Bridge 2 Aid : 'Restoring Smiles - Changing Lives'

The women from Wafhadili have moved out and are living in the ‘dining room’ as temporary accommodation whilst the painting is taking place. It’s great to see the walls brighten up as the fresh coat of paint goes on. The painting should be finished by the beginning of next week and a final clean and fumigation will take place before the women can move back in. They are such a happy bunch of ladies and don’t mind being temporarily re housed whilst we are finishing off the work.

Fay (education coordinator, pictured) continues with her assessment of the community and is doing some great work establishing which kids are related to who and where they live – realising that many of them actually live in the village and not the centre but are related to people suffering with leprosy. It’s a really interesting exercise and will provide us with useful data once it’s complete.

Andie, John and I attended a large City Council meeting on Thursday to discuss the street community here in Mwanza, known as the ‘Ombaomba’ (beggars) or Maskini as we have referred to them before. It was a big meeting with about 50 people from varying walks of life in Mwanza and the aim was to discuss how we can assist this community to move from the streets and back to their families. B2A were asked to be part of a future planning committee which is great news and opens up our next phase of work here in Mwanza. (JT)

Tuesday was a busy day at Bukumbi with the usual weekly food delivery, Fay continuing with her research with the children and families, final checks and finishing touches in Wafhadili and Dr Simon Ernst (pictured) our locum dentist carrying out treatments in the clinic room.  Simon treated 12 people and we are going back next week with another locum to see the remaining few needing treatment. Hopefully next year Dr Julius the clinical Officer will attend the Dental Volunteer Programme to be trained in emergency dental care and safe extractions. He will then be able to provide the community at Bukumbi with on going care.

Wafhadili now looks like a different place – as we walked through it was strange it feeling so different, it really is just the final touches now, washing the sheets and mosquito nets and final cleaning. The fumigator is coming to get rid of as many of the bugs as possible before the women move back in.  Andie chatted to the women about keeping it clean and tidy and how this is their responsibility. They were very responsive so lets hope it works! (JT)

Water water everywhere!

As I arrived on Tuesday at Bukumbi with Fay, John and another locum Dr Aisha Alshawaf I was greeted with huge smile from the ladies in Wafhadili. Several of them came over and took my hand to show me their new rooms. They showed me their new cupboards and then proudly sat on their beds. The pictures are of Maria and Katarina who couldn’t stop smiling! It’s great to see them back in their home.

The water supply at Bukumbi has been an ongoing problem for sometime now but at long last the pipe that was blocked has been found and cleared of roots and sand and replaced with a new one. So now the water is flowing with good pressure to the centre – the only problem is that nearly all the pipes and taps are leaking as the water pressure is so good almost too good! So myself, Sr Anna and our fundi (workman) Fulgence went round all of the buildings yesterday to find nearly every one with a leak of some kind or another!  Sr Anna gave Fulgence a lift back into town where he bought lots of taps and rubber rings to stop the leaks! It should all be fixed this week. Then the next stage is to start investigating why the water supply has stopped to the toilet blocks. We are assuming that it will be something similar and that the pipe is blocked – but you never know! (JT)

Back to Basics

Dr Aisha (pictured) certainly went back to basics on Tuesday when she saw and treated 12 people at Bukumbi for dental problems. Most of them had one or more teeth extracted and one was refereed to Hope Dental Centre for further treatment. Taking teeth out at Bukumbi is a new experience for most of our locums – no fancy dental chairs or equipment just a dining room chair (usually a bit wobbly!), some anaesthetic and extraction forceps. One of our nurses from Hope Dental Centre always comes to assist and together they do a great job. As most of us know toothache can cause so much discomfort and pain so it is great to be able to offer the community at Bukumbi this pain relieving treatment and bring the two aspects of Bridge2aid’s work together. (JT)

This week the renovations in Wafadhili are complete with the final addition being ramps at both entrances to enable the women to get in and out more easily, considering many of the women crawl around on their hands and knees the ramps will be very much appreciated!  Today we spent some time explaining to the ladies from Wafadhili the importance of cleaning the dormitory regularly, and 3 ladies were elected as Mama Afya – health representatives – 2 of them are pictured.  They were given an assortment of mops, brooms and cleaning equipment and took their responsibilities very seriously.

We also met an elderly man called Tito Joseph who unfortunately has been living in the toilet/shower room of Majumbe dormitory for the last year.  The reasons for this are complex, suffice to say it wasn’t an acceptable situation, especially since the improved water pressure over the last week has filled the toilet next to where he sleeps.  Today Simba will buy him a mattress, sheets, blanket, pillow and net so that tomorrow he can move into one of the vacant places in Sijaona dormitory.

This week is half term so I took the children with me on my weekly visit and they enjoyed playing football with the village/centre children, greeting the elderly residents and seeing how the renovations have progressed.  Afterwards they said they had enjoyed meeting their friends again at Bukumbi. (AW)

This week at Bukumbi was another busy and productive one.

As it has been mentioned before the water system at Bukumbi is in need of some major repair, and on Tuesday we spent the afternoon walking around the site with a local business man who specialises in water / piping supplies and gave the site a full assessment. It was an eye opening experience to see the way some of the old pipes are just about holding out and how some of the work that has been carried out recently was not to as high a standard as was first thought. We walked around the centre, went down to the pump house and up to the water storage tank. Over the next month we hope to develop a fuller picture and begin setting a project plan for the future – this is going to be a big project and will need the support of fundraising both in the UK and here in Mwanza.

Then on Wednesday we held our monthly planning meeting, we had not met as a group since July so used this opportunity following recent discussions with Social Welfare to review the purpose of the meeting. We also took some steps forward following the recent workshop /seminar that was held at Bukumbi looking at Community Based rehabilitation and the re-integration of the community into village life.

We have established 2 new community groups and will strengthen 3 existing ones that will all now meet monthly and feed back into the planning meeting every other month. The committees are Water, Health, Land / Buildings, Education and Community Development. It feels like real progress and the challenge for B2A is to keep the momentum of these meetings going and to ensure they are fully community focused.  (JT)

I never thought I would get so excited about watching a toilet flush, but today when Charles pulled the chain for the inaugural flush on the toilets inside Sijaona and Wafadhili, the sight of water gushing down the pan was a sight to behold!  Finally, and for the moment at least, we can cross the problem of the toilets not flushing off our ‘jobs to do’ list!

Now that the renovation work for Wafadhili dormitory is finished it is time to look at the rest of the buildings to think and plan ahead, as Jo and I walked around with Charles we talked with members of the community asking them how they were and what issues they were currently facing.  Although the remaining buildings do need extensive repairs, they are not in the poor state that the first two were in so there is no urgency to begin work straightaway.  As always the final decision about where to start will be made in partnership with the community at Bukumbi and the government.

It was a joy to see a new resident at Bukumbi making her room into a home.  Mama Tabu and her elderly mother/carer moved into a room in Lwango dormitory last week and were given a mattress and sheets each by Sister Anna.  They had been renting a nearby mud hut which was in a very bad state of repair, but now they are living at Bukumbi they will be safe and dry and have basic amenities such as sanitation, food and shelter provided for them. (AW)