Today was our first day back in Bombo but, for once, we weren’t doing a clinic. Instead, Peter Gregson, Juliet Burd and the Ugandan team had kindly organised a Careers’ Day for our older sponsored children. The team had realised that our sponsored children were often falling out of education after school or sometimes even dropping out of school in order to work to fund their families. Many teenagers didn’t seem to consider higher education or further career aspects, so the team wanted to support them and provide knowledge around these options.
When we got to Bombo at 10 (when it was supposed to start) however, no-one had appeared to arrive! We decided to take advantage of this gap to go to show some of the team members, who had not travelled to Uganda before, the Stepping Stones project, where we have built houses for vulnerable and struggling people in Bombo.
Here, I was delighted to be reunited with Milly and her family. Milly has severe learning disabilities and I was able to review her in July 2018 (after her needs were highlighted in the January clinics). In July, I commenced Milly on Promethazine for her agitation, as she often runs away, runs back and forward from the toilet and is very restless (meaning that she is very thin as she never sits down). It took a great deal of persuasion in order for her mother, Joyce, to accept this medication as we had previously tried Risperidone, which had been over-sedating. Even after I had spent a long period of time with Joyce explaining about the medication, I was unsure whether she would use it as she seemed so reluctant. When I saw them today however, Joyce has used all the Promethazine and says that it has helped Milly greatly! I am so pleased about this! We will get her more medication and review Milly in the clinic on Monday, when we have our full medical kit and notes, so that we can ensure she gets the best treatment possible.
We returned to Bombo School (Way of Salvation Primary School) to find that most of the teenagers had arrived so we commenced the Careers' Day. After inspiring talks from Peter, Ibra and Simon, we arranged the teens into smaller groups and discussed with them their career aspirations, strengths, weaknesses and anything they were concerned about. This proved to be a very beneficial and interesting activity. My group of 6 girls were very high achievers – 2 aspiring doctors, 2 aspiring vets, 1 aspiring nurse and 1 aspiring chef! We talked about obstacles to achieving their goals and the issue of families pressurising them to work to earn money early on appeared to be a recurring theme. We discussed how important it was to chase your dreams as much as possible, while being mindful of money and expenses. Thankfully, as the teens are sponsored, they are in a more fortunate position as we can help with finances.
The girls asked me about how I went into medicine. While describing my career pathway, I described how I initially wanted to be a vet (when very young – until I realised that animals could not express themselves quite as well as humans!) I told them how I used to pretend to treat all my cuddly toys. No sooner had these words left my mouth did I realise how that statement immediately distanced me from any experience that these girls had – they would be lucky to have one toy, if any. Thankfully, no one seemed to comment on this, however, I did air that I was sorry if it felt odd for them to compare themselves to me due to me being brought up in the Western World. It made me contemplate how blessed I have been in my life, and how I want to help others to find their dream job, like I have. These young women showed remarkable resilience and were still set on following their dreams. I tried to encourage them as much as possible. One of the girls in the group was the beautiful Shakira, who I sponsor. She wants to be a surgeon! I will try to help her to achieve this goal as best I can.
The groups then rejoined as one and different sponsored teenagers shared what they had discussed and learnt. I was blown away by the wisdom that they displayed.
I then went with Kathy and Meg, two wonderful nurses in the group, to visit Mary, who is the grandmother of around 15 children. She looks after them all and there seem to be more on the way. She is wonderful and energetic, even though she is very thin and spends everything she has (time, energy and money) on these children. Mary and some of her grandchildren are in the photos. We have asked the family to come to clinic so we can see how we can help them. I also gave all the children bouncing balloons, which they loved!
After visiting Mary, we returned to the school and had a traditional Ugandan lunch - matoke, chicken and beef in gravy, rice and chapati. Milka and other ladies helping out were dressed in full chef attire cooking our and the teenagers meals!
The final part of the day (which was now running 4hours late) was sexual education for the young women, while the boys played football and other games. While this sounds like the girls got the short straw, the sessions proved to be very helpful and a lot of questions were answered. We taught them about mentstruation, contraception and pregnancy. We had split the girls into two groups as there were so many. I was with Kirsten Wong, who is a fantastic GP, and she led the session brilliantly. We gave all the girls Days for Girls kits (https://www.daysforgirls.org/dfg-kits) at the end and they were received with immense gratitude.
I think we all agree that we had a wonderful day today and that the team worked wonderfully together, with the leaders of the sessions doing a fantastic job. It was a lovely re-introduction into the Ugandan community before we start the clinics on Monday and ahead of the joyous chaos of church tomorrow!
