Registered Nurse Cheryl Fyfe visits Uganda every year to offer her volunteer help to the people there. Along with other care providers from the Brantford General site, she takes with her donations of equipment and helps train healthcare professionals at various locations.

This year, Cheryl will be keeping us all up to date with a regular web-log or "blog". Shel will be leaving January 20 and returning February 15. She will be spending the first two weeks in Uganda with Doctors Kagoma, Malik and Galinski from BGH. The next two weeks will hopefully take her to Sudan if she is successful in arranging for a visa.

The picture to the right was taken by Cheryl on her last trip and
is of an ER in Uganda.

February 14 - I WILL RETURN!

I will take you on a tour of the orphanage.

As you go through the gates you see the round blue mud huts where we slept. Then you see a larger round one which is the common room, a delightful place with windows all around. It always feels cool inside with chairs in which you can sit and talk in the evenings lit by a simple kerosene lamp.

The food is brought there. Usually either rice, potatoes, beans-lentils with a stew of vegetables and tiny bits of meat, chapitta or fried bread and usually fruit (my favourite is passion fruit). A lot of food is fried so not a good place for dieting. In the background are the boys and girls dorms with cement building and a hook for their one change of clothing.

They have wooden bunk beds with open windows and metal showers with buckets of water. Outside latrines with no thrones. There is the cooking area where built up areas of earth have an area for fires and on top are huge pots cooking all day with beans or lentils cooking. Either the ladies or young girls are bent over these pots stirring contents and the place feels like an inferno.

The babies house is again a cement building with open windows so often you see flies covering the babies faces. They are in tiny cots (no regulation cribs as our children have) and as they stand up I often feared they would topple over onto the cement floor. The other side is the toddlers area, 2 to 3 yrs of age and they wander into the babies area to play with the babies, often urinating on the floor as the babies crawl through it before the Mommies get a chance to clean it up. The children love the babies and everyonre has a special one. For me it was Sarah, a beautiful little girl of about 4 months.

Nicholas is still grieving for his mother, still not interacting with others and besides all of these troubles he has contacted malaria. Everone takes a special interest in this little fellow trying to perk him up. I have seen some of older men just sitting outside holding him.

The one room is a play-room with a large table for colouring. I am bringing some of these back home to sell so money can go back to babies house for maybe screening for the windows. The dispensary is also there fairly well stocked as a donation supplied that.

A word about the Mommies, these wonderful women stay there 24/7 looking after children, washing all their clothes by hand, cooking for them, washing the floors twice a day and most importantly giving them love and a sense of security. Outside, the older children after school and after their chores play and laugh as children do the world over, teasing each other, chasing each other. After they have been hit by a nut that has been thrown at them there are very few fights.

Children washing dishes together, singing as they do this chore and putting them on open wooden racks to dry in the sun. Older boys play with an old soccer ball that has lost most of the air, but they still kick it around. Goats and chickens wander about and of course the arrogant roosters strutting their stuff as if they are saying, "Look at me, look at my beautiful feathers. Look at me I am male I am supreme and I have all my women to look after me!"

As the evening sets, a peacefulness descends over this little piece of land and I know reluctantly I will be saying goodbye to it tomorrow. As I walk across the red African soil to the waiting plane I will once more make this promise to this harsh but enchanting land, "I WILL RETURN".

Thank you to everyone who has gone on this journey with me by reading the blog and hopefully enjoying Africa the way I have A Special thank you to Peter Muir for setting this up. I have enjoyed it. CF

Now that I am back in Entebbe I will be able to tell you about a rather restless night early in my visit to Kajo Keji.

We had heard earlier in the day that a force of 300 rebels were in the area. In fact rumor had it they were 2 klm. to the north of us. When we went into town we met a lady with a huge suitcae on her head and about 6 children despondantly trailing after her. We later found out that it was her husband who had been killed by the rebels. He was a soldier. Life can be harsh here.

Once we got back from town we also heard 5 people had been arrested and put in jail for being suspected of being rebel spies who were scouting out the area. Some town people were fleeing the area, but where would they go?

As no one at orphanage seemed to be panicking we stayed put. They have dealt with it much more than us but that night as we were trying to go to sleep it was absolutely black outside and we heard car doors slam, and then what sounded exactly like a wolf howl.

