no rest for the wicked

After 18 months in Haiti, my ‘time out’ seems to have been very short as I now find myself in the North-West of Uganda, at the Hope Health Action (HHA)  Disability Centre in Bidi-Bidi, once the worlds largest refugee camp, as a result of conflict in South Sudan.  With travel taking essentially 3 days each way, and three or so weeks in-country that’ll take care of October.

HHA’s mission is to provide life saving health and disability care for the worlds most vulnerable.  It started with a Maternity Clinic in Haiti in 2007, which is now a 100-bed multi-disciplinary hospital.  Incidentally if you are keeping up with world events, you will be aware that Haiti is in a pretty bad way at the moment.  So I’m very proud to be able to say that the hospital, HCBH, is one of the very few facilities that is beating the current fuel crisis.  My great friend Rob is at the heart of it, recently leading the team there to install a whole new bunch of solar panels, meaning our Maternity and NICU units can remain open indefinitely!

Anyway, on with the story, in 2016 HHA opened up a second operation on the Uganda-South Sudan border.  Initially distributing Wheelchairs and providing Physiotherapy services, there is now a Prosthetics and Orthotics Department and a really innovative food programme.  This gives refugees a small plot of land, tools, seeds, and in the short term food until their crops can be harvested.

The CEO has been badgering me to come to East Africa, for well over a year now, but I had to finish what I started in Haiti first – though I am still helping out remotely.  So here I am, with a pretty thin brief; to help with finances and mentor the locally employed Centre manager.