contraception

The community called Kito is situated in a very swampy area where large holes have been dug for brick making, but have subsequently become filled with water making the inhabitants very susceptible to malaria. .The people there have a lot of young children who are especially vulnerable to malaria, but the poverty there preclude the purchasing of mosquito nets.A need for contraceptive instruction was rather obvious.
So we organised a morning of instruction with questions and answers, the date was set, but unfortunately the
community pastor decided he would not allow us to use his church premises as he felt contraception was not a good idea.In fact as a result of the good pastor donating part of his church roof to a needy person in his parish , and the deluges ofthe rainy season had caused the church floor to become a quagmire , something akin to walking across a freshly ploughed field in winter which made it unusable anyway.We finally found some partially constructed houses we could use as a venue, but come the day we heard that a local official had not given us permission as a major road is planned to be constructedin the area. I was at a loss to find the relevant connection between the two issues!  So I visited the official and got a reassurance that the meeting would not be cancelled next time. Indeed it was a success three days later lots of ladies came
and some decided there and then to have the treatment, which consisted of an injection in a secluded area where their husbands could not see them.This week we wanted to offer the same opportunity in a different part of the community. We first had to liaise with another official who felt we should give him some money. The ladies in the team responded to him in their own language, which I did not understand, but the outcome was that no money passed hands and the chairman offered his garage as a makeshift surgery to see patients, and duly moved his car from within. This was very helpful and another first for me-a surgery in a garage.
I had the pleasure of meeting a lady who had adopted a two year old boy with Downs syndrome, he so reminded me of Sam at that age, mum and I spoke for some time as she spoke good English.

Four days later Doctor Sheilah from Wellspring and I went to the garage hoping this time to give contraceptive advice. On the way we met a lady carrying her child who expressed a wish to receive contraception there and now. This was slightly difficult as we were in a public street. Fortunately ther are many unfinished buildings in the community so we escorted her into one in order to give her some privacy. We asked her a few medical questions and checked her blood pressure. Finally some pills were given, we turned to depart and saw that behind us had been a gathering group of inquisitive youngsters
onlooking! The lady seemed totally unconcerned confidential in Uganda doesn't seem to be the some issue as it is in the UK.
Unfortunately no ladies arrived at the chairman's garage for our talk , but word had spread that we were present and another informal medical clinic evolved that morning. At the end we were about to depart when a group of stern looking young men and a policeman with an accompanying nonuniform gentleman carrying a truncheon. They spoke Lugandan which I didn't understand, but the medical team I was with seemed unconcerned. " What was that about ?" I asked, apparently they'd been dealing with some disputed land and afterwards had drifted over, being curious as to our activities in the garage.