2012 Trip Blog

Having dropped Loretta and Justin off at the airport, almost a week ago now, it has been very different to be here without any other volunteers. It has been a wonderful couple of months watching the different groups of people come to Suubi and fall in love with the beautiful Ugandan people and everything that happens at Suubi Centre.

Loretta and Justin were no exception to this and they found it extremely hard to wave goodbye to the people in the village. I know they are physically back in Australia right now but I'm sure their hearts and minds are still very much in Uganda. I feel equally sure that everyone they met, worked with, inspired and became friends with while they were here will remember them for many years to come. In fact everyone has been regularly asking, "When will they be back?"

Having watched many past volunteers come and go, I know that some people leave and will not return, but this is not the case with Loretta and Justin...........they have caught the Ugandaitis bug! I know they will be back!

I think Loretta and Justin are planning to write a final blog when they have settled back in at home. We'll post it as soon as they send it through but until then I wanted to added a couple of photos and tell you a little about their last week at Suubi.

Loretta visited Benidikita to give her family a gift of a goat which will help raise money for her children's education.

They were so excited that they gave Loretta a gift of a chicken in return! It was lovely to have them share it as the last meal at Suubi before leaving.

Loretta fell in love with many children in the village but I'm sure baby Hope, Florence's daughter, is the one she will always think of as her Ugandan granddaughter now. When they meet again, Hope will be running around and calling her Jja Jja Loretta for sure!

Justin also made wonderful friendships with all the Clinic staff and is sure to stay in contact with everyone. Elias and Richard were thrilled to have him at Suubi and can't wait for him to return.

But it wasn't all fun and games over the last week they spent at Suubi.  There was also some serious medical issues. They will probably explain in more medical detail in their blog but for me it was amazing to watch as they dealt with many things they would never have to deal with back home in Australia.

For instance, on their last Sunday at the Clinic they worked side by side with Florence when a small child came in after having some type of fit. He was barely breathing, his pulse and body temperature was extremely low and we were all very worried that he would not survive the journey into Masaka Town where he could receive more specialized care.

With the power “out” at Suubi and no car readily available because David had the van in Kampala at the time, they put all their skills to the test and worked with the little they had available to stabilize the boy while Ishmael rushed to a nearby village to find a car to take him them to town.

When they finally returned to Suubi, having left the boy and his mother at Kitovu hospital, they were still both very doubtful the boy would survive. Thankfully, yesterday I had a visit at Suubi from the boys Mum telling me he is now back home and doing well. She wanted to say an enormous thank you to everyone at the Suubi Clinic and the muzungu medical team for helping to save her sons life!

Amazing to think, that without the clinic being in the village, the outcome would have been so different. I want to add my enormous gratitude to each and every one of you that has helped, over the past couple of years, to get the Suubi Clinic off the ground. All of you were part of saving this little boys life and will surely be part of saving many more in the future!

Another case that I'm sure Loretta and Justin would never have had to deal with at home, was when an elderly lady came in after having being bitten by a pig! Again they had hard work in conditions very different to back home but the outcome was equally as successful. The following photos are quite "graphic", so please prepare yourself if you have a weakness to blood, like me!

I think they clearly show though, that a medical team in any part of the world can do amazing things if just given the opportunity. This lady is also now recovering and her wound is healing well. Well done to the Suubi medical team and their muzungu assistants!

The elderly lady was in extreme pain when she first arrived after being bitten by a pig.

Richard, Florence and Loretta did an amazing job of stitching her arm and the wound is now healing well.

So as you can see Loretta and Justin experienced many things during their time at Suubi. I'm sure they will already be telling many people back home all about it and the link between Kyabram hospital and Suubi clinic will only go from strength to strength now that they have seen things with their own eyes. To both of you, from everyone here at Suubi were say an enormous "Webale nnyo nnyo nnyo! and we miss you guys already ............ Come back soon!"

Saying goodbye to everyone is never an easy thing to do.

