Day 3 - Part 2: Old friends, new partnerships, and notable changes.
Today started with a visit to old friends at Mildmay Uganda. Though we share a name, Mildmay Uganda has been fully independent for over 12 years. What they’ve accomplished since then is truly impressive.
They’ve expanded the hospital into a centre for education and healing, and their joint courses with the University of Manchester are highly respected.
We discussed the possibility of a new partnership between Mildmay UK and Mildmay Uganda, the concept of which was enthusiastically received. Without getting into too much detail, we hope to establish a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) involving multiple organisations across Uganda and Kenya. This could be an exciting next step in our work together.
After the meeting, we began the long journey to Mbale. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about travelling in Uganda, it’s that road trips are unpredictable. The drive from Kampala to Mbale can take anywhere from five to nine hours - our trip took seven. While long and challenging, I was grateful to arrive at the hotel to find my booking in place and my room ready!
One thing that stood out during the journey was the growing presence of China. Chinese investment can be seen in everything from infrastructure to utilities, and they have built communities for their workers, with exclusive shopping malls. However, their impact on the poorest communities seems to be minimal. Despite large-scale investments, there is little evidence that the health and wellbeing of Uganda’s most vulnerable people are improving as a result.
Hopefully, this will change, but for now, the benefits seem largely confined to the infrastructure that China is developing.
Time to rest and prepare for tomorrow.
Geoff Coleman
Chief Executive
Mildmay Hospital
See Geoff's previous Muzungu blog posts here:
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Mzungu, also known as muzungu, mlungu, musungu or musongo, is a Bantu word that means "wanderer" originally pertaining to spirits. The term is currently used in predominantly Swahili-speaking nations to refer to foreign people dating back to the 18th century. The noun Mzungu or its variants are used in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Comoros, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mayotte, Zambia and in Northern Madagascar (the word changed to "vozongo" in Malagasy, but locals will still understand the word mzungu) dating back to the 18th century.
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