The Cowans in Kampala

Final Farewells

2010-11-21T00:06:00.000-08:00

Having postponed it so many times, we would not blame you for thinking we may never leave Uganda. But we are now on our way back to Blighty having had an emotional few weeks saying goodbye to all the good friends that we've made here.

On our last night we'd planned a few quiet farewell drinks at our regular Friday evening haunt, but unbeknown to us close friends had arranged a big party complete with speeches, slideshow presentation of our time here and topped off with an African band and dancers. It was a fitting end to a fantastic 17 months.

We're now very much looking forward to seeing you all back home

Party on...!

2010-11-21T00:05:00.000-08:00

As promised, here is a link to a short film of the children's party we held for the Namuwongo community a few weeks ago. Thank you again to all those who contributed in terms of their time, money and party paraphernalia! Thank you too to Lucy and her team from Childs i Foundation who produced the film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezdi24FGXCk

'I now declare this building open...'

2010-11-15T10:02:00.000-08:00

It's not every day you get to open a new building complete with a plaque with your name on it, so we felt very privileged and proud to be able to attend the annual parents' day at the Royal Pride Academy, at which we were guests of honour. One part of the celebrations included the official opening of the school building funded by your generous donations.

The teachers and pupils had put a huge amount of effort into making the day very special. There were various songs, dances and even a fashion show with clothes made from newspaper! There were speeches from the headteacher, a parents' representative, politicians and an emotional farewell and thank you from Alan. A special mention was given to our friends and family, whose invaluable support made the whole project possible.

The day also encompassed a graduation ceremony from the nursery school, where 'Dr Alison' was responsible for handing out the certificates.

We feel very honoured to have been a part of such an inspiring and committed group of people, and are very sad to say goodbye. We know that they will continue to flourish and undertake the great work of educating some of the most underprivileged children in Uganda. We will never forget them.

Adding an Appendix to our Stay in Uganda!

2010-11-07T10:08:00.000-08:00

With just a matter of days remaining of our stay in Uganda, we thought it remiss that our medical exposure here be limited to Alison’s involvement within IMG, so with that in mind, Alan selflessly underwent an emergency appendicectomy on Friday at IHK!! As Alison elected not to join them in theatre (much to the surprise of the team?!), the surgeon felt it necessary to bring the offending organ out for her perusal, as featured below!

There had been a lot of debate as to whether or not to operate - a decision that is not taken lightly out here as you can appreciate!! - with the preference being a more conservative approach where possible. Alison was not that patient and Alan was under the knife just over 24 hours after his first twinge and apparently just in the nick of time judging by the state of his appendix. Thank you to you all for your advice and support on the 'To operate or not to operate' debate - it was really appreciated!

Alan is now recovering well in hospital and has been receiving excellent care from the staff at IHK.

As a result of this surgical setback, our return to the UK will be delayed...again, but hopefully only by a few days! Thanks again to everyone for your get well wishes. Above is Zoe's Get Well Soon card, which somewhat morbidly turned into a 'Fairwell' card, but looking at Alan in the picture you can't blame her for that!!

All Things Bright and Beautiful!

2010-10-23T11:45:00.000-07:00

We rounded up the VSO Kampala group and took them to Royal Pride school in Mutungo slum for a day of painting. Despite having barely drawn breath from the children's party, Jonathan and Siobhan were still happy to pitch in again, exchanging party hats for paint brushes. They will be going back to work in the UK for a rest!

With funding from VSO, REAL and again your personal donations, the parents of the school had made up some school benches and tables from recycled wood ready for us to paint. We had also collected up some old car tyres for painting, which supplement the playground equipment that our friends, Rob and Nancy, had previously donated to the school. A lot of the pupils, parents and teachers also turned out to lend a hand, so we ended up with many hands making light work, although paint brushes were in short supply. As you can see, Bella was happy to demonstrate how to paint without a brush!

Alison was given the task of painting the school sign. See if you can spot the deliberate mistake on the email address. Apparently this is the 'local' spelling and it is the correct address so do feel free to drop a line- Godfrey, the Headteacher, would be delighted!

A party to remember....!!!

2010-10-23T10:58:00.000-07:00

Thanks to so many of you who donated party goodies, time and money, we managed to give 400+ of the local Namuwongo kids a day to remember. The afternoon began with us arriving at the wooden church venue at 2:30pm to blow up a few hundred balloons, only to find that a good proportion of the guests were already there, despite not being due to start until 4pm! We managed to hold back the party hats and blowers until the official start time, from which point it was face painting, party games and dancing galore, rounded off with a feast, sodas and a delicious 4 tier chocolate cake. We finally left the party at 8:30pm, but could still hear the blowers sounding long into the night and the next morning.
Our friend Lucy, who runs Childsi Foundation here in Kampala, lent us her film crew to capture the event, so as soon as we have the edited version, we'll post a link.

Thanks again for all your support, it certainly made a big impact here.

Rwandan Birthday!

2010-10-21T14:05:00.000-07:00

Alan's 38th year was heralded by a beautiful birthday breakfast on the banks of Lake Kivu in Rwanda, marred only slightly by the slaughter and subsequent dismemberment of a cow on the shores behind us! If you look carefully at the photo below you may be able to pick out some bovine body parts over Alan's shoulder!?! As you might expect Amy did not appreciate this and entered in to another phase of vegetarianism...!

Despite being in the depths of the Rwandan countryside, we still managed to produce the birthday hat and a cake to mark the special occasion! The excitement was all too much for the girls who fell asleep whilst waiting for birthday dinner!!

We could not return back to Kampala without stopping at our most favourite spot in Uganda - Lake Bunyoni. We spent a lovely couple of days there relaxing and swimming in the lake.

Rarer than the mountain gorilla....

2010-10-20T08:42:00.000-07:00

...is the Coventry City supporter! However we managed to track one down in the wild bush of South Western Uganda. Here he is spotted with a very pleased Alan:

Off into the wild...

2010-10-20T02:28:00.000-07:00

Together with Alison's brother and his girlfriend, we headed out to the West of Uganda towards Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, one of the few remaining habitats of the rare mountain gorilla. En route, we encountered the tree-climbing lions in Ishasha, one of the few places in the world where they exhibit this behaviour.

The girls are too young to actually track the gorillas, but they were able to join us on a walk through the Impenetrable Forest, which they attacked with gusto. Armed with a walking stick and a backpack containing lunch, a waterproof and a dry change of clothes, they hiked for 5 hours each way on 2 consecutive days. Admittedly, Bella did get rather attached to her guide (physically and emotionally!) for sections of the journey, but it was thoroughly enjoyable and we avoided the rains for the most part.

Since someone had to stay with the girls, we split up to track the gorillas. Jonathan and Siobhan visited them in Buhoma on one side of the forest, and Alison and Alan visited them in Nkuringo. On both trips we got up very close and personal to the big fellas and it was an amazing experience all round.

Visiting a rainforest in the wet season does bring certain challenges. We hired a vehicle to take us the last part of the trip to Nkuringo as it was too far for the girls to walk the whole way. The driver duly turned up in a saloon car and struggled to make it up some very steep and slippery mud roads. After a rather hairy slide towards the road's edge we exited the vehicle shaking and watched as the driver over-revved the engine and blew up his radiator.

We were grateful to arrive unscathed in Nkuringo and enjoyed the amazing views from there in to Rwanda (our next destination) and the Congo. We were also entertained with some fabulous cultural dancing by the local children, including some scary gorilla dancing to get us in the mood!

Dragon's Den- African Style!

2010-10-20T02:27:00.000-07:00

As part of the income generation project with the Touch Namuwongo Community volunteers, Alan organised a Dragon's Den style forum for the volunteers to pitch their business ideas to a panel of experts. On the panel were Alison' brother, Jonathan who is an investment banker in London, Kevin the CEO of International Hospital Kampala, our friend Amos who runs a tour company in Uganda, and Rita, a lawyer from the hospital with experience in similar microfinance schemes.
Using funds from donations and some of the 'dragons' own money, we are distributing loans to the ideas deemed most innovative and likely to succeed. In the first session we had ideas ranging from a fish mincing machine to an ID card business. The other volunteers watched on and hopefully learnt some valuable business skills for their own ventures.
Once the loans are paid back over a 6 month period, the process will start again and the money will be ploughed ino the next winning entries.

This guy is pitching for funds to expand his onion selling business. The dragons are sat on the right.

