Last Saturday (June 30th) saw the finals of our 3rd annual sporting tournament held. This provided much activity in the lead up to the event and culminated with approximately 3000 people, from villages surrounding Suubi Centre, attending to watch the many activities on offer on the day.
Friday evening saw the Suubi compound jam packed with three different groups; the Suubi Ladies, the Suubi Youth Group and Balema Twekenbe Group (12 disabled youth) who were all practicing the music, dance and drama performances they would present to the crowd the following day.
It was such a wonderful sight to see so many different people, from all age groups, having a great time, laughing and feeling completely at ease at the Centre. The transformation from four years ago when the place was covered with a matooke plantation to today is quite amazing.
Previously these people would have been struggling to cope with the difficult life situations by themselves in their homes, and now they have a place to meet, share ideas, support each other and enjoy spending time together - A place that is providing real hope to the community, just as the name Suubi suggests!
Suubi Centre was a hive of activity - The Suubi ladies practiced in front of the three bandas which are used to accommodate volunteers at the Centre.
While the Balema Twekembe Group can be seen in front of the training hall (R) and medical clinic (L).
Saturday morning saw everyone up bright and early to set up the tents and equipment down at Lubanda School's playground, where the majority of the action would be taking place on the day.
The first event to kick off for the day was a bicycle riding competition. The trading centre, where they started from, was lined with people to cheer them on as they did three laps around Suubi Centre before taking off to ride the 40kms course through a number of different villages in the area.
More than 20 men, some of which ride at a national level, joined locals to be part of the bicycle racing event.
The Neale family; Elizabeth, Samuel, Sue and Georgia (L-R) watched on as the bike riders took off and were excited to be part of such a big day in the community.
With the bike riders having cleared the starting line, it was time for the marathon runners to take off. They were divided into a girls and boys event with about 20 entrants in each category.
Some of the Aussie volunteers; Ian, Nyal and Samuel, all thought it would be a good idea to take part in the 6-7km run but they soon found out the Ugandans were able to cope far better with the weather conditions, pot holed hilly roads and even running in bare feet!
Ian crossed the finish line way back in the field but had a lot of fun along the way.
It was strategically planned that the bicycle racing and marathon would finish beside the Suubi Clinic. This meant that the large crowd that gathered to cheer them across the line would be able to check out the facilities at the Centre.
Although most people in Lubanda Village know all about what happens at Suubi, many people from other villages in the area were seeing the Centre for the first time.
With this in mind, it was an ideal time for the Suubi medical team to tell the wider community about the new medical equipment which had recently arrived at the clinic. Jjuko Richard (L) took the time to explained about each piece of equipment and emphasised that there would no longer be the need to transfer patients to Masaka Town should they require oxygen or and ultra sound.
A huge thank you goes to the DAK Foundation in Australia for providing this much needed equipment. Already since the launch last Saturday we have seen an increase in patients coming to access the new equipment. The vital signs monitor, oxygen concentrator and foetal heart monitor have all already been put to use.
Loretta Lilford and Justin Sullivan, two nursing staff from Kyabram hospital, who are set to arrive in a couple of weeks time will provide basic training for the Suubi medical team.
This will then be followed up in September when Sue Reid, a qualified radiographer, will spend a week with the Suubi team teaching them the finer skills with the ultra sound. We are sure that once the the staff have the skills to use the ultra sound machine even more people will come to Suubi Clinic and that will surly have a positive impact! So huge HUGs to everyone at DAK from everyone here at Suubi!
Jjuuko Richard explained each piece of new equipment to the large crowd that had gathered.
The Suubi team; Elias, Annette, Emma, David, Richard and Florence (L-R) gratefully accepted the new equipment on behalf of the wider community.
Jjuuko Richard was soon putting the new vital signs monitor to good use and did a wonderful job of explaining things to his patients.
The unveiling of the new equipment at Suubi was only the half way point of the day though. We next moved down to Lubanda School playground where the afternoon was filled with various activities. The music, dance and drama performances all passed on important messages to the community in a fun an entertaining way.
The Suubi Youth Group performing a traditional dance.
Next it was was the on to the final of the netball before the official launch of the new equipment by Nakawuki Suzan, Uganda's representative in the East African Parliament. Again this was the ideal time to do this as crowd numbers had swelled to watch the finals of the football.
She clearly explained to the crowd what a huge advantage it is to have such equipment in the village. She was extremely grateful for the support from Australia, but more importantly acknowledged the wonderful vision and hard work it has taken from Ssemwogerere David and the local community to establish such a facility in such a rural community.
Suubi netball team was the eventual winner of the netball tournament.
It was wonderful to be able to officially hand over the new equipment to Ssemwogere David in front of the huge crowd who will hopefully all benefit from having such advanced services in the village.
Nakawuki Suzan encouraged everyone, especially the women, to take advantage of having such equipment available.
Ngereko Football (in blue) club were the eventual winners of the football tournament.
This event is such a very clever way to get important information out to the wider community. Ugandan absolutely love their sport, music, dance and drama so it will always draw a crowd. I know that everyone had a fabulous time on the day while at the same time as mobilizing and informing people about the clinic.
I feel very privileged to have been part of the day and would like to say a huge thank you to the Suubi team who pulled it all together - webale nnyo nnyo nnyo!
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