Having waved goodbye to the last of the volunteers, I have had a chance over the last week to catch up with some very special Ugandan people in my life. It was a thrill to meet two very special little baby girls, who have arrived since I left last year.  I was quite surreal to be holding David's daughter, Daniella, and Joseph's daughter, Janel, in my arms having only heard about them and seen photos since they were born.

I was so excited to hold the gorgeous little Ssemwogerere Daniella for the first time.

And equally excited to catch up with Ann, Joseph and baby Janel.

And then yesterday I had a surprise visit from Asha, one of the very first people we connected with in Bujagali all those years back in 2007 on our first trip to Uganda. She had travelled more than 8 hours, from the other side of Uganda, just to see me because I was not going to have time to get to Bujagali during this year’s trip. It was so lovely to have her at Jja Jja's house last night as we shared a Christmas like meal after David killed a turkey he bought some time back. Christmas in August, in Uganda, with my Ugandan families from both sides of the country - sheer bliss!

Drake, Vivie, Asha, Jja Jja, Sematico, Ishmael, David and I sharing a Christmas meal together.

Although it is fabulous to feel so connected to my ever increasing Ugandan family, I also can't wait to get home and see my amazing Australian family and friends. I miss you all sooooooooo much. Less than two weeks to go now and I'll be able to wrap my arms around you all and give you an enormous HUG. I can't wait!

Big love to you all

HUGs from Helen

Hi everyone, due to some very frustrating internet down time in Uganda, it has been impossible to update the blog in the last few days, we apologize. We anticipate this will be overcome in the next 48 hours.

I can inform you all that Loretta & Justin are now safely & happily back on Australian soil with their respective families, & whilst their minds may have been held up in transit, I am sure that will be corrected in short order too. It is a fantastic place to visit, but emotionally, a hard place to leave.

I have it on good authority that they both will be contributing a final wrap of their experiences in an upcoming blog, so I am sure that will be worth the wait.

Their contribution & interaction with Suubi, & all things Ugandan, as well as the things they have taken away, are an inspiration. Thank you Loretta & Justin, & thank you to all Family & Friends, as you are ALL part of the Suubi Family now!

Webale nnyo – Thank you very much.

Browny

PS, 13 sleeps till I get my wife back - YIPPEE!

After returning from a 4 day visit to Queen Elizabeth National Park on Tuesday night I have been thinking we should write another blog. The good old Ugandan electricity supply has put a stop to that though. The power went off about lunch time on Wednesday and as I write now, on Friday morning, we are still waiting for it to come back on!

So with the battery dead flat on my laptop, the battery on my phone just about to die and steady rain falling outside, I have decided to pass the time by going back to the good old fashion way of hand writing in a book. Hopefully the power will return soon so I can type up what I have written and upload it soon ....... Hang on a tick............Annette is just shouting from the clinic that the power is back. We are all jumping for joy! 

That means I'm now back to working on my laptop, (yippee!) we were able to boil water for a cuppa and have toast for breakfast (yippee!) and we will be able to see what we are eating for dinner tonight because we won't have to use a kerosene lantern. (yippee!) These are all things we take for granted in Australia but the reality is, for most people in the village, they have no access to electricity and have to struggle by without it on a day to day basis. 

And now that the wet season looks to have begun, the villagers also have to deal with the extra hardships that the rain brings. Something as simple as moving from one place to another in the mud is difficult, bringing a sick family member to the clinic is more difficult and even getting clothes washed and dried is a challenge without the help of a washing machine and clothes drier.

So I guess the last couple of days have really bought into focus just how dam lucky we are back home! I'm sure Loretta and Justin will appreciate the simple pleasures, we westerners take for granted, as much as I do, when they arrive back to Australia next week. 

Anyway back to what we have been up to since last week................

We set off last Saturday to Queen Elizabeth National Park, all very excited and looking forward to being tourists for a bit. Unfortunately we had not quite made it to Mbarara when the van started blowing thick black smoke out the back. David was very quick to pull over and sent Ishmael off on a boda boda, about 6-7kms into town to find a mechanic.  Eventually the mechanic arrived and we slowly drove into town to the very busy garage he worked at.

