Poole Africa Link for the brief

The team of volunteers from Poole Africa Link have just returned from a very successful 2-week trip in Lira, Uganda. The team was made up of 2 surgeons, Sarah Clark and Judy Mella, a neonatologist, Peter McEwan, 2 nurses Camelia Gecse and Jane Reader, Laura Flynn a dietician, and Katherine Richards a paediatric physiotherapist. This was the first visit to Uganda for 4 of the team.

After a grueling 27 hours of travel the team arrived safely in Lira, a town in Northern Uganda which Poole Africa Link visits regularly. The majority of our time was spent either teaching the nursing and midwifery students at the university or teaching in the NICU, operating theatres and feeding center at the Referral hospital. However, we also discovered a rehabilitation center on the outskirts of Lira which does amazing work looking after children with congenital problems or who have had recent surgery. This was great opportunity for Kat, our physio, to get stuck in.

The majority of our teaching sessions at the university concentrated on clinical skills including resuscitation techniques, safer operating theatre practice and basic nursing skills but we also did sessions on communication and team work which we felt were important. The students have excellent theoretical knowledge but sometimes lack confidence in putting theory into practice which is where we try and help.

Laura Flynn– This trip has been the best thing I have ever done. I can’t yet fully describe the impact the trip has had on me – it was challenging and emotional but the most rewarding two weeks!

Kat Richards – Going to Lira was like nothing I have ever done before. I loved getting to know and help teach the staff there, and definitely learnt a lot myself too! The trip was very rewarding and I am so glad I had the opportunity to experience Lira, although emotionally difficult at times.

Camelia Gecse – I went to Lira being mentally prepared for the worst but it turned up to be such an amazing experience. I’m so grateful for the opportunity of teaching in Lira University and also in the Referral Hospital. I discovered my weaknesses during this trip but I also learned a lot from others. It was such a rewarding trip and I came back with positive thoughts and hopefully next year I will go back to Lira to continue the great work of people from Poole Africa Link!

Peter McEwan – I very much enjoyed the trip and the chance to meet the team, who were mostly new faces to me. We had an eventful trip and the most exciting thing for me was to see all the positive changes at Lira Referral Hospital. The staff there were all very busy and there were more junior doctors than previously, all of which added to a “busy” feel. We do student lectures for nursing and midwifery students which are always well received and we can use these sessions to discuss all sorts of topics. Lots of other projects need work and volunteers to become involved in the child health area would always be welcome.

Jane Reader – How can l sum up my PAL trip to Lira, Uganda in a few sentences? Hard work – yes, some very long working days preparing for the next day’s teaching, mosquitoes lots of them, a few tears at the poverty and with frustration at the lack of resources there that we at home take for granted but so worth it. With the support of a great team, we can, and did, help make a positive change. In the 40 years I’ve been a nurse it ranks as one of my most rewarding and memorable experiences.