...last patient of the day

2010-09-28T10:38:00.000-07:00

We figured it was time to update you on the progress of the Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) programme which Alison has been helping to develop for the Touch Namuwongo community project based at IHK, particularly as some of you very kindly donated funds to get it up and running. The clinics are now well under way, with around 20-30 patients per clinic coming through for advice and testing for Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) and cervical cancer screening. The clinics are free of charge and are targetted at the members of the community that cannot afford to pay.
There has been a very high uptake which is likely only to get higher as more people learn about the service on offer. Alison has worked closely with the Ugandan medical staff who will continue to deliver the service and raise the profile and importance of sexual and reproductive health within the underpriveledged communities in Uganda once Alison has left.
Your generous donations helped to launch the service and the funding which allows its continued delivery is largely coming from Oxford University in the form of a research grant. The objective of the research project is to develop a risk tool to identify those members of the population most at risk of contracting STDs. This is being achieved by testing all patients currently presenting at the clinic for a range of STDs. Once developed, this tool will subsequently be validated and put to use in the local community and further afield.
We are currently working on raising funds to allow this much needed service to continue for the community once the research is over. As this service is also lacking in the private sector, Alison has helped develop a similar package for the hospital and we are in the process of developing a model which uses the profits generated from this private service to subsidise the service offered to the community. This model of using the infrastructure and resources provided by the private arm of the organisation to help the community, is at the heart of IMG and helps sustain many of our community projects. That said, this model can only provide a part of the solution to meeting the unending health needs of the community and as such we still rely on and are very grateful for any charitable donations through the Suubi Trust (http://blog.suubitrust.org.uk/)
Alison has really enjoyed the community work and has found it the most rewarding job she has ever done. The people with whom Alison works have continually impressed her with their willingess to learn and take on these new challenges and she has felt priveledged to be a part of such a dedicated team.
Inevitably, this line of work, although rewarding, can be emotionally draining, especially with the high number of HIV positive diagnoses and the high rate of non-consensual sexual encounters at such an early age. This could never have been more apparent than the other week as Alison's last patient of the day stepped through the door. Her sad story has really touched a nerve both personally and throughout the organisation. Appreciating that her story will not be appropriate for some of the younger followers of our blog we will not go into the detail here, but if those of a stronger disposition could spare the time to read more about her story and help in any way through the Suubi Trust (http://blog.suubitrust.org.uk/giving/) then please follow the link to Last Patient of the Day

Mucking Out...!

2010-09-26T23:44:00.000-07:00

Kampala is filthy! Almost everywhere you look there are piles of rubbish. The drains are clogged with plastic bags. You often get wafts of sewage whilst out and about. In the slum areas, which are located at the bottom of the hills near the swamps, this is magnified, as everyone's waste (including personal!) gets washed down by gravity towards them. There is no council-sponsored waste collection so it is down to the communities to keep their environment clean. From what we can see this does not always happen. In neighbouring Rwanda, the government has taken more drastic steps; plastic bags are completely banned and community clean-up days are organised every month to keep the waste levels to a minimum.
On Saturday, we helped organise a similar clean-up day in our local community in a deprived area called Namuwongo. VSO gives a small budget to the volunteers clustered in any given area to spend on a local project, which will in some way help improve the lot of the local community. It was a case of opportunity meeting need, as the Touch Namuwongo project in which Alison is involved has been looking to start a clean-up programme and we had some funds to buy the equipment needed. So we joined forces and purchased wheelbarrows, shovels, wellies, gloves, etc. The community were 'mobilised' to attend on Saturday morning and over 400 people turned up and duly collected their gloves and tools and set to work collecting the rubbish and digging out the ditches. Amy, Zoe and Bella joined in for the 'light cleaning' and seeing little white kids helping out swelled the numbers of locals further. Those with a keen eye may spot the girls wearing their Monkey Lou superhero t-shirts (donated by Laura Bramswell-thank you!) in a bid to save the planet

After a couple of hours of mucking out before the midday heat, everyone was rewarded with a specially commissioned t-shirt and a chapatti each. We then enjoyed some Ugandan dancing and speeches by the community leaders, before distributing some mosquito nets and delivering some health education and income generation training. It was also another good opportunity to sensitise the community to the sexual and reproductive health service that Alison has developed for them, although with numbers already at 20+ per day, there is some concern that the service may become quickly overwhelmed.

The day will hopefully now kickstart regular cleaning sessions around the different parts of Kampala and having cleared up some of the mess, people may think twice about dumping their rubbish in public.

Who needs Barbie...

2010-09-21T12:24:00.000-07:00

...when you can make one of these!!?

Bella gets into the local crafts and seems quite pleased with her handiwork.

Seventies Revival!

2010-09-21T10:56:00.000-07:00

Two of our good friends, Natalie and Sean, recently turned 30 and 40 respectively so they joined forces to make 70 and the obvious party choice was a 1970's theme! Through a combination of an extensive second hand clothing market, cheap tailors and an eye for bad taste, guests were able to cobble together some pretty impressive outfits. Not sure if you'll recognise a couple of familiar style gurus in these pics, but needless to say Alan took a while to prepare for the event with a rather fetching porn-star chopper moustache.
There were some luminous 70's cocktails and funky tunes to see us through to the small hours. Not sure Uganda in the 1970's was quite the same so there were a few bemused faces in the bar.
The girls are relieved that Alan has now removed the offending item from his top lip (although he's holding on to his sideburns for a bit longer!) and they have allowed a goodnight kiss again.

Reaching out to the community...

2010-09-16T11:38:00.000-07:00

We recently attended one of the Outreach days run by the Touch Namuwongo project, which is part of the charitable community arm of the hospital where Alison works.
Members of the community can come along every other Saturday and get HIV tests and various medical advice for free through an extensive network of local volunteers. The outreaches are held within different disadvantaged communities around Kampala. It is a very impressive service and lots of people were taking advantage of the opportunity to improve their health and increase their medical awareness. Although they had their work cut out keeping all the children entertained as well...

7th Heaven!

2010-09-14T11:29:00.000-07:00

Zoe had some of her friends around to celebrate her 7th birthday. There was a treasure hunt in the garden, face painting and pizza making (the wine bottles pictured were used as rolling pins- honest!)

judging by the mess a good time was had by all...

...and then we got cleaned up in the bath...

2010-09-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

Painting Kampala Red...

2010-09-13T10:31:00.000-07:00

Our friend and fellow VSO volunteer Jan launched her career as artist in residence at our regular Friday eveing haunt, Fuego's. Jan is an art and design teacher back in the UK and runs a charity here in Kampala which sends disadvantaged children to school. She has also found the time to capture Uganda on canvass and we helped her set up her first exhibition, which was a resounding success. One of the sales of a picture called 'Butt Naked' was to Dorthe, pictured here with Jan.

Back to Skool...

2010-09-03T03:50:00.001-07:00

All 3 girls are now back at school with Bella returning this week after Zoe and Amy returned last week. Bella was really excited about starting full-time, although the novelty may start to wear off!

8 weeks was a long holiday and Alan especially is looking forward to some 'me' time. We have plenty to be cracking on with as Alison starts her STI research project and Alan embarks on more building work at the Royal Pride Academy and some income generation projects. Only a couple of months left until we return to England- wow!

Then Alison's Turn...

2010-08-18T00:39:00.000-07:00

2 days after Bella's birthday, it was Alison's turn to wear the birthday cake hat of shame! We travelled back from Jinja on the morning of Alison's birthday. Our friend Jan then offered to look after the girls whilst Alan and Alison went for a massage, before returning home to find a house full of friends and a birthday tea with cakes, sandwiches and other delights.

We even had room for dinner at a posh Italian restaurant in town. We weren't too sure where the restaurant was located in town in order to direct our taxi driver. He pulled over whilst we got directions on the phone, but one of Kampala's ubiquitous policemen didn't like where he had stopped, so got in the car and insisted on taking our taxi driver to the police station to charge him. Bad news for our driver, but turns out it was good news for us as the policeman knew the way to our restaurant and so could direct our driver on the way to the police station!

Fantastic rissotto too!

Bella's Bouncing Birthday

2010-08-17T23:43:00.000-07:00

Proving that you can get hold of just about anything here for a price, we hired a bouncy castle for Bella's birthday and erected it in the garden as a surprise. Initially, she was somewhat overcome and didn't want to get on with the other children. However, once she had warmed up, we couldn't get her off it and she went on to have a whale of a time with all her friends (and ours!).

We then went off to Jinja, the source of the Nile, to stay at a holiday resort for a couple of days. It was very relaxing and great fun with plenty of swimming, including a little pool for Bella to try out her new ring.

Well I'll be jiggered!!

