Both Bosco and his wife sought for treatment from the Aldo Project, through that he was sent to Hope Ward for treatment of a Kaposis Sarcoma (a cancer that commonly affects people living with AIDS in Uganda). He has been started on chemotherapy and hopes that one day he will be well enough to find work or farm again and provide food for his family.

The Aldo project is our charity HIV/AIDS outreach and treatment programme at the Lira Clinic, funded by Suubi Trust and Hands of Help.

As I write this column I am sorrowful, because I have lost a good friend and a good man. Moses Munezero was killed in the night bus ambush which happened on the Mbarara- Kabale road this week.

He was a young doctor working in Lira who first worked on a community HIV project in Hima and then moved to Lira to help me set up a clinic, where we not only treat those who can pay, but hundreds of charity patients and those with HIV.

I visited him four weeks ago and he was excited about the possibility of extending the clinic to have a theatre to carry out emergency caesarean sections and other operations. Moses was the kind of person whom one depended on, because he was steady and never let people down. He was that rare breed of person who was truly unselfish and spent his life helping others. He wanted to be good at what he did and considered the patients more important than his own personal needs.

Moses represented the very best of Uganda, in these days when we hear a lot about corruption and Ugandans who are in a hurry to get rich quick by any means. He was a role model, the kind of person you would be happy for your daughter to marry — competent, serious-minded and compassionate. He was a Ugandan who restored hope when one was tempted to feel the society was rotten. It is this which makes his death all the more tragic — because he was killed by Ugandans who illustrate the level to which our society has fallen.

The thieves placed big stones across the road, which the bus crashed into and then overturned, killing at least five people and injuring many. The thieves were not appalled by what they had done, but boarded the bus and systematically robbed the dead and the dying. The worst of society had killed the best in society. Is this the kind of place that Uganda has become?

We have so many good people, but they are being pushed aside by those who have no conscience, feel no tenderness and show no mercy. Uganda has been here before — when the State Research Bureau disposed of people as if they were pieces of meat; we have only just got rid of the menace of Kony, but now it has become dangerous to do everyday things, like taking a bus ride at night.

One of the main purposes of government and civil society structures is to maintain law and order, so that people can go about their daily lives without fear of molestation. The death of Moses is an indictment of these organs of society. His death was due to a combination of lack of law and order and lack of care by the driver and the operators of the bus company. If the driver had been going more slowly within the speed limits, he could probably have seen the stones and stopped. If policing is now so weak, that thieves can operate with impunity along a major highway, then the system is ineffective.

The combination of these two deficiencies resulted in the death of a fine young Ugandan, and let us not kid ourselves, this death could have been avoided. But will anyone take responsibility? Will the Police, who have failed to enforce speed regulations on the buses and to patrol the road? Will the government, who have allowed an incipient lawlessness to take hold, which breeds violence and death? Or will everyone just shake their heads and agree that it was a tragedy, while we wait for the next hold-up or next bus accident to happen?

We are losing the good people in our society, because we are failing to control the worst elements.

Published on: Saturday, 19th December, 2009

Moses joined International Medical Group in February 2005 and was one of the pioneer staff when we started running the Hima Cement staff/ community clinic. He was then re-assigned to the IMC-Lira in 2007, and was very instrumental in setting up this clinic and has been in charge of it since.

To say that Moses was a brilliant, hardworking, honest and supportive colleague is an understatement – we will greatly miss him. Perhaps what can encourage us is to see what the fruits of his hands are and hope that we can continue to uphold the spirit of excellence that Moses exhibited in his work.

May his soul rest in peace.

“A highlight of my recent trip to Uganda was the opportunity to travel to Lira and meet the team at the clinic there.

Situated 6 hours drive north of Kampala, Lira was severely affected by the activities of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Thousands of people fled their homes in the countryside and took refuge in the town.

Aid agencies established emergency camps on the edge of town, on school playing fields, or anywhere where there was space. Schools struggled to function, and local medical facilities were overwhelmed. The situation was further complicated by the number of children who had lost one or both of their parents, and by the spread of HIV/AIDS. It is only in the last two or three years, with the retreat of the LRA, that the camps have been disbanded and displaced people have begun to return to their home villages.

With the support of the Suubi Trust the Lira clinic is able to treat up to 200 charity patients a month. Each charity treatment is subsidised, with the patient paying only 2,000 shillings (less than £1). Each month health education worker Ambrose Ogwang distributes charity referral forms to a number of schools, churches and other community groups. These groups then select individuals, often children, who are in need of medical treatment but unable to afford the standard fees.

