The African Adventures of Team Crow!: 3 is the Magic Number!

Team Crow is back in Uganda – and we are very pleased to be a larger team than before, with the addition of our most delightful little boy, Noah Kitangala Crow. Everything has been ticking over nicely whilst we’ve been gone, and our house was only robbed twice (!). Luckily, the first robbery was foiled by our friend Andrew, and the second involved the loss of only the metal manhole covers in the garden.

Noah has been greeted with rapturous applause, though he has been a source of intrigue to many who behold him. Firstly nearly everyone believes we are being cruel parents, as SURELY he must be cold when he’s not wearing socks (never mind the sweat pouring down his forehead!). Secondly, his ample squidginess is another perplexing issue – SURELY Sarah must be over-feeding him (and even, perhaps she should stop breastfeeding!).

Noah has taken it all in his stride, and is enjoying himself immensely, fascinated by the chickens (well, we couldn’t have a blog without mentioning our precious friends, could we?). In order to protect his hearing at our ear-splittingly loud Sunday services at River of Life, Noah has been donning some fetching ear protectors. He is well set for a future career either as a pneumatic drill operator or a DJ!

Back at work, the Baby Unit has been getting on very well. The main problem before was a lack of power, but thanks to some kind donations (and the sage advice of our acting pastor, who used to be an electrician), we were able to get an inverter to enable us to give our babies heat and oxygen when the power is off. In addition, a group called “Embrace” have given us some “baby sleeping bags” which keep a baby warm for hours, and these have been put to good use. We’re in negotiation now to see if we can start accepting babies born outside the hospital, but will need to hire more nurses to do so. If you, or someone you know, would like to support the newborns of Masaka by sponsoring the baby unit a regular amount each month, please do get in touch with me at sarahgiles35@yahoo.co.uk

Over the next weeks, we’ll be collating data to see how we’re doing on the baby unit, but it will be an ongoing progress. What I do know is that of the 757 live babies born since the unit opened, 129 babies have required admission to, or treatment in the baby unit and only 15 of these have died (a definite improvement from previous figures!). The nurses are doing a great job, and we will keep on running training sessions. Noah even came along to attend a session, and said that he feels much more confident in resuscitating a newborn now, and if only he was able to sit up, he thinks he could manage it!

Next time, Tim will update you a bit more about the exciting progress with Synergy Sports! For now though we're off to hear DJ Kitangala featuring MC Magoo! Brrrrrrrap!!