Ever since I was really small I have always wanted my very own puppy and my very own piglet. It was this week when I finally got what I have spent years begging my parents for! Much to my excitement P.V puppies, Milo and Otis arrived on Friday and I have been put in charge of training them up to be guard dogs that know the difference between Baby and Baddie. They are still pretty tiny and all they want to do is play, eat my sandals and follow me round the compound (which is fine with me!) As for the Piglet, Jenny mentioned that her pig is pregnant and should have babies in a couple of months – very excited!
This week has been a strange one. Ruth, Jenny and Eve took Grunt to Mbara (a good days drive away) to see a specialist about his head and his fitting. I stayed back in Kisoro to look after H and J and Potters Village whilst Jenny was away for a few days. Thankfully the news about Grunt is more positive than we had thought. His head has shrunk by a few centimeters and the Doctor is happy that he doesn't need an operation at the moment. He is still very spastic and fitting quite a lot but we will take him back to the hospital in June for a check-up. He is still living up at Jenny's house but early next week is moving down to P.V so that him and Squeak are not separated for too long.
Another poorly baby has been diagnosed with a serious disorder. Baby M is nearly 10 months but he is the size of a 2 month old baby. He also has congenital cataracts, very irregular breathing and we are very sure he has more problems that are unknown to us at the moment. The fact that Baby M was on high energy food and eating well but not putting on any weight or growing was really worrying us. It wasn't until late last night when we were called out to a very distressed little boy, due to a vomiting virus that is going round, when Jenny instincts told her that something wasn't right with his heart beat. We took him to the clinic this morning and the Doctor confirmed our fears that he has hole in his heart. In England this is a problem that can be fixed without too much of a problem, but in rural Uganda this is a very serious issue. We are organizing to drive to Kampala (10 hours away) to take him to a heart specialist within the next few weeks for their opinion. Then if they tell us that an operation will fix the problem Baby M will hopefully travel to either England or South Africa for the surgery so that he has the best chance of survival.s
Today I attempted to go shopping for a new dress, but shopping in Cheltenham seems a different world. There is no such thing as a relaxing shopping trip here in Kisoro as you constantly have to dodge the bikes with chickens/beds/bananas/other bikes/water containers tied to the backs. Children are forever following you shouting “Mzungo! Howa-yooooo?” or “Mzungo! Give-me-my-money!”. Men sit and stare, and every few minutes one is brave enough to shout “Eyyy Mzungo!” and apparently hissing is a sign of endearment. You also have to constantly watch where you are putting your feet because if it is not a giant pot hole that trips you up, it is a goat, a chicken or a begging family. Anyway, after battling my way through the craziness of the main street I reached one of the very few shops that sell anything vaguely different to bananas, to find it was closed because the owner wanted a long lunch, so I returned home empty handed and exhausted.
Tonight, another crazy Saturday night in 'Green Cottage' – Lasagne, then washing up, then a book, then bed. The life of a normal 19 year old?
