Lois' Lovely Kids

Andrew Purcell, Sue Carter and Andrew Wright are holding the fort here for Lois while she and Graham do the hard work in Kampala.  We are amazed at the children and the ministry of Lois Ford Tender Trust.

Oh, and major breakthrough !

we have been so encouraged today by the news that the container is on the road to Kitgum and will arrive tomorrow ready to be unpacked.  Lois and Graham will also drive back to be with us tomorrow. Should be an exciting beginning to the week.

Skype also enabled Lucas Levy back in Australia today working with an onsite mechanic, to assist with repair and maintenance of the diesel generator at Bregma.

Container exasperation !

Here we are in hot dusty and dry Kitgum, staying with Lois Ford at her project for children at risk, called Tender Trust. Lois and her African team cares for over 100 children, many of whom have disabilities. we admire her !

The container from Australia, laden with much needed  equipment for Lois and medical technology for local clinics has been a major concern to us.
It has spent 3 weeks in Kampala , stuck in a mire of bureaucracy, forms, procedures and payments. Graham Carter has been making many phone calls and seeking help from all quarters to have it released.
Finally yesterday , he had to make the long 9 hour trip back down to Kampala to personally meet officials and try to get the container delivered here before he leaves for Australia. He is spending his birthday waiting patiently in an office right now as I write this .We are praying for a breakthrough!
Andrew Purcell has been spending some time working with Justin and Peter in the Yotkom Drug Shop to improve the business and work on ways of increasing sales and profits which can be channeled back into the project..

Andrew P  is also having a wondeful time playing games with the children at Tender Trust and immersing himself in the African experience.
Andrew Wright has been spending time with each of the team members of Yotkom and getting valuable feedback, identifying strengths, weaknesses and challenges !
Yesterday we went with Andrew Kilama , the engineer , to visit the land on which we hope to build a future clinic. We are considering doing some preliminary levelling of the land and construction of a retaining wall, as well as a small structure to be used for storage and to accommodate John Achola and his family who live on the site, They have been "minding" the site for the past 9 years.

Today, a representative from the solar installation company travelled up from kampala to give on site advice in preparation for a proposed building commencement on Monday or Tuesday next week. It will take about 2 days . We have located a good area on the roof with lots of sun exposure and a secure site for the batteries to be stored.  It is clear that the solar will make a considerable difference to the medical clinic functioning. One of the nurses shared with me today her continuing frustration at trying to assess and treat  sick or injured patients with a little torch  in the night when power is out. Imagine trying to put an IV canula in a child or do a wound dressing under these conditions!
Thankyou Gateway Baptist church for the funds to construct solar.

Team 2013

On January 13th 2013, Andrew Purcell will be accompanying  Andrew Wright to  Kitgum Uganda.

Andrew is married with two children. He has a background in Business and I.T.

It will be his first visit to Africa and an opportunity to experience  the Kitgum community first hand, understand more about what YOTKOM is doing in Uganda  and also to explore ways that he may be able to contribute, especially with his previous business and team building skills and experience.
Yotkom is seeking to teach and model good business practices within the project and also to explore ways that small local, income producing activities can be more successful and sustainable.
Our small Yotkom Drug Shop is an example of this and we are aiming to focus on making this stronger while we are  in Kitgum.
Part of our long term vision is to see the medical work of the project being partly funded by local business enterprise and for our Yotkom team members to be known by their integrity and Christian values manifested in the work place .

Other goals for this visit include unloading the container of donated medical equipment which we trust will arrive during our stay. We will be joining Graham and Sue Carter from Brisbane to undertake this.

Graham has been instrumental in gathering valuable medical supplies together and working with the Mater Hospital to get a container of goods to Uganda.

Loading XRay Dark room for packing onto Container

Another exciting and encouraging development has been the recent gift by Gateway Baptist Church to Yotkom . These funds will pay for installation of a SOLAR SYSTEM  to the rural medical clinic we are partnering with in Kitgum. Over recent weeks ,we have done a lot of preparation and groundwork towards this and trust it will be successfully installed during our stay. It will make a significant difference to the daily operation of the clinic as power outages are common and often prolonged . It is vital for Pathology equipment and vaccine fridges to have a continuing power supply .

not sure if our installers will have all this fancy safety equipment--so pray for safety !!

Please pray for us as we work together with the African team to achieve all these goals... and more !
We will be in UGANDA from JANUARY 14th to 30th
 check this site for updates and photos of our activities and progress!

