CMS Ireland Ken and Judith Finch

The First Lady

2010-06-20T00:00:00Z

In the end the First Lady – Mrs Janet Museveni was detained with her husband President Yoweri Museveni in Karamoja in the north east of Uganda. She did send a very able repesentative who read her speech which was very personal and complimentary for the work over many years at Kiwoko.

The most important thing however was that despite the rain we had a great day at Kiwoko and many friends and visitors from our donor ISIS were able to be at Kiwoko to see the new maternity and neonatal intensive are unit operating.

The facilities at Kiwoko continue to develop as more importantly does the care offered to our patients.

God continues to be at work in Kiwoko

2010 so far…

2010-03-23T00:00:00Z

If you are reading this, thanks for not giving up on our blog. Thanks too to those of you who have posted comments. We enjoyed reading them and appreciated them.

We share with you a few snippets and updates of life in Kiwoko since the start of the year:

JANUARY

The yearly Bible conference took place from the 19th January to 23rd January. If you would like to see photos of the conference you can visit Steven Sizers webpage.

January much to Ken’s relief saw the recruitment of Joseph, the new Finance Officer (see photo on the right). Joseph has been a great addition to the team bringing much life and enthusiasm . Increasingly Ken has been able to delegate responsibilities to Joseph freeing himself up to focus on other areas of work.

Pray for Joseph as he continues to settle in and as he balances further accountancy studies with work.

For the past four years January has become a much awaited month for the children attending the HIV clinic –formely ‘Hayashi’ now renamed ‘Afaayo’, meaning ‘He cares’ in Luganda. This years trip was to a Fun Fair in Kampala. A totally new experience for the children as well as many of the adult leaders and helpers and much enjoyed by all (- you can see photos from the day on the right). It continues to be a time of ‘choked up’ moments as you see the childrens’ reactions to the things we so often take for granted. The sight of a rather large policeman caused comment and amusement too. They are not used to seeing ‘fat’ people in their own villages!

When it came to snacks, William who heads up this work suggested we do something ‘different’ for the children that they would remember and talk about for a long time to come …I wondered what this would be…’let’s buy them ice-creams’ he said. As the children were finishing up eating a bag was passed around so they could put their ‘rubbish’ in. Most of them chose to hold onto their little tubs and wooden spoons so they could show their families when they got home…

FEBRUARY

In February we enjoyed a month back in the UK to visit family. Since it was short lived we quite enjoyed the novelty of the cold weather and the ‘nice’ things that go with it: pretty snow, open fires…We are thankful for some great times with friends and family and various family reunions.

Back in Kiwoko…plenty of sunshine and hot weather, some rain but not as much as people would want for their crops.

This year would see us coming to the end of our contract in Kiwoko. We are uncertain at this stage of our future plans but lots of thinking and praying going on.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

Mission Team: the next team to join us in Kiwoko is from St Mary’s Chruch, London. From 2nd –9th April. For over 10 years a team has been visiting the hospital and worked alongside the hospital Mission Team. They usually have a packed week’s programme involving outreach both within and outside the hospital. This year’s team is small – five members and many of them with backgrounds in children’s ministries as well as preaching, teaching and prayer ministry. They will be involved in schools outreach, training of Sunday school leaders and children’s workers as well as Bible teaching and evangelism.

Please pray for both the hospital and visiting mission teams. For preparations and the programme and that people would be challenged and built up in their faith.

Grand Opening: You have heard much about the new maternity and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit…May 19th all being well will see the official opening. We are preparing for many visitors around that date and on the day including a large entourage from the donors in the ISIS foundation who have funded this work.

Please pray for all the preparations for the day and the ongoing care that is provided to mothers and babies through this unit.

Reflecting on another year....

2009-12-15T00:00:00Z

Dear friends,

We thank God for bringing us safely to the end of another year in Kiwoko.Each year brings with it its highs and lows – we shared some of these in our last link letter. We look back with gratitude to God for His continued and faithful provision for us as well as the hospital.