I had images of that being a signal for an attack but all was quiet. Needless to say it took us awhile to get to sleep that night. Later I jokingly told the people next day about the wolf howl and was informed that there are coyotes in the area. That was an exciting night.

February 12 - A simple Church

This morning we went to church. It was a 35 minute walk through a stoney pathway, through farmers fields, past construction of new huts with bricks made of mud drying in the sun. These huts were being prepared for some returnees whom we had encountered yesterday. We were in the lorry as 3 trucks full of smiling excited people waving and shouted to friends as they passed by goats and chickens

In another vechicle, even they seemed to be excited about coming home. These were the people who had been in Internal Displaced Persons Camps, a most miserable place on earth with huts huttled together. When rebels attacked them as they did frequently they would set fire to the thatched roof of one hut and many many adjoining huts would be burned out. They were places of despair with little food and no chance of growing food. If they went into nearby fields they would be attacked by the rebels , so they were forced to live under these horrendous conditions. Now, after for some 20 years of exile they were coming back to their homes.

As you could see their joy it brought tears to everyones eyes.WELCOME HOME!

Back to my Sunday walk. When we arrived at church it was already in progress with exhuberant singing and waving and swaying of arms. We were most welcomed. The minister was very animated, not like our staid religions. At one time he illustrated a point by running outside the church and back in then actually laid on the floor the church itself.

The Church is a simple cement building. Certainly no stained glass windows here, only openings to let the warm air blow through. It was a wonderful experience. I wonder how many of us would walk that far and further to go to church?

February 11 - The Leper Colony

Today we visited the Leprosy Colony. I found it very emotionally traumatic but will try to tell you a bit about it.

From my various slide shows and kind donations I was able to take up huge bags of beans and flour and soap we filled back of Lorry. The sights were very disturbing. I could not beleive people could possibly live this way but then they don't live they exist only. The other people stayed in the Lorry and these 2 men asked me to come with them.

As we walked through the bush losing sight of the truck and other people I began to wonderiIf this was rather stupid on my  part, however we came to a clearing with 2 huts. Inside this old lady was crippled with leprosy, no toes no fingers and unable to walk. She crawled in the dirt of her tiny hut just hoping for charity for food and the kindness of a family to cook it for he.

It looked like she had run out of food recently and both she and her sister looked emeciated. The hut was dark with no windows and no light. To have to live like this is unfathomable to us and yet in this district alone there are 1200 people with leprosy.

Anyone who sees these conditions can not be affected so I will try harder this year to raise more money for them. There are other stories about  them but I am still too affected to tell you about them.

February 9 - An arrogant doctor

After walking into town we visited the local hospital. 70 beds, all again in little buildings with 2 doors only. They have female ward, male ward, sleeping sickness ward, TB ward and maternity ward.

Again, there is a small OR, no xray facility. If the patient needs blood, the family must be tested for compatibility as they have no blood bank. I met the main Doctor there. The lady I was travelling with started to explain about our program where Ugandan residents come to McMaster for 4 months training.

With this this arrogant Doctor loudly asked why as, "Canadian doctors were not well trained and rather useless. Anyone who works with me knows that would be a red flag in front of a bull situation for me. Right Dr Jarrell?

Needless to say he and I got into a very heated discussion. Who won the debate I don't know but he was backing away from me ,hands in the air saying "OK OK." I learned later he is a tyrant and everyone is petrified of him including the other Doctor. No one ever questions him or dares to disagree so I am sure he was glad to see the last of this crazy white nurse from Canada. We met a young patient hit by car. He has been unconscious for the past 5 days. There is no CT of course so there he lies. The walk back was in heat of the day so a cold sponge bath was great.

February 8 - My hut

I will try yo be a little quicker so power doesn't go out. We are in the middle of nowhere. I am staying in a hut with thatched roof windows without glass or screens sleeping on a cement floor on a thin mat. The door has a gap of 2 inches on the bottom so I often wonder about creatures. They say snakes are attrachted to noise and vibration so I hope my snoring does not appeal to the local black mambas.

Lyla, the lady I am sharing the hut with is very nervous about the rebels being close by but it was so hot out we had to sleep with the door open along with the windows open. I was so tired I fell asleep right away rebels or no rebels nothing will deter me from my sleep.

