1 week 6 days till home time!

This time, in 1 week and 6 days I will be near approaching Kigali to start my long long journey home. This time in 2 weeks, I will (hopefully) be back at home with my Papa preparing for the mother of all BBQ's. It is strange to think that England has actually moved on time wise, I still imagine it to be cold February (apparently it will be a cold July instead!) In some ways, I can not believe that is has been 6 months, but in other ways it has seemed like 6 years. I will certainly miss my babies very much, especially ones like Grunt and Squeak.

Last weekend I was honoured to be the only adult officially invited to Hannah's 11^th (very early) birthday party. Jenny and I set a treasure hunt that we thought would keep them busy for at least an hour, but actually they completed it in 10 mins! The girls didn't mind though as they happily started a game with Hannah's dolls. Her birthday is actually in September but she will be away at her first term of her new boarding school, so Jenny decided to have a joint birthday party and farewell Hannah party. Malcolm and Irene (a British couple who work for the diocese) and their son and daughter in-law, David and Sarah (who are the new volunteers at Potter's) came for tea and birthday cake in the afternoon.

There has been a bit of bad news here at Potter's when Milo and Otis the puppies both caught tick fever. Otis, was in the early stages and wasn't too ill and is a lot better now, but Milo was really sick and died. It was very sad to see my puppy suffering and the Ugandan workers did not understand why we were crying over a dog (dogs are treated very badly by the locals and often stoned to death.) Otis is doing well though, If there is such thing as puppy ADHD, Otis has it and runs around the compound all day!

We are currently waiting on the results of HIV tests for 3 of our babies. Baby L, A and J are all not putting on weight and becoming increasing weaker. Hopefully the results will be available soon.

Last week we held the pre-test for some applicants who want to work at Potter's Village and yesterday we had the interviews. Unfortunately, I don't think there were very many who shone brightly. I am not an expert at interviews, but some of the questions (and answers) really surprised me! “Do your family agree for you to work here?” “Where will your children go when you are working?” Candidates were also marked down if their skirt or dress was not longer than knee length, and if their shirts were slightly too low!

Next Friday I will be visiting the child that my family sponsor through Compassion. His name is Gilbert and lives just a few minute drive from Potter's Village. Mum has posted me a school bag full of goodies for him, and I have bought a traditional basket (that they carry on their heads) and filled it with things like sugar, salt, rice, groundnut, beans and soap. On Thursday, I will be going to the dreaded market to buy a chicken or 2 for his family! I was going to buy a goat, but the price of everything is going up so dramatically here, I cant even afford one. I am really excited!

Sarah and I did try to walk whilst balancing a basket on our heads, but I think we have different shaped heads to them because I could only manage 7 steps without hands! They later challenged us to balancing a basket whilst carrying a baby – impossible!

For the first time in a long time we do not have an sick babies!! Squeak is recovering from an unknown illness but doing a lot better. We did have a mumps scare last week but we have seen no more children with the symptoms.

Nearly lunch time – beans and cabbage oh how I will miss you...

The baby-basket challenge

Baby F

Hannah and her cake

Squeakie

Little baby no-name 2!

Jenny has returned from a successful fundraising trip in the UK and it is such a relieve to know that she is around if anything goes wrong!
Today (whilst i was battling with the bed sheets on the shelf bed) 2 men arrived with a little girl wanting us to admit her. She is 2 days old and weighs 2.5kg. Her mother died during child birth along with the little girl's twin. The father and mother had been trying to have a baby for 8 years and were so happy to find out they were having twins, but now the father has lost his wive and his baby.They had all the correct paperwork, but the problem this time was the overcrowding at Potter's. With the 2 new babies last week, the baby room was at its full capacity. Ezra told the uncles there was nothing we could do for them, but Jenny and I knew that if this baby is turned away she will certainly die. Some strings have been pulled and 2 of our older abandoned babies who have no family connection to Kisoro will be moved to a wonderful new babies home. The uncles were so happy to hear that their baby would not be transferred to Kampala and that we were able to take her. I have offered to look after her until the overcrowding problem has been solved - so she is now sleeping on Ruth's old bed (sorry Ruth!) and having 3 hourly feeds. A sleepless night is ahead of me, but i don't care because she is soo cute! The father was busy burying his wife and daughter today and couldn't bring his surviving twin himself, so she currently is little baby no-name 2 (aka Squidge)
On Friday the 2 new volunteers arrived. Sarah and David are staying at Potter's Village for 3 months. It is so nice to have some more white faces around as being the odd one out can get a little tiresome. They are great and really good with the children (even the toddlers who usually take weeks to adjust to new white faces!)
I actually have not a clue what the weather is playing at here! It is meant to be the dry season, but yesterday we had torrential rain and hail stones for nearly 3 hours!
The 2 new babies, Baby M and Baby D have settled into Potter's life really quickly. They have both put on at least 300g in one week, soon their 2 week isolation will be up and they will be able to join the other babies.
38 days till home time!

