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.....!