Thursday 31^st January

Stella striving to perfect brownies!!

Ann has been busy helping Stella, the person who will be cooking in the café once we can open, trying to perfect brownies while I spent the morning going through some things with pastor. He does seem to have mastered an excel spread sheet needed for recording all the financial transactions which is good! I then went out to Ekiwumulo again to spend some time discussing the tragic death of one of the children at the orphanage a couple of months ago. It seems he probably had hepatitis B which is a serious problem in Uganda and can often prove fatal. After discussion I did feel very reassured that the staff at Ekiwumulo had done all they could have done to look after him appropriately.

I took the opportunity to look at the land we are in the process of purchasing next to the current orphanage site. Much of it is currently eucalyptus forest but I don’t think sadly that my plan to develop a Koala sanctuary will ever take off! It certainly looks an exciting site to possibly develop for a secondary school in due course.

There is a 20 metre long access track from the main road to the new land

Koalas where are you?

This evening we have been out for a meal with an American couple who have been here for a number of years and know the work being done at Ekiwumulo well. They are the couple who originally were alerted about the terrible condition of a baby called David who has now been at the orphanage for a couple of years. He has HIV but is thriving well.

Wednesday 30^th January

Today has probably been our wettest ever in Uganda even though it is the dry season so there are climate changes occurring even here!

This morning we spent time at Ekiwulumo to see progress on the buildings there and to greet the teachers and house mothers. They were very happy that we had visited which was good and the building work is going on steadily with houses 6 and 7 almost complete and 8 and 9 needing only windows, doors and internal decoration. The children were especially pleased with some new teddies knitted by an elderly lady in Eastbourne. It was helpful that it was pouring with rain as the potential problems with soil erosion were very apparent and will need urgent attention to avoid problems to some of the buildings in the future.

The teddies were very much appreciated!

Soil erosion in full swing!

This afternoon we visited the Café. Work has been slow but steady with the roof still needing completion in one small area and the windows and doors in place. We very much want to see it complete and it will eventually be an amazing place for people to stop for cake and drinks.

The Esuubi Cafe

Tuesday January 29^th

Last bit of our tourist trip today with a walk at Bigodi wetland renowned for the Great Blue Turroco several of whom obligingly turned up! Joan who was the guide was amazing knowing all the birds and their calls

                  View from a viewing platform at Bigodi seconds after a Ross's Turroco had passed by

Then a safe transition to Mityana where we are safely established in room A16! We had some preliminary discussions with Pastor and Samuel ahead of our visit to the school tomorrow morning and the café site tomorrow afternoon. The evening fare at the winner café was excellent with beef matoke and poshso with sodas all for 10,000/= (around £2.50)

Monday January 28^th

Today we visited Semliki reserve on our way back to Fort Portal. We were able to enjoy a boat trip in a local fishing boat to seek the elusive shoe billed stork which remained elusive! But it was an enjoyable ride with much to see. On our way back out of the park we visited what is one of the most exclusive lodges in Uganda to find it absolutely deserted until we found one of the staff enjoying an afternoon nap. He rapidly called the manager who was able to find some very welcome sodas to drink.

Tonight we are staying in the Rwenzori View guest house in Fort Portal which is one of the places we stayed on our first visit to Uganda in 2004. The hot shower was extremely welcome!

                                                     The boat being prepared for our trip

The Shoebill was elusive but the Saddle Billed stork put in an appearance!

The deserted Semliki Safari Lodge

Sunday January 27^th

Today has been spent on a long walk through tropical rain forest at Semliki. Many birds were heard but not so many seen! We did get a very good view of an African Green Pigeon and some Hornbills. There were so many monkeys to see along the way, mainly Black and White Colobus and Red Tailed.

                                                                       A wobbly bridge!

                                                           Now where did that bird go?

The whole experience of walking through the forest was amazing with some very exotic trees and innumerable different types of butterfly. It has certainly been a relaxing day if you can call walking for a long way relaxing! Some of the bridges were a little wobbly!