The latter part of this year has seen the hospital… open the doors of its new maternity unit and in the last couple of weeks the opening of the new baby intensive care unit. The hospital’s first two-storey staff accommodation block is also complete.
Everyone is glad for the additional space but these developments bring with them additional workload and demands.

On the social side…the ‘Kiwoko Chase’ 16km run and Fun Day in September was a big success and made extra special by the presence of many long-standing friends and supporters from outside the hospital.

To keep up the running momentum a small group of us registered for the recent Kampala 10km run. Another good day, but with 20,000 participants it was more of a walk than a run!

Personally… we have enjoyed the occasional weekend away but recognize the need for a proper break soon. Shortage of staff in the Finance department has meant considerable additional workload for Ken and his colleagues.

Judith is happy to report that alongside looking after the students and visitors programmes she has continued to get opportunities here and there to do a little OT both within the hospital and in the community. She has recently joined a sign language course. Both of us continue to work on our Luganda.

All being well in February we hope to make a short visit home to spend some time with our families.

And so this is Christmas…. This Sunday saw us attending a candle lit carol service in Namirembe Cathedral in Kampala. As we take time to consider Christmas we are reminded of Jesus coming into this world and were reflecting on how Jesus lived his life on earth. Many of us like the idea of booking time off or a holiday so we have something to work towards and look forward to, the thought of a break or a change keeps us going and perhaps for some it is the goal. How wonderful to know as Christians that through Jesus we have Heaven and Eternity to look forward. May we be challenged this Christmas to live our lives as Christ did …with a heavenly perspective ‘ ….Let us fix our eyes on Jesus…who for the joy set before him endured the cross…’ (Heb 12:2). Christ endured what he had to in the knowledge that the best was yet to come.

As ever, this comes with our thanks for your continued care and support.

Please pray for:

Preparations for the Bible Conference in January

Ongoing financial needs for the hospital

Recruitment of key finance personnel and doctors

Our personal and spiritual growth and refreshment

We send our love and prayers for a Happy Christmas and for strength, joy and peace in the year ahead.

Ken and Judith

Running the race together...reflection from Kiwoko

2009-12-08T00:00:00Z

Training for long distance runs often seems to prompt people to reflect on ‘running the race’. This has certainly been the case with our recent ‘Kiwoko Chase’ – a 16km run and Fun Day for the hospital. For Judith, running has never been a big feature of life, so a 10-mile run was a somewhat daunting challenge. As many of us went into strict training, it caused us to think about our own spiritual walk and journey.

What a difference it makes when you have someone to train with, who you feel accountable to, who offers words of encouragement, who keeps you going when you think you can’t run any further.

During the last leg of the run when the heat and tiredness were kicking in and my run had slowed down to a walk, a voice from behind shouted, “They are about to overtake you!” Seconds later, two student nurses appeared, running on either side of me and saying, “We are not competitors, we are just morale boosters.” Immediately, my walk turned back to a run and the nurses accompanied me the rest of the way to the finish line. How wonderful when someone chooses to run alongside you just to accompany you because they care, because they want you to do well, because they want to see you keep going.

Many visitors pass through Kiwoko Hospital and they frequently ask us what our roles are in the hospital. We naturally jump to explaining (or at least trying to explain) the day-to-day jobs we ‘do’, but in actual fact for us, as Christians, it goes much deeper than that.

As we reflect on our ‘roles’ as Mission Partners over the past four years, we see that much of our time is actually spent ‘being’ with people, making ourselves available, drawing alongside people, accompanying them on their journey.