As the many mechanics went about pulling pieces from under the bonnet we soon realized that it wasn't going to be easily fixed. Loretta, Justin and I set off to Agip Hotel for lunch and a cold drink while David waited at the garage for the outcome.

Quite a few hours later he called to say that the news wasn't good; the motor would need to be completely rebuilt! As I headed back to the garage to meet David I felt sick in the pit of my stomach. We had just recently had a lot of work done on the van and now we had to do more! After much discussion and a number of phone calls home to Browny, who is ALWAYS my tower of strength, we decided that it did not make sense to rebuild a motor that had already had extensive work done on it and we were better off to get a replacement motor from Kampala.

This meant that we needed to stay the night in Mbarara, so Loretta and Justin organized a room, while David and I made many phone calls to Kampala and did lots of running around to organize for the motor to be bought and fitted while we continued on to Queen Elizabeth in a hire car. It really was quite stressful at the time, but as with everything that we do here in Uganda, we overcame the challenge and eventually spent a lovely three days in the National Park which I'm sure Loretta and Justin will tell you about.

Mbarara Garage - I can't begin to count how many hours and different garages we have spent time in over the years. The terrible Ugandan roads definitely make it hard for cars to survive here!

Right in the middle of all the stress we walked passed a sign on a car that made David and I laugh - "No situation is permanent" How true!

Since being back at Suubi we have had a couple of extra things added to the usual activities. About thirty younger boys and youth gathered at Lubanda Playground to be coached by a couple of professional football coaches from Kampala. This created lots of excitement among the boys as it is something that we hope will continue in the future. Maybe we will have a world standard player like Ronaldo coming from Suubi Centre in the future!

Everyone was very excited about having professional coaches in the village.

Then yesterday we had 40 students from Busuubi Primary school come to Suubi to receive letters that Loretta had bought with her from Sacred Heart Primary School in Tatura. They were thrilled to read all about life in Australia from their new pen pals and were equally as excited to write back and tell them about themselves and life in Uganda.

This is a wonderful way for both lots of students to learn from a completely different culture to their own. And as has happened with other people who have been writing to each other over the last few years, you never know if some of these children may be lucky enough to meet each other face to face at some time in the future.

Busuubi students, who a currently on school holidays, were excited to make the 2 hour walk to Suubi to receive letters from their new friends in Australia.

They were thrilled to take their letters home with them and know that theirs will soon be on the way to Australia.

Isn't it just fantastic to have so many wonderful things happening at Suubi? And now, I am about to get on a boda boda to go and watch the Suubi Youth music, dance and drama group perform at their first official function so I'll hand over to Loretta and Justin. 

I hope you are all happy and well there. 

Big love and I miss you all!

HUGs from Helen.

Loretta and Justin

Half way through our Ugandan odyssey and we set off to see wild Africa.  The axiom “No worry, no hurry in Africa” was once more demonstrated with a days delay on the way courtesy of the engine reaching a terminal stage of its life.  Despite the delay we arrived at Queen Elizabeth National Park anticipating close encounters with wildlife.  We were not disappointed.  In the evening we took a cruise on the Kazinga Channel, which links Lakes George and Edward, two very large fresh water lakes.  

Loretta and Justin enjoyed the peace of floating down Kazinga Channel.

We cruised slowly close to the bank and had a great view of animals cooling in the water or mud.  Enormous hippos dived underwater, surfacing near our boat, water buffalo lazed in the mud, crocodiles lay like stone and a herd of elephant lumbered down to drink.  Complimenting the animals were abundant beautiful birds, colorful small finches, water birds and sea eagles.

Huge hippos were right beside the boat.

Elephant happliy drank from the channel.

Incredibly, the President, Museveni, arrived by military helicopter the same day.  He was staying at the lodge for a few days for a local by-election.  The area was overrun with army personal, mostly sporting AK47s or other weapons not to be argued with.  When he left by road for the hustings, the entourage included four utes with armed soldiers, an ambulance (one of the few we have seen), a large truck and four Range Rovers.  

The first evening we indulged in a fine meal at Mweya Lodge, a wonderful buffet of food which, reminiscent of Homer Simpson, we returned to many times.  Our lodgings near the hostel, were less salubrious than the Lodge, however, included the luxury of a shower – such bliss.

