Day 14

Last night in Kampala - so beautiful.

Another exciting and varied day today!
We had to travel into Central Kampala this morning as we had a meeting with Mrs Nanfuka of the Ugandan Prison Service. She is basically the lady who will allow certain things to happen in the prisons or not. We had to talk with her about why our permission letters had taken so long and the importance of our work here. It was a good meeting and she now recognises and understands the importance of palliative care for prisoners with life limiting illnesses.
On the way there we encountered yet another so called 'peaceful' demonstration. One of the MPs had decided to walk to work in protest of the high cost of transport. He was tear gassed and arrested by the police and has been thrown into prison. Seconds after we had let the area the police let off many tear gas cylinders and two people (we believe them to be police) were killed. Much of kampala has been tear gassed today - but we are still safe and well. It seems we are managing to dodge the trouble spots but only by the skin of our teeth!

Following our meeting with Mrs Nanfuka we went to visit the medical staff at Murchison Bay Prison Hospital. This meeting was to introduce ourselves and to discuss their palliative care training needs. Tomorrow we will be training some of the prisoners who act as Ward Attendants in the care of patients (other prisoners) with end of life needs. We were introduced to a male patient with a suspected brain tumour, who is blind, partially deaf and has a severely misshapen skull due to the enormous mass that is sitting to one side of his brain. The staff are unsure how to care for him and are seeking our support and help. This is just one example of the role of the African Prisons Project in healthcare in prisons, so we will be able to do some theoretical as well as practical training.

This afternoon the APP Palliative Care Committee (Daphne, myself and a british doctor called Hannah) met to plan a needs assessment in prisons across Uganda. This is an exciting opportunity to influence and develop palliative care provision across the country and we are looking forward to developing a robust action plan that can form part of both the Prison and Healthcare strategies for Uganda.

Artwork from Luzira Womens Prison - session co-ordinated by Christopher.

We are still having an absolutely amazing time. But are missing certain things from home - of course friends and family; but we are missing chocolate so much. One of the house staff has just ventured out to buy us some!! We were beginning to dream of chocolate (so sad and just so predictable).

Take care everyone.

Catherine and Christopher xx