BABIES & BALLERS

BABY BOOM!

Small they may be, but they are certainly tough.  After a very rocky time, our triplets are now going from strength to strength.  Thanks to a very generous person from the UK, we were able to buy clothes and other useful gifts for Mamma triplets, and also help her to pay off her hospital bill.  Elder Betty from our church helped to encourage the mother as well, and it is wonderful to see her now, finally confident and proud with her babies. 

As if one set of triplets in the hospital wasn’t enough, another set was born yesterday (the third set in the past 2 months) – but these were comparatively fat little babies, weighing in at about 1.7kg each (!), so they needed far less intervention than Peter, Paulo and John.  

Other new projects abound.  In collaboration with another charity, Sarah spent a day doing health checks on the children from a rural school.  You would think that children attending school would not have any major health problems, but that was certainly not the case.  Next week, she is hoping to work with another charity to do health checks on street children in Masaka.  

SYNERGY SEIZE THE FIVE P'S!

Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance. After losing narrowly on penalties in the Synergy Cup in January, Tim has been keen to put the Synergy players through their paces in order to ensure future success. The Synergy Seven Star fitness and skills tests have therefore been devised, which has been helping players see where they need to improve in a range of football necessities including fitness and agility followed by skills such as passing, shooting, turning, dribbling, heading and running with the ball. Our final test was the dreaded bleep test, not helped any by the burning sun and 30 degree temperatures! So for those who complain when doing it in a nice cool gym, know that it could be oh so much harder!! 

AND FINALLY...ANOTHER BARMY BODA!  

Lets face it people, whilst there may be a scarcity of electricity and water at times, barmy bodas are always in plentiful supply!

DEFINITION OF A SELF FULFILLING PROPHECY!

Kitovu's Newest Recruit!

We would like to officially celebrate a new role that one of our colleagues’ sons has taken on.  Meet medical officer Jonah.  Now, whenever visitors come to Masaka, they can be assured of top quality medical care on their doorstep.  Or at least a little cutie to meet!

Triple Portion!

On a more serious note, we have had three new arrivals in the hospital: premature triplets, weighing in at 1kg each.  It has been quite a stressful time for all of us (not least their mother), since it has been very difficult with current staffing levels to ensure consistent/quality care – and this has definitely lead to some sleepless nights for us. 

I think we all admitted that divine intervention must have played a part, particularly with triplet #2 (the middle one – “Mr Pink” or “Musajja Pinki” – so-called due to his hat colour) who we felt quite sure would die on Thursday evening (as he was gasping for breath, grey in colour, with a massive tummy), but has hung in there and improved a lot. .  Honestly, I felt I was praying in vain when I looked at him on Thursday, but in fact, he is the one who is tolerating his feeds the best now!  Mukama ye basibwe!!

Mr Pink AKA Peter receiving phototherapy 

Our hope and plan is to start a neonatal unit here in Kitovu, but the main issue is funding.  Luckily we have some good neonatal kit donated by the Irish team who came last week for training.  But this week has really confirmed to us that, without a significant increase in staffing levels, having a neonatal unit would not be safe (I’ve been told we need 5 new nurses).  So please join us in praying for funding of the Neonatal Unit.

And FINALLY....The Return of BARMY BODAS!!

It's been a few posts since we had space to showcase Ugandan's spectacular disregard for road safety! Trust me this next photo is an all too common sight!! Feel free to suggest your own caption...

It's A Family Affair!