'Dry' Season!

Squidge

Shopping, Sun and Babies

Another interesting week in Kisoro! At the beginning of the week Ruth and I were both really sick, whether it was a illness from the babies or food poisoning we did not know, but we felt pretty rotten. After recovering for a few days, we then proceeded to start tidying and Ruth, packing. On the Tuesday morning after a short staff meeting we set off for the Rwandan border where the taxi driver was waiting for us. As a person who is pretty rubbish with goodbyes, I was kind of dreading this one! Ruth is now back in the UK and settling back into the English way of life (strawberries and tennis!) It would be ungrateful of me to say that I am slightly jealous, but the past 4 months have been the most mentally exhausting of my life so I am really looking forward to giving Ma and Pa a hug!

I have been trying to keep busy this week, and have re-tided the store room/new medical center room! I am not sure how it go so messy in just a few months, but getting through the door was a job in its self. Ezra and I have also been preparing for the new volunteers who are arriving next Thursday. He took me shopping (actually, I took him shopping, as I know more shops than he does and he has lived here for a bazillion years!) and I was allowed to choose the colour of all kitchen equipment and buckets. I read that sentence back and I realise how boring I have become, but any shopping is shopping.

On Friday afternoon, I left to pick up Hannah and Jojo from school. When we arrived back at their house I had a panicky phone call from Ezra. Apparently 2 new babies had turned up without any notice at all and needed to be admitted. So I ran down the hill, ignoring all the “Mzungooo how areee youuu” to find two little boys and no nurse. I bought them into the nurses office and did the immediate examination. Baby D is aprox. 6 weeks old and was found abandoned at the hospital in Kabale. His temperature, weight, respiration and hydration was fine so I was happy that he was healthy. Baby M is 11 days old and his mother died after the nurses at the hospital forgot to look after her. His temperature was slightly raised, his respiration was fast and he was coughing. I listened to his chest and realised he had a chest infection, probably just due to negligence. They are both in the initial 2 week isolation stage and doing doing really well.

Toddler J leaves Potter's tomorrow to go back home with his dad. Next week Toddler A will be leaving and the week after Toddler J will leave too! It is bitter sweet to see them leave because you know being with their families is the best thing for them but when you have grown attached... it proves more difficult to say goodbye!

I am slightly gutted to hear the weather in England is back to normal, seems like I have missed the summer! It has 46 days to sort its self out and get hot again for when I am home!

Baby D

Gad and I

With Jenny back in the UK fundraising for Potter's Village, and Ezra in Mbarara with Grunt and Jackson, Ruth and I have been left in charge of the whole of Potter's Village. Of course the children know when the bosses have gone and decided to all get sick at the same time! We know have 3 isolation rooms, 1 for pneumonia, 1 for vomiting and diarrhea and 1 for fragile babies who must not be exposed to any illnesses.
We have a new arrival who was supported by PV in the community but had not been cared for properly. Baby K is 4 months old and weighs only 3.5kg (8lbs). Her mother became mentally ill after giving birth to her and threatens to kill Baby K whenever she sees her. The grandmother had been caring for her, but did not understand how to bottle feed. She was so starved that her hair is a shade of red. For the first 24 hours after being admitted to Potter's, Baby K screamed and screamed. Even feeding her didn’t calm her down because as soon as she had finished she panicked that she would not receive another one for a long time. The next morning we went to see her in isolation and we were so shocked at what we found. She has become the happiest baby ever! (Although slightly creepy looking with her huge eyes!)

