Awesome African Adventure. Day 10-April 18, 2025

Ride 4 a Woman

18 April
Good Friday today. Same start to the day.

Over for breakfast at 8 followed by a shorter shake off at 9.
We saw a few people carrying their crosses and singing down the street after breakfast.

We were then wrangled for our weaving experience. Each of us allocated one of the ladies.

I worked with Grace, Phil with Vaster, Suzie with Sylivia, Mary and Annitah. Aunty Sue needed to swap her original Mabel for left handed Sylivia. Mabel did some traditional plain reed weaving using a different tool.

We got to choose our raffia colours and all assisted in the making of a coaster.
Good fun and quite meditative. A few needle spikes amongst us and our weavers. No names, no pack-drill.

As we finished there was another church group walking past carrying their crosses- this congregation came into Ride 4 a Woman and the R4Wxcrew all came out from their work.

There was singing and dancing and rejoicing.

Today Eve has arranged for us to eat lunch down the road a bit at Luwonbo@Florida. We are eating goat cooked in banana leaves.

Ride 4 a Woman rented the building as it was a bar that created noise issues for guests. They have now allowed Annett (one of the ladies who used to sell chips on the main road) to run her chips here at night and the Luwombo (banana leaves cooking is traditional to central Uganda) during the day. This restaurant is well frequented by hospital staff who work just across the road.

The goat was tasty but tough. The vegetables were super amazing and the plantain too. The juice/soup that Mary’s chicken (a nod to Good Friday for our lapse Catholic) was in was delicious over the rice.
Another African experience done!

Gerald our guide yesterday told us the story of the hospital. Prior to it being built the nearest clinic/hospital was 26 miles away.

Eve arranged a tour for us of the hospital with Barnabas, the public relations guy. He has been at hospital since 2015 and in community since 2010.
The hospital began in 2000
as an open air clinic for the Batwa whose infant mortality rate was 42% when they moved out of the forest.

In 2003 it was relocated to the site here in Buhoma – The Buhoma Community Hospital (BCH)
An American doctor sold his practice and came to work in the hospital.
Some stats:

• Outpatients see 40k people per annum
• 155 beds
• 2 outposts for other communities
• Established a nurse training school in 2012, with an initial goal to become a university. (Lab assistants plus other training courses) this vision has become a reality in 2025.
• Ranked one of the best quality care hospitals in the country
• Triage to consultation is about 25 minutes.
• Reduces diseases burden
• Previously lost 25 mothers a year – last year – none.
• Malaria, VD, skin and communicable diseases have reduced massively.
• Started local health insurance – $5AUD a year. The people who pay the insurance experience better health outcomes as they come in early for treatment. Unfortunately those who cannot afford this try every other method and by the time they come to hospital are often very ill and complicated to treat.
• 20% of the proceeds from the Gorilla Tracking experience were given to the BCH last year to build the new building.
• Burial society groups have been established. The custom is that when a family member dies the family is expected to provide for all the people who come to grieve with them. This often required the family to sell land and whatever else to feed and house the mourners. With the Burial Society- the surrounding community assists with feeding etc to save families going into abject poverty- another initiative of BCH.
• Mental health clinic.
• Eye clinic operates from a shipping container and will soon move to new building for Eye and dental.
• District nurses support 101 villages/communities via motorbike focused on health education, monitoring pregnancies, birth control, vaccinations.
• The Map is about 7 years old. The hospital now services 85 schools and 16 health units.

There are 300k people in the catchment for 14 doctors, 10 are located here at BCH.

We met Elizabeth, a Batwa nurse whose work is focussed on vaccinations. She welcomed us and spoke about her work. Elizabeth can’t do the district nursing as she is too small to ride the motorbikes!

The Family kitchen is available to come and cook for sick family members as the hospital does not provide food. There is a Good Samaritan box to assist patients without family.

At Paediatrics – we met nurse Robert who explained:

• Paediatrics has a play area out the back.
• Child malnutrition has decreased from 27% to 0.1%, burns, skin infections have decreased, malaria was 21% now down to 6%
• Neo natal and general paed
• Malnutrition was high and now they have a nutrition unit. Many infants were not having enough nutrients and now they are using formula.

