Lewis, but lo and behold the next day had suffered the same fate as the other 2.  As a result, we will naturally be looking elsewhere for our own parenting tips, so all suggestions are welcome.  Any chicken mothering tips will dutifully be passed onto Petra.

From baby chick Lewis, to visiting friend Lois – our gap year student who will be with us for the next 3 months.  She is writing her own blog, so we won’t talk for her, but she has settled into River of Life and become a beloved member straight away.  It is clear that the Kabaka (King of Buganda) holds a special place in his heart for our visitors, as once again (as when Tim’s parents visited), he coordinated a procession in her honour, this time here in Masaka.

On our trip to collect Lois from the airport, our natural James Bond-esque instincts were titillated by a spy trip to Nsambya Hospital, in order to pilfer information about the practicalities of running a Baby Unit in Uganda.  We’ve now advertised for applicants, and are anticipating (or at least hoping) to run our week long initial training session the first week of December.  Thereafter, the Kitovu Baby Unit will officially open!  We’re also just about to open our High Dependency room in the Children’s Ward, after a long run-up period, and have bought a good stock of some of our more “emergency” drugs to keep locked in the ward, to prevent the inevitable delays during night shifts or busy periods, when babies desperately needing life-saving drugs have to wait until someone collects them from pharmacy.  Having seen so many babies die or suffer due to these tragic unnecessary delays, we are really delighted about this!

Finally is has been a very successful month for Synergy.  This week we had our 6^th and final “Synergy Away” session with Kasozi primary school, which ended up with a presentation to the whole school of a full football kit and some footballs.

Synergy Away's Gift to Kasozi Primary School 

The pupils were so excited that Brian took the opportunity to lead a dance off competition! The deputy head looked a little bemused by some of the booty shaking action exercised by her students, but all in all it was a fantastic end to our work with them.

Tim and Brian celebrate Synergy F.C's first
goal in Division 1 

Synergy F.C. also launched its campaign in Division 1, and started with a tough match against Masaka S.S. Two goals in the second half enabled Synergy to take the match 2-1 and ensure that we have a good platform from which to launch our title bid!  Watch this space.....!

Crime & Punishment

The Trial of Texas Pete:

Crime: rape of multiple chickens and general noise pollution.  

Verdict: most definitely guilty. 

Punishment: capital.

The Masaka Municipal court heard evidence this week of the deviant behaviours of one Texas Pete residing in plot 8 Nsingisira Rd, Bwala. His Honor, Judge Timothy Crow, heard evidence of the flagrant disregard of the noise pollution laws (late night and extremely noisy neighbourhood prayer group take note!)  as well as outrageous pillaging of multiple chickens. His deliberation was only momentary as he passed judgement without mercy: death by decapitation, to be carried out on Thursday 27th September. 

Last minute appeals by Mr. Pete's lawyers were unsuccessful, and with no hope of a reprieve, Texas Pete made a break for it during his transfer from his hutch on death row to the execution chamber. The executioner, Mr. Lubega, was given a fair run around, but this scoundrel was no match for the seasoned garroter. By 12:01pm Texas Pete had met his maker, whilst the Thursday woman's group chose to celebrate the swift hand of justice with a Thai Red Curry. 

Fear ye not, though, we are not lacking chicken company.  A new chicken, Penfold, was rescued from the brink of consumption just a week or two ago, although her new fate (being hen pecked non-stop by the other ladies, in between being pillaged by the late Texas Pete) has been far from carefree. 

Mr Magoo, on the other hand, is going from strength to strength, and on two occasions has actually spent twenty minutes sitting with us on the outside sofa, letting us stroke her, before laying an egg before our eyes.  Sarah’s father, on receiving this news, was most perplexed since he knows a fellow runner whose nickname is Mr Magoo.  He did wonder why on earth his friends would have spent the afternoon stroking this gentleman, and was further confused as to why this would have resulted in the production of an egg!

Jaffie Joffer, Ruler of Zamunda, our fine and very fierce “guard dog” has finally become a reality.  In some ways it is like a practice time for having our baby in due course, since all she seems to do is poo, pee, and vomit, as well as whimpering, chewing things or generally causing mischief!  Whilst we doubt our human baby will be biting our ankles within a day or two of arrival, let us not rashly jump to that conclusion – we will have to wait and see.... 

Work-wise (and there is some, honest!), the plans for setting up our Kitovu Hospital Neonatal Unit are coming along, and over the coming months we are looking to find individuals and groups who will be willing to sponsor the venture.  We need either 10 people to sponsor 60 pounds a month, or 20 people to sponsor 30 pounds a month and so on.  The primary use of the money would be for staffing, as we desperately need to have nurses that are specifically trained, and employed, for looking after our new babies, as these little creatures are the people that are most often forgotten and left to die, whilst all attention is focussed on their mothers.  So if you have a heart for little babies, then please get in touch – I would love to give you more information and answer any questions you might have.

In the meantime, back to mopping up dog wee......hooray!

Crows' Landing...

After a great but busy summer, we are finally back in Uganda, so this is just a quick blog to update you on our arrival and what is to come!

Those of you that have been reading our blogs will know that one of the things that brings us much joy here in Uganda is our chickens, Texas Pete, Mr Magoo and Petra. We left Uganda having still seen no sign of them producing any eggs, although the adolescent warbling that Texas Pete had started to serenade us with before we left, suggested strongly that he was in fact a boy! On our return this has been confirmed on 2 counts: firstly his intermittent ravaging of Mr Magoo and Petra, but more annoyingly his cockadoodledooing at around 3-4am every morning! Needless to say we are now strongly considering a roast chicken (or rather cockerel) dinner! On a happier note however, we do finally have eggs! Petra in particular, is banging one out each day and as we write there is a hot steaming egg ready to be boiled!

What should we do with Texas Pete?? You decide....

On the topic of eggs and chicks, we have (if it is possible!) an even more exciting piece of news.  Since a picture is worth a 1000 words, let us simply share this.....

The Fledgling Crowlett!

As a result, this coming period of time in Uganda will be even more hectic, as we try to cram in as much as possible before we have to head back to the UK at the beginning of February, for the pain-free delivery that is to come (!).

Projects ahead for us include the official opening of a neonatal unit at Kitovu Hospital, the development of the Synergy Rural Healthy Living Initiative, the Synergy Cup (in January), and many other things that you will no doubt hear about along the way!

If we haven’t seen you this summer (or even if we have), then we would love to see you when we are back to hatch our little chick.  So let us know your plans!