A feel good story

I thought I would include a happy story this week. Reading back on the blog we seem to be concentrating on the negative bits but it is not all gloom and doom.
I was asked to see Vincent when he was a few days old. As you can see from the pictures he had a problem with his legs. I honestly could not immediately work out what was wrong but knew that his legs should not bend the way they were. I arranged to see him two days later and rushed to the internet. A few minutes later I had found the answer. He has bilateral congenital dislocation of the knees a rare congenital abnormality. Not only did I know what was wrong with him but I knew he could be treated quite easily by splints and physiotherapy. Unfortunately I was not confident that the treatment was available in Masindi.
Sally the local information centre knew a Dutch woman in Kampala who was married to an Italian paedriatric surgeon in Kampala. Networks here are so important. A phone call to Dr Fulvio led to an appointment in Kampala. The problem was how do you persuade an 18 year old girl from the village to go to Kampala with her baby and how does she get there. After some negotiation via a Ugandan teacher who works for the Ugandan Disabled Children’s Society it was agreed that mother grandmother and Vincent would travel to Kampala and stay at Katalemwa Cheshire Home where they would see Dr Fulvio. Luckily Sally and Maggie were going to Kampala so they were able to take the trio. Using funds from the UK we were able to pay the modest amount to allow them to stay for three weeks at Katalemwa. The treatment was free and Vincent returned to Masindi with straight legs. He should be able to walk and play normally. The family are so grateful for the help and support of people in the UK.
Yesterday I was asked to be a god father to Vincent an honour but I turned them down. I think Vincent deserves some body with more faith.

We were neglectful of the blog last week, not because there wasn’t anything happening but because we didn’t have time when we weren’t too tired to sit down and do it! One totally unexpected experience was when I was at the hotel and a local tour operator arrived with an American family of six. It seems Sallie had agreed that she would arrange a guide to take them to see the chimps that we know about which are in a small forest about 30k away from Masindi. These are chimps that are at risk from poachers and Sallie employs rangers to guard them. We are really fortunate because we sometimes get to accompany Sallie to see them. On this day Sallie was out of town and the guide she had arranged hadn’t turned up. I tried to find someone else who could take the group of Americans but failed to find anyone who knew the way. The only option was for me to pretend I was a tour guide and jumped in the vehicle and went! The Americans were really pleased to have a ‘muzungu’ guide - if only they knew! Although I’d visited the small riverine forest on several occasions I’d never really taken much notice of which tracks we’d driven along through the mile upon mile of sugar cane. One field of sugar cane looks pretty much the same as the other. I know someone who once lost his way and was driving around for 1 ½ hours trying to get out! Thankfully we did find the right bit of forest and I don’t think they noticed the look of panic on my face every time we came to another turning and I had to make a decision about which way to go. To cut an even longer story short, we did get sightings of some chimps but nothing like the display we’ve had on some trips. Luckily we saw various other monkeys, baboons, etc. but I had a job to keep the teenagers interested. I bluffed my way through the whole experience with my limited knowledge of the production of sugar cane and my equally limited knowledge of primates and wild birds! Anyway, the family seemed to go away happy - at least they hadn’t had to pay a fortune to enter one of the national parks. (Come to think of it, I didn’t get a tip!).

Masindi Movies: We recently bought half a share of a projector so I decided we should begin movie nights at the hotel, showing our vast and extensive range of DVDs! We held our first one on Saturday with a huge audience of 15 people. I thought it would be quite apt for our first ever showing to be The African Queen as a lot of it was filmed right here at Murchison Falls National Park. All was going well until 10 minutes before the end when the DVD had a blip and we had to abort - very embarassing!! No-one believes us that it ends with Humphrey Bogart being killed and Katherine Hepburn relishing her newborn zest for life and going off with three of the sailors from the Louisa.

News from home (UK!) - Kerry gave birth to Maxx on the 21st. Both are doing well. They are hoping to move to a bigger house in a couple of weeks. Becky completed the sponsored 10k in less than an hour and raised almost £800 for school fees for children in Masindi. Congratulations to both of them! Thanks to everyone who pledged money for the run.
Maggie