Saint Peter's

More transformation

Money makes more of a difference!

In September of last year Pete had the pleasure of visiting Saint Peter’s in Awere. Awere is a small village, a long way from Gulu. It is very needy with a high prevalence of HIV / Aids . The health centre is in rented accommodation which is expensive although there are plans to build anew.

 



The team have a good working laboratory and plenty
 of space

The unit is busy and often patients feel the need
to lie down!

 

St Peter's is in a rural location  which makes the surroundings attractive but also brings its own challenges. The unit was criticised for not putting soap out with the washing facilities by the latrine (blue water container) until it was realised that the bars were being nicked by an enterprising cow who fancied an addition to her diet.

The numbers of patients seen and the standard of care was very impressive. This brilliant story is all the more encouraging because, in the past,  St Peter’s was ineffective and very, very corrupt.

Our Gulu Connection finances one nurse and subsidises another. This is money well spent. We are pleased to continue our help.

Money can make a difference.

OBERABIC
Visit on September 5th
As Good as it Gets

Oh my goodness. Talk about being overwhelmed! First working day in Gulu on my September 2016 visit and wham we were off on a support supervision visit to Oberabic Health Centre.

Oberabic is one of ten health units run by the Diocese of Northern Uganda but is the main focus of Gulu Connection. The unit is in a very poor and rural  area.  A year or so ago Christopher was appointed and has proved to be great in charge supported by Midwife, Gloria and nurse assistant Moses. A further nurse assistant has been appointed recently.

The team was well praised by Nick for the accuracy of their prescribing. I was moved by their commitment each week going on outreach to a very needy area even though they get go extra finance for this.

 

Health Unit and visiting team.

 

The Support of Gulu Connection has made a big difference and has provided for:

• All their medicines,
• Money for a nurse assistant,
• Refrigerator(s) which means vaccines can be stored on the premises,
• Solar electricity,
• Motorbike
• Refurbishment of the staff accommodation (still wholly inadequate)
• Money for a family planning incentive scheme.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is very little health provision  in the area. About 4 years ago I got to know a resident of Apaa, a community some 15 miles distance from the unit and now looking to Oberabic health centre for consistent  care and when talking about things he dropped out the sentence, "when our people get ill, they die." It was so matter of fact.

  

Oberabic Heath centre has a good building erected by the USA NGO MAP. MAP also used to provide finance but their generosity was not backed by good management and it was a very poor unit with dreadful staff attendance. Staff have worked hard over the last three years but the going has been tough but now with the new team and added finance,  there is real momentum.

There is much more to do. We are building a washroom and latrine block and started building a two roomed maternity unit (See blog December 2016) assisted by two generous donations by doctors. We are looking for £5000 to complete this life saving addition to the work at Oberabic.

Pete



St Luke's

Money helps

Located about 5 miles out of Gulu in the community of Koro, is St Luke's health centre. It was once a dysfunctional unit based in a run down shop premises - the picture was taken after the then in charge arranged for it to be painted.

 

Old St Luke's

 For about three years, a huge amount of work and effort went  into St Luke's (See Blog November 2013) to improve the standard of care with mixed result. However, one year ago there was a major breakthrough with a newly recruited team of health workers and the start  of a new health centre building financed with assistance of UK health care programme NUHP. The building needed to be completed and Gulu Connection are very proud to have been able to give £5000 to help complete the new building.

  

New St Luke's Health Centre 2

 

 The new team, recruited by Nick, are working very well together. There is an increased number of patients who go to St Luke's with general illnesses as well as for maternity, ante-natal and deliveries. Malaria, one of Uganda's most deadly and biggest of killers, is also treated at St Luke's (see picture below of patient being treated with an IV drip).

 



Patient being treated for Malaria

The team at St Luke's

 

St Luke's is a success story,  ...and there will undoubtedly be more success to follow

Gemma

HAPPY DAYS
Pete's Visit September 2016
Meeting the team.

In September 2016,  Pete visited The Health Coordination team at the Diocese of Northern Uganda on behalf of Nechells and Overseas Care Fund (Gulu Connection).

 

It was wonderful to meet Nick (Dr Laing, health care coordinator) and get to work with him informally, discuss the health programme and visit health units.




also meet Tessa his wife and get a feel for their inspiring missionary lifestyle which includes living in the community and supporting their local church.