The orphanage is delightful. We walked into Kajo Keji. It is a 45 minute walk in the heat and it darned near killed me. We went past fields of dried vegetation. Past mud huts with women brewing the local beer, standing over open fires in this heat looking after their children -6 at least -washing clothes...

The power has just gone out again so I am bloogin by candlelight. Anyway the women are washing clothes by hand and of course cooking for their husbands who quite oten drunk by 11 am. The children run to greet us all saying, "How are you?"- the only phrase they know in english. The town is a strip of tin buildings, open 3 sided affairs. Goats and chickens seen to be the most traffic around. Things are expensive here as everthing needs to be imported from Uganda. I will end now as the light from the computer is attracting every bug in Africa. The screen is nearly black with them.

February 6 - kaijo keji

Local airfare in Africa is unique. I flew from Entebbe to Moyo the most northerly town in Uganda. Once we were in the air we flew over Lake Victoria seeing all the fishermen casting their fishing nets from their tiny boats. As we travelled further north we left the luxurious green vegetation and the land became drier and more brown. We flew over round mud huts with their thatched roofs.

The plane is small carrying 9 passenger and they have a unique public address system. When it came time to land the pilot turned around from his cockpit and clapped and motioned with his hands that we were going down then motioned to us to put on our seat belts. I had mine on already as I heard another man say at Moyo we land in a cabbage patch.

He wasn't too wrong. I saw cow dung on the runway which was a dirt strip of land in a rural area. The airport was a single wooden shack. When we crossed the border it became relly high tech. They lifted a wooden pole made from a tree branch and we were in the Sudan Immigration building. It was a 2x4 shack with tin roof. It was sweltering hot but after some paper work we were officially in the Sudan.

I can't beleive I am here. I am doing something different from all my visits  to Africa. I am living (in most  parts) as an African but I'll get to that. Yes I am in the Sudan and those who follow the news too closely (like my worry-wart daughter) won't believe it. Yes, there is some rebel activity in our area. They have attacked and killed some villagers and abducted some children. But honestly I am not worried. What will be will be. Hopefully the rebels are on their way to the Congo, bypassing Kajo Keji.

There is supposedly a group of 300 rebels but everything gets so exagerated. There really is probably 2-3 youths raising a fuss. On to better things.

February 5 - Orphans

The trip from airport to orphanage was different.

I was met by Jose, a nice young man from the orphanage originally from Venezula. He had hired a truck to pick me up at the airport. The trip from the border to orphanage is twelve miles but it took us over two hours. The "road" was unbelievable, climbing over boulders and trying to navigate through deep ruts. At times I thought the truck was going to flip over but we arrived here safe and sound.

The orphanage is delightful. The baby ward can be heartbreaking with 6-8 babies all needing feeding. Cooking the food and washing the babies and their clothes leaves little time for social contact with the little ones.

One little boy broke my heart. He is about two and his mother committed suicide after finding out her husband was having an affair or was about to take another wife. He is just so listless, crying all time but today was even more worrisome. He is not even crying now. He is refusing to eat, just lying his head on the cement floor like he is giving up on life.We are working on giving him fluids spoonful by spoonful. Flies cover his little face and he doesn't seem to care at all. His eyes show despair and bewilderment at his abandonment.

Yet there is the other side as well. Hearing the children singinging before they go to bed. The children here all have chores; carrying water, feeding chickens and washing dishes, but most seem very happy.

The washroom facilities are unique. The showers consist of a three sided cement building with a large bucket to bring the water from the well and then a basin and cup to pour the water over you. The bathroom however is luxurious as it has two areas. The one the usual hole in the cement floor the other a "throne" built of cement so we don't have to squat. I shall finish this as I am using a computor in a UN building. To my friends and family STOP WORRYING ABOUT ME! All will be well.

February 2 - The Hospital

The hospital is composed of many small little buildings separated by walkways used by young men and women in their brightly starched white doctors coats and their symbols of pride slung around their necks - their stethoscopes.

They are eager, bright eyed and ready to take on the world. And what a world it is. Inside the wards is a different life from ours altogether. Outside the wards are families sitting on either the concrete or the dirt. They have young children with them and old men and women wait patiently with suffering etched on their faces.

