21. A Trip to Rehab

Wednesday 21st November 2012 

Kisiizi School

After a coffee, shower and weetabix I head over to Kisiizi School on the way to Chapel. I feel like a bit of an Indian giver as I have come to ask John to give me back 2 of the pencil sharpeners I gave him yesterday. Reason being is that David, who is the engineer at Kisiizi and responsible for all the building projects, runs an Orphan programme (separate to the one I have already supported) and he has asked me if I will post some of the children’s letter to their sponsors when I get home. I gave him a box of pencils and 4 sharpeners yesterday and asked him to pass them on to the children but he said it would be nicer for me to give them to the children myself so he has arranged for them to come at 4.30pm, There are six children coming and I only have four sharpeners, hence the reason for me asking for two back. I see John and he says it is no problem at all.

 

At the end of the service this morning there is a Paediatric audit which I decide to stay for, Sarah says I will probably find it interesting which I did. I was a bit concerned however when just before the presentation started Ian stood up to check that there were no patients or carers still in the chapel as he didn’t want the photos to distress them. I wasn’t sure whether that should be my cue to leave (you know how squeamish I am) but I stay, and I am glad I did. The audit covers the month of October and in the Special Care Baby Unit there were 39 admissions with four deaths and on the Children’s ward 171 admissions and two deaths. The pathway from the admission to the death of the 18 month old child was shown and it was clear that had the child been brought in earlier she would have had a much better chance of survival. She had pneumonia on admission and despite the very best efforts of the staff over four days she was too ill to survive. The message that was given to all staff was that at every opportunity they need to be educating the local community to bring their children to the hospital sooner. Often the children are taken first to a local healer and valuable time is lost when this happens. The case in the Neonatal Unit that was looked at was a two week old twin that suddenly developed a range of symptoms, swollen joints, peeling skin on fingers, a rash on his face and body and a huge swelling of the clavicle. Nobody had any idea what the problem was and it turned out to be an extremely rare condition – a syndrome known as SHOBA. Quite fortunately one of the radiographers from Chester had seen this before and was able to provide the diagnosis, and the baby is currently undergoing treatment.

 

On the way back from Chapel I call into the Finance Department to see if I can change some English pounds into shillings so that I can pay my debts to Sam and Haley for money I borrowed during our Safari break. I had thought there would be a currency exchange facility at Queen Elizabeth Park but I was wrong. The Finance Manager was in a meeting so I was asked to try again later. Back to Rose Cottage to get stuck into finishing the rest of my Data Entry task. I was really looking forward to that....not! At 11.20am I decide to have my own ‘Banana Break’. I have resisted the two last Snickers in the display cabinet since I arrived but decide it is now time to have one. Horror...they are no longer there but luckily in their place a large box of bars of Cadbury’s Milk chocolate has arrived. I purchase one and have it with my coffee. It made a nice change from bananas.

 

Before lunch I nip up to the IT Dept and send a few blogs and photos to Andy. I am still days behind but trying to catch up as best I can given the fact that you really don’t get a lot of spare time here. I am sure that there are some members of staff at the Countess who feel that the teams coming over here are coming on holiday. I can tell you having seen it firsthand that nothing could be further from the truth. They work really hard, often late into the night getting various reports written and preparing for meetings. Everybody does tend to do something on their weekend off (like five of our group going on Safari whilst the other two went off to see the Gorillas) but the weekend is free time and everybody pays for these trips themselves.

 

After lunch, at which there is a lot of discussion about various operations that have been taking place that morning, I pop into the Sewing Room in search of Joselyne who I am hoping will make my skirts and the girls’ dresses. I am told she is off today but a colleague phones her and she agrees to meet me in an hour. She measures me up and sketches out a pinafore style dress for Erin, Naomi and Heidi and I give her the measurements for these. She promises to do her best to get them ready for Friday. I call into the Finance Department but they are in another meeting.

 

I’ve arranged to go and have a look around the Rehabilitation Unit and Sarah is hoping to join me if her meeting finishes in time. I am waiting on a bench outside the unit for Royce to arrive when a red and yellow Little Tykes car drives past with a small girl sitting inside and a not much bigger boy is pushing her. They are clearly having fun. Royce arrives and shows me around the unit. In the room on the left they have Occupational Therapy for adults and children and on the right had side they have a gym and a physiotherapy treatment room. Royce suggests I have a go on the exercise bike and I oblige ... for all of about five minutes. There is a child OT session this afternoon and the little girl who was in the car earlier is being encouraged to colour in some pictures using crayons in her left hand as she has mild cerebral palsy with a stiffness down her left side. Another little girl who has cerebral palsy and is blind is in a wheelchair and one of the team is helping her to play with musical instruments to stimulate her others senses. There are 2 other children, not happy, one little boy is crying constantly, who are put into standing frames as part of their therapy. I meet Aston a five year old who was in a serious accident in April when he was run over by a Boda Boda (motor bike). He spent 5 months in hospital and has a huge scar on his skull where he clearly had major surgery. There was some brain/nerve damage and he has been learning to walk so all of the staff are delighted to see the progress he has made. He has been visited over the past 4 months by the Community team but this is the first time the hospital team have seen him since August. I also meet a man who is currently weaving a mat as part his programme to improve the use of his hands following an accident and another guy who is paralysed down one side and is learning to touch type. Royce shows me all the cards and beads that the patients make in the weekly craft classes they run and I buy a necklace and some matching earrings.

 

I have to be back for 4.30pm as “David’s orphans” are coming to visit. I call into the Finance Dept again but am told now I need to get permission from Father Patrick and he has gone home sick. I am to try again tomorrow. I’m sitting in the lounge when I suddenly see red and white check dresses at the door. They have arrived. There are five girls and one boy so I invite them in and they are all sitting around the dining table when David arrives. He suggests they may like a soda. Coke, Sprite are all referred to as sodas here. So I ask them which they would prefer and I buy two Sprites, three bitter lemons and a Fanta. David tells me later that for them this is the equivalent of us having champagne, and suggests that they perhaps get a soda maybe just two or three times a year and they would certainly not have the option of choosing, they would just get whatever flavour was available. They are all very shy and it is not easy to make conversation but they are from Kisiizi school so have seen me in assembly the previous day which helps a bit. I share out the rubber topped pencils, asking Rita to work out how many they will each have if there are 24 pencils and six of them. They each get four pencils and a sharpener and seem very pleased. We talk about school, their favourite subjects and what foods they like. I tell them that Philip makes us a lovely crumble and custard to have as a dessert some evenings. David tells me they won’t know what custard is and it is unlikely they would ever have tasted crumble as the houses where they live don’t have ovens, but cook instead on open fires. Again, this is such a simple thing that we take for granted. It is Haley’s Birthday tomorrow so I ask the girls sitting next to Rita whose name I have forgotten, to translate HAPPY BIRTHDAY into Rukinga, the local dialect here, so that we can include in on her card.

 

I wave them goodbye as they go back over to the school playground and decide to walk down to the Rounds Houses as there was some talk of a walk this evening to the waterfall. This is visible from the back of the Round Houses and is apparently quite an easy walk and is certainly something I should do whilst here. Myself, Tom, Haley and Beccy set off. Haley is somewhat anxious about the cows in the field that we have to walk through but Tom earns some ‘man point’ by distracting them and putting himself between the cows and Haley to shield her. It is a lovely short walk and the waterfall is beautiful, very powerful and quite therapeutic to just stand and watch it. Beccy gets some photos, (I have stupidly forgotten my camera) and we walk back to the Round Houses where I stay briefly before heading back to Rose Cottage to write up a bit more of my blog before dinner.