Apologies as this entry was written nearly a week ago but due to no power or internet uploading has been delayed!
KAREN:
Time seems to have been flying by on our travels as we now find ourselves in our final two weeks in Uganda! The countdown to home brings a mixture of feelings from excitement and elation at the thought of seeing our families and friends, to sadness that our 8-month Uganda experience is drawing to a close. To be spending time exploring Uganda is definately proving to be the perfect way to end our adventures and definately a good reward after 6 months of hard work in Gulu!
Our journey has now brought us to east Uganda where we are staying in the Mount Elgon region. At 4321m Mount Elgon is the second highest peak in Uganda, and the eighth highest mountain in East Africa. I'd like to say that we have great intentions of making the four day climb but I'd be lying...the pain in our legs after one day of walking, mostly uphill I must add, has left us wondering if our legs really do belong to us so instead we'll continue to admire the mountain from the surrounding areas! Being in the mountains we are very aware of the drop in temperature and are wondering how on earth we will cope as we return to the milder climate of the UK despite the reports we have heard about recent good weather back home!
Not to neglect our clinical interests, on our travels we have found ourselves visiting two different health care establishments. Firstly, whilst in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park to trek the mountain gorillas, we visited the local hospital which we stumbled upon in a quest to locate internet facilities. Serving a catchment area of 60,000 people, this 60-bedded missionary hospital proved to have an impressive set up. By African standards, the hospital was spotlessly clean and appeared to be well organised. Schemes such as the sale of reduced-priced mosquito nets seem to be having a positive impact on the health of the community as well as the introduction of a low-cost health insurance whereby patients make an annual contribution of 6000 Uganda Shilling, approximately £2. It was encouraging to see such an efficient clinical environment here in Uganda giving us hope for the long term collaboration between the University Hospital of South Manchester (UHSM) and Gulu Regional Referral Hospital.
Our next clinical visit took us further north to a small suburb of Masaka called Kamatuuza, approximately 3 hours west of Kampala. We knew of a doctor from Cheshire who has set up a paediatric health centre in this district as part of the work of the charity 'Just Care'. It turned out that she was visiting the region from the UK and so we arranged to visit. In true Uganda style , nothing is ever that simple! The journey began with a taxi driver assuring us he 'knew the place' when asked if he could drive us the supposed 20 minute route to Kamatuuza. Whilst the driver ate a nutritious breakfast of cake and soda at the wheel, we began to feel doubtful that he knew where he was going as the journey appeared to take a long time. 45km and almost an hour later he proclaimed to have arrived at our destination yet there was no health centre nor indeed any signs of civilisation. Eventually we learnt from an intrigued collection of local people that there were two places called Kamatuuza in the region and the one we wanted was 60km away in the other direction! The driver didn't seem to understand why this was a problem and drove off leaving us stranded at the side of the road! Eventually, after a long and squashed drive where a 6 seater car somehow managed to accommodate 12 adults and a baby, we reached the correct destination...3 hours late! The warm welcome we received from Dr Pauline and her team certainly compensated for the frustrating start to our day. We accompanied them as they distributed mosquito nets, mattresses and clothing to families within the community before visiting the children's health centre. Again this proved to be another well run and organised health facility run by a small team of friendly staff giving Just Care cause to feel very proud of their work!
DEBBIE:
After our intrepid travels through Queen Elizabeth National Park and Bwindi Impenetrable National Park we made our way further south. After several nights filled with an array of animal noises we were extremely happy to arrive at the tranquil and peaceful Lake Bunyoni. We travelled from the mainland to one of the 29 islands by dugout canoe and settled into our accommodation named a 'geodome', which consisted of a very basic hut with no door! Having been used to the scorching heat of the north for 6 months we weren't convinced that we would survive the cold of the night by the lake (with rather drafty accommodation!) A sleeping bag and 3 blankets each helped us to survive the night and the view that we woke up to the following morning was absolutely breathtaking! We spent an amazing 5 days reading books, relaxing and exploring the islands!
After resting in Lake Bunyoni and visiting our friends to learn about their inspiring projects in Masaka we travelled to Lake Mburo. Having seen lions, elephants, hyenas, gorillas, hippos and giraffes in Uganda there was only one species that we still had to tick of our list - zebras! We went on a beautiful boat trip on the lake where we saw many hippos and different varieties of birds. We then went on a game drive early in the morning and saw a herd of zebras meaning that our Ugandan animal spotting was complete!
