Kampala days
Categories : Africa, Missions, Travel, Uganda |
The last two days we have spent at the Bulrushes Baby Home in Kampala, which is part of Watoto childcare ministries. I hesitate to make any sort of comparison between Bulrushes and Sanyu Baby home, where we were earlier in the week, as Bulrushes really stands in it’s own league.
We were really blown away by the care and organisation at Bulrushes. The staff there are excellent. The building is beautiful. It is a very well run facility and the babies are lucky to be there - they are so well looked after. Not only that but the big difference here is that these babies will have a clear hope for the future as they eventually “graduate” to be raised in the main Watoto villages where they will be placed in a loving home with an adoptive mother and given an excellent education. This is not just a babysitting facility watching over these babies until they eventually (if they are lucky) find a home elsewhere - this is the beginning of a whole lifetime of care.
Whilst there Jennifer again assisted in care, and I was able to contribute medically, giving check-ups to a number of the babies on both days and advising on treatment. In general most of the babies were in pretty good health, a testament to the excellent care they have been receiving. Apparently when it first opened in January many of the babies were quite sick. Now most of their problems are relatively minor, although I did see one little fellow with tuberculosis and another premature baby with HIV and pneumocystis pneumonia which is quite rare in this setting.
Also today I was asked to do some education of the staff there and so I threw together a brief talk on hygeine and infections, viral and bacterial. Afterwards I took questions. They were intially a little retiscent but once the ball was rolling we had a good time and I was able to answer a load of questions related to baby and child care and health issues. I will be back here in October with the Watoto medical team and we can follow-up on this educational stuff then as well.
One more day in Uganda tomorrow, where we will get a bit of downtime and re-pack our bags ready for our next flight on Saturday morning to London. It will be a little sad to leave Uganda again, but also nice to have the comforts of a western country again. It’s good to know it’s only a few more months before I’ll be back here again…
We really haven’t taken many photos at all during our stay in Kampala this time, but here’s a few snaps from this week..
