On the Home Stretch...

First things first, as some of you may have seen on Facebook, Sarah did indeed complete the Masaka Marathon of Madness. Not only did she complete it, but despite not particularly pushing herself she managed to finished as fourth fastest woman! BOOM! Whilst there was no bare breasted celebratory activities as promised (more's the pity!), below is a family friendly photo of Sarah and Noah crossing the finish line! We are extremely grateful to all who donated allowing us to surpass our target of £3000, and in fact, with Gift Aid added, push beyond £4000!! 

Since the marathon, time has flown by, including a wonderful 12 day visit from Tim's parents and the completion of the Synergy Talk Faith course with the Academy players. With such speed have things been moving that we find ourselves now with only 8 days until we bid a fond farewell to this place we have called home for the last 5 years of our lives (in fact 8 in total for Tim). 

As this day approaches we have many mixed feelings: sadness due to the wonderful people, the challenging work, beautiful country and vibrant culture that we will be leaving behind; pride in those who are already stepping up to fill our shoes; joy at the prospect of being back with friends and family in the UK; and relief to finally have consistent power and water!

For me (Tim) it is going to be particularly hard, as in many ways I have felt more at home here in Uganda than anywhere else in my adult life. Thankfully there is always a reminder just around the corner about the problems we will no longer have to endure, to lessen the blow for me! This week that thing was spending the best part of 2 days working on getting a new log-book for our car in order for us to transfer it to the person who is going to buy it. A simple job that would involve filling out a form in 5 minutes in the UK, has been made impossibly difficult by some complete numpty who felt that in a country with insufferably slow internet and a population not especially adept with technology, the best solution would be to shift the whole process on-line! 

Added to this is the classic Ugandan customer care experience: I laughed to myself standing at the Uganda Revenue Authority whilst noticing, in the midst of trying to sooth a very tired and disgruntled Emily, who of course was vocalizing what all us waiting punters were feeling, the sign that said “our goal is customer satisfaction” (HA!! Customer satisfaction my arse!). Anyway add that together and you get a very powerful tonic to sooth those leaving blues!

Whilst Sarah doesn't need so much convincing that moving back to the UK is a good idea, she also appreciates the odd incident to help remind her of the things  that won't be missed. Step up Mr. Cockroach who felt that a good place to rest from his generally filthy activities, was on Sarah's head whilst she lay half-dead on the sofa after a rather sleepless night thanks to Emily's incessant need to feed! Needless to say she was roused as quickly as if a hot poker had been shoved somewhere rather delicate. Despicable creatures! 

Such frustrations and horrors aside, We have both spent much of our final months here handing over our responsibilities. Brian will be taking over the future direction and day-to-day running of Synergy and I have been so blessed to see how focused he is on the task in hand. After initially living in denial about our leaving, which involved Brian locking himself in a room and beseeching God to make us change our minds, he soon came to terms with the changes ahead and since then has been planning, networking, praying and already implementing new strategies and ideas for the future! This brings me great joy, confidence and peace!

  

On Sarah's side, there’s so much to say about the Baby Unit that we have to pick just a few stories.  On the logistics side, we’ve teamed up with the Children’s Ward to offer an adapted ETAT (emergency triage, assessment and treatment) course for staff on the Emergency Department and Children’s Ward, and have run two courses over the past month.

We have finally (after much debate, sweat, tears etc) been granted permission to use a small bit of maternity as a small extension for the Baby Unit – not much: just space for 2 cots, but it will help us a lot when things are as busy as they are right now.

We’ve also recently treated our 1000^th baby since the Unit opened about 3 ½ years ago, and how fitting it was that the mum was actually from Nyendo (where River of Life Church is located!). 

Then finally, how about a couple of before & after photos….

You may well remember Asiimwe’s baby – a tiny tot of 760g on admission (and 27 weeks gestation) who went home near the end of last year.  Well this beautiful little girl popped in to see us the other day!

Then look at Kamusiime’s baby – who we only met on day 5, then 920g in weight at an estimated gestation of 26 weeks, with an arrival temperature of only 32.3 degrees Celsius!  There were ups and downs, for sure, but look how proud her mummy is now!

As we leave Uganda, all this work will continue, and as such, this blog will also continue in order to tell the stories of how things are going. But as this particular season draws to a close, all that is left for us to say for now is a massive thank you to all those who have supported us and our work, be it through finances, donations of equipment, advice, prayer, encouragement and/or banter! We are sad to say goodbye, but it also brings a new beginning!