We knew Adrian Shutt, the chief surgeon with whom Tim Beacon from St Mary’s has forged such a good partnership, would not be there – on leave in the UK with his wife Jane. So Tim had relieved us of the responsibility of extracting medical kit from Uganda Customs in Entebbe and delivering it to him. But it was very good to be able to walk the site and meet a few people.
Despite its remote location in a small trading station two hours over tough roads from Kabale, as a Church of Uganda hospital with longstanding links with the UK through CMS and other bodies, many at Kisiizi have a familiarity with the UK. So we were warmly welcomed by the hospital administrator Moses, his assistant Tony and the chief nursing officer Esther. Turned out that Esther had also been a guest at the first wedding JoJo and I were invited to together (1990 or 1991!) – Jonathan Juckes and Diana Reakes-Williams, who had been a midwife in Kisiizi in the ‘80s.
After a cheap nourishing (but somewhat chewy) goat stew and rice in the canteen, we were given a tour of the hospital by the head electrician, Gideon. Turns out that the hydro-electic turbine wheel which Tim had shipped out here last year was now ready, after some re-tooling, to be fitted this week. Electricity generation capacity will increase from a max of 60kw to 130-300kw (depending on water volume). Gideon not only showed us round the hospital (active chapel symbolically at the centre of the main block) but also gave us a grandstand view of the magnificent 70m drop of Kisiizi Falls.
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