Uganda adventure: Day 6

Warm and humid (like July in Ontario) but no rain until early afternoon, when Sue is caught out walking between Banana Village & BKU.

We sleep a bit late, so the dining room is overtaken by a workshop on special needs education about to start. We hear great reviews about the energy and magic trick teaching from Kevin & Mike from everyone who attends. The four Canadians quietly have cereal seated in the back. Jeffrey wants to help out the bricklayers again, but they won’t let him do the higher work on the slippery scaffolding (thankfully), so he returns to Banana Village and sits in on the seminar.

Yesterday we noted the little BKU calf to be lethargic, lying down & poorly responsive. This is a major problem because BKU hopes for a good income from the sale of this animal. Angel called the veterinarian (unfortunately none of the 4 docs here were able to help) and the calf was given medication. Today we are relieved to see him/her a little more lively.

May not appear so in this image, but the little calf is improving

Shira & Rebecca get a hand from the ladies

Alicia takes time out for a puppy fix

Sue and Alicia are off to the little kids’ dorm where they help out Matron and find that Sanyu (Harriet) is still under the weather. Sandra also has a cough, so those two are brought to the clinic.

Rose and Durga have been up early and attend to the patients who need meds or reassessment. Durga is off to Entebbe HIV hospital with Victoria and the other two docs. Rose and Margret, the social worker, are attending the special needs seminar, so it is left to me to man the clinic and work on the software issues.

monkey rides a mirror on a taxi van

Hakim

Alicia & Jeff prepare suckers for the kids on the weekend

Kyle is an artist who does murals. He has started a project on the BKU wall. Sue hopes he will help finish the little ones' dorm room

goats visit the little kids

the wall is quickly coming to completion

Alicia cuddles Praise who awaits my exam while Mom looks on

Sonyu and Sandra both appear to have the usual colds that are going around, so I give them a bit of Tylenol & cough med to ease their misery, then some quiet time. I am thrilled that I manage to sort out the issues with Rose’s login and account privileges, and also figure out the modules to insert note templates and a form for routine measurements of pulse, temp, height & weight, etc. I start working on figuring out reports, so Rose can transmit the appropriate information to the accountant regarding number and types of cases seen, medication dispensed, etc. A tide of patients interrupted me, followed by a virtual flood. Fortunately, by that time, Rose and Durga have returned.

Sue shows off Shira's newly-dressed toe

Precious also made a visit to the clinic

Jackie is radiant

Janat in a pensive moment

A community member comes in to discuss her son who’s suffering flu symptoms. Her son is afflicted with hydrocephalus, a disease of early childhood that causes enlargement of the head due to increased fluid pressure because of impaired flow of the cerebrospinal fluid which circulates around the brain and spinal cord. She relates that she has 4 sisters and two of them have children who are similarly affected. Rose has told us that hydrocephalus is not uncommon in this part of the world, and Durga and I ponder possible causes and wonder if a study could be done into this issue.

standing room only at the clinic

Dan & Alicia doing some bonding

broken glass completes the top of the wall

We meet with Dan, whom Alicia sponsors, and Justine, who Sue & I support. They are thrilled with the gifts of shoes and clothing that the ladies had picked up in Kampala.