Thursday, 23 January 2014

Past the Half Way Point (February 2014)



This comes with belated wishes for a Happy New Year.

Greetings from a hot and dry Kiwoko. The dry season has been here for over 2 months now. The land is looking parched, the roads are extremely dusty, the maize has dried out and (worst of all) our enormous underground rainwater tank, on which we rely for water for our shower and flush toilet, is almost empty. Fortunately, the signs are that the rainy season will soon begin which means that the farmers will be grateful for God’s continuing blessings and we can continue in our relative comfort with access to water to our bathroom.

We are now more than half way through our time in Kiwoko and soon we will need to begin thinking about arrangements for returning to England. As we write this Irene is in England visiting our expanding family and making arrangements for us to relet our bungalow in Boston. She, in particular, has found it difficult to be so far away from our 5 grand-children and being there to support our children as they expect 2 more grandchildren in the next 4 months.

The next few months will be challenging. We are delighted that the Hospital recruited a new Finance Manager, Alex, to replace Joseph who left in November. He has just taken up the post but it will take some-time for him to understand how we work and be able to assume some of Malcolm’s responsibilities when we leave. So far, so good!

Ideally the Hospital needs a Christian Mission worker to take over Malcolm’s responsibilities. In addition to being responsible for Financial Management and managing other support Services, Malcolm and his predecessors have been invaluable in supporting the Hospital’s Medical Director. However, although there are a steady stream of young and older doctors willing to offer  their services to the hospital, it is more difficult to find someone with management skills, willing to offer their time and expertise. It is hard to know why.

A looming challenge is coming. In March the Medical Director, Rory and his family return to Ireland for a well earned 3 month leave. This means that Malcolm will take up the responsibility for he management of the Hospital, though fortunately there is an experienced Deputy Medical Director to look after and Medical management issues.

Prayer points

  • Praise God that at the second attempt to find a suitable candidate, Alex was appointed as the Hospital’s new Finance Manager.
  • Thank God that the auditors have signed off the Hospital accounts for the past too years. These show that although the Hospital faces some financial challenges, it has survived through a few years when the economic difficulties in the developed world has affected the financial support that donors have been able to offer
  • Thank God that the HIV Building is almost complete and arrangements to move back in are going well
  • Pray that Irene will manage to complete all she hopes to do in England and returns refreshed to Kiwoko.
  • For those Hospital staff who are going on a week’s mission to Karamoja, one of the poorest  and neediest regions in Uganda.
  • That God will call an experienced Mission Worker to take up the Financial and other management responsibilities at the Hospital when we leave.
  • For Malcolm (and Irene), that he has the wisdom necessary to cover for the Medical Director during his leave to Ireland
  • For refreshment and Fellowship as we prepare for a week’s CMS (Africa) conference in Nairobi in February, where we shall meet amongst others Simon and Laura Walton and family, who we worked with when we first went to Tanzania.

What are you used to? (December 2013)


 
The rainy season has stopped and its suddenly started to get very hot. A couple of days ago I was walking through the hospital, sweat trickling down my back in the 34 degree heat, when a local man passed me wearing a big thick quilted coat! I couldn’t believe he could possibly be comfortable but I was told it’s all a matter of what you get used to.

 

In Britain shops are full of Christmas goods, children are writing present lists and parents are rushing around to get in enough supplies for the descending relatives. Here nothing has changed. For Christmas, if they are fortunate, children will get a new top or trousers, and parents have strived hard for weeks to try and provide a scrawny chicken for Christmas day. There is no commercialism, no Father Christmases, no Christmas lights just a low key celebration of Jesus birth, it’s what they are used to.

 

When you get used to something you take it for granted and don’t really think about it at all. How easy it is, particularly for those of us who are long past our childhood, to tune out of Christmas. To do things automatically because that’s what we always do and forget what the real meaning is all about, we are too used to Christmas days.

 

This Christmas think of those whose experiences will be very different from yours. The homeless, those who would be persecuted for celebrating their faith, refugees, victims of natural disasters and even us celebrating in the heat!  Looking at Christmas from a different perspective may make us think again about what it really means and how amazing it is to be able to celebrate the Son of God coming to earth for us.

 

Work wise Malcolm is just coming to the end of a very busy and stressful time. The hospitals Strategic Review coincided with an external audit and his Finance Manager’s resignation!  All of them difficult situations on their own but when coming all together. triply so. We thank God that despite a tricky start the Review went well and many people felt that they got something useful from the time. The auditing reports are being finalized and interviews have been held for the Financial Manager’s post. Unfortunately no one was found suitable for the role so further interviews will need to take  place.

 

Irene has been working closely with the H.I.V. manager and together they have been making changes to job descriptions and moving personal around to positions which best suit their skills. They are still waiting to return to the refurbished H.I.V. department building. Unfortunately just as it was almost ready to move back into the  building, the funders came to see the work and were not happy with the standard, so many of the work surfaces have had to be  pulled down and made anew. For the first time the office and the clinic will be in one building which should make it easier to keep track of files which often got lost before. Hopefully it will be ready to move into in the New Year when new job changes will come into operation.

 

Prayer points

 

  • Thank God for the safe return to Kiwoko of Dr Corrie and Dr Natasha, after their sudden visits home for family reasons
  • Thank God for the visit here of Sarah Shelley (a worker from our church) and Stephen Burgess (our CMS Manager) – for the fellowship and fun-ship
  • Pray that a suitable candidate will be appointed for the Finance Manager’s post to be able to take on more responsibility when Malcolm leaves.
  • That the move from the temporary building to the refurbished HIV building will take place smoothly, and a reliable internet connection established for sending vital statistical data to Kampala
  • For all Mission workers as the celebrate Christmas apart from their families