The crew - Dr Kale Wanume, myself, Patrick, Frederick and the driver

Written on14/10/10
So, at 6 am on Tuesday, we set off to Kabale to launch the new rehabilitation centre that has recently been refurbished and equipped as best as possible to treat patients and manufacture limbs for those in the South West region of Uganda. Kabale is right down there in the bottom left of the country, bordering the Congo, Rwanda and Tanzania (Rwanda being the closest at just 20km away from this town). Therefore the drive there took a good 7 hours (plus toilet breaks) and we got there for about 2pm. But the journey there itself is just as amazing as the destination. After just over an hour to get through the regular Kampala traffic jams and get out of the city, houses quite quickly fell behind, thinning out as we entered the countryside, and what a countryside. Perhaps it was being used to the hustle and bustle, dust and smog of the city, or perhaps it was through brute ignorance, but I had absolutely no idea just how green this country is (and I don't mean in terms of recycling).

Equator!

Once we were only into a fraction of our journey, landscapes literally changed before my eyes. Scanning my eyes out of the car window as we moved along, all I could see was a sea of green and lush vegetation, carpeting the ground and meeting mountains in the horizon, broken only by the occasional cluster of houses denoting small villages. Small street sellers stood every few miles at the side of the road with their stalls selling various fruits and vegetables - bananas and tomatoes being the most common. In fact, I've actually never eaten so many bananas in my life before this journey. In fact, we had to stop twice to re-fill our stocks. I must have eaten at least 10 there and more than that on the way back again. I tried taking a couple of photos of the scenery and everything, but they really don't do it justice. Its hard to capture a jungle of Mahtokee spanning into the distance with a camera. We didn't need any radio or any entertainment since the views were enough to keep us occupied. That and my introduction of how to play I-spy with them.

Markets at the side of the road

On our way down there we also passed the equator! Got a couple of photos of us all standing there together on the line between the southern and northern hemispheres, though Fred isn't the best photographer and he missed out the N/S sign. Anyways, after the long trip with 5 of us squashed in that little pickup truck, we eventually arrived at Kabale. By now the temperature had dropped significantly due to our altitude  driving up into the mountains, and we had to wear jumpers or a coat to stay warm - quite different from the capital. We basically just ate and had a quick tour of the centre prior to everyone arriving tomorrow, though it was apparent that there was a lot of work and cleaning to be done before then. The prostheses that were to be worn by amputees as a demo were also in need of looking at, since trim lines of the sockets were way too high and the overall appliances weren't that great. So a couple of us set some time aside to cast a patient, rectify some casts and sort out the existing problems. Following all that, we just went to bed for the night and figured that we'd sort the rest out the next day. Dr. Wanume put us all up for the night in a hotel, and was relieved that we weren't sleeping in the plaster room like he had suggested.

Dr Kale Wanume, Caleb, myself, Frederick, Patrick and the centre's new manager

The next day, we were all due to wake up at 7:30 and then meet up some time after that for breakfast and assemble some sort of plan for the day. But
 Dr. Wanume decided that he'd do the honour of waking me up at 6:45, so that was nice. Anyway, we all ate breakfast, comprising bananas (again), potato, beans and everything else that sounds like it should be eaten for lunch or dinner. Tea was suspiciously milky, in fact, I think it was milk, but all in all it was very tasty and a good start to the day. In the prosthetic centre, we prepared everything else that needed to be done for the day, like finishing some rectification, and preparing speeches for when everyone arrived. People began to turn up at about 3, and talks were well underway for the opening ceremony by 5. With some delay due to some key people breaking down on their way in their cars, we were a little behind schedule, but it still ran pretty smoothly. The vice chairman for the local rotary club, politicians and other guests other than myself gave speeches. I said a few words about being over here and visiting the centre to help out, congratulating the club for finishing the centre and wishing them the best of luck for the future. A tour was given to the people that turned up, and Patrick, Fred and I gave a live demonstration on how to drape a Jaipur limb to them all. The rest of the day was left for people to walk round and discuss things, followed by dinner. It was all very impressive and everything went pretty smoothly (with the exception of the cow that wandered onto the field where the speeches were being given).


So I'm actually back in Kampala again. We travelled back earlier yesterday and had that same long seven hour trip back, past all the greenery. I thought I saw an elephant at one point, but after closer inspection, it was just an overly large rock. It's been a mammoth journey for just 3 days, and I wish that I could have stayed longer. I'll just have to return at some point in the future to see all the things that I missed.