2010-08-17T23:13:00.000-07:00

Alison recently turned her hand to some minor surgery on our balcony when our friend Sabrina, who was visiting Kampala, discovered that an unwanted guest had burrowed into her toe. She had picked up a jigger, which is a type of flea that lives on the ground and hops onto people's feet, making a home under the skin from where it ejects hundreds of eggs...nice!? Initially, Alison tried to duck out of the extraction on the grounds of no local anaesthetic, but after some training via Youtube videos of jiggers being extracted with safety pins and leaves, it was decided that the procedure could be safely carried out at home with a needle, some disinfectant and a piece of wood to bite down on! Ably assisted by Alan and Natalie, the operation took somewhat longer than expected as the blighter was well dug in. In fact, by the end of the operation there was a question mark over whether it was in fact a jigger and not part of Sabrina's toe!

The patient seemed none the worse for her ordeal and hobbled off without too much discomfort, and has since reported a complete recovery - thank God!

Working with the Parents at Royal Pride

2010-08-10T00:12:00.001-07:00

On Sunday we organised a health education day with the parents of the Royal Pride Academy. Alison came armed with various homemade visual aids (including the 'Tippy Tap' featured below) and she talked to them about relevant issues such as safe water, HIV, malaria and family planning with a focus on prevention. There was a really good turn-out (over 100 kids and 100 parents) and plenty of audience participation including some very detailed questions along sexual themes!

The schoolchildren performed some songs and dances around the various themes of the day- some of them quite emotional as there were several orphaned by HIV and other diseases.

Alison and Natalie set up an impromptu deworming clinic and there was a clamour for the tablets

We also handed out the last of our supply of reading books so each child had a book to take home. We wanted to encourage more of a reading culture and get the parents involved at home. Even though some of the parents themselves are illiterate, we feel it is important they give the children time to improve their reading skills.

The day was a great success and much appreciated by the parents and teachers. Next on the timetable is to return with some much-needed supplies such as mosquito nets and condoms through an outreach day with a local clinic, where HIV testing will also be on offer.

The Humble Tippy Tap

2010-08-10T00:10:00.000-07:00

One of the things we took along to the Royal Pride School was a Heath Robinson device called a Tippy Tap. This is a basic handwashing tool for use where there is no running water. It consists of a jerry can of water threaded along a horizontal stick across two supporting sticks. A piece of string is attached to the lid of the can, which is tipped up with a foot pedal made from another stick at the end of the string. The water comes out of a small hole in the jerry can when tipped up.
They are especially useful in schools since the children do not need an adult to help to lift the heavy water carriers and there is very little water wasted. It is also very cheap to make from local materials (about 30p).
At the Royal Pride school there is no water source nearby so it has to be carried from the nearest tap in the community. Therefore handwashing and basic sanitation is a major issue and an area to focus on in the prevention of the spread of disease.

Zoe, with our friends Geoff and Sabrina, demonstrating the Tippy Tap. Geoff and Sabrina have been introducing this technology in schools in Western Uganda

More Birthday Frolics by the Lake

2010-08-09T23:48:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we returned to the scene of Amy's birthday celebrations, Lake Nabugabo. This time it was to mark our friend Jan's birthday. When we arrived at the lakeside 'resort' there were several hundred students having a rave with a massive sound system and much dancing. To our surprise and relief they wound this up by 6pm (imagine that?!) and we were able to take over with a BBQ spread including fresh fish from the lake and the obilgatory marshmallows for toasting. We camped out next to the water's edge.

Bella got some practice in for her birthday this weekend...

When Did You Last Get Serviced?

2010-08-02T11:27:00.000-07:00

Alan's artwork was put to use again (below). This time to invite staff to a health screening day that Alison had helped to organise at IHK. It seemed to work, as instead of the 50 or so staff that were expected, the numbers approached 300 (including 60 cervical screens, amongst other things!)before the doors had to be closed, for that day anyway! Another health screening day has been timetabled for next week for those that could not be accommodated, and one enthusiastic participant even asked if they could be held quarterly!
The health day gave Alison a great opportunity to test drive the sexual and reproductive health screening package which she has been developing and is in the process of incorporating into the community project at IHK. The plan is to also offer the package to corporate staff from other organisations within Kampala and use any profits to subsidise and maintain the community project, in which there is the greatest unmet need.
Despite this potential revenue, the community project is still lacking in funds and so any additional financial support would always be much appreciated, and can be channelled through the Suubi Trust website www.suubitrust.org.uk earmarked for the STI programme. A huge thank you again to those who have already contributed to the running of this programme.

Customer Service Training at Safari Lodges...

2010-07-22T11:00:00.000-07:00

...it's a tough job, but someone has to do it! Alan landed himself a Gordon Ramsey style role of troubleshooter for a chain of 3 safari lodges around Uganda. Keen for some diverse viewpoints he took along 4 extra critics, all of whom were keen to contribute. Amy took on her role very seriously and was always chipping in with useful tips- these normally involved wanting to make things softer, particularly pillows and toilet paper!

We normally spent the first day or so observing as 'mystery customers' before focussing on some areas for improvement through training sessions including some entertaining games of chinese whispers and something involving balloons.

It remains to be seen whether the lodges will be better places to stay as a result of our visits, but they have some new recipes to try out and some new artwork on the walls courtesy of the girls!

Feeling Blue

2010-07-22T10:55:00.000-07:00

the girls weren't too happy with their new roomate at one of the lodges!

Respect!

2010-07-22T10:50:00.000-07:00

Never again will we take Jasper for granted...

Jasper and the girls...

2010-07-22T10:49:00.000-07:00

whilst Alan was putting the staff at the lodges through their paces, Alison was doing the same with Jasper on the roads through the National Parks. Sometimes with unfortunate consequences...

...not that the girls seemed that bothered!

Cake..? Me..? Never!

2010-07-22T10:44:00.000-07:00

Bella caught in the act at a friend's 30th!

Bomb Avoidance

2010-07-13T01:14:00.000-07:00

You may well have heard by now about the bomb blasts in Kampala on Sunday night during the World Cup Final. Fortunately for us, we were out in the West of Uganda at the time and headed back on Monday. No-one we know was affected by the blasts, but both bomb sites are at places we have visited in the past year. The hospital where Alison works, IHK, was inundated with patients so Alison was sorry that she was not around that night to help out.
Our journey back into Kampala was slowed down somewhat last night due to tightened security, but life has returned to normal for most in Kampala.
Update on our trip West to follow...

Play time...

2010-06-21T07:23:00.000-07:00

Thanks to a donation from our friends Rob, Nancy and Charlotte, we were able to purchase some play equipment and a chest for reading books (pictured below with Alan and Godfrey, the Headmaster) for the Royal Pride Academy.

To say the children were pleased with the roundabout and slide would be something of an understatement and they are turning up early for school now (which is pretty impressive when school starts at 8am and some of them have to negotiate a swamp to get there)

Walk on the Wild Side...

2010-06-21T07:02:00.000-07:00

We spent Heroes' Day (bank holiday) at Entebbe and visited the Botanical Gardens. Unfortunately an enormous swarm of lake flies had also had the same idea and the air was thick with the little critters. The girls were not too keen on walking through them, espcially as they lay like a thick carpet and squelched between the toes!

There were some impressive spiders too.

The original Tarzan movie was shot here so the girls were keen to practice their vine swinging. We didn't leave Bella hanging there too long...

Back to the Drawing Board 2!

2010-06-10T10:35:00.000-07:00

....and the fight against gut worms!!!!! Below is more of Alan's art work to help encourage (primarily school kids) to take their medication to deworm. You might be pleased to hear that our girls have all been 'done' with good effect....!?

Top of the Class?!

2010-06-02T03:48:00.000-07:00

International Hospital Kampala hosted a 'Scientific Day' at which medical staff presented on various topics, which were judged by a panel. Much to Alison's amazement (and amusement given her limited experience in research!), she was awarded first prize for research based on a presentation she gave on the STI programme and pilot, upon which she is about to embark. The objective of the programme is to control STIs better in the local community and in so doing reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with them, which include increased rates of HIV transmission and cervical cancer to name just a few sequelae.

The award mainly reflects the importance of this field of work (as opposed to her very limited research capabilities!!), which is further endorsed by your generous donations towards the running of the programme. Thanks to all your support, in the next few weeks we will be in a position to start the comprehensive STI programme and we hope that this in turn may attract some research funding. On that note, a special thanks to the Fleetville School parents for their efforts in raising some money, through a posh dinner held at Sue Maxen's house, which will also be put towards this community project. Good work guys! We really appreciate it!
Pictures courtesy of the Daily Mail.........

Back to the Drawing Board...