Yotkom Uganda Update 2012

For the latest update :
Click  on the video link on the right side of the blog page to view a short YouTube presentation of Yotkom Uganda 2012!
Please consider partnering with us.

Travelling home

Highlight of the day for me....seeing dr vincent use best practice medical software on his first patient. It works !

at 9am we left for the drive to Kampala in Dr Vincents car

on the way we crossed a couple of rivers which are breeding grounds for a black fly which transmits a disease caused River Blindness (Onchocerciasis) and is also thought to be responsible for a serious brain  disorder in children called  Nodding Disease

so thankful we had a mechanic riding with us to Kampala.. he managed to change our flat tyre in about 15 mins. Im sure us medics would have been fumbling around for hours!

Ben was happy to accept assorted foodstuffs from the roadside stalls.

And here are a few shots taken along the way........

Driving here, provides a feast of all sorts of interesting and at times amusing visual stimuli!

Tomorrow we are hunting around Kampala for a second hand motorcycle with the assistance of our mechanic, Richard. The motorcycle will be used by the clinical officers employed by Yotkom in their rural clinic outreach.

Richard Gladys and Atim find a home

Richard rides his bike about 45minutes to work

we hope this will be his new home -two rooms on the second floor

Richard was sponsored to study as a clinical officer at Mbale University in the East of Uganda. He graduated in June this year and it is good to see him returning to Kitgum to work in Primary health care. He enjoys being part of the team at Bregma clinic and he has an opportunity to learn more from more experienced health professionals in a very supportive environment with good work ethics. His family village is a  45 minute bicycle ride across a bumpy dirt road, often with the threat of being caught in a thunderstorm or having his good clothes spattered with mud. There are also safety concerns with him cycling home after a late shift, and the added cost of finding food for a lunch break. We have been searching for suitable accommodation for him and his little family, Gladys and Atim and I know people have been praying at home for this.

little baby Atim Anne is now 4 weeks old

So today we found a place which we believe will suit them fine and is only 5 minutes walk from the medical clinic where he works. It is 2 rooms on the first floor and has an enclosed secure courtyard . There are two pit latrines shared by about  10 families. Water will have to be carried about 500metres for washing drinking and cleaning. Cooking will be on a charcoal fire outside. It will cost 70,000 shillings per month ( about $28). Richard is very excited about being able to have his own home.

the 2 room rental

small balcony outside looks down onto communal courtyard. there is no railing around the balcony though !

out the window it is possible to see the place where Peter, the other CO at Bregma,  lives so they are close by to support each other.

Boosting Bregma

 Yotkom Uganda has a particular interest in building up the strength of an existing primary health care clinic in Kitgum, called Bregma Clinic. This clinic has been established and run by Dr Vincent Oringa but has been struggling.
WE have been partnering together to boost Bregma over the past  3 weeks.
The waiting room had a TV with some pretty  average satellite programs. We have bought a DVD player and will be showing some patient education and health promotion material for people waiting .

Bregma reception and waiting area

A Vaccination program has been started and an experienced immunisation professional employed to head this up. Not only childhood vaccinations but we also hope to be able to stock HepB and rabies vaccination. These diseases are of major concern here and hospitals often do not have them in stock.

One of Bregma Clinical Officers, George, stands beside the vaccination clinic timetable

Bregma Lab technician, Cyclops, checking for malaria parasites  on the blood film

two nurses work each day shift, and one at night in Bregma Clinic

This week six hand washing stands were constructed locally and installed around the clinic to help staff and patients with regular handwashing. Its a simple part of good hygiene but often very difficult to make accessible in these environments.

We have set up a reference library of textbooks brought from Australia and also some great medical resources in a computer based library. The internet will also open up some good opportunities for improving clinical practice and doing evidence based medicine.

The last couple of days have been really encouraging since we have had electricity ! This has allowed us to set up  a network of three computers in the Bregma Clinic for the use of the medical practitioners. In their consultations they will be using an Australian medical software program called Best Practice.

by next week Bregma will have three consulting rooms, each with a computer. We will have much improved patient records and a readily accessible data base to assist with research and management

Its been quite a struggle, but with the help of Graham Hambly, the IT consultant at Baywest Medical centre in Brisbane, we are on the verge of making it with our computers !  Much thanks to Graham for skyping over several hours and logging on to our server computer from Australia. Amazing ! The Acholi team at Bregma have given him a name , "Oteka" which means "the great one "  and they really appreciate him joining in with their struggles!

Friday we have had our third leadership team meeting for Yotkom Uganda
Dr Charles, Richard Yulam,Dr Vincent, Peter Omara, Dr Andrew, Justin Otim