WEDNESDAY 23rd April 2014

Had a bit of a problem with gmail accessing my account over the last  couple of days so had to wait for Rodgers to return from his Easter break in Kampala     ...and then when we looked it had righted itself and let me in!. The mysteries if The Internet!
In order, on Ssturday I accompanied missionary Janine  as she took  a Trainer and 4 trainee Prayer Leaders out to 2  villages out in Kiryandongo - quite a long way on bad murrum roads. I went more to support her than anything - she has been down with a fever and a terrible cough. She was running out of time to prepare for  the group of American volunteer doctors mobile clinics to be held in  the villages of Mirya kawala and Bweyale. The need for medical help is great out here - there is a nearby hospital but it is understaffed and underresourced.  Janine went  to  discuss with local church leaders how to control the crowds: people start queuing for medical treatment the night before and in the past fights have broken out. With experience she now gives the   local vicar and his team a big ball of twine and explains how to cordon off a single line in which to queue. She explains that no-one is to be given preferential treatment - first come first served and people must be warned that the doctors will only  treat/ advise on ONE  problem! She had to be  very precise with the people at the first village, Mirya Kwale because it will be the first time those people have hosted such a clinic. Meanwhile the Trainer and the Prayer Team met with local volunteers and discussed how to pray with the clients. Janine and I walked around the  nearby school and she designated this classroom for Triage and the next for wounds whilst that one is for medical problems and further on is Family Planning etc.  Finally there will be a Prayer Tent and ultimately  a room for Pharmacy where patients can collect medicine. We had a big discussion about whether drugs would be available for elephantiasis ( 0ne of the choir members asked). There will be no facility for surgery and complicated cases will be referred to a competent hospital. The doctors are on a learning curve about Tropical Diseases.
About 2 pm we were invited to the vicars home for a meal of rice and posho ,chicken and beef. Both Janine and I slipped the reverend  a sh. 20.000 note(£20) to cover his generosity. Remember the usual diet is posho /matooke and beans!A chicken sitting on her eggs in a far corner of the vicars sitting room kept a baleful eye on us and a cute but skinny kitten begged for scraps!
Then on to Bweyale where they have hosted a clinic before and they brought us a bottle of water and a  small packet of biscuits each for all 7 of us. So kind and generous. Janine was fading a bit  by then so we began to leave but not before she asked for a list of local leaders who would  be able to calm and  reassure the crowd that will undoubtedly  grow. Uneducated people can rapidly turn into a mob.
A bumpy and hot drive back to Masindi dropped me at the hotel around 7:20pm for me to find Sallie all dressed up and waiting with Ruth to go out to Dinner at The Masindi Hotel. I dashed into a cold shower and threw on the cool Kaftan I had bought in St. Kitts and Robert drove us to the  beautiful and spacious M.Hotel. It was pretty much deserted BUT the service was atrocious,  4 or  5 noisy Indian children ran about and swung dangerously on a hammock and my white wine was warm despite having checked with the waiter. After a long time we demanded a menu and ordered only to find there was only one portion of Tandoori chicken which both Ruth and Sallie would have liked ! At 10pm  we asked what had  happened to our food and at 10:20 stood up to leave whereupon the waiter came running with my chicken stir fry. Sallie's tandoori fish came without its naan and Ruth's tandoori chicken was a burnt chicken leg the size of my finger. Roberts Tilapia fillets  cowered beside a mound of mashed potatoes covering  three quarters of a white plate. No veg or colour!I don't know why we didn't send it back but we just ate it , dropped Sallie at her house and got back to the hotel and in bed by midnight!!!!