2010-06-02T03:27:00.000-07:00

Alan has joined Alison in the battle against STIs in Uganda by drawing up some visual educational tools to be used in the community clinics. Having laid down his paintbrush pretty much since GCSE Art, Alan has enjoyed getting back into the saddle and is currently working on some posters for deworming. Nice.

A message from the Headmaster...

2010-05-30T20:49:00.000-07:00

Please see pictured the letter from Royal Pride's Headteacher and staff to those who kindly donated funds for the school. It means so much to them and this term should be relatively mud free!

Half Term at Sipi Falls

2010-05-27T02:23:00.000-07:00

Once again combining a work trip with some sightseeing, we hit the road over the girls' half term break. We visited 2 of the IMC clinics with which Alison has been working based in Lira and Pader in the North of Uganda, until quite recently inaccessible due to the war waged by Kony's Lords' Resistance Army. Particularly in Pader, the level of healthcare is very basic and there were a lot of sick people waiting in line to see the only doctor in attendance that day. Pader clinic is IMCs first venture into a private/public partnership, so there is a great deal of effort being put into making it work, but inevitably a lot of obstacles need to be overcome, not least of all differing working practices.

After leaving the clinics we headed back to Kampala via the beautiful Sipi Falls, which comprise a series of waterfalls fed by the glaciers of neighbouring Mount Elgon, once Africa's highest peak. The accomodation comprised rustic huts with hot showers supplied by wood fires and the fresh mountain air was a welcome break from the dusty heat of Kampala. We spent 2 full days there and were joined by some good friends Natalie and George. We trekked to all 3 waterfalls including a trip over the top of one of them upon the recommendation and reassurance of some local likely lads. Their idea of steep and slippy was somewhat different from ours, but we made it over the rickety ladders and precarious bridges to live to tell the tale. Another example of the disparity between English and African risk assessment!

The journey home was rather drawn out as it coincided with the start of the new Ugandan school term and most children board here. There was also a local election happening and the roads were full of supporters and armed police and tanks. Doesn't bode too well for the presidential elections early next year, but we will thankfully be gone by then!

Happy Birthday Stacey!

2010-05-27T02:19:00.000-07:00

We recently hosted a surprise birthday party for our friend, neighbour and fellow volunteer Stacey. Amazingly, it was the first BBQ we have undertaken here and took place in the 'secret garden'- a grassy patch beyond our compound walls. We generated a lot of interest from the local kids who enjoyed the balloons and some tasty burgers and trifle.

New Pride at the Academy...

2010-05-12T04:13:00.003-07:00

The new floor at the Royal Pride Academy has been completed whilst the children are off on holiday. It was a bigger job than expected (as always!) but fortunately we were able to finish what we wanted thanks to your generosity. The staff and children are so excited and grateful. It now means they have raised classrooms so that the water can't affect lessons. Here are some of the teachers and children stading proudly atop their new flooring. One of the teachers, Irene, calls the new flooring a 'quencher', as it has quenched the fire of those people in the community who used to say that they were wasting their time with the school and it would never come to anything.
It is a massive step in the right direction for the school. We had to put back the old wooden structure for the classrooms until we have funding for brick walls. We're also hoping to develop the 'playground' in the future too. The teachers' plan is to hire out the largest building and compound to the local community for functions at weekends, thus raising some extra school funds.
The Headteacher, Godfrey, has written a heartfelt thank you letter, which we were hoping to post, but the website doesn't like the scanned PDF file so we'll email it to those who contributed.

with big thanks from Naomi...

2010-05-03T11:44:00.000-07:00

Thank you to all those who are helping to support Naomi and her family. If you want to follow her amazing story then do so on her blog 'My Family and I' at www.naomird.blogspot.com

May Day Madness!

2010-05-03T10:08:00.000-07:00

One thing Kampala is not blessed with is lots of children's 'activities' so we could not resist the offer of a 'Children's Fun Fair' on May Day. This consisted of a muddy field surrounded by tents and filled with more bouncy castles than you could shake a stick at. There was even a shabby camel for the children to ride on, although we did see a few fall off at the sudden unexpected dismount!

I wish it were that easy!!

2010-04-29T12:30:00.000-07:00

...front page headline of a national newspaper yesterday!! Then another bit of classic primary prevention advice follows below - another common belief as to how to avoid contracting HIV. It's no wonder the HIV prevalence is 6.4% and climbing in Uganda!! It is with this in mind that I am appealing for funds to continue the comprehensive STI service that we have developed for the local community. STI control is proven to lead to a 40% reduction in transmission of HIV, so in Kampala, where STI prevalence is estimated to be about 9%, a comprehensive STI service can make a huge difference. Sadly, the funds through IMF (the charitable arm of the organisation) are limited and so if anyone feels the urge, donations would be most welcome via the following website: http://www.suubitrust.org.uk/, earmarked for the STI clinic. £10 provides screening and treatment for 1 person with obvious knock-on benefits for that person's sexual contacts too... so more for your money!!! If you are able to donate, drop me a line and I can keep you posted of how your money is used (whilst not being too graphic of course!)
Thanks to those who have already donated to this cause.

Rain Stopped Play...

2010-04-29T12:08:00.000-07:00

...but only briefly. This just shows how much Royal Pride School will benefit from the new flooring. Previously the school would have had to abandon lessons in a downpour like this.
The foundations are now down and next we have to lift up the wooden walls and tin roof to lay the fooring underneath. The school is keen to build brick walls on the foundations over time and is looking at some further fund-raising initiatives of its own.

Hardcore!

2010-04-25T04:35:00.001-07:00

Work started on the classrooms at the Royal Pride Academy (with the funds you donated). 8 trips to the local quarry to collect some pretty large rocks, which will be the hardcore for the floor, followed by some sand, cement and more stones. Elected not to carry the large rocks as didn't want to show up the locals! Child labour doesn't seem to be an issue here, so may get the girls to work...

Easter Island!

2010-04-25T03:40:00.000-07:00

We spent Easter chilling on an island called Bushara on Lake Bunyonyi in the lush and montainous South West of Uganda. We had to get there via dug-out canoe and we stayed in a tree house with an outdoor shower. There was not much to do besides swim in the lake, spot birds and play monopoly- it was great and we returned relaxed.

We also stayed a night in Bush Lodge on the edge of Queen Elizabeth NP, where the hippos and elephants got up close and personal (see the big fellas in the background of the picture below) Seems like a long time ago as things have been rather manic since.

It's not all work

2010-04-20T01:14:00.000-07:00

Since discovering our wonderful babysitter, Rose, we have been able to indulge in some evening social activities together without the girls. The highlights so far have been a St Patrick's Day Ball, where Alan was resplendent in an emerald-green shirt, and a reggae/karaoke night, where Red, Red Wine was duly murdered.

Cowan Girls on Stage!

2010-04-20T00:55:00.005-07:00

Amy and Bella recently starred in their respective class performances- Amy at Kampala's National Theatre in 'Year 3's Got Talent' where she compered, and Bella at her nursery where she bedazzled us with her African/Wind the Bobbin Up fusion dance.

Try avoiding this one...

2010-04-20T00:45:00.000-07:00

Pot holes take on a whole new dimension here and never again will we complain about the state of roads in St Albans...

We fell victim to another of Kampala's roads recently, when Alan was dropping our babysitter, Rose, back to her home by the swamp. He didn't see a huge mud bath in the road and and went headfirst into it. Finally, after 4 hours of digging in the dark with a hoe assisted by some of Rose's neighbours, we managed to find a tow-truck and Jasper emerged to drive another day...

Big Thanks...

2010-04-20T00:15:00.000-07:00

..to everyone who very generously donated money to the aforementioned causes with which we are working. You are very kind and it will make a big difference to those involved.
Pictured is Alison delivering some health training to the parents of one of the schools in which Alan has been involved. Also, a few of the children at Royal Pride with some new footie tops donated through an American friend and Bella with her new buddies at the school.

Show me the money...

2010-03-15T02:51:00.000-07:00

Several of you back home set us the onerous task of finding the most worthwhile projects here to which you could donate and be confident that your hard-earned cash is being appropriately and effectively used. We have been giving that a lot of thought and have identified 3 such projects that would benefit enormously from any financial input and in which we have some involvement.
The first is the Royal Pride Academy, which is the school mentioned below. Every time there is significant rainfall, the place turns into a mudbath- which although useful for pottery classes, is somewhat disruptive to running the school. The money would be used to put down some concrete flooring at the bargain price of fifty pounds per classroom, of which there are 9.

