Bwindi Day 5

Providing electricity for the school involves bringing it from the hospital via two additional poles and a drop.  The local hydroelectric power company is getting us a cost for that.  However, that's only the beginning of the story.  The power generation is excellent in the wet season, and sometimes has enough surplus to last the dry season as well.  When it doesn't, power cycling begins among all of the customers on a rotating basis.  This means that the school will need a generator for those times, such as the hospital has.  Happily there is a generator supplier in Kampala, in fact two. We also will need a converter.  We priced the generator, but have not yet priced delivery, which will be significant.

We also priced 3-1000 liter holding tanks for rain water.  We now need to understand how to outfit a commercial kitchen and handle furniture procurement for the dorms, staff accommodations, classrooms, and offices.  We thought we had done well to outfit the lab!  Jane has done a remarkable job of getting the information gathered, but there is so much more to do that we're a bit overwhelmed.

It turns out that she needs to go to Kampala next week to see the attorney at Uganda Christian University (UCU) to finalize the Memorandum of Understanding that must be signed with UCU in order for Uganda Nursing School, Bwindi to provide a diploma.  We've discussed my traveling with her because we can see the commercial kitchen at UCU and perhaps see, measure and get estimates for  furniture if there's a vendor there.  So then she tells me that she's getting married next weekend as well, AND I'm invited to the wedding that will be held at her village--she'll be traveling there from Kampala.  The logistics and arrangements are daunting.  I asked her how she normally traveled to Kampala, and she takes the bus--12 hours, then stays the night and takes a taxi to do her errands, and comes back the third day.  Alternatively, she takes a night bus, sleeps a little on the bus, does her errands during the day, and comes back the next night.  Neither of those would be appropriate for me, for many, many reasons, so we are investigating a hired car, or renting the hospital vehicle.  Happily, there is almost a week to plan.

Today's story is about the oats.  As I've told you, there are Danes staying here, medical students, who've been here seven weeks.  Evidently, they were served oatmeal (the oats) when they first arrived pretty regularly, and they even asked for them as opposed to the unrelenting eggs, toast, and occasional sausage.  The oats consequently ran out three weeks ago, and there were none to be found in the village here or Kihihi.  Yesterday, a Scots couple, both of them physicians volunteering for a year at Bwindi Community Hospital and returning from Kampala, brought three containers with them to much celebration.  Oatmeal was served this morning to great acclaim--I had eggs, toast and sausage.  I like oats, but I hadn't the heart to take away from the stash.  The Danes are here for another six weeks.

Emile and Anna

Meet Robert, the Head Nurse for Nursing and Midwifery at Bwindi Community Hospital.  He will be one of the adjunct faculty at the nursing school as well and is struggling to implement the nursing process and nursing care planning at the hospital.  I told him that the school would take care of that, and that he could assume that our graduates would be doing care planning every day for every patient.  

Robert, Head Nurse, Bwindi Community Hospital

By the way, if you'd like to know more about the hospital, see their website.  http://www.bwindihospital.com/