Agandi from Kisiizi

I am actually back in England and this my last bit of news about my time in Uganda! I returned to the UK yesterday and am settling back in, the washing is done (I tried to smuggle Peace back in my bag but she was having none of it!!) and I have been reunited with my rabbit, Pip (ahhh!).

The last week in Uganda was lovely. For a start it actually stopped raining!! I had done nearly all my visits to the various wards and departments and so spent my time working on my favourite wards. This was medical and maternity. It was great to go back to these wards and I felt that I was beginning to understand how the wards worked and where I could be most useful. It was a privilege and really rewarding to help and do some nursing. The Ugandans really like to be cared for by a white person (??!) and are very grateful for help.

I did quite a bit of teaching. It is not my favourite job (when teaching is mentioned at work, I tend to go quiet and try and blend into the wall paper!) but by the end of my time there I felt more confident.

I spent two days on the medical ward and a day on maternity. I hated maternity as a student nurse but have really enjoyed it at Kisiizi. I was able to do quite a lot. They would have had me delivering babies but I resisted and just looked after the babies when they popped out. It was great fun and I learnt lots. I have no plans to be a midwife, it was just so interesting to do a type of nursing that is poles apart from what I do in England.

I also spent a day going out with Hope Ministries. This is an department in the hospital that deals with children who have been orphaned either because of AIDS or other illnesses. They may have lost 1 or both parents. The team provide practical help and support to the orphans. They sometimes need to build them a new house if they have unsuitable living conditions, they provide financial support so that the children can get schooling (education is very expensive in Uganda) and they also provide counselling.

It was an amazing day, quite an eyeopener. We first visited a grandmother who's granddaughter is at boarding school (they are not like our boarding schools here). They had fallen out and they had not seen the grand daughter for a while. This girl was 13. The house that had been built for her to live in had been vandalised by a family member and there was a lot of family conflict. We went to talk to the grand mother and then the girl at school. Following Knight (who leads Hope ministries) talking to both parties it seems that they will try to make more of an effort to support the girl and provide help at home. Can you imagine, she was only 13?

We also visited another family to check out their situation so that Hope ministries could offer support. There were 2 orphans there, very cute children who were very happy to see us. We took balloons and little toys for them. When we arrived the family grew from 2 to about 15 as all the local children turned up to see the white people!! This family lived in very poor conditions. Mud huts with banana leaf roofs (a lot of houses have tin roofs). Its so hard to imagine what it would be like to live there, we are so wealthy in the west. There was quite a sick grandparent there who needed to go to hospital but couldn't afford the deposit to pay for his hospital admission (about £12).

It was a great day, very moving, challenging and interesting. Its so great that Hope ministries can visit these families and make such a difference to their lives. It is hard to know what else to say, I hope I remember what it is like for so many Africans when I am complaining that I don't have the latest computer or TV.

My last few days I spent visiting people. I went Peace's (the lovely lady who cooked for me and looked after me) house for supper, (but it was more like a feast) with another ex pat called Diana. Peace and her family live up on the hillside, up a mud track (mind you its all mud tracks and roads there!), in a nice house. It is still a mud type structure, but with 4 rooms, a separate kitchen hut, loo hut and shower room (with no roof so you can watch the wide life whilst you wash!!). They have a banana plantation and like most people in Kisiizi they work on the land to provide some income. They have no electricity and have to fetch their water. 3 of her children sang songs and entertained us, it was lovely.

I left Kisiizi on Sunday morning, waved off by the other ex pats there. I was very sad to leave, I felt like I made lots of friends and was beginning to feel very settled and used to the way of life there. There are so many things that I will miss about Kisiizi. My friends, the lovely singing (have I mentioned that I like the singing!!), the sound of rain on my tin roof, really sweet bananas and other tropical fruits, the birds (there are so many colourful, noisy birds around, a bird spotters paradise!), the slow pace of life, roast pork and roast potatoes (a weekly treat at Jane & Adrian's), cake (never thought I'd be in Africa eating coffee and walnut cake and chocolate cake on a daily basis, it was great!), the green hills and stunning views, people greeting you on the street and children shouting in a load excited voice 'Muzungo' (they love to come and touch a white person and will go back and tell there family all about it!).

I won't miss the rain (mind you I am back in the UK!), the internet going down and power cuts at night (its not easy preparing teaching sessions by candle light!).

I hope this blog has helped you see a bit of what my time in Africa was like. I had a great time , I'd love to go back again. Although I did feel at the beginning that I was more of a hindrance than a help by the end I felt very settled and that I was able to contribute to the work going on in the hospital.

Thank you for reading and that's all for now,

Love Penny xx