Nick and Tessa



St Lukes Church



 

Nick and Tessa's Hut

GOOD WORK AT OBERABIC

Midwifery and more midwifery.

 

 

 

Midwifery

 



Nick and Fiona recently visited Oberabic and sent this video report. Click this Link to see. It is well worth the effort. Gloria describes a hard days night centered around midwifery.

 

 

More Midwifery

 

The ante natal clinic is building up well but deliveries lag behind with many mums still opting for the recklessly dangerous home delivery.

 

We are seeking to address this issue by building a two roomed maternity unit. Here is an impression.

 

 



 

We hope this initiative will be life saving. It will be the biggest single donation made so far.

 



.

NEWS FROM NICK AND TESSA

 

Dr Nick Laing, diocesan health coordinator and wife, Tessa, are deeply committed to their local community, church and ministries. Copied below is their latest news which has a link to their fascinating blog (link). They are an amazing couple. 

Then Peter got up the nerve to ask, “Master, how many times do I forgive a brother or sister who hurts me. Seven?”Jesus replied, “Seven! Hardly. Try seventy times seven.” Fire, Forgiveness and Family  We sat around a beautiful pile of pikelets, sliced mango and bannanas with our friends and their two wee kids. A relaxing Sunday afternoon after a stressful week. Our neighbor Lucy was in hospital, very ill, and needed a lot of practical support. Finally, she was recovering. I took another pikelet, glanced out the window, then did a double take. Smoke. Billowing out of Lucy’s door. We sprinted over and found her bed ablaze with thick choking black fumes from the mattress filling the room. With the help our friends, a neighbor, our small fire extinguisher and many jerrycans of water we managed to put it out. Lucy’s return from hospital was not as joyful as we hoped. The fire did not remain a mystery for long. The culprit was a small boy called Aken, only 11 years old. He’d managed to steal Lucy’s key. His mother had a long-standing family feud with Lucy, now apparently fuelled by jealousy at Lucy’s fortune in finding a new home moving in with us. With Lucy still in hospital, we were the ones to take our wee arsonist into the police. The police shrugged it off saying he was young, and sent him home with zero follow up. His mother sent him to stay with relatives in the village, but he was chased away after stealing and selling their chickens. Lucy's burnt home Two weeks later we woke to find our hut roof on fire. I will never forget the fierce red glow and crackle of the grass thatch as I rushed outside. Neighbors came sprinting to our rescue from all directions with jerry-cans and basins, throwing water on the fire and dragging our furniture and things outside. Unbelievably, Lacor hospital fire truck showed up and doused our hut in water inside and out, extinguishing every last ember. It was over. But my mind was ticking over. Physically we’d escaped extraordinarily well: no-one harmed, property soggy but not burnt, roof damaged, but still livable. But I knew we weren’t going to get much sleep that night. Or the next night. Aken, of course, had fled and was no where to be found. The next month gave us the tiniest taste of the worried nights everyone here in Northern Uganda suffered for two decades of civil war. Except we feared a poor, downtrodden child with a box of matches, not grenade wielding rebels and government soldiers with AK47s. The emotional aftermath wasn’t all negative. I had a heightened awareness that community was our security, and a grateful warmth to or immediate neighbors who came running. I felt pleasantly detached from material ‘stuff’, and tried to pass on anything useful we weren’t utilizing to local friends. But the question of what to do about Aken still loomed. After several weeks, Aken was finally found, charged with arson and taken to the children’s remand home till the court hearing. This bought us time at an opportune moment: Nick’s parents were about to arrive! Time to pray, get away with family, and put things in perspective. I visited Aken again before we headed off to collect them at the airport. The remand home is depressing, but not horrible. Theres no razor wire or harsh discipline, just kids sitting around looking bored and dejected. Determined to understand him a bit better, I’d brought some string for him to make a timeline of his life, pebbles to represent the bad things that had happened, and flowers to represent good times he remembered. The guard squinted and said it looked like witchcraft. “Just talking, no flowers” he warned me. I handed Aken a bag of snacks and wondered nervously where to begin. So far I know that his dad died when he was small. He likes school, but has only finished 2 years of primary. His older brothers steal things. His mum had a mental break down two years ago and attempted suicide. He is convinced she doesn’t want him. We decided to drop the charges and find a way to get him to school. Mum teaching some of our friends Family Our time away with Nick's amazing parents was glorious. Nick’s Dad became anthropologist extraordinaire, more intrigued by the small details of life in Uganda than by tourist attractions. Nick’s Mum’s enthusiasm was not quenched by nights without plumbing and electricity. We communed with monkeys, climbed hills, and had big catch ups over coffee and chapattis. The kids we teach are already complaining we don’t give them  as many stickers as their visiting tutor! Bliss ended a day too soon by a phone call to say our home had been thoroughly broken into. The iron window bars had been filed, and it seemed the thieves had had plenty of time to work. The close friend we’d left to house sit for us, it turns out, had only spent 2 nights there. Thanks to the heroics of our Australian friends, the window and our solar power system (the most significant thing they took) was already fixed by the time we got back. Needless to say, our feelings of insecurity were further shaken, and we felt betrayed. We were glad to have Nicks folks around.   Dad uses ancient methods to safely cut down branches While I’ve yet to get a smile out of Aken on my visits to the remand home, he certainly associates me with food. He is coming home in a week. He can join our afterschool reading classes for neighborhood kids. Then, he will go to boarding school, his first year paid for by Nick’s parents. If you are the praying type, our big request is that you pray with us that his life is turned around, and that the brokenness can be healed. So, all in all it hasn’t been an easy return to Uganda. We’ve also had a bad run of illness: between us 8 skin infections, 3 bouts of malaria (all Nick) and numerous tummy bugs. And yet when I look back on the last 5 months there is so much to be thankful to God for. We have some great new relationships with young neighbors. Lucy recovered when we thought she might not make it. We’ve grown enough basil to make a jar of peanut-pesto every week. My community organized group has launched 3 new water-access campaigns and strong leaders are emerging. Next week we are running a preaching-training at our church. Nicks health centers are flourishing better than he ever could have imagined last year. And right now, we are sleeping well at night again. All this might seem extreme, but is part of the deal here; stuff happens. We’re not singled out, or different from other people here. This chain of events is perhaps an induction to the everyday struggles of many of our friends. Pray for complete forgiveness from all ends, pray for Aken and his future, pray for redemption. As always, we are really really keen to hear whats going on for you at the moment in NZ, Australia, Jersey, America, Chile or wherever else you are! For so many reasons, we couldn't be here without your support and encouragement. Drop us an email and say hi! And check out our blog www.Ugandapanda.com Love and peace, Tessa and Nick

