Written on 22/10/10 (Last Friday I know, but not had a chance to get online since...)
What a day. I'm so pleased with how everything went! Ok, so we started off with a plan and timetable, but that pretty much went out of the window when the bus with all the students turned up late, and then the patient came even later. But after a bit of jiggerypokery, we were back on track and stayed within the time scale that we needed to in order to manufacture two limbs for demonstration purposes.

So we were originally going to have those two groups and have each of them produce a leg, but as saying above, time didn't allow us to do so. Instead it was just a demo, one produced by myself, Patrick and Frederick and then theirs that they made almost exclusively themselves. It was actually a really good exercise not only for themselves, but also for me. I've never really taught anyone anything before, and certainly not in a classroom environment like this. But whilst standing there in the limelight, students AND teachers watching me to see what I have to say and do, I realised that this kinda rocks! I'm seriously SO pleased with how the day went, and  I've never even considered teaching before until today. It's not as hard as I thought it would be, and I found that as long as I was confident in what I was doing and took control of the class, things went according to how I wanted them to. OK, I was nervous before they arrived, but once they were seated and I had them doing what I wanted (watching a DVD on Jaipur feet) I knew that the rest of the day would go well.


Basically I demonstrated the casting procedure for transtibial amputees - markings, hand positions and the reasons for each. Apparently they cast differently to the way I was taught in Uni', but I was stoked to see them wanting to try my method. They're so keen to learn new stuff here, and I was enjoying showing them. We then just went through the rest of the procedure for making a Jaipur limb (I'll write it up soon and post it on here if anyone's interested). The other technicians all helped out too (especially Patrick who's an absolute saint) and we managed to almost get 2 legs made in a day. I think in the future we'll skip out the idea for 3 legs and keep this template, perhaps reducing the class size to a more manageable 10.

Obviously the students massively benefited from the day too. With such constraints on material and resources that they have  in Mulago school (where they're all from) a day like this, where they get to actually make a leg is a huge bonus. I'm still not entirely sure how they selected the 15 out of the 74 to come though. When asking one of their teachers, he explained that he used their grades and experiences that they each have to allocate them a position.  They were a great bunch and it was a pleasure to teach them.
It's actually going to be the last time that I see them all on this trip and its quite sad to think of that. Originally I was here just to learn about the Jaipur foot and see a few clinics in Uganda, helping out along the way wherever I can, but it's been a lot more than that. So much more. Whilst I've been here I've met the most amazing, determined and dedicated people. Not only have I practiced and taught whilst being out here, I've also witnessed the opening of the 4th rehabilitation centre in the country, witnessed the signing of an agreement to bring students from Mulago school (the only one in Uganda) to the GLRC, been a guest speaker at the Rotary Club and passed on knowledge to technicians that I've worked alongside for the past month. I don't really want to start wrapping up this trip in this blog just yet, but somehow the experiences today have consolidated my thoughts on my visit so far and clarified what I've witnessed. The contract between school and GLRC is perhaps the most important out of that list, such that I hope that the GLRC will become a strong training centre, producing sound prosthetists to be distributed throughout Uganda. THAT is a massive step forward for the country, and hopefully the lead for the future.

Anyway, the trip isn't over just yet as I still have two working days left (Patrick and Fred are away for the weekend to visit family). I'm hoping that I'll get to travel up to Buluba clinic and then possibly to Kumi (North East) if we're in luck with time and get funding from a sponsor to service the pickup for a longer journey. It's a 6 hour drive though, so I'm not sure how practical it will be to get there and back in time for Wednesday for my flight back home. As much as I love it here, I'm excited to get back.