Ambrose took us on a tour of Lira and introduced us to some of the groups who participate in the referral system. Over the course of the day we met head teachers, deputy heads, pastors, church workers, and representatives of community organisations, all of whom expressed their thanks for the support of Suubi Trust. We were also able to meet some people who had benefitted directly from treatment at the clinic.

Arriving at Lira Primary School during morning break we were given an enthusiastic welcome by hundreds of excited children! Deputy head teacher Mr Yapi Sam Bob explained that many pupils at the school come from very poor families, but with access to medical care, enrolment and attendance at the school have improved.

While at the school we were delighted to meet Zulaika, who had been referred to the clinic some time ago. She was found to have a heart condition, but is now receiving the drugs she needs and is back at school. Her family came to Lira during the insurgency, and have chosen to remain there for the moment, so that Zulaika will have access both to education and to the medical care she needs.

Mr Yapi Sam Bob especially asked us to pass on his greetings and thanks to St Peter’s School in Canterbury, who have raised money to help pupils at the school receive treatment at the clinic.

At the New Covenant Christian Centre we were introduced to Margaret, an older lady who had suffered for some time with stomach problems. She had gone to a local clinic and been told that she would need tests and medicines, neither of which she could afford.

The church referred her to the IMCC clinic, where she was treated successfully. Now that she can cook and look after herself again her son has been able to return to college and resume his studies to be a health worker.

Later in the day we visited St Phillip’s Catholic Church and Nursery School.

Once again we received a very warm welcome, with the children forming an impromptu choir to sing to us!

The boy in the blue tee shirt is just one of those from St Phillips treated at the clinic and now back at school.

Our final visit of the day was to the Concerned Parents Association (CPA), founded in 1996 when the LRA abducted 139 girls from St Mary’s College, Aboke. It was only earlier this year that the last of the girls finally returned. The CPA now offers support to formerly abducted children, provides vocational training for orphans and vulnerable young people, and offers training in conflict resolution.

Just before Easter they erected a memorial to the victims of the LRA insurgency on one of the main roundabouts in Lira.

At the end of our brief, but busy, visit to Lira it was obvious that there is a huge need for health education and subsidised medical care amongst the poorest of Lira’s community. Ambrose and the rest of the IMCC team are making a valuable contribution towards meeting that need, and very much appreciate the funding and support they receive from UK.”

Last week Karisia ran the Barcelona marathon, partly to celebrate her birthday and largely to raise money for the Lira Clinic. She did great, raising £1,500.

You can read more on her Justgiving page at www.justgiving.com/karisia.

Here’s her race report…

So last Saturday I set off on the much prepared for and anticipated marathon trip to Barcelona.

Nerves took over. What to eat what to drink, would the hotel make my oats, would I sleep ok, what would the weather be like, would I make it… and so on. What a day (and night) of jitters. Marathon day dawned early (birthday? what birthday?). Up at six, but I knew things were going my way when the hotel obligingly made up my porridge – a girl can run any amount of miles on that stuff. Mmm porridge…

Got to the start with but five mins to go and the crowds of runners raring for off. I felt most out of place, surrounded by furrin men, all leaping and stretching and high fiving each other with their various furrin languages. A magic feeling as the countdown began and Monserrat Caballe and Freddie Mercury belted out Barrrrcelllonnnaaaa and I realised at last that the culmination of those months (ok, only two, but still) of oh so cold and oh so very painful training was here. The race had finally arrived! I had a good bawl.

But no time to bawl, we were off! I decided to stick to the four hour pace setters until the half way point and let the second half dictate itself, so started the race following the balloons at a 10.5km pace. Far too speedy for me until I warmed up, got into the stride, remembered how much I love running.The gyppy hips started giving gyp about an hour in, but I told them to pipe down with a dose of vitamin I. I left the four hour balloons well behind and all was well. The first half passed in a flash; I enjoyed it so much.

Oh that this had continued; I should be so lucky. The need for a loo break left me running the streets looking for an obliging cafe. Once found and made use of, the four hour balloons had overtaken me and my attempts to catch them were in vain. I resigned myself to a 4.15/4.30 time, which seemed no bad thing, given the way my body had started crying for mercy.

Where the first half passed in a flash of enjoyment, the second passed with graphic and painfully crawling slowness. Each kilometre felt like a mile, and by 32km I was all for sitting down by the roadside with a nice cup of tea. I thought I would never manage the last 10km.

