Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Wednesday, September 8, 2010


Wow!

Picked up at 7:30 for the 3 hour ride to Buwundo Village. We stopped to pick up the mother and her 2 children aged 1 1/2 and 3 and drove them to a town of Buikwe, about 1/2 hour away then to the hospital there. It was a 'good' hospital and after talking to the Director of the hospital we some how became next in line. Actually when you are the only white, blond lady in the whole waiting room they maybe wanted to get me in ASAP - lol.

After they registered we went over to pay 6000 USH ($3 US) and before we could sit down we were called. The triage nurse (I assume), was pleasant and talked English so I knew what was going on. Long and short both were suffering from malnutrition. Come to find out the baby had been admited before due to malnutrition. She mentioned how we must teach them to wash their hands (I took a wipe and couldn't get the dirt off his hands - OMG). She mentioned they could easily get worms from dirty hands. She sent us on to the lab for blood tests. Poor babies but they survived. Had to take a stool sample of the 3 year old - poor momma- but she was successful.

While in the lab I noticed a ladies room (which was locked) so I thought it was the type of toilet I enjoy. I asked the lab tech if the toilets were western style and she said yes. I asked if I could use them and hesitently she said yes and unlocked the door. Inside were 3 doors. Behind door # 1 - a hole in the floor. Behind door # 2 a hole in the floor. So I knew behind door #3 it would be the western style. Nope. Hole in the floor. But all 3 did have a flush tank up high. Well I thought it better to do it there than at the village. Sorry if I got too personal but for those who wish to volunteer - just warning you.

To continue, they ended up they had to take another blood sample form the baby and that actually was no problem. Wait some more and we get the paper with the results so them wait again for nurse although not a long time. Only Ivan and I were allowed in. It turns out both of the children had malaria as well as the malnutrition. They thought about admiting the baby but since there is absolutely no one to take care of the 3 year old and momma has to stay at the hospital with the baby, we took responsibility to find someone in the village to help the mother remember to give the medicine to the children. We were also informed these children do NOT have Aids. Praise the Lord. A short wait for the prescriptions to be filled - lots of meds and God bless this hospital - they did not charge us one cent for the meds. All in all it only took about 2 hours.

I knew in my heart the children were sick even though I'm not a nurse. And I know we have many more children with Malaria. All these children need medical screening. I pray for help in this area.

Well once we left, we went and Ivan and Eddie bought plywood and had it cut in half (50 000 USH - $25). These will be used as blackboards in the project. All they have to do is paint them black and get some chalk. Who knew???

Once back at the project there were our 8 children waiting to see if they were accepted into Good Shepherd = we still hadn't heard. Also were 3 young ladies apparently wanting the teaching position at our project. Ivan had already hired another teacher so we only needed one more. Very different hiring process than in Canada to be sure. All three were at the government school in the next village and good friends. I'm glad I didn't have to make the decision. As it turned out Ivan told the young ladies to decide among themselves. I had said to all them they must not hit a child (a well known occurance in Uganda) or yank a childs arm. They must be lively and not miserable and must attend school. Apparently because of the low pay teachers just don't show up at school - not informing anyone. I pray Anna will do the job.

After lunch at around 4pm we went off to Good Shepherd since we hadn't heard from them. The poor secretary. She contacted the director and he had excuses and would get back to us tomorrow or the next day. Well we left and went to another private school in the opposite direction. Long and short - our 8 students will start tomorrow (unfortuntely we won't be there for their first day). The cost was more but they are in competition with the other school for academics. So we paid 532 000 (USH) $266 US for the 8 of them this term. The 8 students are all behind so this term might help them upgrade a little. The money paid for their uniforms, tuition, sports clothes and lunches. We supply the toilet paper, brooms, notebooks, cup and plate each and backpacks (which we still have to buy) as well as shoes and sweaters. They will have to walk quite a distance and perhaps there might be transportation next year.

Back to the village to the 8 students - still waiting for us. So Ivan could deliver the good news. I'm concerned about who will walk them tomorrow and who will feed them breakfast since our program doen't start until Monday when our Nursery School starts.

We left the village at 6:15 pm and I arrived at my hotel at 9:15. Very tired.

Meeting tomorrow (Thursday) at the hotel at 10 am
 
Registered 3 children yesterday whose momma died on Monday - no dad either.
 
Please excuse the spelling mistakes as I'm trying to do the updates quickly and no spell check!!