You see people doing their wash of linen in plastic buckets and spreading them on the ground. If patients don't bring bedding they will lie on ripped hot plastic mattresses. Families also gather around to cook on outdoor fires since patients are supplied with only one meal a day. Within the hospital grounds it is a graveyard of old equipment, some unusable but  I see nurses in their white uniforms gathering bits of equipment they can use. I see the delight on their faces as they rescue an old IV pole which they (with a little tape) will hold together. Another eagerly confiscates the skeleton of am old screen, no covering for it but they will take it back to the wards and patch it up using whatever material is available to give their patients a tiny bit of privacy.

An ugly, long-legged Maribou Stork picks at bits of garbage left about from cooking.

Inside the wards the daily struggle is evident. The hospital has 200 beds and usually between 400- 500 patients. Many many patients lying on concrete with a thin reed mat as protection. Everyone looks desperately ill.

I was going through a female ward and came across a young girl about 12 yrs old lying on the floor unconscious and the sad part was that no-one seemed to pay any attention to situation. Life is so different here. On the Obstetrical and Gynaecology ward there are many maternal and fetal deaths. Some of the reasons are most women deliver at home and they can be in obstructed labour for 24-36 hours before they arrive to hospital. Some of the reasons for delay can be no money for transport or the distance to hospital. There are many cases of ruptured uterus, a condition we rarely see in Canada and yet last week alone they had 6 cases of this condition. They do an average of 20 deliveries a day and8 C Sections.

Another cause of the high rate of death to mother and baby is delivery at home in unsafe conditions. Abortions done outside by untrained people all lead to the high death rate. There are very little staff to care for these patients. You can have 100 patients and as little as 6 midwives for 24 hrs, 2 RNs on days and 1 RN and 1 nursing assistant on evenings and nights.

Many nurses told me they work without breaks and go home exhausted. Doctors work procedures without help of any nursing staff at all. On Surgical floors they average about 50-60 patients. On days 2 RNs and 2 RPNs on evenings and on nights there are 1 RN and 1 RPN. They average 5-6 deaths per 24 hrs. The nurses get called by OR to come and pick their patient up following surgery. They then have to try to find a stretcher from other areas of hospital to go and pick the patient up from the OR leaving the ward with only 1 nurse.

February 1 - Travel to Mbrara

E-mails in Africa are not simple.

We left Kampala and the noise and fumes of the city behind travelling to the countryside. After about 4-5 hours of travel we passed the Equator and fields of papayas and grass. We drove through small villages with brown coloured houses of 1 or 2 rooms at the most. They have thatched roofs and front yards consisting of just dirt with the inevitable chickens and goats scratching around trying to get a little foodwith naked babies and children playing in the dirt.

Young boys play with old tire rims propelling them with sticks. African children carrying huge heavy yellow jerri cans loaded with water trudge barefoot to their homes. There are young girls of 5-6 years of age with smaller siblings slung on their hips. Childhood is not easy for these beautiful children as they learn about a hard life early. I see young boys caring for herds of goats sitting in the blazing sun making sure their family's livelihood is safe.

I must be becoming an African for as I walk alone in the early morning, I don't even blink as I notice 3 young men behind me all carrying long rifles. The sight of guns here is very common. You begin to understand when violence erupts that weapons are easily accessible along with the pangas or scythes that are being used to kill people in Kenya. 

Mbrara is a small bustling little city. It has lovely new buildings being erected in front of heaps of garbage being burned. The University is an oasis of peace and a place of quietness and learning.

January 29 - The Wheelchair

It has been several days since I have been able to have use of e mail.

I had contacted Brother Croche in Gulu for the orphanage I support. Until very recently the northern area of Uganda was in a state of war for the past 17 years. The rebel army called Lord's resistance army abducted school children as young as 8 years old and forced them to becoming rebels. By taking these young children and forcing them to kill their parents and siblings with machetes, the children would have no home except the army.

The north was devasted by war. Rebels attacked farmers in their feilds so they were unable to grow crops and people were left starving. When I started going to Gulu 3 years ago it was still a war zone. Today a peace, of sorts, is present and I see evidence of a healing land. Grasses and trees are now growing at roadside as before everything was cut short as these long grasses were the places the rebels hid to ambush cars traveling the road.

Gulu farmers are now back in their fields cultivating crops. Children play naked in muddy pools of water. What a change to hear laughter instead of seeing them fleeing to hospital grounds to sleep on the dirt at night. Imagine 2,000 children sleeping on the front of the Brantford General Hospital.

