The last couple of days have been very "busy" (andrew and rowena will appreciate the african meaning there!) .
Since John Paul, the principle administrator returned on the weekend we sat down together with Irene and talked about our mutual visions for the medical work here and it has been so wonderful to see a sense of unity amongst us and shared ideas on how we could best work together in the future.
It has been agreed that I should be the director of medical services at IGF/Childcare and oversee the development of the ministry here, starting with the opening of the Primary Health Clinic here which after consultation with the team we have decided to call:
Lubanga Changa Clinic ( Acholi for : "God Heals" Clinic)
I think this is very fitting as it points to God as the ultimate healer and us as health professionals as his instruments, with the gift of scientific knowledge he has given us. It also allows room for the power of prayer and healing in dealing with sickness and recognises that disease has physical, mental and spiritual roots which need to be dealt with in a wholistic setting. A christian medical practice is the ideal place to do this.
So, the outcome of all this is a sense that I am committed to further involvement here and probably it will mean regular contact with the team via skype and reasonably frequent visits on site . Im excited about this because I feel passionate about this and it has really been a long term dream and vision that I believe God planted in me to invest myself into a setting like this where the needs are so great . So I thank God for this opportunity. I know there will be challenges but I am sure it is the right direction to be moving in, particularly after all that has happened in the past 4 weeks.
So, the last couple of days, I have been very driven... trying to put things in place before I depart on Thursday morning. Our two new recruits, Peter, the Clinical officer and Joel the lab technician have been coming for orientation and we have been hounding the building teams to finish off all they can.
Today we officially opened the doors to patients ( mainly staff and students ) and saw 6.
The consulting rooms are functioning well and we have a system of booking in which will hopefully work well. Please pray that our clinicians will practice good medicine and show lots of compassion. I spent some time today letting the clinical officer play with the medical software program we hope to run and he seems to be catching on.
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| Male dominated medical team leaders with JP |
Last night we had an official medical night out, at the local hotel where we were served a tiny serve of stringy chewy chicken that must have fallen off the back of a truck, run over by passing cars and kicked around the street by local youths before finding its way into some pot of boiling oil. Anyway the company was good and it was a great opportunity for Irene and JP to meet the new recruits.
Tomorrow we have a medical team meetiing and I hope to leave them all with some inspiring and encouraging words !! In Kampala we will be running around trying to get lab equipment-- an expensive exercise... and... going to the medical council to have our registration processed (please pray this is fast tracked !)....and then going to the wedding of Pop idol george on friday-- probably an all night affair!.
saturday--- spending time with Richard and Vincent
sunday-- church in the morning and flight home in afternoon
I am hanging out for one of my wifes beautiful roasts--- i am over rice and beans and chapati !!!
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| Andrew with Peter our Clinical Officer |
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| Irene looks like she is skulling a beer with the boys but its really non alcoholic malt "alvesco" |
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