KAREN:
Time seems to have been flying by on our travels as we now find ourselves in our final two weeks in Uganda! The countdown to home brings a mixture of feelings from excitement and elation at the thought of seeing our families and friends, to sadness that our 8-month Uganda experience is drawing to a close. To be spending time exploring Uganda is definately proving to be the perfect way to end our adventures and definately a good reward after 6 months of hard work in Gulu!
Our journey has now brought us to east Uganda where we are staying in the Mount Elgon region. At 4321m Mount Elgon is the second highest peak in Uganda, and the eighth highest mountain in East Africa. I'd like to say that we have great intentions of making the four day climb but I'd be lying...the pain in our legs after one day of walking, mostly uphill I must add, has left us wondering if our legs really do belong to us so instead we'll continue to admire the mountain from the surrounding areas! Being in the mountains we are very aware of the drop in temperature and are wondering how on earth we will cope as we return to the milder climate of the UK despite the reports we have heard about recent good weather back home!
Not to neglect our clinical interests, on our travels we have found ourselves visiting two different health care establishments. Firstly, whilst in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park to trek the mountain gorillas, we visited the local hospital which we stumbled upon in a quest to locate internet facilities. Serving a catchment area of 60,000 people, this 60-bedded missionary hospital proved to have an impressive set up. By African standards, the hospital was spotlessly clean and appeared to be well organised. Schemes such as the sale of reduced-priced mosquito nets seem to be having a positive impact on the health of the community as well as the introduction of a low-cost health insurance whereby patients make an annual contribution of 6000 Uganda Shilling, approximately £2. It was encouraging to see such an efficient clinical environment here in Uganda giving us hope for the long term collaboration between the University Hospital of South Manchester (UHSM) and Gulu Regional Referral Hospital.
Our next clinical visit took us further north to a small suburb of Masaka called Kamatuuza, approximately 3 hours west of Kampala. We knew of a doctor from Cheshire who has set up a paediatric health centre in this district as part of the work of the charity 'Just Care'. It turned out that she was visiting the region from the UK and so we arranged to visit. In true Uganda style , nothing is ever that simple! The journey began with a taxi driver assuring us he 'knew the place' when asked if he could drive us the supposed 20 minute route to Kamatuuza. Whilst the driver ate a nutritious breakfast of cake and soda at the wheel, we began to feel doubtful that he knew where he was going as the journey appeared to take a long time. 45km and almost an hour later he proclaimed to have arrived at our destination yet there was no health centre nor indeed any signs of civilisation. Eventually we learnt from an intrigued collection of local people that there were two places called Kamatuuza in the region and the one we wanted was 60km away in the other direction! The driver didn't seem to understand why this was a problem and drove off leaving us stranded at the side of the road! Eventually, after a long and squashed drive where a 6 seater car somehow managed to accommodate 12 adults and a baby, we reached the correct destination...3 hours late! The warm welcome we received from Dr Pauline and her team certainly compensated for the frustrating start to our day. We accompanied them as they distributed mosquito nets, mattresses and clothing to families within the community before visiting the children's health centre. Again this proved to be another well run and organised health facility run by a small team of friendly staff giving Just Care cause to feel very proud of their work!
DEBBIE:
After our intrepid travels through Queen Elizabeth National Park and Bwindi Impenetrable National Park we made our way further south. After several nights filled with an array of animal noises we were extremely happy to arrive at the tranquil and peaceful Lake Bunyoni. We travelled from the mainland to one of the 29 islands by dugout canoe and settled into our accommodation named a 'geodome', which consisted of a very basic hut with no door! Having been used to the scorching heat of the north for 6 months we weren't convinced that we would survive the cold of the night by the lake (with rather drafty accommodation!) A sleeping bag and 3 blankets each helped us to survive the night and the view that we woke up to the following morning was absolutely breathtaking! We spent an amazing 5 days reading books, relaxing and exploring the islands!
After resting in Lake Bunyoni and visiting our friends to learn about their inspiring projects in Masaka we travelled to Lake Mburo. Having seen lions, elephants, hyenas, gorillas, hippos and giraffes in Uganda there was only one species that we still had to tick of our list - zebras! We went on a beautiful boat trip on the lake where we saw many hippos and different varieties of birds. We then went on a game drive early in the morning and saw a herd of zebras meaning that our Ugandan animal spotting was complete!
Hi I’m Katie, I work for Ruder Finn on behalf of a new safe motherhood campaign called Make Women Matter.
ReplyDeleteGreat to read about your travels in Uganda and to see that you stumbled across the Bwindi Community Hospital. The hospital, like you say, is a really impressive set up. We’ve recently come back from filming there.
Thought you might like to take a look at the films they talk about the issues that women there are facing.
We’d love to know what you think. http://www.makewomenmatter.org/watch/2/5