At 6.30 the next morning, we set off on a game drive with Julius, our guide.  Over a very corrugated road we headed for the open savannah.  Our first sighting was one timid bush buck in the distance.  Fears we should have brought binoculars were soon allayed as we came across a herd of Ugandan Kob.  There must have been at least a thousand in the herd, beautiful animals who didn’t even bother with us driving through them. 

Where there is Kob, there is Lion.  Our guide directed us to a group of bushes where three young cubs were playing nearby.  The Lioness was near the bushes, but disappeared inside soon after we arrived.  As we progressed we saw water buffalo, a lone hippo, warthogs and elephants.  On the drive back to Mweya, we had to stop the car as a herd of some 30 elephants crossed the road just 20 metres ahead of us.

On return we had lunch at the lodge and a few beers around the swimming pool looking out at the incredible.  The lure of the pool was too great on a hot day and Justin jumped in his shorts and Helen in her dress.  The bar attendant informed us it was for the use of Lodge guests only and we would have to pay $20.00 US each for the privilege.  Not keen on parting with our money, we did a runner when he wasn’t looking.  Loretta and Helen hid in the gift shop until the coast was clear.  Fearing military intervention we lay low for the afternoon.

That evening we went on our own game drive around the peninsula and saw water buck, kob, hippo, water buffalo and mongoose.  For dinner we ate at the less grand hostel – believing it best to stay away from the Lodge.  Overnight Justin was woken by a noise, which he found to be a hippo grazing outside his window – so close he could have touched it.

The next morning both of us were up early and walked down to the hostel for breakfast.  Justin was alarmed when Loretta fell flat on her face.  Fearing she had been shot, he did not know whether to stay and help her or run for cover.  Thankfully it was only a trip and resulted in only minor injury.  The drive home was beautiful through the mountain tea estates where people were out early harvesting by hand.  Later we passed Zebras grazing by the roadside – such beautiful animals.

We arrived back at 4.00 pm to a warm welcome by all – nice to be home.  We were thrilled to find the medical records running smoothly, with 64 medical records now issued. 

Emma proudly showed Loretta the medical records they had been keeping while she had been away - perfect!

We drove to our elderly lady we saw on day one.  She was full of spunk and cross with Richard the doctor.  She demanded that the muzungu pass the nasogastric tube!  Her pressure wound has healed.

The following morning we met Frank, an unwell looking boy of 8, suffering from a severe staph infection of the scalp.  We concocted a hair wash container out of a 20 litre water container and soaked his scalp to clean the wounds which were long standing. We sent him off with an innovative turban like dressing and antibiotics.  

A renovated empty water bottle was perfect to perform the much needed head wash.

Frank and Justin were both pleased with his innovative turban like dressing.

He returned again this morning and we were delighted to see some improvement.  However, Loretta’s delight turned to fright when in searching for a towel for Frank; she came across more Ugandan Wild Life.  Justin heard a scream and some expletives and observed a ‘Husain Bolt’ like dash from Loretta, who ended up on a stool in the waiting room. Justin assured her it was only a Siberian Hamster, however, once killed by several staff members with sticks, he did admit that it greatly resembled a rat.

Loretta with the dead rat the Ishmael had so skillfully chased and killed!

Smiles on all our faces this morning with the power back on after two days of blackout.  We are all happy campers.  Can’t believe we are nearing the end of our stay – just four more days before we leave for Kampala. 

Love to all, Loretta and Justin

Today we spent time, in what I can only describe as a harrowing experience, at Malago Hospital. It was fantastic opportunity for Loretta and Justin to see the conditions at the largest public hospital in Uganda. For me though, who has little experience dealing with sick patients even in the Australian hospital system, it was simple too much to see sick and dying people in the conditions we were confronted with at Malago. I feel emotionally drained!

Until then.

