Look what I missed!

Cornerstone is on the foot slopes of a range of mountains called the Imatong Mountains.  They form a border with Uganda with the River Nile winding through them on its way north.  When I consulted my Sudan guidebook before I came here, it informed me that these mountains are still largely unmapped.  However, the part nearest to Nimule is a designated national park with a large herd of elephants who migrate to and fro between the park and Uganda, crossing the Nile on their way.  There is also a very dramatic series of waterfalls called the Fulaa Falls.  ‘Fulaa’ means Living Water.  It is also the name of the charity that supports Cornerstone.

View of the Imatong Mountains (Google image)

Given the state of the country, Nimule National Park is not yet on the international tourist map.  Although things are peaceful here, there are still land mines from the civil war.  There are also bandits.  So any trip there must be made with great caution.

I searched the internet to find decent information, but there is very little.  Here is someone else's blog description. 

Pastor Abdullah told me one day that he was planning to take the children on a trip to the national park and to see the falls.  To do this he wheedled free entry from the rangers.  He booked the use of a truck to transport all the children.  He also asked for a military escort in case of trouble.  To my great disappointment I was unable to go because I was still too weak following malaria.  The children promised to tell me all about it.

This was a major event as it is extremely rare for the children go on an outing.  They had a wonderful day out.  They took a goat with them and cooked roast goat as a picnic beside the falls.  One little girl told me that they saw monkeys and a white family with twins!  Both equally amazing.  The falls impressed them all very much too.

The icing on the cake for the staff was that the truck was pursued from Nimule by a car containing a very important government figure from Juba.  When they arrived at the park, he hurried over to ask if the children came from Cornerstone Children’s Home.  When told that they did, he said that he had seen a film about the home last year on TV and had wanted to find them.  He then produced a large amount of money and handed it over as a donation.

Our clinic

This week has been my baptism in malaria.  It is surprising that it has taken over a year to strike me as malaria is the most common illness here, akin to the common cold in Britain, but considerably more serious.  It is a much bigger killer than Ebola.  The week before, a twenty year old relative of our matron died of it, which gives a flavour that it is not just the old or sick who are in danger.

Before I arrived last year I was told that the home was trying to start a really good clinic for our children and also for the outside community.  This has been a major struggle because of lack of funding.  When I came there was one nurse operating from a small room, with some drugs and the facilities to put people on a drip, but very little beyond that.  Sometimes she had to send children to the hospital, which is also very poor.  The practical advantage of the clinic at that time was mainly to avoid having to free up a member of staff to stay with the child in hospital.  The reality of third world hospitals is lack of nursing provision.  If a family member does not accompany the patient, there will be nobody to provide food, bathing or nursing care.  You can die of neglect in hospital.

Advertising poster

During the last few months the home has managed to expand its clinic staffing to include a laboratory technician and an additional nurse.  As word has spread, there has been an increase in members of the local community using the clinic.  Prices are kept artificially low to encourage people to take the service seriously, but not to drive people away.

The other great improvement, is in regular monitoring of our children’s health.  They all now have individual medical record books.  I have been told that their overall health is already improving.

Our lab technician is working hard to look for ways to get reliable electricity, buy a fridge and stock the many medications and vaccines which require refrigeration.  If this can be achieved, we will have the only clinic in the town which can do this.  Currently people have to make a four hour road trip into Uganda along very poor roads to a good, but still third world, hospital.

It was lovely to be able to remain in my own bed.  As my malaria was not responding to treatment at first, they were even able to set up a drip in my room and give me stronger treatment.  Travelling while so ill would have been unbearable.

Roll on the day we achieve electricity and a fridge for the clinic.