Uganda adventure: Day 13 – witchcraft and malingering

We waken to the crashes & flashes of an early morning thunderstorm which brings a few hours’ relief from the heat and lowers the dust levels in the village. I reflect with some sadness that I have only one sleep remaining before my flight back to Canada.

Jannet and Rebecca are already at the clinic with Rose when I arrive. Rebecca spent a good night with no further evidence of bleeding from her mouth but says she doesn’t feel very well and seems content to nap on & off on the stretcher. Jannet says she felt nauseous this morning and vomited after lunch. Again, her physical exam is unremarkable, and she also lounges in the clinic most of the day.

Rebecca rests

Nurse Rose checks bowel sounds

Rose summons the remainder of the older kids for vision screening, aided by Alicia. Everyone else has decent distance vision of 20/25 or better, so Justine is the only child with poor vision who will need further assessment.

Rose teaches Rebecca to write her name while Janat looks on

I visit the young ones’ dorm and laugh as they ham it up for me once they realize the purpose of the video function of my point & shoot camera. I am saddened to hear their auntie will also be leaving tomorrow. She had accepted the job as a temporary position, and Victoria always knew she would be seeking work in her vocation as kindergarten teacher. Salama, the pregnant girl who is now staying with Rose will combine efforts with Pauline, a young woman awaiting the start of vocational school, to fill auntie’s spot until a more permanent candidate can be found. The current auntie has been devoted and holds an obvious love for the children. She will be missed.

Jovan

Obama guards the door

Jovan & Lydia

Nurse's job includes drying tears

Rona meditates

This evening Alicia & I are invited to dinner at Herman’s house. Victoria spirits us off immediately following afternoon prayer service. It is about a 2 ½ km walk in a direction which is new to me, taking us by some interesting homes, including one that was abandoned after the neighbours drove out a couple for practicing witchcraft and tried setting the building ablaze. Apparently witchcraft is still quite common, and witch doctors thrive, particularly in the countryside.

Vincent & Rubegga

Arnold's nose is an endless spring

children watch dinner cooking (food is wrapped in banana leaves and cooked in a pot) at Victoria's childhood home

Victoria's childhood home

buildings tainted by witchcraft practices

Herman’s home is on his father’s property. We first visit the home of Victoria’s childhood, and she points out that the bricks are mortared with mud rather than cement. A poor family is allowed to live in the house provided they keep it up. We also visit the adjacent family plot, which includes the grave of Herman & Victoria’s father. Herman has built a newer place just a little further along the road. He describes the ups & downs of his life, from studying aeronautical engineering at Brown University in Rhode Island, to living as a refugee in Kenya during the Idi Amin years, and later getting a job with the International Civil Aviation Authority based in Montreal. He lived in Mozambique during those years, then relocated to Halifax when the US wouldn’t allow his family to move as permanent residents, and the Canadian immigration lawyer advised his best chance would be to apply as an entrepreneur in a maritime province. He spends at least two months every year in Uganda but says his children feel very much Canadian and are not all that happy about visiting Africa when he does.

After a lovely meal including tilapia from Lake Victoria, we walk back along the now very dark roads and shudder as the many vehicles & boda boda on the main dirt road pass us by.