Sunday, and having babies.

On Sunday, Vanessa and I went to meet the coordinator for PONT (www.pont.mbale.org.uk/ ) based in Mbale. His other job is to be the pastor at the First Baptist Church, so we went to the service so that we could meet him after wards.  Unfortunately he wasn’t there so I went back the next day to meet him. The service was from 9 until 11 but it actually finished at about 11.30. Over here it seems it is quite usual for people to drift into the service so that by the time it is finished the church is absolutely packed.  People were obviously dressed in their ‘Sunday best’ clothes and were very colourful. The service was very lively and the singing and dancing and responding to the preacher were loud and quite uninhibited. Maybe this is what keeps people going when they have so much difficulty to contend with in the rest of their lives.

Afterwards we went for lunch in a hotel which consisted of a Spanish omelette and a tomato and avocado salad. I’ve not really been a fan of avocado up till now, but this one was delicious it just melted in the mouth along with the rest of the meal. It must be the sunshine that makes it taste so good. The hotel had a little balcony so we sat outside.

While we were eating a marching band from one of the local schools went through the town, with all the children marching behind it. It was very colourful and provided a tremendous beat for them to march to.

If you want see where I am it can be located as follows.

On Google maps search for the town of Mbale. Once this is found follow the A104 road north from the town through Namusi to Nakaloke where there is a crossroads. You will need to have quite high definition at this stage (suggest 100m/200ft on scale at the bottom). Follow the left hand turn for about 900m to a crossroads and then on a further 600m to where the road appears to fork. Just at the fork there is a line of trees that come down approx 300m to a large light area and an area with lots of trees to the right. The large light area is the playing field outside the local primary school. The tree area is the Salem compound. If you increase the definition you can see the individual huts and departments. That's where I am.    

 When we got back to Nakaloke I had my first go on the bicycle boda to get back to Salem. As I think I described previously the bicycle boda is a bicycle that is strengthened over the rear wheel and is fitted with a cushion. You have to hop on and sit side saddle and there is a little piece of metal sticking out from the hub of the rear wheel so that you can rest one foot. The only thing to hold on to is the back of saddle – I held on to the spring on the back of the seat – it was OK was I relaxed even though the road is really bumpy.  It’s about 2 km from Nakaloke to Salem and they charge about 300 Ugandan shillings (which is about 10p). The second half of the road is a steady incline and I have to say I felt particularly sorry for the young man who was peddling the bike as I know I’m not the lightest person in the world – and he was puffing a bit – but managed it ok.  

The Ante Natal Clinic

 This morning I helped out at the ante natal clinic. this is the clinic.

I was booking ladies in, taking blood pressure, weighing and measuring height. I could not take many other details due to the language difficulties. One of the ladies this morning (aged 30) was attending for her 11th pregnancy. She had 7 children already at home as not all had survived. I was amazed at how trim and pretty and fresh she looked – I doubt I could manage to look like that in the same circumstances.

I had a great discussion with the midwife about how people give birth back in the villages – she gave me a practical demonstration of the positions which we both enjoyed. She explained that ladies either come to the health centre to give birth with the midwives or they stay in the village and are assisted by one of the locals with a bit of expertise or they manage it themselves. It occurred to me that as most people have mobile phones these days – it’s a shame that the midwives cannot go out to the village to assist. I suppose this is mostly due to the number of midwives this would need and the transport issues, but it doesn’t appear to be on the agenda here. I have heard several stories where the mother has died at home; one the other day where she delivered the baby ok at about 2am. She then appeared to become very weak so the husband walked to the nearest place to try to get help but when he got back she was dead. It’s very different to our expectations and experiences back in the UK.