• 18 February 2019

Visit to Kiwoko Hospital opens eyes and hearts

At the end of January, People’s Churchwarden and former CMSI Medical Director of Kiwoko Hospital, Dr Rory Wilson, led a team of Ballyholme parishioners on a short exploratory expedition to Uganda. 

It was to be a trip that opened the eyes and hearts of the eight men who travelled.

Team member, Patrick, takes up the story…

Last summer a certain ‘Dr Rory’ put a notice in the parish magazine asking whether any of his peers would consider visiting Kiwoko Hospital with him in the New Year. There was no particular agenda behind Rory’s invitation, but perhaps he saw in all of us something that suggested that this was a place we all needed to see. He could not have been more right.

As a Parish, we are aware of Kiwoko not least of all because of the ‘Wilson connection’ and the strong ties the hospital has had to Northern Ireland since its foundation as a primary health care project by Dr Ian Clarke in 1988. Kiwoko has expanded over the years to a 250 bed facility with c.500 staff and students who deliver a broad range of health care services both at the hospital and in the surrounding community. 

Team and staff
Team and staff
We were privileged to meet with key Kiwoko staff over the course of the next 3 days including Dr Peter Serwadda the Medical Director and Moses Ssekidde who co–ordinates the Community Based Health Care. It has been said that Uganda’s greatest asset is its people and this is certainly true of the staff at Kiwoko who passionately champion the vision of providing holistic, affordable, quality healthcare to an impoverished community in the Nakaseke District where 55% of the population is under 17 and the vast majority of families are reliant on subsistence farming.

Unsurprisingly, the biggest challenge for Kiwoko is financial stability, given the shoe string budget on which it operates, and the allocation of limited resource in one area inevitably squeezes opportunity in another. Over 60% of Kiwoko’s annual budget is financed by donors and the sense of vulnerability this brings is palpable.

Antenatal
Antenatal
Yet, despite the challenges, the resilience of the staff at Kiwoko has and continues to deliver incredible results. While not wishing to detract from the vital services the hospital itself provides to the thousands of in–patient and out–patients, it was perhaps the impact Kiwoko has had in the surrounding community which resonated with us the most. Through the delivery of immunisation, free TB, STI and HIV testing, antenatal and post natal care and a range of targeted health education directly into the heart of the local community, incidences of polio and measles have all but disappeared and worms have been almost eradicated. We joined Moses on a trip around some of the outreach centres and homes where we saw at first hand the holistic impact that early intervention and education plays when people ‘of the community’ work with the community. 

Drums
Drums
Faith lies at the heart of Kiwoko and our attendance at morning prayers opened our eyes to the possibilities of just how far the ten o’clock service at home might go with singing, dancing and hand clapping. However, being asked to join Captain George William Rutembuza and his extended family (which clearly included Dr Rory) for an afternoon of praise and fellowship at his home was something none of us will ever forget. 

Beyond the slums of Kampala, Uganda is a stunning country where the warmth of the colours was only surpassed by the warmth of the welcome we received. Before returning to the airport at Entebbe, Dr Rory ‘turned tour guide’ and we managed to cram in a visit to the spectacular Murchison Falls National Park where, next to the Nile, we came within feet of the cast of the Lion King. 

We want to thank Dr Rory for looking after us – we were nothing short of a handful – but more importantly for giving us the opportunity to have both our eyes and our hearts opened.

Nile
Nile

With thanks to team members Patrick Crothers (words) and Steven Nickell (photos).