All Brawn

Those of you who know Tim well will know his love of the film Anchorman, and it is the words of Ron Burgundy that must be quoted now as we start this next blog!

“I'm not a baby, I am a man.... I'm a man who discovered the wheel and built the Eiffel Tower out of metal and brawn. That's what kind of man I am. You're just a woman with a small brain. With a brain a third the size of us. It's science!”

So true....and a few weeks ago, Tim & David (Sarah’s dad) proved this by taking on the challenge of building a 5 star chicken coop with nothing other than some off-cuts of wood, nails, and of course, metal, brawn and superior brain power!! GRRRRR!!!

This testosterone fest was  further escalated by our neighbours cockerel, who turned up to savagely ravage the chickens who already live on our compound and are owned by Prince and Lydia, who live in the other building on the land we are renting.  We would have felt a little bad for these poor, emotionally scarred chickens were it not for the fact that they have pretty much decimated our tenderly planted bougainvillea which now lie in ruins!

A Stoic Patient  

There is however, one thing that is sure to reduce any man to squeaks of agony. This is a quinine injection in the bum cheek, something that Tim has become all too accustomed to over the years, and which he has recently had to endure, as he was once again struck down with malaria! Thankfully Doctor Sarah with her intellectual prowess was on hand to suggest it would be less painful if half the dose was injected in one cheek and half in the other. This thankfully turned out to be a good plan, rather than backfiring and leaving Tim unable to sit in any position. We would be lying however if we were to say that there weren’t still a few small yelps!

Some Teaching at Kitovu

This week, we had a visit from an Irish neonatal team, aiming to help train up our staff in advance of the opening of the Kitovu neonatal unit (at some point, when funding is available!), so Sarah was able to use the resuscitation doll that we had obtained.  She goes by the name of Neo-Natalie, but we call her Neo-Nantale to ensure she feels at home in Uganda.  Anyway, she was a great success, and really helped us to illustrate the important points of neonatal resuscitation.  Long live Nantale!

And finally, more “lost in translation”

It was only last night when we were having a Luganda lesson with our good friend Gerald, that Sarah realised that after what is now months of saying “mpulira empewo”, when she feels cold, it turns out that it actually means “I feel I have wind”.  Brilliant.  Thankfully, the need to express feeling cold is not very great in Uganda!

Adventures In Western Uganda!

We have been rather tardy in updating our blog, since Sarah’s parents, David and Jane, have been visiting, but now we are ready to share the highlights of our time with them....

A Dangerous Wizz in the Heart of Queen Liz...

When we moved to Uganda, we knew that Uganda was a beautiful country, but I don’t think we appreciated just how beautiful until we went on a foray into Western Uganda.  First stop was Queen Elizabeth National Park, where we stayed in a “bush camp”, which basically means posh camping.

We did a driving tour around the National Park, and our tour guide was a little distressed by Tim and David’s flagrant disregard for their own safety, as the need to relieve themselves seemed to far outweigh the dangers of unseen beasts looking for their next meal!  Thankfully they both live to tell the tale, and with all appendages intact!

The particular highlight of the stay was the boat trip along the Mweya peninsula, featuring many water buffalo, hippos, crocodiles, birds of every colour, water bucks, warthogs, Uganda kobs, and elephants, all perilously close to swimming children from the nearby village!  We had spent all day keeping our eyes peeled for the animal everybody wanted to see, and towards the end of the boat trip Tim suddenly shrieked with excitement  when he saw what he says was a lion, through David’s binoculars. Unfortunately this can’t be confirmed as he was the only one to get a peek before it apparently slipped behind a bush. It must be said that pretty much everyone else thinks he was mistaken, but in his mind at least it definitely WAS a lion! (it was - I’m telling you!!)

 A final little treat was a few sharp nips from a tsetse fly for both David and Sarah, so prayers against Sleeping Sickness would be gratefully received!

A Colobus Legion in the Crater Lakes Region...

Next stop was to visit some long-lost relatives Sally and Sue who work at a teaching training college just outside Fort Portal. We were given a fine welcome and that evening we walked to a nearby crater lake just in time to see a fabulous sunset with the Rwenzori mountains as a backdrop before heading back for a few beers and a wonderful beef stew!

The next day we visited a nature reserve overlooking an amazing crater lake surrounded by jungle that made us feel like we were in Swiss Family Robinson! Up in the trees were a whole troop of Colobus monkeys who took very little notice of us, apart from to occasionally urinate from a height in our direction! Needless to say we kept our mouths firmly shut as we peered up at them from that point on!  After a spot of lunch we struck out to walk to a local viewpoint named “The Top of The World.” Perhaps this title is a little grandiose but we did get wonderful views and felt very blessed to be in such beautiful surroundings.    

Our trip ended with a slap up meal at the Mountains of the Moon hotel before heading back to Masaka the next day. Two thumbs up for a really fantastic trip and one we hope to do again in the future (for Tim to go and find his lion, if for no other reason!). 

A Day with the NDA...

When they arrived, David and Jane had 6 large bags, of which only 1 contained their stuff.  The rest was all for us!  Two contained donated drugs (medical of course, we haven't resorted to dealing crack just yet, although if the pound drops much more against the shilling it's always an option!), and these bags were to lead us on one of those infamous Ugandan journeys that make you feel like you’re rowing a boat with one oar!  David was unreasonably worried by the big sign proclaiming that importing drugs without declaring them would lead to a stay in one of Uganda’s delightful prisons, and deciding that this may not be the best place to spend his 2 week trip, therefore dutifully declared them.

 We were told to come back the next day to clear the drugs with the NDA (National Drug Authority), only to discover that we actually needed to go to their office in Kampala (about 40km away through heavy traffic).  Blithely we decided to wait until the day that David and Jane were due to fly, and thus spent the large part of that day sitting in the offices of the NDA, filling forms, paying various fees at the bank, and pacing up and down in frustration (in Sarah’s case).  Good enough, we were given our papers in time to dash to the airport, only to discover that the airport NDA official had gone home early! One more trip to the airport the following day did result in us FINALLY walking away with the drugs with yet another Ugandan lesson in patience & perseverance under our belts!