More about our wheelchair- -Special note to Brian Donahue It arrived safely. Brian, through the Boy Scouts had donated a paediatric wheelchair. After getting it safely to Africa I loaded it up as we travelled to Gulu. I contacted Brother Croche and he picked up myself and Dr Kagoma to take us to the orphanage.

The vehicle was an old dilapitated ambulance held together by wire and string. Dr Kagoma looked rather askance and said "you don't have a rear view mirror!" Brother Croche said "sure I do" as he picked it off the floor and showed it to us. Brother Croche is a story by himself. He is an Italian Comboni Priest who has been in Gulu for over 30 years going through the Ebola outbreak caring for patients when everyone else fled from the hospital.

He is in charge of the orphanage, St. Judes and when he goes there, every child has the biggest smiles lighting up their beautiful faces. They all want to be held by him. He is an inspiration. He certainly does not look like a Comboni missionary. He has a grizzled, days old beard, ragged old jeans, sandals and a ripped t-shirt but a pure heart of gold.

He showed us the little boy who was receiving the wheelchair and strap to hold him in. Two other children are still awaiting some form of wheelchairs. A new set of buildings have been erected for the disabled children and they were all lined up outside in the sunlight. Our little boy Moses was picked up out of an IPD camp. One of 6 children, he was dying of starvation at s.6 yrs old and weighed 6 or 7 Kilos. He is mentally challenged and when he first arrived he was just a "vegetable" as Br Croche said, "no movement, no emotion, a nothingness."

Now after being in the orphanage for several months he is gaining weight and moving his hands and his smile lights up the world. Other children are paralyzed from Spina Bifida, Polio and other unknown reasons. As I gave them soft little toys they clutched them, beaming with happiness. Thank you to everyone who helped make this happen.

I won't go into any more as it drains you emotionally. Seeing these children and the tragic results of malnutrition and war.

Please excuse spelling mistakes as I am doing this without my glasses. I lost my glasses. Unbelievable!

January 26 - Visiting a large hospital

If I thought driving at night was bad, driving through the city during day is life altering!

My life flashes before me about every 30 seconds as we are driving. Kampala during day has a population of 2,000,000  and I swear all are on the streets. It has  5 working stoplights on a good day. We have 5 lanes of traffic converging into 1 lane, missing pedestrians and people on bikes by fraction of inches.

Unbelievably we arrive safely at Mileage Hospital, the largest in Uganda, 1,000 bed capacity. We spent the morning in the favourite Ugandan past time- officious meetings. Lynne you wouldn't survive the meetings. They go on and on and on and on. Time means very little here in Africa.

After finally escaping the meetings I made my way down to Casualty, passing women in brilliantl colours carrying desperately ill limp children almost nonchalantly on their backs. Going through corridors, people lying in the halls if lucky on mats if not on the bare floors. Nurses in brightly white starched uniforms and caps and brilliant red belts denoting their rank.

In Casualty it is total chaos, people unconscious being wheeled around in beds with no sides at all. Emerg triage over here means having the family carry in apatient with obvious fractured leg screaming in pain and the triage nurse ignores him for at least 5 minutes then very briefly a note, no pain medicine. She directs the family to lift him up still screaming and put him in a wheelchair with no leg support. It was all I could do to stop myself from jumping in and dong it properly. If I can make a difference however it will be by example as opposed to lecturing.

It was hard however not to jump up and down in protest, but I could also see Emerg is the same world wide. The less ill people screaming and carrying on and trying to butt in so they could be seen first, before the desperately ill.  A great need exists for some training.

On a final note, Yes Yes Yes I am getting to go to the Sudan and not having to lay under a bail of hay in the back of a pick up (which I was prepared to do) but now legitamately with a Visa of sorts. I am absolutely thrilled I will not be in contact as we travel up to northern Uganda Gulu area tomorrow and facilities not quite as available. I will write later Cheers!

January 25 - Visiting an Orphanage

I think I have added another gray hair to Dr Kagoma's brother Joseph. He is our mentor and guide while here in Uganda. He and his son drive us to our various meetings, takes us shopping and instructs us on the art of bartering.

