Laurence and Mairi

We are delighted to receive news together with some great pictures from Laurence and Mairi working in Kabale, Uganda.
Laurence and Mairi are setting up a system in Rugarama Health Centre in Uganda, so that uninterrupted power can be provided. Their hospital has babies in incubators, and operating theatre, and uninterrupted power is critical. A previous collection from Hilton Church went a long way towards the cost of the necessary battery & inverter. However £1600 is still required to pay it off. If you feel this is something you’d like to support, and if you can afford to give, please email Ken Walker.

We're baith daein' awa'.

In many ways our wee health centre is like a family, so it is good when everyone is pulling in the same direction (this seldom happens in practice.)
The remaining batteries for the inverter system arrived just at the weekend, so we shall be busy installing that over the next couple of days. Essentially it will be there to 'fill in the gaps' when mains power fails - though it will also take over if mains voltage goes too high or low. All our life-support equipment (mostly oxygen concentrators and 2 incubators) are connected directly to the inverter circuit. They should receive an uninterrupted power supply (until the batteries are depleted.) When the mains returns the inverter becomes a charger and charges the batteries. We may consider increasing the battery bank so that it will be able to cover longer power outages and will conserve the life of all the batteries. We do have generators, but they are problematic. They have to be started at all times of day or night, often there is no fuel and they require quite a lot of maintenance; several people have died in our health centre because of lack of petrol at night. Our new system should be quiet, seamless and maintenance free. Mairi's hectic schedule at the HC has meant that we have decided to try and get away for a while every month and a half or so just to clear her wee head. For me, I manage to visit other hospitals from time to time, so I manage to get some touring in anyway. Life here continues to be colourful, frustrating, beautiful, challenging but never dull.

Many blessings...Laurence

PO Box 480, Kabale, UGANDA

Phone: 0782 246368 +256 (0) 382 275407