Education, Education,Education

This week I have been visiting primary schools to talk to teachers about HIV. This is part of mainstreaming HIV part of VSO’s programme. It also meant that Sue a volunteer working in education could tap in to HIV funds to pay for her literacy workshops. In all sectors HIV has the biggest budget. I was happy to visit schools and talk to teachers as they have a valuable role to play in HIV awareness.
Primary schools are a growth industry in Uganda with the population growing at such an alarming rate. Universal primary education is supposed to be free but there are so few resources in the government sector that many families opt to send their children privately. In the schools I visited all the classes were large including one of 136 six year olds. How a teacher controls that number of children let alone teaches them. How can you expect children to learn to write when they are crammed in to a classroom with no desks? They have to sit in rows on a concrete floor. The teacher is lucky if he has chalk, lately they have been using sticks of dried cassava as there has been no chalk provided.
In spite of the difficulties many of the teachers are trying hard to provide an education for their pupils. They can be very ingenious in using simple household items to make educational resources. I saw musical instruments made out of bottle tops, counting toys made from empty bottles and lots of posters.
Walking around the schools you see lots of messages designed to keep the children healthy. Many of these are related to HIV. Messages regarding abstinence, keeping your virginity, avoiding bad touches and beware of sugar daddies are all around the schools. In one primary school in big letters on the water tank was the message “Avoid early sex it leads to death”. I am not sure how these messages are received by children in primary schools and whether it changes their behaviour.
On Saturday we went to a fund raising event at the Masindi Centre for the Handicapped. This is a boarding school for children with special needs. The parents pay 60,000 ush less than £20 per term for education and full board. There are over 100 children from 6 -20 years. There are children with Downs’s syndrome, cerebral palsy as well as many deaf children. The classes are small less than 20 per class and the school provides physiotherapy for those who need it. The facilities were far better than I had seen in other schools and the pupil staff ratio was far better. The centre has had a lot of support from international charities and seems to provide a good service for these children. Often the problems begin when the children reach 20 and need to leave the school. There is little provision in the community for them and they have to rely on their families.
To continue with an education theme, I (Maggie) had an invite to attend an end of term Parents' Day at Ayesha's school today.Ayesha is the daughter of Rose who is our house girl. The programme was 5 hours long and I took the advice of a teacher friend to arrive at least an hour late - good advice! Nothing ever begins on time here. I was the only mzungu in an audience of at least 1,500 and the young children found me more entertaining than the performers! It's amazing how you can just look at a toddler and it will burst out crying; possibly something to do with the fact that there is a myth that mzungus eat little children. The programme proceeded as expected but I was fascinated with members of the audience going up to the stage and giving money to certain children while they were still performing, sometimes going on the stage itself. Parents were not particularly giving money to their own children but to anyone they felt deserved it. Those who had solo lines did very well. The headmaster even cashed in on this when, upon finishing to deliver his speech, he began a song and dance routine. By the time he'd finished his pockets were bulging from his admirers! Another thing that really got the audience going was a dressing competition. I was curious when I'd seen it on the programme but it really was just that. Four girls and four boys had to strip down to their underclothes and on the whistle had to see who could dress first. I just couldn't imagine that happening in the UK. Child protection doesn't come into it and of course there were the humiliated children who couldn't even get their garments the right way up never mind put them on. The audience loved it and the winning children loved it even more when they were showered with coins and the doting parents twirled them around the stage. Next came the eating competition which got the audience equally excited. Sadly I had to leave after three hours to check on the christmas cake in the oven!

The pictures are of Rosepreparing Ayesha's hair for her open day and the deaf children performing at the Masindi Centre for the handicapped.