Copyright © 2016 Nick and Tessa, All rights reserved. We sent this email to everyone who said they'd be interested in updates from Uganda. Feel free to unsubscribe or stay tuned! Our mailing address is: Nick and Tessa 31 Longmuir Street, Christchurch, New Zealand Christchurch, Canterbury 8041 New Zealand

 Update

Thank you for checking in to the blog. There is a lot of good work going on in Gulu

Advances continue

Dr Nick Laing and Fiona working in the diocesan and health coordination office are moving things along well. Our money has been used to assist in a number of ways.

Oberabic

Oberabic, the health centre in the most impoverished community, has been assisted by Gulu Connection with:

• provision of solar power,
• refurbishment of accommodation block,
• provision of a solar fridge,
• purchasing most of their drugs,
• paying for one nurse assistant,
• financing an incentive scheme for the staff at the health centre to increase their provision of family planning services. Limiting the size of families is a key component in improving maternal child mortality and health.
• Purchase of motor bike
• We have agreed to upgrade the solar installation to make the solar fridge fully reliable.

Annette with renovated block

St Peter’s Health Centre, Awere

This health centre serves the second poorest community and has made magnificent – and to Peter’s unfaithful thinking - unexpected progress over the last couple of years. Gulu Connection is providing the whole of one qualified nurse’s salary and subsidising a second.

Saint Luke's health Centre Koro – just outside Gulu



New St Luke's Building

This was housed in a very inadequate shop unit. In the autumn of 2015 Gulu Connection provided £5000 to complete a new health centre building which is a massive improvement on what went before.

 

 

More news soon - hopefully!!!