A dozen people from the Church of the Redeemer in Boston spent ten days in Soroti, Uganda in late June. Dorsey McConnell, the President of Pilgrim's Board, is Rector of Church of the Redeemer, led the mission team.
One of the projects accomplished by part of the team was a medical mission at a clinic in the town of Amuria. In 2009, Dr. Christian Sampson, a surgeon from Boston who specializes in hand and plastic surgery, spent about a week performing surgeries in this Amuria government clinic. The clinic is very basic, and has a staff which includes an anesthesiologist, but no skilled surgeons. This year, Dr. Sampson brought medical equipment and his surgical assistant. His visit was eagerly anticipated by prospective patients in area who could travel to the clinic. The Boston team, which included Dr. Sampson's daughters Phoebe and Emily, travelled north several hours, to Amuria each day. Each long trip was accompanied by several Pilgrim staff members from Beacon Medical Center in Soroti.
Day 1 was spent assessing patients for surgery. About 35 surgeries were performed in all, and the clinic staff in Amuria did the follow-up after Dr. Sampson left. As is clear from the photos, the setting for medical procedures is quite rudimentary, compared to US standards. On the 2009 medical trip, Dr. Sampson removed bullets from a man who had been injured several years before in the civil violence.
Thank you to Kristin Matchett, Dr. Sampson's assistant from Boston, and Phoebe and Emily Sampson, and all the team from Church of the Redeemer who participated in this trip. Watch for more blogs reporting on the projects accomplished during that week in Soroti.
We at Pilgrim are especially grateful to Dr. Sampson for his donation of time and expertise, but most of all for his generosity of heart. Many Amuria residents will remember the mzungu (Ugandan for "white person") doctor from Boston who spent days in their clinic giving his skill to make them healthier.
This is the first of several posts I (Helen, the Communications Director from the Seattle office) is posting from Soroti during a several week visit. The first stop of course was Beacon of Hope College, just a few minutes away from the hotel.
Director of Education Sam Ocen introduced me and several of the visiting team from Church of the Redeemer in Boston to the teachers of the science department. A science fair is being planned for this week (more on that in a later post). Then Sam showed me around the campus. We visited the just-completed rainwater harvest system, operational less than 3 weeks. The water level in the gauge, a clear plastic tube parallel to the side of a huge black tank, was too low to be seen. That meant the school had almost used up the water collected off the tin roofs of two sides of two long buildings. The city of Soroti had no water for 3 days, and this was day 3. The school survived on the water that had collected since May 31 in the two large (60,000 liters each) tanks. Over those 3 days they used about 40,000 liters total. The water came back on in Soroti, and the water was replenished during a thunderstorm on June 27. The harvesting system was finished just in time for a real life test, and it worked!
The CU-EWB team had to add gutters to the roof edges, ensuring that all were at angles for the water to collect into a main pipe that filled the tanks. They even had to hammer together their own ladders! The gutters emptied into piping that fills the storage tank; the water is filtered, and clean, free water is accessible at two spigots. The system even has an overflow system. With completion of this collection system, the school no longer has to rely exclusively on city water. The project was two years in the making. The team made assessments during the 2009 and 2010 visits, and swung into action in May 2011. The rainwater harvesting system saves the school significant operating costs, and provides solutions for other water-related problems. Water to the school goes out several times a week, which means the students must walk 5-6 k to get well water, or the school's administration must buy water in town. This takes a lot of time away from studies, and exposes the female students to potential danger. Women, especially young ones, simply are not safe to walk around town after school hours.
Read the CU-EWB team's great blog here. Thanks to Harrison, David, Allison, and all those other CE EWB folks who took part in this. More thanks to Julius, the determined, strong and ever-inventive handyman at Beacon of Hope School! Also thanks for great photos I stole off your blog!
Students report for the first class at 7:30 in the morning dressed smartly in their uniforms. The older Seniors 5’s and6’s are dressed in blue shirts and black shirts/trousers, and the lower classes have white shirts and green skirts/trousers
If we were in the courtyard between buildings, we could hear the voices of lecturing teachers. Mr. Omiat is talking about the Great Lakes region in the US or Lake Victoria in Geography. Mr. Orena is explaining how to find the area of a sphere. Both of these teachers are good at getting the students to relax, laugh and have fun while they are learning. . A hand bell rings to indicate the end of this class period.
Mid-morning there is a 30 minute tea break between classes. Teachers gather in the staff room to enjoy tea. Students spread out over the compound…some hitting the books and others catching a few minutes of a soccer game.
Again the handbell rings and students and teachers head back to class. Some teachers have free time, and visit on the benches on the bench on the administrative building veranda or take a couple of chairs and sit under the tree while correcting assignments and overseeing the school compound. A boda boda {Ugandan all-purpose taxi] goes through the compound delivering tomatoes and onions or the meat for lunch. A visitor signs in with security at the gate and reports to the Head Teacher’s office. A parent is waiting on the veranda to see their child.
