A Day at Bushikori

At 7.30 the Bushikori bus came past to pick up staff for the Centre. We stopped a few times along the way. We arrived about 8 (time is VERY flexible here) through the big locked gates and past the guard.

As it was the end of term (they have 3 terms) we all walked across the road to the chapel for final assembly. The staff normally start the day with Morning Glory where they meet together for a short time of worship, prayer and teaching. But as it was assembly and chapel this was put off. (No crossing supervisors here) traffic just kept speeding past. Once all the children were across safely and were seated we were ushered up on to the stage as “honoured guests” along with another couple visiting from America. After Michael (some of you may remember him when he came out to Australia with Anne a few years ago) outlined the programme, Anne introduced us and we each spoke a little about ourselves.

The children then sang the Ugandan anthem and the Joshua Primary School song.

(Click player to hear song)

Beautiful and enthusiastic singing! After that we had Chapel. The P5 students ran it – worship time, Bible readings, memory verses. Dan (the Co-Ordinator of the sponsored children) spoke on 1 Tim 5:1, children respecting their parents and elders – a good message for the holidays.

Afterwards we had a cup of tea in Anne’s office where we discussed what we would like to do at Bushikori. We then had a brief chat with Dan who outlined how the sponsorship program works. We walked across to the school and met the headmaster Charles. They have just built the P5 classroom, which is equivalent to Year 4. The students were all outside playing and singing.

We then wandered across to the clinic where Dr. Levert showed us around the maternity section, as well as the men’s, women’s and paediatric wards. It is a very well run and much used facility. The doctors here have no fancy diagnostic equipment and rely on their own knowledge. However they do have access to modern drugs for treatment. One patient was a badly burnt little girl. It is a common injury here, as children fall over the cooking pot or hot water. Also HIV is still a big problem in this area but there is a big education program in the papers and schools. A few days ago a widow was brought in who was very sick. They had to transport her to the hospital (where you can wait for 3 days to see a doctor) but she later died leaving two young children (a five year old and a one year old). This is just many of similar stories which have lead to the vision of setting up Bushikori.

We wandered around and took some photos. Lunch was ready about 1. All the staff receive a hot lunch. Our first Ugandan meal – boiled rice, fried rice, cabbage, a little bit of meat stew (we didn’t ask what kind of meat) and potatoes (called Irish). The Ugandans surely have huge servings. Forget the low carb diet. It was quite nice.

Rex is planning to look at the computers in the admin building. He will try to clean up the viruses, network them and try to set up internet access on them all. As the term is finished I will help out with coaching some students who will have to come back in the holidays for further tuition.

We had another look at the school where the students were busy washing the floors and took some more photos. The children swamped us and squealed with delight when we turned the camera around and showed them pictures of themselves.

We were very impressed at how well the centre is run. They are doing an excellent job with the limited resources they have available.