The second is supporting a good friend of ours, Naomi, whom we have mentioned several times before. She came to Uganda from the UK for a 2 week trip some 8 years ago and, moved by the huge level of need in Kampala slums, has never left. As well as looking after 14 local street children in her own home, she also works with several families and helps them find ways of supporting their own children. She does this through facilitating small income-generating projects such as bread-making for them. She also has her own pre-school, Sparkling Stars, where Alan helps out on a weekly basis. She uses the funds from this business to pay school fees (on average 30 pounds per child per term) and not just those children who live with her. She is personally responsible for funding the schooling of up to 30 children! The income from Sparkling Stars is small so she relies heavily on donations from friends and family.

Finally, Alison has already mentioned below some of the community health projects in which she is involved. Most of these deal with people suffering from HIV and who otherwise would not be able to access healthcare. They are funded by the International Medical Foundation (IMF), who in turn are supported by the hospital where Alison is based and also receive donations from the Suubi Trust. IMF also helps fund Hope Ward at the hospital, which provides hospital care to those who cannot afford it. You can read more about this at the website http://www.suubitrust.org.uk/

If you would like to donate to any of these causes, please drop us an email at alcowan@doctors.org.uk and we would be happy to facilitate it.

What Alan gets up to...

2010-03-15T02:20:00.000-07:00

Situated in a low-lying slum area of Kampala in Uganda on a small plot of muddy ground is a Primary School called the Royal Pride Academy. The school was set up 5 years ago by a Ugandan teacher called Godfrey upon realising that many of the children from the most disadvantaged areas had no access to primary schooling. They could not afford the £10 per month required to attend the government schools, of which they were not enough available in the area anyway.
The school currently has around 200 pupils, which includes a pre-school class, and 6 teachers, some of whom do not draw a salary for their work. The buildings are basic wooden structures with no flooring or protection from the elements and encircling a muddy, stoney field. There are pit latrines, but nowhere to prepare food, so the children go home for lunch and return for lessons in the afternoon. School starts at 8am and finishes at 4pm.
The school survives by charging £8 per term to those that can afford it topped up with some donations from well-wishers. This covers the cost of very basic school materials (exercise books, pencils, rough furniture, blackboards) and some teachers’ salaries. There are very few text books and there were no reading books until Alan took some in from the Fleetville School donations recently.
Despite all this the children are progressing well and the teachers are very committed to delivering the best education possible. The children learn numeracy and literacy and even creative fields such as traditional dance and pottery made from the mud in the ‘playground’.
We are hoping to raise enough funds to improve the facilities so that classrooms don’t have to be closed when heavy rains come. Putting a concrete floor into a classroom would cost about £50 (there are 9 classrooms). Alan also plans to spend some time at the school helping with reading and literacy and we already have enough books to set up a decent small library

and what Alison gets up to...

2010-03-15T02:19:00.000-07:00

Alison is continuing to really enjoy her work and finds it very fulfilling. All the clinics have actively engaged in the training programme, the development of which was her main VSO placement objective. It is so rewarding to hear how valuable the clinics find it, not only from the point of view of updating their knowledge base, and so continuing to improve the standard of care that they offer, but also from the angle of consolidating the team and increasing overall job satisfaction.
The training programme constitutes an in-house component which involves the whole multidisciplinary team within each clinic, and an across-clinic component which is organised within each of the disciplines – medical, nursing, and laboratory. The in-house component comprises weekly continuous medical education (CME) sessions, 2 out of 3 of which are around a set curriculum with the objective of producing useful evidence-based guidelines/protocols on important topics that the clinics have identified themselves and from which the timetable was drawn up. The across-clinic component falls within each discipline and involves internet-based learning modules, and regular workshops at which all the medical and clinical officers gather. As well as appreciating the training, they also benefit from the opportunity to socialise and create a network of colleagues with whom they can share best practice and from whom they can draw support despite the distances between them. There are now coordinators for the clinic nurses and laboratory technicians, so Alison can concentrate mainly on the medical and clinical officers. We have also created a training team which comprises representatives from each discipline and whose remit is to arrange structured training team visits during which they offer support and training within their area of expertise, as well as together build on the teamworking within the clinic.
The team has now undertaken several training team visits with good effect and excellent results and so Alison is confident that the programme will continue to be successful with the support of this team and under the excellent leadership of one of the clinic doctors, Dr Terry. Alison has one last workshop to organise together with Dr Terry and then will continue to support her and the team but plans to spend more time on the other projects in which she has been involved.
Her next main focus is the development of the sexual health services in the local community through the community project that is currently running, Touch Namuwongo. This project is well-established and has been running for almost 2 years supporting close to 600 people infected by HIV in the local communities. It also provides care for those affected by TB and Alison is now in the process of expanding the sexual health service it offers, which she hopes will have a huge impact on the morbidity and mortality associated with STIs, as well as reduce the transmission of HIV through better control of STIs. The project also runs weekly outreach sessions in the community where they offer health education and voluntary counselling and testing for HIV and some photos from one of these outreaches are pictured here. She has also been involved in setting up a cervical screening programme at the hospital, and the hospital has now agreed to offer this to the community free of charge which is a very exciting development. The CEO is now keen to set up similar programmes in the North of Uganda, which has even less available healthcare so that will be Alison’s next focus.
Community projects like this and others attached to a lot of the clinics with whom Alison is working, make a huge difference to the local community and are funded through IMF – International Medical Foundation. IMF is supported by the proceeds from the hospital and charitable donations through the Suubi Trust. You can learn more about them and these projects through their website (http://www.suubitrust.org.uk/), and having had personal involvement in them all, Alison can vouch for every last one of them!

Meet the Grandparents II

2010-03-07T09:17:00.000-08:00

Not quite with the 11 suitcases they came out with, Alison’s parents, Alan and Maureen, have returned to chilly Blighty after 2 and a half weeks of Ugandan adventure. They packed a lot into their time here including a road trip out West that took in a couple of National Parks as well as clinic visits for Alison. We then headed to the southern most tip of Uganda where we escaped to an island on lake Bunyonyi for a couple of days before heading home. In Kampala, they visited some of our regular haunts including the Railway School, Naomi’s nursery, Palm Café (best pizzas in Africa) the ARA, as well as a night of cultural dancing at the Ndere Centre. We saw the sun set over Kampala (pictured) before they boarded the plane back home.

THANK YOU EVERYONE!

2010-03-06T22:21:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the recent blog silence, but we have been without a working internet connection for the past few weeks. First and foremost we just wanted to say a massive THANK YOU to everyone back in sunny St Albans who has helped provide children’s books, games and clothing. Alison’s parents filled 11 suitcases/boxes with them and brought them out to Uganda courtesy of BA’s generous charitable baggage allowance. We were overwhelmed with the generosity of the donations- the quality and quantity of the gifts were so impressive and we have managed to find very grateful homes for nearly everything (see below) The Railway School loved the books - most of the children had never seen these types of bright, colourful picture books before. They read the letters with great interest and have started to write some responses. Alan visited another school, the Royal Pride Academy, which is in even more need of resources, and they were also able to benefit from some of the books as we received such a wonderful amount.
The donated clothes have been distributed to the most vulnerable children in the slum area, through a local church there and a charitable project called ’Hands for Hope’. We were also able to give some clothes and books to our friend Naomi, who looks after around 15 local children and runs a nursery

Mary's Reunion...

2010-01-28T10:57:00.000-08:00

We’ve really enjoyed the company of Phil and Swanny (friends from St Mary's Medical School) over the past 3 weeks and 3 months respectively and are sad to see them both go this week. They have been an integral part of our adventures here and we will really miss them.

Off to Lake Nabugabo...

2010-01-28T10:42:00.000-08:00

Amy’s birthday continued with an overnight camping trip to Lake Nabugabo, an idyllic setting about 2.5 hours West of Kampala. 9 of us, 2 tents and a BBQ squeezed into Jasper and we arrived to find we had the resort to ourselves, apart from the donkeys. We pitched camp right on the beach and spent 2 happy days lazing in and by the lake, playing games and dining on freshly caught fish. We topped off Amy's birthday with marshmallows toasted on our camp fire and BBQ'd chocolate bananas.

High School Musical 8!

2010-01-28T10:09:00.000-08:00

Amys 8th birthday party was themed along High School Musical lines, especially poignant as our friend Naltalie, who is currently living with us, bears an uncanny resemblance to the leading lady, Gabriella (as pictured with the girls here). To build up to the movie screening (projected from our laptop onto a wall) we had face painting, a nail bar, and jewellry making. And to work off the excesses of the party tea, we were subjected to the sing-along/dance-along version!

We call it 'Playdoh'...

