The problem with schools and hospitals...

The problem with schools is that you just can't get the staff - in one school the head teacher has to double as the cook.

The problem with schools is that the food is just no good - in this school, lunch (as cooked by the head) is the only meal most of the 250 pupils will get all day. Did I mention that everyday it is porridge, and it's almost impossible to keep the flies out of it?

The problem with schools is that the buildings are in such a bad state of repair. The kitchen the lunch is made in doesn't have electricity, running water, or even all four walls and a complete roof.

The problem with schools is lack of equipment. This school struggles even to find paper for the pupils to write on.

The problem with schools is that the teachers are underpaid. Half the teachers in this school have not received any of their pay from the government. The other half have shared the wages they do get with them.

The problem with hospitals is lack of beds. There are bed frames, but no mattresses, few blankets, no bedding. The hospital wing for bones and joints has 120 patients whose bed is the floor.

The problem with hospitals is lack of equipment. Children who cannot breath for themselves have no access to respirators, or ICU levels of care. There is no electricty for any machines. Their only option is to wait to die. There are no fridges to keep any vaccines in - any that come in need to be used immediately. Otherwise they get thrown out.

The problem with hospitals is poor sanitation. They have no running water.


You may have guessed by now that this is not some pre election rant about the state of our schools and hospitals, and that the school and hospital in question aren't in this country. Next time some one claims that our public services are 'practically third world,' I'm really going to have to try hard not to punch the tv.

Last night I went round to see my youth leader, Karla, and her daughter, Abby who have returned from their trip to the Church in Mityana, Uganda, and we spent the evening looking at their photos, and chatting about the people they met and their experiences.

I was left feeling totally overwhelmed, really angry, utterly humbled and utterly gutted.
Every photo showed the basic needs that people in the community have that aren't being met.
There was so much that needed to be done, it was a case of where would you even start to begin? There was so much unnecessary suffering - at the school, there are 50 boarders, for whom the nearest thing they have to a parent is the lady who is also the headteacher and the cook. Moses, the youthworker, who is younger than me, is bringing up his three teenage neices in a house smaller than our living room, as his brothers and sisters have all died.
The sheer amount of poverty and suffering was overwhelming. I've heard the stats, I've listened to the news reports, I've seen the pics, but somehow this made it so real. What's harder to get my head around is that that is just one town. There is a whole country where this is life. Stuff that there is a whole CONTINENT. I feel so sick and so angry, it is wrong, wrong, wrong.

And then, Karla and Abby brought out a bag of gifts that the young people had sent over to us. I really can't begin to convey the sacrifice that this was for them, they have so little. I just hope we can convey how precious these gifts are to our young people, and that they can get passionate about justice for the poor. There really is no option not to.