All quiet in Masindi

This has been a quiet week in Masindi, no floods or burglaries so what is there to write about apart from the tragic loss of a family heirloom. Unfortunately the kids will not have the pleasure of fighting over Maggies favourite cooking knife she has treasured for 30 years after our demise. The sturdy knife was no match for a green coconut and Daryl. Daryl a volunteer from the Philipines offered to show Maggie how to open a coconut. She not only failed to open the nut but snapped the blade.
Coconuts do not grow in Uganda for some reason but Maggie had asked some one selling vegetables for a coconut 6 weeks ago. He arrived this week with a lovely bunch of coconuts he had brought from Tanzania. He was a bit disappointed when Maggie only wanted one but the others all turned up on the market so he had good business. You have to be careful what you say here as people are so keen for sales they will sometimes go to extraordinary lengths to get you something. Strangely, on the market, stall holders often refuse to sell you poor quality items but take you to a competitors stall that has better ones. Presumably they feel that in the long term you are likely to go back if they show concern.
This week we had the monthly meeting of the Chronic Care team. This is supposed to happen every month but is often cancelled and poorly attended. I suggested we put review of allowances as an agenda item to encourage attendance. This worked but a meeting scheduled for 10.00 did not start until 11.00.All meetings start with a prayer then there has to be laborious reading of the last minutes which have been written in great detail. The real business does not start for a good half hour. We did have some useful discussion. I had persuaded Maggie to make a banana cake as people here had never heard of one in spite of the fact they are surrounded by bananas and eat matoke most days. The cake was cut with due ceremony complete with photos! Every one seemed to like the cake and a short speech of gratitude was made. Cake has been ordered for the next meeting.
On Friday we made a rare trip out to see a patient with HIV who had not been seen for 9 months. He had had a stroke and could not get in to the clinic. His treatment supporter regularly collects his medication. He lives about 12 km from Masindi right in the bush. We travelled by special hire taxi. As we did not know exactly where he lived we had to ask a couple of people, the last of whom turned out to be his sister. We arrived at this hut and were invited in to meet the patient. He was lying in a small room on a single bed. He could not see out of the window and obviously very rarely leaves the bed. I was greatly surprised when he greeted me in perfect English. He evidently used to be a lecturer in agriculture at the local college. He had had a devastating stoke and was obviously trapped in the hut. He was remarkably cheerful but I could not imagine how he passed the time. He had no books, no radio and seemed only to have his aged sister for company. Unfortunately his blood pressure was very high and he is a candidate for another stroke. We started him on treatment but he will obviously need monitoring .On the way back to Masindi we called at the local health centre and asked that they check his blood pressure and keep us informed. I will be pleasantly surprised if that happens but it is what should happen and one of the reasons I am here to improve primary care.