The next handbell means lunch time. While some students head for the kitchen to get lunch, others participate in 15 minutes of singing praise and a time of prayer which fills the compound with the reminder that it is a Christian school. Later in the afternoon, the Scripture Union leadership meet for a time of prayer in the Chaplain’s office. They may be meeting behind closed doors, but their fervent cry to the Lord overflows into the administrative block and beyond.
The road running in front of the school compound is always busy during the day with trucks, taxis, bodas and pedestrians. The squealing of a baby pig echoes off the neighboring house. The gobbling of the family of turkeys that has taken up their abode in the compound continues behind the administrative building. Native birds sing. A baby cries and children play. The sound system of a neighboring vendor is turned on at its highest volume.
The last bell of the afternoon is at 5:00. Students pour out of their classrooms and toward the hostels. After changing into casual uniforms – Tshirts and black pants or skirts, some begin a volleyball game at one end of the compound.Maybe a soccer game begins on the other end of the compound. After supper, students gather in their classrooms for study and discussion until it is time to close their books for the day and return to their hostels. Before students crawl into their beds and without a complaint from neighbors, a time of corporate praise and prayer rises heavenward from each hostel. Another day has drawn to a close, another day in which these students can grow, recover from past difficulties, and anticipate a future much brighter than their pasts.
Dear friends, The school is alive again as students are reporting for Term ll at Soroti Municipal Secondary School (aka Beacon of Hope College.) Most of the students reported this week. The recruiting process for incoming sponsored Senior 1's (7th grade) was completed over the school break and 26 of the 40 have reported. The remaining 14 have a few more days to report before those on the waiting list will be called to fill their places. The criterion for accepting sponsorship is based on poverty/need of family, orphan status (single or double orphan) and their scores on the Primary 7 national exams. Primary 7 is the last grade of primary school before entering secondary. Student application forms were collected in specific areas of this Teso region and from these applications students were selected t fill a specific number of positions assigned to each specific area. All students, even those sponsored by the school, are required to bring certain things. Students come with a metal box that locks with a padlock, mattress (foam), basin (for washing clothes and bathing), jerican (jug to carry water), plate and cup and maybe a spoon. When they report, their box is checked by the matron or warden, and all their street clothes are given back to the parents to take home as only school uniforms are allowed at school. Some of these new students come from far in the bush and are overwhelmed with the city. One girl traveled alone with her belongings from quite a distance away. She didn't know Soroti but found another student to help her walk downtown for the necessary school requirements. What a brave girl! I had a father and his daughter come to my office to pay for the uniform. As he saw me, he quickly motioned for his daughter to join him. He asked his daughter to translate our conversation and we struggled to understand each other. I don't know anything about this family but was touched when the father opened a plastic bag and counted out 110 coins (each worth about 25 cents) to pay for his daughter's uniform needs. I imagine how proud he was both to have his daughter qualify for sponsorship and in his ability to pay the additional requirements for admittance. I have been getting to know students as I help them through the registration process. I have been told that for some of these students, I am the first white person they have interacted with so it takes time for them to be comfortable with me and understand my American English. I find a smile is the same in any language!
There have been many happenings at school since my last update. Let me share a few.
The soccer team went to the quarter finals in the Soroti area soccer competi¬tion. It was an eight day competition with our boys playing daily at the soccer fields which are just down the road. Meanwhile, at school, students are dis¬tracted awaiting game time to cheer our team on to victory. It's basically a lost week to academics in all the schools in the area. The school is proud of our team!
Last Sunday held a second Prayer and Fasting Day of this term with the theme "Enemies of the Cross". The teachings were wonderful and worship was full of passion. Can you picture 90 students in one classroom singing with everything within them?? My ears are still ringing!
On the other side...life on the ground...after a wind and rain storm, the pit la¬trine (outhouse) at school collapsed. Not good...quick action opened an old latrine that had been sealed. Relief. (No pun intended...)
For 8 days there was low voltage or no electricity so we depended on the generator for stable electricity for the photocopier and computer.
A fact of life at a private school is school fees. Most of the students are spon¬sored by donors but we do have a few private students. This far into the term, fees of private students should be paid in full. Another fact of life here is all students are required to have uniforms and compound wear. Again, this far into the term, all students should have purchased their uniforms. Last week, many students were not compliant and were sent home to get money for school fees and uniforms. Needless to say, the office became busy with parents paying fees.
Meanwhile, the white rats (purchased for national exam practicals last October) in the lab are reproducing, breakfast, lunch and supper are being pre¬pared, daily, a few students are treated for malaria, daily lunch hour worship continues encouraging students, chalk is being used up as lessons are taught, and teachers are preparing final exams. Life at school continues.
