Thursday, September 25, 2014

We received a call early this morning from the Empowerment Center that Michelle and Bill had a fine night at the Center.  There was a small interruption due to a dog fight outside the center, but that was the highlight of the night.  It went so well, that Michelle is going to stay at the Center on her own this evening.

One van headed to Mbarara to pick up some additional needed items:  file cabinets; hardware; computer; sewing machine needles; “she-llac" (for coating the jewelry beads); and much more.  The shopping trip took most of the day, but was successful.

There were also two orphan home visits.  We stopped at the Murole School on the way to the Center and picked up Musa (age 11), Ginny and Bob Donald’s sponsored HOPE orphan, and Ronald (age 12) and Friday, (age 14) two brothers who are sponsored by Diane & Bill Busch.  We dropped part of the team off at the Center and then Ginny, Diane, Bill, Michelle, Josiah, Musa, Ronald and Friday headed higher into the mountains for the home visits.  We first went to Musa’s home.  It was a long, steep walk up a path to his house, but what a beautiful view once we arrived at the top.  And how gracious and welcoming were his guardians!   As is the Ugandan custom, we were treated to delicious fruits and breads.  They have dogs, a cow and a pig - and of course Michelle made friends with one of the dogs :)  After that visit, we headed back down the mountain, hopped in the van and headed further up the mountain to Ronald and Friday’s home.  Their smiles got bigger the closer we got to their house.  They saw a young family friend along the road and yelled out his nickname “yellow tiger” and had to tell us all about him.  It was great to see them so happy.  We arrived at their home and were greeted by their guardian, who is their 17 year old sister.  They’ve lost both of their parents to different diseases over the last few years and their sister has been caring for them since she was 15.   She is a wonderful, smiling young lady and was a very welcoming host.  We also met her extended family and neighbors who all pitched in to serve us another feast of cooked cabbage, Irish and sweet potatoes, rice, peanut sauce, a dish of greens and red beans, avocados and blood fruit.  It was delicious!  As with Musa’s home, it was again a picture-perfect view of Lake Bunyonyi (lake of many birds) and beautifully terraced mountains full of crops. 

While the orphan visits were happening, several of the other team members met for many hours to plan the launch of the HEAL program (Health is Elemental to All Life).  The first step is to form an advisory team and seven health promotion teams, one team for each parish.  Within the seven parishes there are a total of 72 villages.  We are hoping the launch of the first Health Promotion Team will occur early-mid 2015.  They will visit the villages in their parish to determine specific needs for their villagers.  Generous is excited to put into action the knowledge and skills she attained at the health conference she attended in Chile earlier this year - thanks to a grant from Melanie Nelson. 

More work was done on the bedroom - mosquito netting is now up, curtains and screens are installed.  Looking more and more like a warm and welcoming bedroom everyday!

“Mama Toni” was busy most of the afternoon making a genuine homemade Italian meal for all of us to enjoy at the Center.  The homemade sauce simmered on a propane stove out on the veranda, and the pasta, Bucatini, was cooked in a large pot over an open fire in the backyard of the Center.  Turning the heat down meant removing a log - not turning a knob.  We also had a superb green bean dish that Toni prepared, fresh avocados and breads as accompaniments to this great meal.   Nineteen people - our whole U.S. team, all the ACT staff here in Muko, our wonderful drivers and Father John from Uganda Martyrs, enjoyed the feast!   We ended with a meaningful devotion, cleaned up the dishes and headed back to the hotel - remember this is about a one-hour drive.  We arrived around 9:00 and all headed immediately to bed! 

And if you’re keeping track, our score for today is 150%.

Friday, September 26, 2014

Off to the village around 8:30.  When we arrived, one group, Toni, Roger, Ginny, Karen and Alexander immediately headed off for the Ikamiro Clinic - which exists in part because of a generous grant from St. John’s Episcopal Church.  This clinic is staffed by two nurses who live on sight.  They provide immunization and delivery of babies for the population of Ikamiro, about 20 deliveries each month.  The immunization services are mainly provided by home visits from the nurses.  On-sight they have medication for malaria, pain medication and all vaccines.  Mental health issues are referred to Kabale Town, with the closest hospital being Lugarama, about 45 minutes away.  Lisa Corso knitted several newborn baby hats and those were presented to the clinic by the team.  They were very happy to receive them.  They are also making very good use of the baby scale that was delivered by the US team that came last May.  Their immediate needs are another refrigerator for medicines requiring refrigeration and also a vehicle for transportation to hospitals.  They are also working to complete the staff housing.  Reverend Julias and his wife, Hope, entertained the team with a nice brunch.

When they returned, another group, Diane, Michelle, Bill, Toni, Ginny and Sue, headed to the Muko Parish Clinic.  We were treated to a very thorough tour of the clinic which includes a maternity ward, boarding of expectant mothers up to one month prior to due-date, in-patient facilities for men, women and children, an operating room for minor surgical procedures, nutrition counseling, family planning and all immunizations.  There are seven full time employees:  senior medical clinical officer; two nurses; a midwife, a laboratory assistant, a nursing assistant and one counselor.  In-patient care is free to all, only payment for medication is required.  After the tour, all but Ginny (who was needed back at the Center for MEP activities) stayed for a delicious lunch and discussion with Father John.  It was a fruitful and lively discussion which we all walked away from knowing more about each other’s culture and education systems.  This information will be very helpful as our two organizations (ACT and the Muko Parish) continue to work together to help improve the lives of the children in Muko subcounty.  As with all meetings here, when it was over we realized we’d spent four hours together!

The HANDS team (absent Michelle) assisted in the planting potatoes one of the leased parcels of land for the ACT commercial farming endeavor.  Seeing young men carrying 80 kg of seed potatoes on their shoulders down rough trails gave us new appreciation for the very hard work of subsistence farming in Uganda.  Roger and I first observed the process of laying out the rows, digging the trenches, sprinkling the starter fertilizer and kicking it in the soil, laying out the seed (9-12 inches apart) and covering the seed with the panga (large hoe).  Then the two muzungu helped with various parts of the planting process.  Roger developed a blister from operating a too short panga handle for three hours.  After bending over placing potatoes for three hours, John is not too sure he wants to see a potato for a few weeks.  As the planting was concluding a light rain began to fall, God’s gift of perfect timing of watering the seed to begin the growth of our potato crop.