Garibaldis, gingernuts and shortbread

There have been no bats, snakes, monkeys or any other unwelcome visitors this week. We’ve even had power for the last few days. On top of that, I bought a new internet modem for the laptop which will hopefully give us better access and freedom to mail whenever or wherever we want. Things are looking up!
Of course there are the usual frustrations but mostly they have become so predictable and commonplace that they hardly warrant a mention. One of the best ones today was at the Kinyara Sugar Works management club. The club is in the middle of I don’t know how many thousand hectares of sugar but the restaurant couldn’t serve tea because they’d run out of sugar! It also seemed quite alien to them that we could drink tea without sugar but after a bit of persuasion we got it. I didn’t dare complain about the dried milk powder. The only solution was to stick to the beer. At least it was a great day out. The weather was glorious with beautiful blue skies; we enjoyed lots of good company, good food and, of course, a pool to play around in. It didn’t really matter that the bread buns were full of ants and that the person bringing the burgers and salad arrived three hours late.
Someone mentioned the snow in the UK which at the moment feels like a million miles away. The rainy season has just about finished and it’s really hotting up now. December, Jan and Feb will be particularly hot. I returned last night from a couple of days in Kampala; a first attempt at Christmas shopping (and quite unsuccessful at that!). Unless, that is, I purchase some of the second-hand european clothes that line the streets and that we’ve all donated in the first place! There are some real bargains to be had! Things other than clothing are fake and not worth buying; they last no time at all. That’s true of most household items which are also relatively expensive. Fortunately the hotel vehicle uses diesel as there is a major petrol shortage at the moment, not just in Masindi, but nationwide. By the way, if Helene and Kristen are reading this I hope you have managed to get out of Queen Elizabeth National Park and back to Nairobi; it’s a long way on a bike!
Christmas has come early to Masindi. Lots of thanks to our lovely friends who have sent parcels recently. I could hardly contain myself when we received three on the same day and we have been enjoying Garibaldis, Gingernuts and Shortbread. We loved all the other goodies too.
I spoke too soon when I said we haven’t had any unwelcome visitors - I can hear Chris in the other room doing his dressing gown and plastic tub routine with a bat!

Another attempted break in!

Happily Maggies back is much better but she did have to take a day off work last Tuesday.While she was resting at home she heard the sound of breaking glass.She went to the spare bedroom and found a broken window with glass shattered all over the room. Rasoul our ascari had also heard the noise and rushed around to the back of the house. Happily this was not a thief but a monkey that had thrown itself at the window, luckily the monkey was ok. The monkeys are frequent visitors again.They are after the mangoes which are coming in to season.
We have had another visitor this week a bat flying round the living room.I am now getting to be a dab hand at catching bats. The trick is to throw your dressing gown over them as they fly past and then knock them to the floor. Then once Maggie stops screaming you can scoop them up in to a plastic container and put them out the door.
The power situation has improved for us but has been bad for the town. The main transformer has blown so Masindi has had no power for the week and is unlikely to be reconnected for another week. This is causing great problems for the hotels and shops as the freezers are not working. But it is only the muzungos and the wealthy who it affects because the vast majority of Ugandans do not have power at home.It is easy to forget how lucky we are compared to the majority.
This week we have held meetings with the volunters that Pam and I trained.The first meeting was attended by 40 out of 43 volunteers, who had walked up to 5k over bad roads to get to the health centre. They were all pleased to get their t shirts and mosquito nets but we were pleased to see that they were still motivated. They are all keen to use their knowledge and even keener to start distributing mosquito nets. We have 500 to distribute but need 5000. At the moment our best bet is to buy nets through the Red Cross from Rwanda. We are negotiating for a good price but will need to do some serious fund raising. Pam has decided to return to the UK in December and concentrate on raising the money to buy the nets.We have promised the volunteers we will get them and we can not let them down.
The picture at the top is one of my saddest pictures. This is a discarded mosquito net someone has been given and just thrown it away. They do not realise how it could save lives. This is why we are spending time teaching people about the value of nets and why we are selling the nets not just giving them away.

GREAT NEWS

Last week end we had a phone call from Goa. Becky and Gordon have decided to get married in March when we are back in the UK. This is great news and we are really excited at finally being in laws! In Uganda marriage is a huge ceremony and all friends and neighbours are expected to contribute. It is not uncommon for the wedding budget to be displayed on notice boards at work and people come around collecting. Happily this is not what they are doing. They plan a small wedding with just the family but a big celebration.
It has been hard to get back to normal after that news but we have had to concentrate on the here and now. Luckily my computer seems to have recovered. Like most of my patients I have no idea what was wrong with it and no clue as to why it recovered. May be the laptops immune system managed to overcome the virus. Unfortunately for many patients they do not survive but there are always surprises. This week a patient on the ward was semi conscious and we thought she had cryptococcal meningitis. The only drug we have to use is fluconazole. The patients only attendant was her 8 year old daughter but the little girl worked really hard feeding her mum and checking that she took her drugs regularly. The mum responded and is now eating and regaining her strength. It turns out that the 8 year old was also looking after her sister on the maternity ward who had just delivered. This little girl is the best nurse I have seen in Uganda.
Michael the man who went to Kampala was not so lucky. He has a broncho pleural fistula which needs surgery. Surgery is expensive so he is unlikely to have the operation. He is now back in Masindi and at work so he is better than he was.
Unfortunately this week Maggie has had a problem with her back. She shouted for help in the shower as her back had gone in to spasm. She has had minor problems in the past but nothing like this. She has been in agony but luckily there is a therapist who has just come to Masindi and he has given her some treatment. She has had some relief but it is still very painful and very frustrating. Hopefully a few more days and she will be back to normal.
On Saturday Sue one of the volunteers held a coffee morning to raise money for some training she wants to do. This was a new idea for most of the Ugandans who attended but they all seemed to enjoy it and managed to raise 250000 ush. This will go a long way to paying for the training and it was a great way of involving people in fund raising.
This is our eighth night without power. Power seems to have been bad for the last few weeks but this is really bad. It is difficult to keep everything charged and reading by lamplight is a real pain. It is hard to do anything at night. The computer is about to run out of power.

