Tuesday, July 14
Off to Bethlehem for a hospital board meeting, followed by a meeting with a Kampala contractor that is contracting to maintain our hospital equipment, followed by a meeting with Henry about little things that needed to be finished at the VIP suites at the hospital.
Wednesday, July 15
We left Kyotera at 7:00 this morning to meet Dr. Mark and Dr. O at the Masaka government regional hospital. After we met for about fifteen minutes, they took us to the weekly senior management meeting, where we were introduced and discussed our ministry. Some of the doctors had visited our hospital at Dr. Miller’s orthopedic camps. They were very appreciative, and the Director of the hospital wrote a letter telling the Health Ministry how great the Kyotera hospital was and strongly recommending they consider a public-private government partnership. We then toured the hospital and I for the first time realized the truth that the visiting doctors had told us about the quality of our hospital. The wards were full, and patients were lying on broken beds and mattresses on the floor. To describe conditions in the surgical rooms, I will kindly just say that if I needed surgery, I would prefer our hospital. Then we continued to Kampala.
Thursday, July 16
Arrived at 8:30 am for a 9:00 am appointment (we met at 10:00 am) with the Minister of Health, Honorable Minister Dr. Chris Baryomunsi. He was delayed while visiting with the WHO (World Health Organization) about lifting the Ebola warning in Uganda. As there are no cases in Uganda, if nothing else happens in 42 days, the warning will be lifted. GREAT NEWS. The hour’s wait was well worth it as the Minister of Health was very receptive to what we are doing and immediately bonded with Dr. Chris Miller. Chris carried most of the presentation from there, and it could not have gone better. Chris said he was going to invite the Minister to have dinner with us tonight, and I told him he was crazy. Not only did the Minister tell us he would be present for Dr. Miller’s surgeries in February, but he would also visit the hospital prior to the surgeries, put the entire Health Ministry behind us, and, believe it or not, join us for dinner tonight after his parliamentary speech. As often happens, something came up, and he could not join us.
Next, we arrived at 11:00 am for our appointment with the Prime Minister of Uganda. We were received at 12:45 pm by the Honorable Robinah Nabbanja. She had knowledge of us, and after explaining the plight of their people in their district, she asked what we do and how she could help. We were about halfway through our meeting when she received a phone call that required her attention and kindly asked us to speed up the information. As we proceeded, she asked us if we could come back tomorrow afternoon when she had some free time. That night we entertained a couple of orthopedic doctors and a team from a Sickle Cell Foundation for dinner. They gave us great advice about how to make the hospital self-sustaining.
Friday, July 17
It would be hard to get any better, BUT IT DOES. We left the hotel at 6:30 am for a 9:00 am appointment with the new Nakasongola District Chairman. He liked everything we do, but he loved the discipleship of Christ. He is a young man and told us he accepted Christ nine years ago. He told us that he was going to form a committee of four district employees to make sure we get everything we need. We took Chris to take a ten-minute tour of the Nakasongola ranch and then off to Kampala for a 2:00pm meeting with the Prime Minister of Uganda. When we arrived, they were waiting for us to let us know that the Prime Minister had been called into a meeting and would be out in about an hour. A little after an hour, they came and took us to a large conference room with people there from immigration and internal affairs. After pleasantry greetings, Honorable Robinah asked Ephraim to explain how long it was taking me to get a work volunteering visa. She kindly and sternly told the team she didn’t know what went wrong and didn’t care; just solve the problem immediately. She adjourned the meeting after she advised us to invite the President to the orthopedic camp in February and run it through her office. It is just unbelievable and very encouraging for someone like the Prime Minister to be meeting with us at 4:00pm on Friday. What a classy, kind person that loves her people. As she walked out, she said it had been a long day, and she was quite tired.
Minister Mukasa, Ephraim, Prime Minister, me, and Dr. Miller
