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News from our CMS link Mission Partner, Toks Akinbadewa - June 2006
Toks works with CMS (the Church Mission Society) and is based at Kagando Hospital near Kasese in south-west Uganda, near the border with Congo. She has been working there since May 2001 and is nurse in charge of the paediatric ward.
How gifts from Immanuel are helping Kagando Hospital.
When Toks came to see us in October 2004 she told us that she needed something called a suction machine for the children's ward where she is in charge. So, in November 2004 the Junior Church raised the money for it. They held a sponsored silence one Sunday morning - and raised over £120!
But getting the money to Toks proved almost harder than raising it in the first place! Communication with the hospital was very difficult. Letters can take months to arrive and often do not get there at all. It was not until September 2005—nearly a year later—that we were told how to get the money to Toks, via a UK bank account. It took almost as long again—until May 2006—before we could confirm to Toks that we had paid it in and she could confirm the hospital had received it—and then it was only possible because at last the hospital has some up to date communications facilities with mobile phones and e-mail. This is what Toks said in her e-mail:
'Have managed to trace a sum of £200 put into the hospital account on the 13th of September [2005]. ..... Could this be you? If it is, someone is going up to Kampala early next week and will be able to get the much needed suction machine.'
The details Toks gave showed that this was indeed the money we had paid in—we had added some tax recoveries and rounded up the £120 to £200. Soon Toks was able to tell us:
'Benson [Canon Benson Baguma, the Director] went to Kampala earlier in the week and has been able to purchase a suction machine. The exchange rate has been favorable so that we have been able to purchase a set of baby weighting scales for the delivery suite on the Maternity ward as well! Actually the suction machine will also be based there, as checking their resuscitation equipment, I realised they were in an even more desperate situation than the paediatric ward. They have 5 premature babies at the moment and with the number of deliveries they conduct they need a functioning suction machine to clear the airways of the babies or it could lead to them being asphyxiated.',
So Toks has at last got the suction machine, paid for by the money the Junior Church raised! Toks has sent some photos and the top photo on the right shows Harriet, midwife in charge of the maternity unit, with the suction machine purchased with the gift from Immanuel. So we can see what it looks like!
But that isn't the end of the story......
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We also collected for Toks for our Gift Day in 2005. We were waiting to make sure the first lot of money arrived safely before we sent any more, but now we were able to tell Toks there was another £1300 to come! This is what she told us:
'Our maternity unit is in a terrible state. We got some money to do some renovations to the delivery suite, but we will still need some new delivery beds and most important a theatre trolley. The trolley we have at the moment is so old that all the padding has worn out and mothers often bang their heads down on the bars. Also it is at a fixed high height which is a challenge for getting into for anyone let alone mothers about to have C sections (we have an average of 50 a month).
I am trying to find out the costs of a new theatre trolley. ..... I hope we will be able to get one with an adjustable height, so I suspect could cost up to £1000.
It's been six years since the midwife in charge, Harriet, .....requested..... a new trolley. This one has been patched up and mended several times. It would be fantastic if the money you send could go towards this. If there is any left over, it could be used towards delivery beds.'
Once Toks had been told the money had been paid in she wrote:
'Thank you for the money paid towards the trolley for the maternity unit. Will keep you posted on our success in getting one.'
So watch out for the next instalment of the story!
Among the photos Toks sent are two the present trolley. The second photo on the right shows that there is just no padding over the metal bars on the trolley! The left photo at the bottom shows Harriet again, this time with a mother lying on the trolley. The mother had just had a Caesarean section, and doesn't look very comfortable!
The bottom right photo shows locally made incubators used for the premature babies born in the maternity unit.
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© Photographs copyright Toks Akinbadewa 2006.
You can learn more about Toks by going to our Mission Partner page, where you can also read or download her "link letters".
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