2010-01-15T03:30:00.000-08:00

Alan went with Bella to introduce the Ugandan children at Naomi's nursery to the wonders of Playdoh, made from flour, water, salt and colouring. They played with it for hours and seemed to enjoy sticking it to their faces!

Village Life

2010-01-15T00:27:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we visited a village 2 hours outside Kampala with new VSO arrivals Diane and Sarah. Diane's sister was adopted from the village and she is now setting up a mother and toddler group there. We stayed for some delicious lunch and the women put on a traditional Ugandan dance for us. We were made to feel very welcome. The girs swapped versions of their favourite games with the gang of local children, which included variations on 'Oranges and Lemons', 'What's the Time Mr Wolf?' and a lethal game of Tug of War with no rope!

Ahoy me hearties...!

2010-01-15T00:22:00.001-08:00

Amy and Zoe went to a pirate party with their friend Sarah. Would you mess with these guys?

hello 2010!

2010-01-06T03:08:00.000-08:00

2009 drew to a close with horse-riding, a boat trip on Lake Victoria and even a round of golf amongst the sugar plantations. And the New Year was brought in on the Nile at Jinja.

2010-01-05T11:12:00.000-08:00

On Christmas moring, we were lucky enough to share a little Christmas spirit with our less fortunate neighbours and those stuck in hospital and also distributed some goodies that the girls had wrapped.

White Christmas (bunnies)

2010-01-05T10:55:00.000-08:00

We also managed to commission a fetching pink rabbit hutch to house the 2 Christmas bunnies that we had bought for the girls, although transporting it home on Christmas Eve proved a challenge! The bunnies have been the centre of attention ever since, although Alan’s herb garden is suffering somewhat.

Santa makes it to Kampala

2010-01-05T10:50:00.001-08:00

Much to the girls delight, Santa managed to find his way to our house in Kampala, although Grandpa Cowan and Alan were only too eager to be the back-up plan, in case he got lost. We were 20 strong for Christmas lunch around the pool at Speke Resort and in sympathy with the British weather, we had rain all day!

Christmas Capers

2010-01-05T10:30:00.000-08:00

We were back in Kampala in good time to enjoy the run-up to Christmas with friends and family. Amongst other things, this included Amy reading at the hospital’s Christmas Carol Service, the obligatory Christmas panto and a house full on Christmas Eve with mulled wine and mince pies aplenty.

Service without a smile...!

2010-01-05T10:25:00.001-08:00

Staff were thin on the ground at the Red Chilli Rest Camp in Murchison Falls…

Northern Exposure

2010-01-05T10:07:00.000-08:00

As well as the arrival of Christmas, we had the visit of Granny and Grandpa Cowan to look forward to. We managed to arrange a 66kg luggage allowance each (which they impressively exceeded) in order to bring out books and clothes for some of the kids out here- thank you to all those who contributed. No sooner had their feet touched the Kampala soil, than they were whisked off, along with our friend Swanny, in Jasper our trusty tour bus, up to Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary and then on to the spectular scenery of Murchison Falls National Park. Needless to say, in true Ugandan style, we had a few run-ins with the wildlife, but emerged unscathed…

The GrandCowans in Kampala!

2010-01-05T09:46:00.000-08:00

...obviously we don't mean these fine specimens (but we couldn't resist including them!)

Jude's First Birthday

2010-01-05T09:28:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the recent radio silence due to lack of reliable internet access and now the flurry of backdated news, but here we go...
Before lauching into the frenzy of Christmas, December was heralded by a first birthday party for Jude at our place. Jude is one of Naomi's children and so it was a big family celebration and great fun with party games, face painting and, of course, Alison's obligatory cake!

Snowmen in Africa!

2009-12-14T05:45:00.000-08:00

Christmas is approaching fast and it doesn't have the same commercial profile here as in the UK. However, we've managed to get a nice tacky Christmas tree including flashing lights and have made some of our own decorations. Bella came with Alan to a friend, Naomi's, nursery the other day and we made snowman masks. They had obviously never seen a snowman, but seemed to quickly get the idea and were soon up to their eyes in glue and cotton wool! There was even a panto on at the theatre in town, which we attended along with every other expat in Kampala. Just trying to find a carol service to attend and hope that santa gets his letters from the girls with the Ugandan post!
Girls just broken up for the hols and Granny and Grandpa Cowan arrive tomorrow for 3 weeks- let's see what they make of it here!

The Gruffalo Gets Big in Kampala

2009-11-25T02:35:00.000-08:00

Following a very generous donation from the publisher Macmillan via the fantastic efforts of Ed in St Albans, Alan was able to visit the Railway School today with a number of oversize picture books. These books are perfect for the huge classes here as everyone can easily see the pictures and follow the story. The books consisted of the Gruffalo and several others in the same series and they were greeted with great enthusiasm and wonder by all the children - it was like an early Christmas present!Alan then treated' them to a reading of each book before they break up for 2 months holiday this week. The school holidays are not necessarily greeted with the same enthusiasm as they are in the UK, as not all of the children can guarantee a meal at home whereas they are assured of this each day at school. That said, several of them have even had to drop out of school before the end of year exams this term, as they don't have the £10/term to pay for meals and equipment.

they taste just like prawns...

2009-11-23T12:04:00.000-08:00

For one month only it's grasshopper season and you can buy them nicely sauteed on nearly every street corner in Uganda. Our Ugandan friend Innocent was kind enough to fry up a tub of the critters and bring them around as an (un)appetiser before dinner. Alan got quite a taste for them, the girls weren't have any of it and Alison and Natalie tried them after some gentle persuasion...

'Fun' Run in the Sun

2009-11-17T10:45:00.001-08:00

Putting memories of his Great North Run collapse behind him, Alan joined Alison in Sunday's 10km run through Kampala. Both survived the heat and hills, along with the rest of the VSO team, albeit behind some of the half marathon runners, who set off at the same time! Note Alan's colour change in the before and after shots...
Swanny also managed to join the team. He is based here in Uganda for 3 months doing plastic surgery.

In-ger-land!!!

2009-11-17T10:21:00.004-08:00

It was 'International Rainbow Day' at Zoe and Amy's school last week and pupils were asked to come in their national dress. Not sure what this was for England, we managed to track down some England football shirts and the girls went as traditional football hooligans...

Nat and Jack arrive...

2009-11-17T09:48:00.000-08:00

Our friend Natalie recently arrived in Kampala laden with fruit, which was dissected in an alien-style autopsy. She is staying in our maid's room when she's in town, but we've let her off the cleaning duties- for now! She's working for the Malaria Consortium and will be based between Malago hospital in Kampala and hospitals around the country.

Move over Williams Sisters...

2009-11-05T10:40:00.001-08:00

...here come the Cowan girls!
Coach Godfrey at the ARA is teeing them up for Wimbledon 2018- we may have to work a bit harder on Bella's ballgirl skills though.

a taste of Uganda...

2009-11-05T10:05:00.000-08:00

We bid farewell to Uncle Jonathan and Cousin Lucy at the weekend after they spent 10 days experiencing the delights of Uganda. Hopefully they would say these included more than rain and transport issues, but those did figure quite prominently during their stay! We went on the road to visit Lake Mburo National Park again and were diverted off into some fields after a lorry overturned on the road. Then on the way to Jinja, we were navigating a roundabout in Jasper when a wheel fell off- luckily we weren’t going too fast! These incidents aside we packed in a lot of fun, including a rafting trip down the Nile, a visit to the ancient kings’ tombs and some game drives. We also camped in Mabira Forest- our first ‘proper’ camping experience, which was made all the more real by some very raucous monkeys and hyraxes near our tent and a 3 hour downpour at dawn! That was when we realised our tent was not quite as watertight as advertised! Likewise our house, as when we returned home to Kampala, the rain had lashed in horizontally leaving all Jonathan and Lucy's belongings floating in their bedroom.
Lucy kindly brought out a case full of her own story books so we took them to the Railway School, where they were very gratefully received and Lucy read them a couple of her favourite stories. When we walked into the classroom, we were greeted by 100+ excited, cheering kids- it felt a bit like we’d won We Are The Champions. I guess it was quite an eye-opener for Lucy, but it was especially poignant as her school has just been twinned with a school in Northern Uganda so she’ll be able to give the London schoolchildren an idea of what the schools here are like.

The Gruffalo's Child(ren)...

