June 30, 2009 – Visit to Kambuga Hospital and Nyaka’s Community Library/Training Center Site

The students at Nyaka began their mid-term examinations today, so it’s pretty quiet around the school.  This morning, I joined Jack and Heather on their short trip to Kambuga Hospital.  With only one doctor present, the hospital serves thousands of people in Kambuga and its surrounding areas.  There are nurses and physician’s assistants, but like most places here, the needs outweigh the available resources.

Families were spread across the hospital’s back lawn.  Many of the women were washing clothes and tending to their young children.  A lot of people literally move to the hospital when their loved ones are hurt or sick.  They sleep on thin mattresses on the floor of the patient’s cot.  During the day, they might prepare food for their sick family members, as meals are not provided by the hospital. 

We bumped into Precious, who is a Nyaka Pioneer, a member of the school’s first graduating class.  When Precious was getting ready to head back to secondary school at the start of this term, she injured her foot while riding a boda-boda (motorcycle).  When I asked her how long she’s been at the hospital, she told me that she’s been there for one month and four days.  Clearly, she’s been counting. 

Health care is a pretty tricky issue.  Rural health care is even trickier.  Rural health care in a developing country is even more complex.  I don’t even know where to begin. 

After the hospital, I visited the construction site of Nyaka’s Community Library and Farm and Vocational Training Center.  What an incredible project!  The Community Library, which will be the first of its kind in southwestern Uganda, will offer reading resources, computer and internet access, and a variety of other things to the village and surrounding communities.  The Farm and Vocational Training Center will take advantage of the 15-acre plot to teach and train young people about modern agricultural methods.  It will be a viable option for students who are not able to continue on to secondary school.  The food and produce grown will be used at the school to prepare meals for the children and staff, and the leftover surplus will be sold to generate income for the Nyaka AIDS Foundation.  It’s an exciting project for the whole area, and it will provide even more opportunities for the students at Nyaka to learn and become valuable assets to their communities.  So great!  Here are some pictures of the site!

This room will be the computer lab.  Most of the people in the village have never used a computer, let alone the internet.  This project is going to open up a lot of doors for the entire community!