Schools - diaries

January 2009 - Christmas and New Year

Christmas has been and gone. There is very little evidence of festivities in the islands. No decorations, no buying presents, no Christmas trees, no Father Christmas. In any case we weren’t in the mood for celebrating.

First of all there was Kabeen, one of our boys whose legs had been getting weaker and weaker. After 4 visits to the hospital we got a referral to the main hospital in Kampala in November. He was quickly diagnosed as having a tumour on his spine and had an operation. We took him home able to walk but again he started getting weaker and weaker. We took him back and they found more tumour. After a second operation he couldn’t walk at all so he had a third operation which was successful. He was in hospital for Christmas and New Year. Through all this he remained cheerful and positive to the amazement of everyone. It was a lesson to all of us how much a positive attitude can help to make people better.

Our 3 sisters went to the village of their uncle for Christmas, a long way away. When they arrived, instead of shouts of welcome and greeting, there was wailing and crying. Their uncle had died that morning. We didn’t know what to do. They wanted to stay for the burial but could not stay in the village after that because there was no-one who could look after them. However, there was an uncle from Kampala whom they had never met before. He said he would like to take them to his home to stay with his family. They met cousins they didn’t know about before. They will be able to go there for the long holidays every year. We try to find as many relatives as we can so the children get to know their families but sometimes there is no-one at all.

So both our stories were sad but with happy endings. There’s a saying “Every cloud has a silver lining”.

Information between UK schools and HUG in Uganda will be monitored:

Education Officer
Michael O'Kane
email: islandsschools@yahoo.co.uk