Obama in Masindi
on Mangos, Monkeys and Maggie (Uganda), 15/Feb/2009 06:27, 34 days ago
PICTURE OF ISAAC AND STEVENPHOTOS ARE OF MURCHISON FALLS TAKEN ON OUR LATEST TRIP.OBAMA AND MASINDIHappily the meningitis outbreak appears to have finished as there have been no more cases after the emergency immunization campaign. I have been visiting some of the villages involved and was surprised when John one of my senior colleagues who I travel with told me that the villagers had been asking whether I was Obama come to help them. Obama is a real celebrity in Uganda and every one is expecting great things from him but why villagers should mistake an elderly muzungo for a young Afro-American was beyond me. Thinking about it I realised that if you live in a village you will never see a picture of Obama. TV here is rare and only ever seems to show premier league football, never the news. Newspapers and magazines do not reach the villages and all news comes from the radio which most people listen to. People have heard of Obama but have no image of him. The idea is that if any one from abroad is taking an interest it must be Obama. I hope he has time to sort out Masindi among his other problems, it needs all the help it can get.We have a great time the last week with Hannah and Sara visiting us from the UK. Our trip to Murchison Park was wonderful as usual and we saw some magnificent elephants and other wild life including a beautiful chameleon on the road. Unpacking the vehicle on Sunday night we realised Maggie’s camera was missing. After intense questioning and threats of torture I confessed that I had hung the camera on a mango tree in the car park at the top of the falls. No one could face a two and a half hour journey back to the tree in the dark over unmade roads. We were advised to report it to the park authorities. I went to the office in Masindi at seven o’clock and was surprised to find a ranger there. Do not worry he said, tell your wife not to beat you these things happen we are all human. He radioed a colleague in the park and they promised to look for the camera the next day.On Monday morning Maggie went to the office and was told that the camera had been found. They said it would be taken to the foot of the falls and given to the boatman. He would then take it to the office at Paraa. Simon said that when a vehicle came in to Masindi they would bring it with them. In fact the next day we had a call to say that the camera was at the Park Gate 20k out side of Masindi. Simon the ranger said if we paid for his fuel he would go on his motor cycle to fetch it. The camera was returned for the cost of 3 litres of fuel, 10000 ush or£3. A cheap price to save a marriage!It amazes me that simple things often never happen here but complicated things work out. If I had left a camera hanging on a tree in Pearson Park in Hull there is no chance I would have got it back.This week I had to ask Isaac who runs the family spirit centre to see a boy in the clinic. This boy has HIV.He is looked after by his grand parents as both of his parents have died from HIV. This is not an unusual situation here. Unfortunately the grand father is disabled after a stroke and the grand mother is an alcoholic who regularly gets drunk and beats the boy. Steven had run away the previous day to his aunt 5 kilometres away. He is malnourished and has Stage 3 HIV. He needs to start ARVs. His grand father accepted he could not care for him and was searching for help. Isaac is a big man but as soon as he walked in to the room you could feel the tension disappear from Steven. Isaac just wrapped him in his arms and gently talked to him.This little boy relaxed and you realised he felt safe at last. It was very moving. It was agreed that he would go to the family spirit centre and live there. He will be looked after and receive an education. Hopefully he will respond to ARVs.