Thursday 3^rd November

On Monday Ann visited the coffee storage facility which is proving so successful in providing the local coffee growers with a good price for their coffee. Last month over 200 tons of coffee was sent to Kampala and the process seems to be growing daily. Unfortunately one of the unforeseen consequences of schemes like this is that the additional income to the family isn’t necessarily channeled into essential items such as food or school fees but ends up being spent on alcohol.

Coffe drying outside on tarpaulins and racks

Inside packing the coffee.

Some avocados purchased on the way back from the coffee store. The avocados cost 3p each.

Electricity supplies are a constant source of problems here at Kagando. Often the local main electricity supplier shuts off power for several hours and then the hospital is dependent on a generator to maintain supplies. On Tuesday unfortunately the generator failed when it was needed causing everything to shut down in the hospital. This included vital equipment such as the incubators for premature babies and oxygen concentrators. This could have been fairly catastrophic but with much boiling of water on gas rings and using the hot water in water bottles the incubator problem was overcome but it took well over an hour before a solar electricity source could be tapped into to get the oxygen concentrators going. All potentially very stressful but is amazing how everyone pulls together in circumstances like that. Hopefully the generator is now fixed but it an ageing piece of kit and probably events like those of Tuesday are more likely to occur in the months and years ahead.

Having a cup of tea on the veranda at the end of a busy day with the rain pouring down.

The rain is getting pretty heavy these days!

Ann went to see a local nursery school on Tuesday. There are around 100 children who attend each morning in 3 tiny rooms in a single building which is rented. The premises are very cramped and Robert who runs the school is seeking finance to build premises and expand the very limited facilities there are. He provides the education for very low fees but the school relies on external funding to survive.

Robert's School.

The single building currently housing the school.

Some of the nursery school children.

This afternoon Ann and I spent an hour and a half in the stores looking through want remained of the contents of a container which had been sent from Australia. Unfortunately some of the items are out of date and also not necessarily appropriate for use here and in many ways if the money spent sending a container and clearing its contents through customs were directly donated instead probably better use could be made of the money.

Grovelling in the stores!