But the stubborn Kenyan in me had the last laugh, and the massive £50 per mile raised in sponsorship helped (see the great sum raised on www.justgiving.com/karisia hurrah!). Onwards I crawled, as those four hour balloons inched further and further away, but never quite going out of sight. ‘Never!’ I grunted with each breath out, ‘again!’ I grunted with each breath in. This kept me going as repeating this ballyhoo performance was simply out of the question. At 40km I realised a sub-4 time might still be possible and I tried to dredge up a 2nd (35th?) wind. Sadly ha ha ha none proffered itself, and those last two kilometres watching the seconds tick away my sporting glory were agony… Oh for an out of body experience at that juncture – I certainly felt woozy enough, but no such luck, I was all there, and body was very angry.

But at last we rounded the final corner, and tired Karisia shuffled over the finish line and nigh collapsed as bawling ensued and her body turned to quivering jelly. But not before stopping her stopwatch… at 3 hours, 59 minutes and 29 seconds!

I DID IT!

Thank you for helping me!

The Benefices of Sand Hutton and Whitwell comprise 10 churches in 8 small country parishes to the north and east of York.

For several years parishioners have joined together on Christmas Eve to celebrate a candlelit “Midnight Mass” in St. Botolph’s Church, Bossall – one of the loveliest of the churches in the group.

At this time especially, we think of those less fortunate than us and agree that the collection from this service will be donated to two different charities each year.

I am pleased to enclose a cheque for £150 which we would like to be used to support the work of the Community Clinic in Lira.

We send with the cheque our prayers and good wishes for all those who are working for and benefiting from this project.

You can read about our work in Lira by clicking here…

• On Hope Ward 289 patients were admitted for complex medical care, including treatments for Cancer

• At the Lira Clinic 2,535 patients were treated through the charity project

• Suubi Trust sponsored Kenneth, a Clinical Officer in Lira, to receive Immunization training by the District, which enabled the clinic to be accredited as an Immunization centre and as a result, over a period of seven months, more than 50 children a month (a total of 409) were immunized at Lira Health Clinic.

Recently this work has been extended to include an HIV/AIDS outreach programme providing counselling and testing for those potentially at risk. Staff have received training from the District and we are hoping soon to be able to provide treatment for those who test positive. These ARV drugs will be provided by the Government; we help to meet the staff and other associated costs.

Jemimah has sent the following update:

Through the Lira Aldo Project: – 466 people were tested for HIV, 109 were found positive. Of those found positive 40 were enrolled on the program for treatment of opportunistic infections and supportive care not involving provision of ARV drugs. This was mainly because we are awaiting accreditation of IMC Lira as an ARV treatment centre, we have received communication that the accreditation was approved and now await a confirmation letter. 63 HIV positive people who were in need of ARVs were referred to other centres where ARV drugs are provided.

We posted a recent update here…

We were very pleased to receive the following letter from Yapi Bob, Deputy Head Master.

Dear Sir / Madam,

REF: APPRECIATION

Permit me on behalf of the parents , pupils , teachers and on my own to congratulate you  upon the support you have been rendering to pay all the bills for the treatments of our pupils at INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY CLINIC- LIRA . We are very appreciative for the good spirit you have shown. It came at the right time when most of the people were recovering from the trauma of leaving INTERNALY DISPLACED PEOPLE CAMP which were full of all categories of problems such hunger, poor sanitation, diseases etc

The support you have so far given for now one year has caused remarkable changes in the attendance, performance, health and discipline of the school let alone the increment in enrolment in all streams. e.g. Last year our enrolment was 1,784 pupils but this year after the  Annual General Meeting in December last year where we informed the parents about the free treatment, the enrolment rose up to 2,122 pupils. Surprisingly the number of girls is more than boys. We also hope to get good results in the recently completed PRIMARY LEAVING EXAMINATIONS.

More remarkably, the rate of school dropouts has fallen to almost below 10 % compared to other years which went beyond 20 % .

FUTURE PLAN
Other things being equal, we are suggesting that our pupils and teachers should link up with your pupils and teachers in form  of writing  letters among themselves to share their experiences and school lives as a way of expanding their knowledge world wide for their future consumptions. Unfortunately it is only the writer who has some knowledge about INTRNET and computers otherwise we would use internet only but  with time we hope we  shall also train our pupils and teachers with computer knowledge should any sympathizer donate some used  computers for the school.

Lastly, I beg for forgiveness for writing such a long e-mail  – at least to compensate for the long time that  we have not been communicating. MAY GOD BLESS ALL OF YOU, AMEN.

Yapi Bob
Deputy Head Teacher

Most of the patients seen had malaria. It is becoming evident that a malaria prevention initiative would greatly benefit the people of Lira as it is affecting so many people yet it is a preventable disease.

You can read more about some of these patients here.