I had gotten in touch with Susan Tibia, the lady who is going to get me across the Sudan. A young male voice answered her phone and said that Susan doesn't travel much anymore so she would probably send him for meeting. The next phone call I received was from same young man inviting me to dinner at Susan's house as she wanted to meet me.

As Dr Golinski, her husband and a radiologist, Julian, were going out for dinner at a chinese restaurent they would drop me off. Joseph knew of course I was taking 1,200 US dollars to the lady for buying farm equipment for the orphanage so he got directions as we left the main road. We travelled down some back streets with the houses becoming closer and closer together and more dilapitated. The young man joined us to direct us further into the warren. Naked children running around, groups of young men sitting about, and finally we stopped the car.

Both Caleb and I jumped out and off we went into the deeping dusk as there were certainly no street lights. Picking my way over ruts and stones I had made arrangements for Joseph to pick me up in 2 hours. The meeting was wonderful. Susan runs an orphanage here in Kampala out of her home with 8 children with special needs. Some of the histories of the children are too disturbing to tell you about right now, it has affected me too deeply.

We had a wonderful dinner of african syle chicken , goat stew and the best salad I have ever had. We talked and talked about Susan's work with orphans -heartbreacking. It was getting close to time of leaving. Children peeked shyly at me and then they gathered to present me a tradional African dress. They who have nothing had to give me a gift, how could I refuse without hurting their feelings? But it would be far better to spend the money on food for the children.

Soon a timid knock came to the door and a worried looking Joseph looking as if he was ready to flee was asking for me. After many hugs from children I got into Joseph's car where he told me everyone had been worried about leaving me alone there so half way through dinner Joseph decided to phone me on my cell phone to make sure I was safe and all the phone message from my cell said was that the phone had been turned off.

So Joseph returned trepidly expecting to find only my body parts. But all was well, although I think there are a few more grey hairs for Joseph!

January 22 - Arrival in Africa

After 14 hours of flying and 8000 miles later we finally arrived at Entebbe.

It is like coming home as it is my 6th visit to Uganda. We arrived at 10pm and were greeted by 2 Ugandan doctors that had gone through the program through McMaster.

As the luggage came out I was overjoyed to see my wheelchair had survived the trip and my 2 suitcases brimming with articles for the orphanage were also accounted for. Each year  my clothing and needs grow less and less and the articles for children grow and grow.

As we left the airport I remembered this is probably the most dangerous part of the trip driving in Uganda. As we headed for Kampala the spirit of Africa began to envelope us. The vibrancy of life here is exhilerating seeing women in their brightly coloured dresses and matching head gear with large bundles balenced on their heads strolling down the unlit roads.

We soon came across the local form of transportation -the Boda Boda- a small motorcycle with usually 3 people on it (certainly no helmets). It is the local form of taxi. Music floated out of the open doors of local clubs and people gathered in streets just talking. More groups of men gathered around a small table with a single lightbulb illuminating the favourite passtime of playing a tradional game using stones.

The life of the city is noisy and brimming with life but the most beautiful spot I have seen tonight is the sight of my bed.

Carry on tomorrow.

January 17 - Packing -

PACKING!!!

Everyone dreads packing for a trip but I have some unique problems.

How do I fit everything in two suitcases?

As I pack a piece of BCHS goes with me, starting with wooden cub cars donated from Brant Boy Scouts Club through Brian (Lab).

I hope to travel up to an orphanage in Sudan where there are children who have never seen a toy let alone own one. Supplies have been given to me by Brant Paramedics - a Paediatric Ambu bag which may save some child's life as hospitals have very little in the way of equipment, supplies saved by the ESAs, unused equipment such as gauze and bandages, these are the essentials we take for granted but are treasured in Africa. C Collars from ER saved for me over the year will help with trauma in Uganda.

Help from others include a belt for a wheelchair to keep a little boy safe from falling, cash donations that will help buy farming equipment such as hoes, rakes and seed to the orphanage and Leper Colony to make them become self sufficient and give them a feeling of ownership.

I also need to pack hundreds of pens, paper, colouring books skipping ropes and the list goes on , needless to say my clothing items will be scarce as I need room for these important items.

Thank you to everyone in your interest in the trip and for your well wishes. I will keep you updated on life in hospitals in Africa.

Now back to packing and try to figure out how to pack the paediatric wheelchair - Cheryl