In our daily life at Kiwoko, our paths cross with people from all walks of life, at different stages of their journey. These people have vastly different needs: the colleague who has just been diagnosed with HIV; the hospital driver who was the victim of a deliberate acid burn attack; the housekeeper who comes to work with a swollen eye, having just been beaten by her husband for not balancing the cooking pot properly on the fire and then not putting enough salt in the food; the overseas medical student who is homesick; the mother who has lost her ten-month old baby from severe dehydration after they chose to treat the child with local herbs rather than come to hospital; the parents who are rejoicing in the birth of their newborn baby; the medical elective student who has witnessed, for the first time, a death of child simply through lack of resources; the students who are celebrating success in their exams.

We are called to ‘rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn’. What a privilege to accompany people in their walk through life, whether for a day, a week, a few months or years, be it to laugh with them, cry with them, listen to them or offer advice and practical support.

Often there are no easy answers or solutions to an individual’s situation – but we are simply called to be available and ‘present’ for someone as a friend, or a parent figure.

Much of Jesus’ ministry was about being with people. We believe that we’ve been called to Kiwoko to do likewise. Let us not underestimate the impact and importance of being involved in what my father, a long-term missionary, referred to as a ‘ministry of availability’.

Wherever we are based, let us seek to invest time to be with people, to draw alongside them, to bring something of Christ’s light to them. There is no shortage of spiritual darkness in the surrounding Kiwoko community…theft, gossip, witchcraft, child sacrifices, sexual immorality, child abuse…God wants to shed His light in the dark places and to bring healing and transformation.

We are grateful to the many people who have chosen to invest time in us and to walk with us on our journey here in Kiwoko, be it those back home, those who have been visited us here or the friends we have made in our local community.

As we all share in a ministry of reaching out to people with God’s love and truth, may we seek to invest time in others. Let us show encouragement and support to those who are struggling in their own race and offer a new direction to those who have lost their way. Let us draw alongside people and bring Christ’s light to those who don’t know love in their lives.

As someone once said, “People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Ken & Judith Finch

People (contd)

2009-08-03T00:00:00Z

Florence and Grace

Florence was a young lady who arrived at Kiwoko Hospital having been referred from a local Health Care facility because of a complication during labour. Her journey to Kiwoko was about 80 km and involved coming over some very poor roads. Sadly Florence’s situation is not untypical for a Ugandan lady – she was HIV +ve, she already had 5 children and lived a considerable distance from a good healthcare provider.

Her baby – Grace – was born at Kiwoko but weighed only 2kg at birth. Grace was immediately transferred to our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. She remained on the NICU for 3 weeks where she received round the clock care and treatment.

Florence was admitted as an in-patient as she remained extremely weak. She deteriorated further and subsequently sadly died at the hospital.

Kiwoko Hospital has a close relationship with New Hope Orphanage just a few kilometres away from Kiwoko. New Hope agreed to take Grace into their baby unit when she was strong enough to leave the hospital. She is now brought back regularly to the NICU for assessment as she grows and then at 18 months she will be tested for HIV.

The story of Florence and Grace is a mixed one – it reflects the reality of life in Uganda where for many life is hard with a life expectancy of only about 45 years. However because of the care provided by Kiwoko Grace’s life was saved and for her she has a real hope for the future.

Every day similar people are receiving such care from Kiwoko…

People

2009-07-30T00:00:00Z

Henry

Henry is 15 years old and lives in a village close to Kiwoko. He is a P7 pupil and enjoys school and does well in his studies. He loves playing football and hopes to become a teacher one day. However, Henry’s life has not always been so happy and successful. Like many young people around the world, Henry suffers from epilepsy. Until he began receiving treatment at Kiwoko Hospital, this condition threatened to destroy his life. Henry has been attending the weekly epilepsy clinic at Kiwoko Hospital for 4 years now, and the story of how his life has been transformed is a remarkable one.