2009-10-23T11:12:00.000-07:00

The girls were on half-term this week so after a trip to the cinema and a couple of trips to the ARA to go swimming, Alan took them along for his weekly session at the Railway School, where they were very keen to do some reading to the pupils themselves. We also made some flapjacks to hand out, which went down very well, although Amy had her hands full trying to ration them to one flapjack each! There was a cultural exchange of playground games and songs and both parties seemed to really enjoy themselves.
Thank you so much to those who have offered to collect books to send out to the school. We already have our first donation of books here, which arrived today with Alison's brother and niece. They will be joining Alan next week to start stocking up the library shelves.

Birthday Beer and Curry

2009-10-23T07:01:00.000-07:00

Alan got to choose the destination for his birthday, so beer and curry it was. But he did have to wear a silly hat too.

Beaten at our own game...!

2009-10-20T09:36:00.000-07:00

Alan turned out for VSO Uganda FC against the American volunteer version, Peace Corps, and to our shame we lost 5-1 having taken an early lead. Age went against us, but we were holding out until the heavens opened and our lack of appropriate studded footwear created several openings to the yanks who gratefully accepted them. The supporters were in fine fettle and not put off their drinks by the rain...

Charlie Dimmock eat your heart out...

2009-10-19T11:54:00.000-07:00

The minature garden is coming along quite well with some help from little green fingers, although our gatekeeper was kind enough to point out that we had been lovingly cultivating a tub full of weeds, believing them to be some exotic chillies- Alan Titchmarsh I am not!
As well as the green fingers, Bella has been busy with her red, blue and green hands and feet...and plenty more of the arts and crafts now we are in half-term week.
Alan has his hands full with keeping the kids entertained. Alison's brother Jonathan and his daughter Lucy come out on Friday and we're off camping again with the hippos and hyenas.

The Gruffalo hits Kampala...

2009-10-07T10:59:00.000-07:00

Alan went for his second morning of teaching at the Railway Primary School today. The school largely serves the local slums and street kids and there are a large number of orphans. The children seem genuinely delighted to be at school and appreciate any input. Despite Alan's best efforts with reading them some of his favourites, it was too much for some to stay awake. But with school hours of 7-5 and school lunch probably the only meal of the day, who can blame them?!
Teaching here is still somewhat along Victorian lines with a lot of rote learning, not helped by class sizes of 100+. Last week the classes were significantly smaller as over half of the children had been sent home for not paying overdue school fees (£10 for the term to cover food and other essentials)
The school has a large library consisting mainly of empty shelves and so if you have any old childrens' books you are looking to put out, please keep them back, as we may be looking to have some sent out here. They would be so well received and the kids are really hungry to learn. It is a privilege to facilitate this in some way

Back to Business

2009-10-01T12:04:00.000-07:00

My feet barely touched the ground on our return from the clinic visits before the 2 day workshop for the doctors and clinical officers was upon us! Luckily, I had made sure that most of the preparations had been done before leaving on our trip, but the fine-tuning always seems to take longer than imagined, so the lead up to the workshop was fairly frenetic! We had a total of 19 participants and it all seemed to run smoothly with some good feedback at the end. All the delegates participated fully and worked really hard throughout the workshop. They engaged wholeheartedly in role plays, brainstorming sessions, small group work, and contributed actively to all of the sessions. One of the sessions I organised was on rational antibiotic prescribing, as this is highlighted as a general problem in Uganda, and so I had been looking at this a bit more closely as I visited the clinics. I was especially encouraged by the group’s active participation in this activity and the enthusiasm with which they suggested ways of improving their rational antibiotic use. We then broke up into smaller groups, and armed with appropriate evidence-based resources, each group was allocated a small disease category in which to work and come up with suggestions as to which antibiotic to use, at what dose, for how long and in which circumstances. We then discussed these choices as a larger group, and after some fine-tuning, we have collated the material into an IMC adult antibiotic guideline to help standardise antibiotic use across the clinics. As well as appreciating the opportunity to share ideas and best practice, all the participants commented on how much they also enjoyed making new friends, and not least of all, having fun together! The next workshop is scheduled for February although there is a request for them to be quarterly, so we will have to see what time allows. Especially since I am also hoping to get involved in setting up some womens’ health services for the local community where HIV and sexually transmitted diseases are rife and resources minimal, which could be a sizeable time commitment too! In addition to helping develop a robust evidence-based cervical smear programme at the hospital, which is also a worthy cause, given that the rates of cervical carcinoma in Uganda are very high. Oh, and with any remaining time, look into helping set up a Masters’ Degree course in Family Medicine at the university affiliated to the hospital! So in short, plenty to do!!!!
Alan is also busy getting involved in the local school where the ratio of pupils to teacher is 100+ to 1!!! Again, they are so grateful for any interest which makes it a very rewarding experience for all concerned. Reading books are a very scarce resource too so we may be issuing a plea for donations of books with which you have finished, so watch this space…!

Too close for comfort!

2009-09-27T00:55:00.000-07:00

Hippos are the main killers here, but luckily we took precautions...

Into the Wild...

2009-09-27T00:15:00.000-07:00

We headed out of Kampala into the country on a road trip that combined work and pleasure. Along with Alison’s sister, Nicola, and another doctor from IHK, Rob, we took Jasper out West to visit 2 of the regional health clinics and take in a couple of National Parks en route.
We stopped at the equator crossing for the obligatory photo and demonstration of how water flows in opposite directions down a plughole on either side of the equator. We then stayed a night under canvass amongst the wildlife in Lake Mburo NP. There were zebras, hippos and warthogs aplenty, as well as some rarer hyenas and leopards that were slightly harder to spot. The tent was rather remote and the nocturnal walk for Bella’s toilet trip seemed a bit long to Alison who was unsure whether she would find baboons waiting in the loo for her!
We then went to Mbarara where Alison and Rob did a day’s training with the clinic staff. We stayed 2 nights on the Mweya Peninsula in Queen Elizabeth NP in the hostel. On the first evening we took a stroll to a nearby restaurant armed with torches for the walk back in the dark. A few steps into our return, a Land Rover pulled up alongside and told us to jump in immediately as it wasn’t safe. We thought they were being overly cautious until later that night we heard lions roaring a few feet away from our room! The next day we went out in the car on a game drive and saw a number of lions up close, having taken a particularly hairy drive off- road, with which Jasper coped with surprisingly well. We also took in a great boat trip and spent some time relaxing by the pool at the upmarket Mweya Safari Lodge, whilst Alison went to the clinic in Kasese.
The last night of the trip was spent at Fort Portal, which occupies a lovely location in the rolling foothills of the Rwenzori mountains. We went out for dinner to celebrate fellow VSO volunteer Geoff’s birthday, and headed back to Kampala with a Dutch couple who hitched a lift. Jasper made it back without any problems and we are looking forward to the next trip out into the beautiful Ugandan countryside.

On the Road...

2009-09-10T12:02:00.000-07:00

I am still really enjoying the work here, and I have managed to visit most of the clinics now, which was my objective before the 2 day workshop we are arranging at the end of this month. I spend my time at the clinics getting to know the team and seeing how the clinic runs, undertaking mini-audits of their antibiotic-prescribing practices (over-use of antibiotics is a widespread problem in Uganda), reviewing the emergency care provision at the clinic and also delivering some training in womens’ health. The other week I spent the day at a flower factory in Mukono, where one of the clinics is based, and found it very rewarding and inspiring. They offer primary care to the employees and also to the surrounding local communities, in which HIV is a big problem. They also have peer educator days during which they deliver health education to the local villages. They have invited me to hop onto the back of their motorbike in a couple of weeks time and join them at one of these community outreach sessions, which should be fun. They also make use of community-based volunteers, who offer their time free of charge to attend to house-bound people suffering with HIV, feeding and bathing them when necessary. The clinic staff do a fantastic job motivating the volunteers and patients alike and manage to maintain an excellent service with very little resource! Again, despite having quite a few patients with womens’ health issues, the clinic team were having to manage without any equipment (speculae) to conduct the relevant examinations! They are hoping to offer coils as part of their service next month, so hopefully the speculae will have arrived by then! We found that their emergency equipment was similarly limited, not even having oxygen on the premises!! So, not surprisingly, we found that despite having about 2 snake bites a month, they also did not stock anti-venom. On questioning how they manage such patients, the response was to monitor them and pray that the snake was not poisonous!!! Again, the benefits of working within the arm of a private, not-for-profit organisation, means that we should be able to stock all the clinics with emergency equipment and medication by the end of this month which will hopefully benefit the local communities enormously!!! We still have to work on the availability of anti-venom, as each vial costs about £130.00 with a limited shelf-life and since only a very small percentage of snakes are poisonous there is the potential for wasting a lot of money! Apparently there is a way of determining if your bite is that of a poisonous snake (other than if you are still standing!) through looking at the pattern of the fangs, so if there are any snake experts out there, we would welcome your input!!
We are heading out West this weekend to visit some clinics in Mbarara and Kasese. Nestled between these small towns happens to be Queen Elizabeth National Park so we are planning to fit in some safaris between the clinic visits. My sister, Nicola, is visiting at the moment, so along with Dr Rob (an American emergency physician who is also volunteering with VSO) Alan and the kids, and the resuscitation dummy, we will have a bus full!!! That is if we manage to leave Kampala! We are waiting to see how the riots settle over the next 2 days but are hopeful they won’t escalate, so fingers crossed we will have some exotic wildlife photos to show you on our next installment!