As is usual during any trip to Uganda, the week following the last blog post was jam packed with a variety of activities and the usual ups and downs.  Very rarely do things run to time here so there was lots of time spent waiting.......... and waiting.......... and waiting, for all sorts of things;  waiting for people to arrive for a scheduled activities or events, waiting to be picked up, waiting for the van to be repaired etc, etc, etc!

You may think this is a bad thing, but in fact it is quite amazing how quickly you get used to it and it is fascinating to watch as each group of volunteers adjusts to the slower pace of life here. It really has been lovely to see the Neale children and Ryan go from being stressed out because they couldn't instantly get on the internet to use Facebook etc, to being able to let go of the anxiety it caused and just realize that the world won't end if you are not connected to 'everyone' 24/7!

And what has happened as a result of this; they have been able to spend time connecting with each other and the beautiful Ugandan people. To watch them laughing and rolling around with the kids in the Suubi compound each afternoon is awesome!

Some of the actually activities during the week included time spent at Regional College. Ryan and Samuel travelled there each day to run a sporting program, (which Ryan will tell you about in his part of the blog later).

The students at Regional College were enthusiastic and soon picked up the new sporting skills from Ryan (L) and Samuel.

Sue, Georgia, Elizabeth and I visited for just a couple of days but it gave us a real feeling for how children and teachers have to cope with the challenging education conditions in Uganda. Sue said the experience of running a chemistry class with just a blackboard and a piece of chalk was really testing at first, but she pushed herself and soon had the year 7 class laughing and learning at the same time.

Georgia out did herself when she ran a fine art class for some of the students under a tree outside where they sketched the school buildings, while Elizabeth was chief photographer and videographer for our time spent at the school. 

Sue found the conditions at Regional Collage challenging but the students very eager to learn.

We also had a visit, for a couple of days, from Kristen Lyons and Laura, one of her research students. Kristen has a very special place in the Suubi story as she is the person who first connected us to Ssemwogerere David in 2007. She was thrilled to make her first trip to Suubi and it felt wonderful for David and I to share with her everything that has been achieved at the Centre since then - thanks, in a large part, to her introducing us in the first place!

We spent lots of time, chatting, and laughing, visiting people in Lubanda and Katulo communities. We even took the time each morning to hold yoga sessions on the grass outside our bandas. It was so funny to watch David, Ishmael and Richard for the first few sessions as they stretched into positions they never thought their bodies could!!  But they soon got the hang of it and are keen to continue it even after we leave - Let’s see if that happens! hahahaha!

Yoga sessions on the grass in front of our bandas. 

Lots of laughing as a human pyramid was formed after everyone was limbered up.

An afternoon at Maria's learning to make paper beads was lots of fun.

And in amongst all the things we volunteers have been up to it, was exciting to watch as the Suubi Clinic had a big influx in patients.

We're not sure if it was the launching of the new medical equipment that prompted people to come or simply that malaria season has began in earnest. Whatever the reason, by midweek we found that the general ward (with 3 beds) was overflowing and patients were being admitted and treated on the delivery bed in the maternity room, the examination table in the doctors room and the treatment bench in the injecting room. With minor surgery and cases of typhoid and other diseases being added to the many malaria patients it really highlighted that the Suubi Clinic is indeed now saving lives in the village.

Fred, from Omoding PS, looked happy when he returned to have the fluid from his knee drained on Tuesday. 

But by Thursday the infection was still not improving so Richard gave him a general anesthetic so he could perform minor surgery (on the delivery bed!) to drain and clean the wound more thoroughly.

The general ward was overflowing with patients

Richard's examination table was being used for an admitted patient so he began checking patients from the lab.

And patients need to be treated in the hall way!

And finally to finish off the week we spent four and a half hours waiting for Uganda's President Museveni when he came to the Kiwangala in Lwengo district to encourage the people to vote for his candidate in an upcoming by election.

At one stage we thought he was going to visit Suubi Centre during his time in the area thanks to a link with Nakawuli Susan who had launched our medical equipment at the sporting tournament the previous week. This didn't eventuate because of security reasons during election campaigns but after she told him all about Suubi Centre he is very keen to return soon to see what is happening. That sure will be an exciting day for everyone if/when it eventually happens!!