Aaron Ruud farms 30 acres at the Dakabela Farm, close to Soroti, Uganda. He raises crops for Beacon of Hope College, which as you can imagine has a large food budget for 500 people onsite. Watch a video of Aaron
"This has been a frustrating week. It started out poorly, got worse but finished well. Last Saturday, I was on my way back to town with a load of sweet potatoes for the school when I heard a load bang. I first thought it was a flat tire, but after seeing the trail of water I looked under the hood and found that the upper radiator hose had burst. Not just a short crack but actually split from end to end. On closer inspection, I saw the alternator belt broke too. The only thing I can figure out is, when the belt broke, the end came around and struck the hose which was weakened from age. I was fairly close to town so it didn't take too long to get another belt and a hose that wasn't an exact fit but was close enough to work. But then I saw that when the hose broke it also broke the short tube on the radiator the hose connects to. Here is where things start to get worse.
With the help of Julius, the engine room operator at the school, I got the hose on well enough to get the pickup to school. We got some 3-ton epoxy and reattached the tube to the radiator, waited a day for it to harden and drove home. Apparently, the hose exerts more than 3 tons of pressure because by the time I got home the tube was broken again. Now, the only option was a new top for the radiator. This is not easy to find because the pickup, a Mazda, is not a common vehicle in Uganda. There was nothing at all in Soroti. We tried for several days to locate something in Kampala, the capital, but the most common suggestion was, "go to Kenya."
(In the US, with the help of a phone book and the internet, it is easy to find almost anything. Here, there are no phone books and most businesses do not have websites. So, the solution usually is to take the broken part to Kampala and ask around until you run across someone who knows someone who might know where to find what you need.
If you know exactly what you want and know where to go it is also possible to buy it and have them put it on the bus. Usually this takes about 12-24 hours for delivery. There are two problems with this, first, I wouldn't want to ship anything obviously valuable and, second, someone still has to physically go to the store to pay cash for the item.)
Finally, we tracked down someone who would fabricate the part from scratch. In the US, having someone build a part like this would be pretty expensive but here even skilled labor is pretty cheap, so this turned out to be the best option. I questioned him carefully and he assured me he would do the whole job for 50,000USh (about $25) and that it would be done the next day. So, I gave him the radiator.
So far so good, but in typical Ugandan fashion, he called the next day to tell us he wouldn't be able to come until the following morning. When he did come, about 1:00pm, he had the repaired radiator, but, in typical Ugandan fashion, the price had changed. Instead of 50,000, it was now 60,000, plus 20,000 for cleaning the radiator, plus10,000 for 2 small bolts, plus 10,000 for his transportation.
Still, the week ended well. I got the pickup back. It took 6 days to find a part and 2 hours to install it, but I'm happy to be driving again instead of walking. This has been a frustrating week. It started out poorly, got worse but finished well. Last Saturday, I was on my way back to town with a load of sweet potatoes for the school when I heard a load bang. I first thought it was a flat tire, but after seeing the trail of water I looked under the hood and found that the upper radiator hose had burst. Not just a short crack but actually split from end to end. On closer inspection, I saw the alternator belt broke too. The only thing I can figure out is, when the belt broke, the end came around and struck the hose which was weakened from age. I was fairly close to town so it didn't take too long to get another belt and a hose that wasn't an exact fit but was close enough to work. But then I saw that when the hose broke it also broke the short tube on the radiator the hose connects to. Here is where things start to get worse.
With the help of Julius, the engine room operator at the school, I got the hose on well enough to get the pickup to school. We got some 3-ton epoxy and reattached the tube to the radiator, waited a day for it to harden and drove home. Apparently, the hose exerts more than 3 tons of pressure because by the time I got home the tube was broken again. Now, the only option was a new top for the radiator. This is not easy to find because the pickup, a Mazda, is not a common vehicle in Uganda. There was nothing at all in Soroti. We tried for several days to locate something in Kampala, the capital, but the most common suggestion was, "go to Kenya."
(In the US, with the help of a phone book and the internet, it is easy to find almost anything. Here, there are no phone books and most businesses do not have websites. So, the solution usually is to take the broken part to Kampala and ask around until you run across someone who knows someone who might know where to find what you need.
If you know exactly what you want and know where to go it is also possible to buy it and have them put it on the bus. Usually this takes about 12-24 hours for delivery. There are two problems with this, first, I wouldn't want to ship anything obviously valuable and, second, someone still has to physically go to the store to pay cash for the item.)
Finally, we tracked down someone who would fabricate the part from scratch. In the US, having someone build a part like this would be pretty expensive but here even skilled labor is pretty cheap, so this turned out to be the best option. I questioned him carefully and he assured me he would do the whole job for 50,000USh (about $25) and that it would be done the next day. So, I gave him the radiator.
So far so good, but in typical Ugandan fashion, he called the next day to tell us he wouldn't be able to come until the following morning. When he did come, about 1:00pm, he had the repaired radiator, but, in typical Ugandan fashion, the price had changed. Instead of 50,000, it was now 60,000, plus 20,000 for cleaning the radiator, plus10,000 for 2 small bolts, plus 10,000 for his transportation.
Still, the week ended well. I got the pickup back. It took 6 days to find a part and 2 hours to install it, but I'm happy to be driving again instead of walking.
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