Food glorious food!

We are casting our minds back over the last two weeks trying to remember what we have been doing (we missed last week’s entry) and it seems that the most memorable occasions have revolved around food and eating! For my friends that will not come as a surprise. We are prone to fantasizing about food back in the UK and can’t wait for an almond croissant, fresh from the oven and ousing marzipan, washed down with a proper cup of Italian coffee, at the Nightingale Patisserie near Kare and Steve’s. Or maybe a nice fat crab sandwich at St. Abbs in Northumberland whilst looking out to sea. Then again, there’s fish and chips at Whitby which can only be eaten straight from the paper whilst sitting on a bench and shivering with the North Sea breeze. Or maybe a succulent pink leg of spring lamb and mint sauce. I could go on and on but must stop! We really don’t do so bad for food here. Last night we hosted a VSO meal for 9 people where we shared the cooking. We ate Italian stuffed aubergines and tomatoes served with olive and rosemary drop scones, followed by freshly caught whole Tilapia fish with a sweet and sour sauce and then sticky toffee pudding and fresh fruit salad to finish. Not bad for up-country Uganda! Thanks to Kare we are also indulging on Garibaldi and ginger biscuits this week!
One of our coping strategies here is to deal with time in bite-sized pieces, whether it’s events that are happening here or visits from other people, as long as we have something to look forward to! One such thing is our visit to the UK. It is necessary for Chris to return within the financial year to have his annual appraisal so we have just sorted out dates and booked our flights. Hannah is coming to visit us here in February so I (Maggie) will return with her on the 15th and Chris will follow a couple of weeks later. We will then have three weeks together in the UK which will hopefully give us time to visit London, Sheffield, Hull and Berwick (and hopefully see as many people as possible in that time).
On a sadder note, Chris’ laptop has well and truly died after contracting a very nasty virus which has wiped out his keyboard. We needed his laptop to access the internet at home as my Apple is not compatible with the system we have. The electricity supply for the last two weeks has been the worst we have ever experienced. Perhaps it’s the storms which have damaged the lines, as we are now in the rainy season, or perhaps it’s because people steal the wire for other uses. We had just got used to the luxury of having the internet at home but will now have to return to trips to the internet cafe and rely on them having fuel for the generator and for the network to be working.
Maggie
Miirya Volunteer Project.
Part of my reason for being here has been to try and develop preventative health in the village. This has been extremely difficult due to lack of resources and in particular transport.
Pam and I have managed to train 91 village volunteers in Miirya sub county. They are remarkable people. Many have been working in various capacities in their villages for many years. Some are traditional birth attendants, some are drug distributors and some health educators. There have been various projects where volunteers have been trained over the years but most of these have fallen by the wayside through lack of funding and organisation.
Our project is linked to community health centres which are key elements of the government health strategy. We hoped that by linking in to the government service this would mean that the project would be sustainable.
The emphasis of the project has been educating villagers about reproductive health, immunisation and malaria prevention. Part of the role of volunteers will be in helping in the distribution of mosquito nets.
Malaria continues to kill children in Masindi district. It accounts for about 80- 90% of the work of health centres. It is preventable. Families that use treated mosquito nets have far fewer attacks of malaria. Our aim is to offer nets at a greatly reduced price. Our problem is finding a reliable supplier and raising the money to buy 5000 nets.
At the moment our best source of nets appears to be to import from Rwanda. One supplier in Kampala raised their price by 100% overnight! The government supply seems to have dried up and they say they are waiting for donors.
It is frustrating to find so many barriers to such a simple intervention.
Chris