A hundred pairs of gumboots

Back in February, our community health workers’ (CHWs) regular monthly meeting had a talk from Gloria, a visitor from Kampala. Gloria works for Uganda Protestant Medical Bureau (UPMB), an umbrella organisation that acts as advocate, fundraiser, advisor and much more to mission hospitals and health centres all over Uganda. UPMB also provides essential services to green Mission Partners needing to get their air freight through customs, Ugandan nurse registration, and other bureaucratic nightmares. (For those of you with long memories of our blog, Anne’s nurse registration is still not confirmed, though we are promised the precious piece of paper in the next month or so….)

Gloria had come to ask us to evaluate some health education posters that have been produced for this region, in the local language. Their message was about family planning, and the whole thing was part of a project on sexual and reproductive health financed, in part, by the UK Big Lottery (no comment!). But the highlight of Gloria’s visit was some freebies for the CHWs – tee shirts and caps, all bearing a suitable message about empowering women, wearing condoms, accompanying your wife to the labour ward or other such worthy sentiment. There was only one problem – Gloria had expected twenty CHWs, but there were actually nearly one hundred people in the room. This was a major disaster.

CHWs are essentially volunteers – they receive no remuneration for their work, but after two weeks’ training deliver all manner of health advice in their own villages, hand out free malaria tablets for children, mobilise communities to take part in immunization campaigns, perform drama shows about HIV/AIDS, organise video shows … the list is endless. Their only reward is the occasional tee shirt. Twenty tee shirts and twenty caps does not divide at all well between a hundred poor people, for whom these were relative riches. But Gloria said no problem, there were more supplies at UPMB if only someone could come to Kampala and collect them (just 500km away…). The CHWs refused to take any of the goods until everyone could have them – and nobody was willing to take the responsibility of looking after them in the meantime for fear of being accused of allowing ‘leakage’ – the euphemism for corruption. So the muzungu (that’s me) was asked to take care of the goods until there were enough to go around, as well as being charged with collecting the additional ones.

However when I went to UPMB a couple of weeks later it became clear that the extra tee shirts and caps were still at the factory – in fact they might not be ready till April! So March’s meeting found me apologising for my failure to collect the goods. April’s meeting was similarly unrewarded but the next time we were in Kampala, at the end of April, a phonecall from Gloria told me the much awaited goods were available at last. Oh, and by the way – there were also one hundred pairs of gumboots (wellingtons to you and me)!

Knowing the delight they would cause back at Kuluva, we went to pick up the said tee-shirts, caps and gumboots. But our courage failed us when we saw the size and felt the weight of the four huge sacks they were packed in. We already had a car full of various workbooks and other goods for Ringili, and some essential foodstuffs for ourselves that are only available in the fleshpots of Kampala. But for Allan it was a challenge not to be shirked. Despite pouring rain, and helped by a couple of porters from UPMB who were a bit cynical, he packed, re-packed, pushed and shoved until finally emerging victorious with the doors shut, but only just!

So last Monday the glorious day came – one hundred CHWs received their new clothes and immediately donned them all – the photos tell the rest of the story.