One thing you learn when living in Uganda is to expect the unexpected, especially when returning after a few months away! Returning this time has been no different, namely that you would not expect someone to have the audacity to break into your vehicle in broad daylight and steal a bag whilst you were sitting just 20 metres away in full view having breakfast! But this is Uganda, and as such we therefore spent 2 hours of our first morning at Entebbe police station giving details of various valuable items that some cheeky felon is probably bootlegging as we write!
You also would not expect the arrival of 2 puppies when the last thing you did before leaving was inject your dog to ensure she would not get pregnant. To be fair, Sierra our dog was not in fact the bearer of these new additions, but rather felt the need to adopt the poor mutts. Whilst one was taken by a neighbour, we just had enough time to start getting attached to the other little beast before a mysterious incident early one morning raised us from bed to find it half dead with one of its eyes hanging out. Much as it fought for the next few days to hang on, we in the end decided the most humane act was to have it put down by a local vet and thus our animal woes continue.
Another of our chickens, Omudongo, has also bitten the dust (perhaps in hindsight giving her a name which translates as “Good for nothing” meant such a demise was inevitable!). We find ourselves wishing it had instead been our cockerel Mr. Loverman who had met such an end as we are awoken each morning at 4am by his strangulated crowing! It’s great to be back!!!
Speaking of noisy fat birds.... it is only fitting that we officially share the news that Sarah is pregnant with our second child. She is due in mid April, so we will be returning to UK in March, just over 5 months from now!
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Sarah was delighted to find that all was well in the Baby Unit on her return – Cathy has done a fantastic job of keeping things in line, and juggling nurses to ensure good cover in the face of shortages of staff. Before we went home for the summer, we saw some familiar faces return to greet us. The lovely thing was that when Sarah said “Thank you so much for coming back, it really encourages us to see babies doing well”, one of the mothers said “I know – that’s why I come back”.
Some of these little babies have been so doted upon that their mothers even need to be encouraged to cut down on the “topping up” of milk, for fear they remain Michelin babies! And whilst we were in the UK, the staff were all invited to celebrate the christening of Baby Babirye (the tiniest graduate so far of the Baby Unit). It’s really wonderful to see good relationships forming between staff and mothers, all of whom often need a lot of encouragement and support!
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| Baby Hajarah before and after |
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| Baby Hadijah before and after |
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Baby Allene before and after
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