Bwindi – our visit comes to an end

August 14, 2016 Last Day in Bwindi

Aragambacki (Hello, how are you?) Nije (fine)

After our first meeting with Juliana on Saturday 8-13, I toured the BCH campus with Barnabas, one of the public relations officers at BCH. (Those photos are in the last blog.) I had missed the group tour, as it happened before we arrived in Bwindi and Mark had toured the campus the day the board visited the schools. He gave me a full tour including administration, outpatient areas, adult wards, the pre and post op areas including the new Premium ward, the OR and ER, the pregnant women hostel, the maternity ward, a healthy food facility where women are taught how to cook healthy nutritional meals and pediatrics. There was one malnourished child there who was very ill. It was gut wrenching to see him in such distress, but he is in the right place to recover and flourish. I am sure I have missed something and hope Scott will forgive my error. Looking for a cloth pouch for Juliana to keep her bible clean, we stopped at the Batwa Banda, a craft building Carol set up some years ago to help the Batwa women make some money of their own.

That evening we had dinner at Mahogany Springs with one of the volunteer staff at BCH named Shiela. We did not get her last name, but we learned she was from the Seattle area and had been at BCH for a full year running the WATSI program. It is a crowd funding resource for certain hospitals around the world, including BCH. It provides the hospital with about 6% of its operating income. No insignificant amount. Mainly, WATSI funds healthcare for specific patients with specific needs that, with proper treatment, can result in cures; such as hernias, fistulas, C sections, cataracts, hystorectomy’s and many others. It will not fund cancer or heart problems. If you go online and google WATSI.org you will learn how it works and how you can help support specific people in need with very little money. Sounds like a wonderful program. We discussed WATSI so much that we learned very little about Shiela or she about us.

Sunday, 8-14, late afternoon after Mark, Scott and I had had delicious samosas at Susan’s Cafe, a cozy shack next to the entrance to BCH, Scott gave me a quick tour of the Nursing School, as I had seen it only at night during the dedication party. It is quite a nice facility, funded by a pair of wealthy men Scott had met and befriended. Another case of being infected by Scott’s vision. Intended to house up to 90 students, the student demand is so high that it is now housing 150. The program lasts for 3 years and the first class graduates this fall. The graduates will go back to their villages and be, most likely, the only healthcare providers in their communities. He then showed me his private quarters, called Middle Gorilla House. It is a quiet cottage next to the Impenetrable Forest and a great get away for him and Carol. Two other gorilla houses nearby host volunteers and visitors.

So, I have now visited all the facilities connected to the Kellermann Foundation. Tired, but content, I packed and rested up for our last dinner at Mahogany Lodge. Scott joined us and we had a delightful time together. There is so much more to be done and so much that is not working how he or any of us westerners would like things to work; yet, so much has been accomplished in the last 14 years that we must celebrate. From our first visit when there was nothing but IV’s hanging from a tree, to the multi-faceted facility that we see today, the accomplishment in only 14 years is astounding. God grant that progress continues even as Scott and Carol move slowly into the background.

The Batwa have no future tense in their language or culture, so trying to get them to think ahead is very difficult. I am hoping Anivious will succeed. Just wanting an education is future oriented. So far there are 2 Batwa, Kennith and Sylvia, who have graduated from university and carry the torch for their people. Scott thinks Anivious will be one of those touch bearers in the next generation. She has many more hills to climb than even Juliana, who is a member of the accepted culture and does have a sense of the future.

People are so friendly everywhere we go, it is hard to grasp why our world is full of of so much misery.

Ruhanga Abahe Omugisha. (God grant you many blessings)

Webare munonga (Thank you very much)

Here are some photos I thought might interest you, that did not make previous posts. From here we leave Bwindi. Next stop, Clouds Lodge.