At the time Henry was diagnosed with epilepsy he was experiencing constant fitting. He would fit an average of 20 times a day, and the fits would be major. Clearly with the severity of his condition, attending school became nearly impossible, and as a result he fell behind in his studies. He wasn’t able to help his family with work around the house, and the burden fell upon his parents to care for him completely. Initially, they tried to help him, but were unable to reduce the number or severity of his fitting. Henry’s epilepsy also began to have a damaging effect on the rest of his body. One day, he was helping his mother by cooking some food over the fire. Whilst this was happening, Henry had a serious fit. This fit caused Henry’s foot to fall into the fire. During a fit, an epilepsy sufferer has no control over their muscles so Henry was unable to remove his foot from the fire. This caused severe burning, pain and damage to his foot, which now requires corrective surgery. At that time the situation had become so serious that his parents brought him to Kiwoko Hospital for treatment. Epilepsy is a manageable condition and when they came to hospital they found out about a clinic for people suffering from epilepsy. Henry registered at the clinic and began receiving medication.

Today, 4 years after he began attending clinic, Henry’s life is restored. His fits have reduced to only once a month, and he now is able to attend school again and do all the things that he loves doing. His life has been transformed and he is full of hope for the future. Henry is one of 170 epilepsy sufferers receiving treatment through the hospital clinic.

Back on line...

2009-07-29T00:00:00Z

We were never really away…

But we have not been in touch very much of late.

We would like to say a huge thank you to many individuals and churches who have supported Kiwoko through a very difficult time financially over the course of the past 12 months. We thank God for the continued provision for the work at Kiwoko.

A couple of recent stories about how people are being helped at Kiwoko shows the continued need for services here. Over the next few days we would like to share a few of those stories with you – so please keep reading.

Thank you all for the continued support and God bless you.

Life in Uganda

2009-01-27T00:00:00Z

On Sunday Kiwoko Town sent various sports teams to a town about 70 km north of us called Ngoma. It was a big group that went including some members of the Kiwoko Hospital community. They played a number of competitions including football and pool. By all accounts it was a good day and people really enjoyed themselves. The football in particular was exciting as Kiwoko had been 2:0 down but came back to earn a 2:2 draw. Some people it seems had too good a day and as usual most people were packed into vehicles on the journey. A pick up truck was carrying 20 people in the open back. This is acceptable in Uganda even though if you sit inside you must be wearing a seat belt! – such are the contradictions here.

The driver of the pick-up was also a bit worse for wear it seems but fortunately the local District Police Commander had gone with the party and having seen the amount he had drunk had instructed him not to drive his vehicle. However when the DPC was out of sight he got in and started driving back to Kiwoko. A few kms out of Ngoma and near tragedy struck – they met a Charcoal lorry on the road (literally) and people in the back of the pick up were scattered across the road.

The injured were taken to the Health Centre in Ngoma only 6 km back but they also alerted the hospital and we sent an ambulance. Sadly when they reached the Government Health Centre very few drugs or other materials were in stock and little was done there – a common story in Uganda. Our ambulance brought back the most serious cases that night to Kiwoko and people were operated on and treated accordingly here – in fact the medical team reacted fantastically well to the situation.

What does this one incident say about Uganda and Kiwoko – well it demonstrated the difference between care provided at Kiwoko and other health facilities; it shows some of the ridiculousness of travel when people in vehicles must have seat belts but 20 people can happily crush into the back of a pick up truck and of course the standard of driving in Uganda leaves a lot to be desired.

Leaving on a jet plane

2008-12-02T00:00:00Z

It is hard to believe that we have been back in the UK for five months and the time has come again to pack our bags and say our good byes. We head back to Uganda on Tuesday 2nd. We will welcome the warm weather !

It is always sad to say good bye but we also look forward to the time ahead and seeing what God has in store back in Uganda.

We look back on our time back home with gratutude for all we have been able to see and do. It has been so special to spend time with family and friends and renew old acquaintances. And there are always more people we would like to have seen.

We value your prayers as we settle back to life and work in Kiwoko.

Marathon photos

2008-11-30T00:00:00Z

Have a quick look over at the photos on the right to see how things went during the Dublin marathon…