Monday 15th October 2018

So team 2 arrived safely in Lira thanks to Arnold’s expert pot hole avoidance techniques throughout the journey from Entebbe. Happily the baboons avoided our van. Three of us are old hands and its lovely to be back. Still a little tired we spent the first day orientating and planning. Thrilled to see the new hospital, and be greeted with such warmth by students and staff we now know well. It was actually teeming with prospective employees being interviewed.

Led onwards upwards and by an unstoppable Frankie we met Professor Jasper, lecturers and student leaders, hatching plans and gathering info.

It is great to see the maternity unit in action. However the midwifery school is needing to cope with the constant trickle of patients who have heard on the grapevine that there is a new hospital and are coming expecting treatment. This is a challenge.

Joy Acen and Anna Grace gave us a warm welcome and together we planned our teaching sessions over the next two weeks.

In the afternoon Eva joined us looking fresh and glamorous despite her long journey and we had a look round Lira hospital. It was seemingly running half pace, and it was hard to tease out the underlying reasons – though patients are clearly there and being cared for.
After inevitable adventures through lira – a lost bank card, haggling for avocados under the umbrella stalls, we settled down to prepare teaching despite patchy or absent internet, ready for tomorrow.