Hotel Vanilla has the fastest interent of anywhere in Uganda!!

Saturday January 26^th

This morning started with us being taken to briefly greet a meeting of 250 local vicars and their wives! Not sure why we were considered worthy of such an honour!

We then travelled via Fort Portal to Semliki National Park where we experienced a fascinating forest walk and a visit to some hot springs which were extremely impressive. Plenty of monkeys to see and a few special birds!! Unfortunately the road from Semliki to Bundobugyo was less impressive with some very perplexed looking Chinese road engineers supervising a less than enthusiastic workforce. Bundobugyo is very much the end of the road and Hotel Vanilla has that kind of feel about it too. It will be fine for a couple of nights but pity there is no running water! Hope you like the photo Bill Please note we are staying in a “tropical paradise”!!

                                                              The hot springs at Semliki

                                                             Welcome to Hotel Vanilla!

Friday January 25^th

Overnight Charles was joined by Cedric and Christopher so quite a party really!!

We have spent the day in Kasese today in the company of John who is working for the diocese with converts from Islam and is a great friend of the Lyths who have recently left Kagando. We visited St Pauls Health Centre which is a facility that has grown over the last 4 years to 87 beds (about 2/3 the size of Kapsowar where we worked in Kenya. It seems pretty busy with a very active maternity unit with 1200 deliveries including around 400-500 caesarean sections each year and all run by a single doctor from Congo.  Abraham is a graduate of Goma university and has worked alone at St Pauls for 3 years on 24 hours a day 7 days a week! I have to say I came away with huge admiration for all he was doing.

Isaiah(adminstrator at St Pauls) and Dr Abraham from Congo

The afternoon was spent with John with 2 different groups of Muslim converts. They have a service every lunchtime during the week as many of them will have been used to the pattern of 5 prayer times daily while they were active Muslims. The diocese has been very active in providing training and skills for them so they can be self-sufficient as many of them will have been forced to leave their family homes.  This evening we had a meal at John’s home where his wife Sadress prepared an amazing meal for us.

                                                                      John and Sadress

Thursday 24^th January

We spent this morning saying hello to various people in the hospital and discussing plans with Benson the hospital administrator. There seem to be the many on-going practical issues in the hospital which are a real challenge with a blood counter currently out of action, an ultrasound machine not fully functional for want of a new probe and a lack of HIV testing strips which have run out but a very sophisticated ventilator which hopefully is proving of value. The problem in a setting like this is the more sophisticated the technology becomes the more vulnerable systems become if the technology fails!

There is also an on-going issue regarding patients’ ability to pay the modest fees needed for their care resulting in half empty wards. The business model undoubtedly needs revisiting to ensure the hospital is providing the care needed at a price which people can afford while remaining financially viable.

We thought you would like a photo of Charles our pet cockroach who has been sharing the bathroom with us! Also our Heath Robinson construction to allow us make essential cups off tea!

Ann's lost glasses!

Wednesday 23^rd January

We left Heathrow only an hour late yesterday (after waiting for the plane’s wings to be de-iced) which was remarkable and we were safely in Sunset Motel by half past midnight. Sabuni arrived early this morning so we have had a smooth trip from home to Kagando in around 30 hours.

We stopped off at Ishasha to meet with Dan Douglas who is doing his medical officer training there Those of you who have been on trips with Esuubi will remember him as it is his grandmother’s home where we take groups to have a meal. He is due to finish his training in August and is talking about going to work in Somalia.

Ann has already lost one pair of glasses! Benson, the hospital administrator, has just become a grandfather and Jolee who helps run the guesthouse here in Kagando has a 4 month old called Blessing This time last year she had just had a stillbirth so she is very happy now

We have also had a text from John Bosco to let us know this year’s P7 results from Ekiwumulo  with 5 1st grades and all the others 2nd grade which is excellent