Baby K

Grunt and Big J have been on a trip to Mbarara to visit the specialist about their cerebral palsy. J will be returning in a months time for a weeks intensive physiotherapy. Grunt has had some very good news, his hydrocephalus has improved and he is now out of the danger zone. He is still fitting, but not as often and as soon as you talk to him or touch him he laughs and laughs. Last week we took 5 children (2 from PV, 2 who used to live at PV and 1 from a village near by) to brand new children’s home. We drove for 9 hours on roads without tarmac with 5 vomiting children to SOS children’s home. The home can look after up to 120 children between the ages of 0 and 18. Each child lives in a house that has 10 children, 1 'mumma' and 1 auntie. The houses are amazingly equipped with washing machines, fridges and cookers. The mumma lives at the project for 6 1/2 days a week, and is allowed to decorate her house as she pleases so it is just like a real family! It was so sad to say goodbye to P as he had grown very attached to me and me to him, but the place was amazing so I know it is where he will have the best chance at life.


P and Ellie

Baby D is the smallest baby here at the moment, when he was in the incubator he weighed 1.7kg but lost 200g whilst in the hospital. He is now growing well but gets cold very quickly. With the outbreak of vomiting and diarrhea we have isolated him in the hope he does not catch any illness that could risk his life.

Baby D

Ruth is going home on Tuesday, which will be very sad to say goodbye as she has been the person that has kept me (kind of) sane here in Kisoro. But when Jenny returns after her 3 week fundraising trip in the UK, 2 more volunteers will arrive so hopefully they will be nice!

Puppies ate my pants.

Last Saturday we sent hours and hours washing all our clothes because we knew that we would need enough clothes to last us all week. It is very offensive to hang out any socks or knickers where people can see them, so we have a little washing line that hangs just below our fence. On Saturday we also found out that the puppies have learnt to jump. A low washing line + jumping puppies = 2 pairs of eaten knickers. Wonderful.

Our trip to Kigali was.. Interesting! As we were crossing the border into Rwanda we had a number of marriage proposals from the border officials. Unfortunately, I was left alone to sort out the car insurance and the border official decided that we were definitely going to get married. Thankfully, Jenny, Ruth and Hannah arrived just at the right time just as he was telling me to “get in the hut” with him. Whilst we were in the city, we went to the supermarket 6 times in 2 days. Mainly because it was so amazing to walk down aisles and see exotic things like hair conditioner, couscous and brown bread. Whilst we were not in the supermarket, we were sitting the the coffee shop next to the supermarket, reading Ugandan newspapers (I searched and searched for Glamour and Vogue magazine, but no luck..)

On Thursday we traveled to Lake Binyonyi near Kabale for another 2 day holiday. We arrived at the lake and caught a boat out to an Island where we were shown to our cottage. The cottage didn't have running water or electricity, but compared to our mouldy little house back at Potter's Village it was luxury! Even the long drop had a seat... amazing! I was even more excited about swimming in the lake than Jojo – and that is saying something!

The weekend was spent packing up all out belongings in preparation for moving down the the house parents house. Our house was so mouldy even the concrete floor had mould growing out of it! We are now all moved in to the new house and Ruth and I don't really know what to do with ourselves! We have an indoor kitchen and toilet, tiled floors, and a wardrobe! We have just finished decorating our walls with photos and cards. Half of the wall in the living room is covered with letters from the Sunday School children back at home (Thanks Lynn!)

Today, Jenny phoned us in the morning to say that a premature baby was ready to come out of the hospital and that we needed to go and fetch him. Baby D's mum died from typhoid, and baby D weighed only 1.7kg when he was born 2 weeks ago. He hadn't put on any weight and on the journey home I realized that he was very cold. We arrived at Potters Village, when his temperature was 33.3 degrees. We fed him and tried piling on blankets, but he still didn't seem to get any warmer. So for the rest of the afternoon I had a hypothermic, hypoglycemic, 3lb baby down my top with 10 other blankets wrapped round us! I was absolutely boiling with all the wrapped round me and a little body strapped to my chest, but it is what the little boy needed and his temperature soon started to rise. He is now up at Jenny's but hopefully she will bring him down again tomorrow so that I can look after him!

Baby N'S

Toddler J

Easter in Uganda

The past few weeks have been slightly boring and uneventful here in Kisoro. Life is slowly moving on after the death of little Moses. I am making plans to create a notice board for photos of every child who Potter's Village have supported, saved or lost.

