One challenge at a time

 Another early start... today we were back at the nursing school training year 2 nurses and midwives. Just after breakfast and before we setoff, we filled up a bag of plastic bottles which had been left strewn around the field from the party yesterday. We had been meaning to clean uo earlier but hadnt had the time and we thought we would make a start. Bag filled and left behind our accommodation... job started!  We got to the nursing school promptly at the start time of 0900 and waited for the students to arrive at their start time of 0900 Ugandan time which turned out to be 0940. Claire had discovered yesterday that Ugandan neonatal teaching was a bit different from ours as they started with 49 ventipation breaths rather than our 5 inflation breaths, which explained why some of the girls had difficulty in grasping what we did. So Claire asked who would be the teacher for this and asked if he could come and speak to me about our way of doing it which is in accordance with the ...

 Today was the first day of our proper teaching. It meant an early start but I had slept well and my headache had gonr which was just as well! It was going to be a very busy day!  We were not in the nursing school today as we were teaching the hospital staff. This didn't just mean nurses and doctors but included cleaners and lab technicians, the ambulance drivers and janitors. We collected the equipment.. dolls, stethoscopes, bag and masks, sheets and suction penguins and headed back over to the hospital. We only were given one area to teach in and we needed 2 separate areas, so myself and Claire set up tables and benches outside under some trees for shade and waited for our group of students to arrive. At some point today a local lady was coming to talk to both groups about menstrual hygeine but we weren't sure when she was going to arrive. So we started.!  Teaching resuscitation here is slightly different as they do not have equipment for advanced resus so it was basic ...

We got woken up really early by a sound system blaring music right outside our accomodation. Yesterday lots of people had been busy erecting marquees and putting out plastic seating. It was clear that it was a big deal. We had been asked to meet at the new church at 0900 for the unveiling of the plaque by the archbishop of Uganda.... but just like a couple of weeks ago.. 0900 Uganda time is not the same as 0900 UK time. Gathered near the church were lots of clergy dressed in white with different coloured scarves but no sign of an archbishop... more waiting... more walking up and down between the church and the statue, ready to be unveiled. Apparently the archbishop had a last minute engagement and so two bishops were coming instead... the presudent of Uganda also had another engagement so his vice president was on her way. There were soldiers and police milling about ready for her arrival and we all waited. Whilst we were waiting a procession of children went past the front gate singin...