• The paed. General ward deals upper respiratory tract and gastro intestinal
• Neo natal have managed a 0. 6kg baby.
• One CPAP
• 6 incubators.
• Post covid there has been an increase in mothers with premature baby and babies with complications.

At this point Barnabas returned and handed us over to Elizabeth, the hospital Comms officer. She was so generous with her time and information and took us into all sections of the hospital- places we would never see at home.

• Daycare for staff with under 3yo. Today being Good Friday it’s empty
• Physiotherapist x1 has a small gym. She has to work by appointment.
• 1 orthopaedic surgeon.
• Medical ward with male and female ward.
• Standard ambulance vehicle was donated by the people of Japan. Very expensive trip.
• Private rooms are used for aggressive MH patients or for isolation.
• ICU. 3 rooms. 1 trained nurse.

• Africamed, a Swiss charity has assisted with Solar. They also have a hydro dam and then generators for back up.
• Post surgical ward. Male and Female.
• 6 nurses 3 physicians – general, gyno, orthopaedic.
• Pharmacy

• The hospital provides free care for tourists. In thanks for the money and support provided by tourism.
• Emergency ward. Thankfully 4 empty beds currently.
• Triage.
• Outpatients.
• Dental.
• We met a US volunteer- Victoria, wife of Chuck Yeagar – first man to break the sound barrier at level flight. She is doing two weeks volunteering- mainly teaching. She will go home and come back again.
• Radiology-old and digital. New digital equipment donated by Rotary International
• Residents from the Mayo clinic volunteering as doctors.
• Operating theatre. New lights were purchased through a Christmas appeal. New doors donated by volunteer students. We actually looked into the second operating room and saw a mum getting her epidural for her caesarean

• They run a Mothers waiting hospital, where pregnant mums can come and stay at the hospital in the last weeks. They have 40beds – the women bring their own sheets and food and firewood. 
• Youth friendly clinic runs here and out in the settlements, away from main triage so youth are not discouraged from coming and being recognised. 
• Family planning

• They deliver 80-100 babies per month.

• A Malaria vaccine has just begun, there have been lots of deaths of infants under 5. 
• Govt supports 7% of the work of this NFP hospital. 
• Antenatal services provide 8 visits, with set visits in the communities.
• HIV Clinic. Is no longer operating in a separate space. It’s now in general outpatient services with own triage by the staff from the closed HIV unit who have been retained.

Home to the house for a quick minute before Ivan drove us to Bwindi lodge (closed for construction) and Engagi Lodge. (Engagi means Gorilla) for our Sundowner (can’t call it that it was a raindowner). Tom the manager had to turn the lights on and get changed as they have no guests. We had our G&T and watched the mists in the forest as in Gorillas in the Mist. 

Back to R4W for tea. 

Just prior to Dinner Ivan phoned to come and do our Gorilla Trekking briefing. Our forest cousins. 

1. Discovered in volcanoes by German called Otto. 
2. Eastern Gorilla subspecies. Uganda has 50% of them. 1003 mountain gorillas in total 
3. 7 gorilla families. Every family has a silverback. 
4. 8 guests per family
5. Oldest families are here. 
6. 1993 gorilla trekking started  after habituation in 1991. 
7. What to bring. Rain jackets. Carry water. Walking sticks. Long socks – fire ants/safari ants. 
8. Post COVID. Facemasks. We share 94% of DNA with the gorillas. We only need to wear them when close. 
9. Maintain a 7 metre distance 
10. No flash in photography 
11. No eye contact except through the camera. 

Enjoyed another dinner with Eve and Dennis. They are treating us like family. Very special. 

Suzie and I have been sharing our main course- there is just too much food. 

Entree: pumpkin soup

Shared main: mixed vegie stir fry with coconut rice

Dessert: Queen Cake.

Home to the usual – download photos, shower, pack for Gorillas.

We were a bit later tonight so skipped the last episode of Missing you. Earlier start for gorillas tomorrow.