With no commercial build up to Easter it felt very odd indeed. Ruth and I were invited to breakfast at a German couple's house before church. The breakfast was an absolute feast! Sweet bread freshly baked that morning, cheese, chocolate spread, jams, eggs. A real treat compared to the norm of dry bread and a banana. The church service was a slight mess compared to the rehearsed and smooth church services in England. For starters, none of the church leaders had a clue what any one else was doing, the preacher decided to talk for an hour and the music... Well... Lets just say that the music is interesting. The keyboard guy runs his fingers down all the notes half way through a quiet hymn because he only knows about 4 notes on the piano. (he also thinks that leather trousers and waistcoat is a good look, but I wont go into the Ugandan's idea of style..) When I found out that the family back in England were going to be eating roast lamb, I was not the slightest bit jealous because Jenny had cooked my favorite food in the whole wide world – Lasagne! Along with an apple and tree tomato pie and then for the second pudding (yes, 2 puddings!) a huge chocolate cake.  An interesting alternative to the Easter I am used to, but the lasagne made it worth it.

 On Sunday, Jenny was  made a Cannon. She organised a big party back at Potters Village to celebrate and invited 150 people. There was enough beans and cabbage to feed everyone! It was a really nice day and we totally enjoyed dressing up (very casual compared to dressing up in England!)

Little baby D (aka Little Baby No-Name!) has moved down to Potter's this week as he is growing quickly and doing really well. This means that Jenny has got no little babies up at her house for the first time since the beginning of this year.

Another new baby has arrived at Potter's. Baby A was 9 months old and was in foster care in the community, but after a recent health check we realized that he weighed only 6kg! We admitted him to Potter's for 3 months until he puts of lots of weight. Even after just 1 week with food and warmth he has learnt to sit up! He is such a sweet little boy, and wouldn't mind bringing him home with me!

Grunt and Squeak are becoming happy little boys. They are both in the same cot and they can just gaze at each other and smile for hours. Grunts fits have not become any less frequent and after a visit to an American paediatrician from Rwanda we have been told his future doesn't look very bright. Unfortunately, people here do not understand brain damage and disabilities. They are often made outcasts because people are scared and don't understand why they are like it. Witchcraft and black magic are so close to the surface here that people also usually think that those with disabilities are cursed.

In fact, there has been a little bit of drama with the twins family. Some of the baby carers had noticed that after their family come to visit, Grunt and Squeak become very agitated and have sleepless nights. The baby carers expressed their concern about how they think that the family might be giving the babies herbal medicines during their visits (the herbal medicines are often linked with witchcraft) so it was decided that their visits would be strictly supervised. The grandmother denied ever giving them anything, but one of the sisters (who probably is only 10 years old) was spotted throwing a little packet of herbs into the disposable nappy pit. It is really worrying that the boys might have a family involved in witchcraft...

Ruth and I are preparing for a little holiday for a few days. We were meant to be going with Jenny and Hannah to Kenya so that Hannah can have her entrance exam to an amazing boarding school but with the rioting in Kampala and Mbale, Jenny decided it would be safer to fly from Kigale direct to Nairobi than drive through all the danger zones. Unfortunately, Ruth and I cannot afford the flight but we are traveling to Kigale with Jenny and Hannah and are going to stay in a hotel for a few nights and then travel home with them when they return from Kenya. Just a few days luxury is needed!

The fact that we are renewing our 3 month visa this weekend is a scary thought! 3 months down, 3 to go..

Little Baby No-Name aka David

Baby A



Squeak!



Baby Moses - 10.4.2011

We have hit the 2 month marker here in Uganda. 2 months ago last Thursday, I said goodbye to my family, friends, king size bed and everything vaguely normal. You would think that reaching this marker would be a cause for celebration, celebrating the fact that I am still alive despite the bugs, the toilets, the lack of electricity, water, and hair product. But this week none of us have felt like celebrating at all, in fact, I think it has been the hardest week of my life.

Last Sunday morning at 6am I received a phone call from one of the baby carers saying that one of the babies was dying. We sprinted down to the medical center in our pyjamas and met Jenny who arrived a few seconds after us. We then found Baby M lifeless in the baby carers arms. There was nothing more we could do for him and he died soon after. This was the same Baby M who we took to the hospital the day before he died to discover he had a hole in his heart. I helplessly watched a baby that I love very much die, and that is not something you can get over very quickly.

Moses died on the 10.4.2011 aged 9 months.

The rest of the week has been a bit of a blur to be honest. Although I have been busy a lot of the time, I can not remember anything of what I have done. What I do know is that he is not suffering anymore and he received so much love here at Potter's.