Like London Buses, It's another Birthday!

2009-09-10T11:55:00.000-07:00

Hot on the heels of Alison and Bella, it was Zoe’s birthday last Friday. We celebrated with some of the other VSO volunteers at our local Italian restaurant, complete with a ‘Z’ birthday cake. Zoe’s present of a crying and laughing African dolly was a complete hit and is getting a lot of competition for attention from the other sisters. Thanks to all who sent cards/gifts/emails- most appreciated.

On Saturday we then went to Didi’s World- Uganda’s answer to Disney, but more like a static gypsy fun fair! It was so quiet that they opened up rides as and when you wanted them and you took your chances on the dodgy dodgems, rickety roller coaster, etc.

Treasure Hunt

2009-09-10T11:50:00.000-07:00

Alison joined forces with 3 other brave lasses to form the Nile Special Team entering the Irish Society’s Kampala treasure hunt in the middle of the midday heat. There were about a dozen teams in fancy dress (including the pictured Jackson 5!) running around town following cryptic clues, which proved rather tricky as Alison’s team were all pretty new to town. However, against all odds they managed to pick up 3rd place. A welcome cold beer and barbecue followed.

Students + After Eights = Trouble...

2009-08-26T11:38:00.001-07:00

We invited over 4 Leeds medical students for dinner this week who are doing some of their elective at International Hospital Kampala. They introduced us to a new way of eating After Eight mints that involved migrating them from forehead to mouth without the use of hands- well, witout a TV we have to take any entertainment as it comes!

First Day at School

2009-08-26T11:33:00.000-07:00

Here are the girls boarding the 'school bus' for their first day at Rainbow School complete with tie-dye uniform. The day seemed to go well for both of them and they made some new friends. The cucumber sandwiches for lunch was the only let-down! The school follows the UK curriculum and has a really friendly feel to it. Bella starts at nursery next week for 3 days per week, which will give Alan a little breather.

Can I blame the altitude?

2009-08-23T11:55:00.001-07:00

I dusted down my running gear and braved the Kampala hills this morning….and almost ground to a halt!!! I kept going, although barely(!) and managed to run for 40 minutes! I felt incredibly unfit though so I am now determined to get into a routine of regularly running and I have a few willing companions to accompany me/carry me! I think the Kampala marathon in November is looking unlikely though…!

The training team is launched!

2009-08-23T11:51:00.000-07:00

The final ‘training the trainers’ workshop went off without a hitch on Friday. Members of the training team had volunteered to prepare some teaching on subjects such as audit, change management, chairing meetings, and so with some coordination and a few planning meetings the day ran very smoothly amongst flipcharts/role playing/group work/ and homemade flapjacks to incentivise the team! The idea is that members of the training team can now travel around the clinics throughout Uganda supporting the local teams on the ground, teaching and conducting audits and appraisals. The first audit on our list is to check hand washing facilities at every clinic, something that my predecessors had worked very hard at ensuring was in place, so fingers crossed! I have also been conducting mini-audits at the clinics on rational antibiotic prescribing, something that is notoriously problematic in Uganda, with a view to improving and standardising management across the clinics and hopefully coming up with an IMC antibiotic guideline which we will tackle at the doctors’ workshop at the end of September. So we have a busy few months ahead, but all very exciting!

The rainy season has arrived with a vengeance!

2009-08-23T11:46:00.000-07:00

It started on the 15th August, as every Ugandan seemed to predictmuch to our amazement, and involves daily downpours like that pictured here. The storms are amazing and really dramatic… almost enjoyable, as long as you are not caught in it on foot, or in a car, attempting to drive!! Both of which we managed today. Alan and the girls chose the wrong moment to walk out for an ice-cream and half way there, the heavens opened. I jumped in the car to rescue them and almost ended up getting stuck on a road that had swiftly become a raging river, complete with rapids!! Thank God for the 4-wheel drive mode! Every day, you see cars that lack the necessary amphibious qualities, abandoned in ditches by the side of the road! The storms don’t last long and then the sun burns through very quickly. For those planning to visit, don’t be put off as apparently the wildlife is amazing in the rainy season and in fact some hippos have been sighted nearby on the shores of Lake Victoria!! We have not seen them yet though, but we can confirm that the birdlife has increased in magnitude! Unfortunately so too have the mosquitoes, much to Zoe’s misfortune as they LOVE her.

Bella's Birthday Bash!

2009-08-16T11:23:00.000-07:00

The girls have just collapsed into bed after a day of balloons, face painting, dancing queen, party games and far too much cake and drink!!! Nothing new there then! The build up to Bella’s birthday was onerously big, especially when I cracked the first egg yesterday morning to start baking for today and almost in synchrony, the electricity and consequently the oven, went off!!! We had already tricked the girls into thinking Bella’s birthday was today to allow time to bake, after returning home from a 3 day conference late on Friday and the expectation for birthday cake had to be met. By midday the electricity still had not returned so we headed for the beach to join the rest of the VSO crowd for ultimate frisbee and a barbecue instead and then paid the price later as we were up until 1am this morning baking! Some things never change!! Thankfully it all came together and Bella seemed to have a fantastic time!!! The Snazzaroo face paints were a big hit, especially for the Ugandan kids, so we may have to set up a road-side stall! The rains held off too (the rainy season began yesterday with a vengeance!) so we could be outdoors for most of the day, which was great as our little house struggles to hold too many and we ended up being a fair few! Bella beamed from the beginning to the end of the day…!

Our own personal golf course...

2009-08-14T12:44:00.000-07:00

Whilst Alison beavered away with the other VSO health workers at a conference in Seeta, Alan took his caddies along to a golf course in Lugazi sugar plantation. There was not another soul in sight and looking at the visitors' book, the course doesn't get played much. Due to this and the surplus of local labour, the course was in great nick and we made it around 8 very hilly holes in the midday heat, before the 3 caddies pictured wanted to retire to the 19th hole.

Splash it all over!

2009-08-11T10:08:00.000-07:00

We spent most of the weekend helping paint the children's malnutrition ward at Kampala's main hospital, Mulago, with the other VSO volunteers. Girls took ownership of some chairs and duly made them their own with some alternative designs.

Worryingly, baby wipes beat white spirit hands down in removing the gloss paint from the participants. Dread to think what the magic ingredients are!

Sunday Treat!

2009-08-02T12:59:00.001-07:00

After 4 days without water, bucket washes lost their novelty and so we escaped to the American Club for a long hot shower. The brief swim pictured here, although pleasant on a hot day, simply provided the excuse to use their washing facilities. We have become members of the club for the year, which will provide a welcome haven and no shortage of extra-curricular activities.

Lucky escape!

2009-08-01T13:34:00.000-07:00

On our way back from town today, we had our first brush with the Ugandan police force. One of the big hazards of driving in Uganda is being stopped by the police and being fined for various 'offences'. Alan allegedly took an illegal U-turn and this stern copper told him to pull over so he could write out a ticket for the offence. Conveniently thinking he was being waved on by another policeman, Alan saw the opportunity to drive on and leave the policeman on foot in his wake. Further down the road, celebrating our narrow escape, we were surprised to see the policeman pulling up alongside on the back of a taxi motorbike, much to the girls' horror, waving angrily to pull over again.
After a discussion over the finer points of Ugandan road law, with some vociferous contributions from Alison in the backseat, it was decided to revisit the scene of the crime to prove that there were no road signs about illegal U-turns and to show how we were not the only law-breakers there. We gave the policeman a lift back in our car, offering some cold pizza on the way complemented by Zoe turning on the waterworks in sympathy for daddy going to jail! This may have softened him a little, but he was still adamant that we pay the fine or go to court.
Alison got out and took some photos of the crime scene and Alan politely enquired if the policeman was going to arrest all the cars breaking this law, whilst all 3 girls continued to sob in the back! Sensing that we were not going down without a fight, the policeman finally backed down and asked us not to do it again, to which we gratefully agreed. We wheelspun away, enormously relieved not to be spending the night behind bars!