This was amazing to witness President Museveni address about 7 or 8 thousand people at a rally in Kiwangala after he flew in by helicopter!

So as I said in the beginning, it has been another jam packed week. I hope you enjoy reading Ryan's perspective about his time at Regional College and I look forward to telling you about our visit to Murchison Falls in the next post.

HUGs to you all, from Helen.

Ryan:

Once upon a time.... Webale Webale Kubuuka!

This phrase ('Thankyou thankyou Jump') was one of many creative Lugandan phrases that emerged from our time at Regional College. The School is full of surprises. Its very existence defies the odds. Told to leave the premises they had used for many years on short notice, inspirational principal Joseph quickly found a new site.

Joseph is an interesting character. Tall and thin, Joseph 'the Praying Mantis’ sometimes resembles a smiling stick. But beneath his joking demeanor is a firm determination to achieve the best for his students and a cunning political mind. His most recent manoeuvre involved withdrawing his nomination for a position as a local MP in exchange for an agreement by President Museveni to provide additional support for the school.

There are many differences between Australia and Uganda. Australian teachers sometimes battle to control ungrateful students who would rather be anywhere but the classroom. The students at Regional College helped to construct their new classrooms. They showed us their living quarters with pride, drawing us over enthusiastically to the triple-bunks to point out the string on which they hung shoes and water.

But outdoors there is plenty of space. The gently sloping hill contains netball goals, a big dirt mound and many shaded areas where students lounge and learn. At our first session many eyes were on us.

We had chosen to work with small groups of 6. We took them through a challenging session. A chaotic warm-up followed by a circuit, with Sam introducing hand-balling and Ryan doing a mix of throwing, pushups and running.

As I write this blog it has just chimed the end of hour 1. What is hour 1? Our tyre suffered a fatal wound on the road through Murchison Park and we are waiting for our leader and driver David to return from Masindi with a fresh one. Hopefully a moderate dose of Slim Dusty and a strong dose of stupidity will get us through Hour 2.

Hour 2 would sometimes become a challenge for us at Regional College.

With the sun rising and the promise of feasting of matoke beckoning, our energy could lag. At these moments, new warmups were developed.

Our favourite was to kick the ball up the hill and have the students chase after it then perform a circuit of several exercises. What started as a way for us to conserve energy turned into an important element of training, with the students taking the opportunity to lead each other. HUG's relationship with the people of Lubanda is built on a platform of partnership - working with local people to help them achieve their goals. As we progressed into the second week of training, we took on this thinking. Sessions became more about encouraging promising students to take on the mantle of leadership.

And there is no shortage of talent at Regional. At our first meeting with the students, most were enthusiastic about the idea of us Muzungu's training them whist also the "cool" kids hung at the back of the groups not wanting a bar of what we had to say. But after a few reps of clap pushups, these kids had turned and were now one of the groups that were most eager to push themselves and learn new skills that were vastly different from the norm of a kick of a soccer ball.

Kenneth the killa took to hand-ball football like an albino cow to a field full of maize. One of the most vicious tacklers at Regional, his attack on the ball was matched only by diminutive future ruck rover Brian. Brian has it all - the speed of Jarrah, the skill of Betts and the height of one of Natanui's knees. He balanced a calming influence on fellow players with a touch of the Ugandan hound - he never missed a chance to shove Sari, the smallest and coolest dude on the field by a mile. Let’s not forget Ruthy - talkative, powerful, ultra-competitive and always quick with an encouraging word to her teammates - "You need to practice, you are very weak." Give her 10 years and perhaps Uganda's best chance of dislodging President Museveni.

There were a couple of baffling moments - the distinguished sounding sports rep, Bunyako Ronald, who didn't rock up to a single session and 'the giraffe' - a tall but lazy lass who sauntered over every day only to amble around giggling.

But overall the students and teachers at Regional welcomed us with the open hearts we have come to see is a quality of the Ugandan people. As they continue to thrive in their training over the coming months, we know that Suubi will be there to support them in their journey.

We hope they gained as much from our time with them as we did from the privilege of being partners with this remarkable school.