As a very nearly qualified midwife, I had the privilege to complete my elective placement in Uganda. Despite my love of travelling, I had never been to Africa. I now understand why you meet very few people who have been to Africa once. Although I can speak only for Uganda, I found it to be a beautiful country full of rich vegetation, delicious fruit and sincerely friendly people. It was very humbling that they seemed honoured to meet white people (Muzungu –as they called us!) and the women would actually kneel at our feet out of respect!

So apart from eating crocodile steak, getting my hair braided, visiting the source of the Nile and placing my feet either side of the equator, what did I do??!!

I went out with a team of 12, organised by International Needs, a Christian charity who work in some of the world’s poorest nations. In Uganda, they are doing some fabulous work, at a health clinic and two schools, employing locals to reach out to other locals. Going out with a team was so much fun and God really blessed us with unity and new friendships. It was so evident how God used each individual and their personal skills to enrich the work.

I worked with the midwife, at the health clinic which was situated right in the sticks, on the shore of lake Victoria (Africa’s largest lake). There I helped with numerous antenatal clinics, immunisation clinics (where we weighed babies from the branches of a tree!), health promotion work and the occasional postnatal visit. I met three Traditional Birth Attendants (elderly women with no qualifications, but years of experience of delivering babies). They told incredible stories, such as a woman giving birth to a baby, deep in the back of beyond. The sudden realisation that a twin was to follow and possibly stuck, prompted the Traditional Birth Attendant to take the still pregnant woman and her minutes old newborn to the International Needs clinic to complete the delivery. The only transport available was a bicycle, along a bumpy track. Amazingly all survived!

God’s love and grace shone through the eyes and actions of the midwife at the International Needs clinic. One example of this was when a young girl arrived for her first antenatal check, looking depressed. She was a teenager and still had three years of school to complete.  Her hopes of an education and future had been shattered by the pregnancy. The midwife sat and talked to the teenager (in their native tongue, Lugandan) and suddenly the girl thanked the midwife and left with the beam of a Cheshire cat. The midwife explained she had offered to foster the baby while the girl completed her studies. She would simply strap the baby to her back and continue to work!! This was not the first time the midwife had sacrificed years at a time fostering the newborn of a teenager.

I learnt numerous midwifery skills which involved using only my hands – we rely on technology so much in this country. The midwife from the clinic taught me a great deal and yet somehow, I felt I had encouraged and enthused her about her profession.

A highlight there was meeting the little boy whom my husband and I sponsor at the International Needs School. There are so many orphans in Uganda chiefly due to poverty and HIV/AIDS. Thanks to International Needs, many of them are gaining a Christian education and a hope for their future. I found that the following verses from Habakkuk to be true of the situation of many Ugandans I met: “Though the fig-tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my saviour” (Habakkuk 3; 17-18).      

The team left for GB and I continued my adventure in the busy capital city, Kampala – quite a contrast. I experienced delivery suites in two hospitals. There I assisted at numerous births and was simply wowed by the goings on – entire lack of privacy, lack of equipment and wonderfully, the lack of paperwork! I became very aware of the sheer scale of HIV/AIDS in Uganda, as women shared their tragic stories - many of them widows in their mid 20’s. Death seemed to be a part of life.

On a positive note, I showed a very excited midwife how to deliver a baby with the woman on her hands and knees. Surprisingly the majority of women give birth on their backs – the hardest position for the mother. The midwives were really excited about this new ‘technique’ and went on to try it for themselves! Nothing prepared me for the scene I found in one hospital. I am used to a busy Midlands hospital which conducts approximately 15 births a day. Malago hospital in Kampala has up to 70 births a day!!! Women were literally giving birth left, right & centre…in the corridors, under beds, everywhere! I could not double-glove fast enough! I will never again complain about a busy shift!

At the airport in Entebbe. I began to count my blessings. I had escaped with three mosquito bites when I am usually eaten alive. I met other Brits travelling home who told stories of catching malaria, insects burrowing into their feet and laying eggs, Ugandan friends being killed in a car accident… God had so evidently had his hand of protection upon our lives.

Whenever I have visited a developing country I have found the culture shock to be greater on my return. I go out expecting everything to be different but return expecting familiarity and normality. However somewhere in transition, normality becomes a different climate, unusual food, a toilet consisting of a hole in the ground surrounded by flies, and bumpy roads. England felt sterile, cold and somehow unfamiliar. I found myself craving potholes in the road, a dusty atmosphere and dogs barking at night! I felt unsettled in my own home. I was reminded of a conversation with one of the team who had grown up as an MK (missionary kid) in Africa. We discussed that not knowing where to call home can be used by God. Surely our home is not anywhere on earth – not Africa nor England. As Peter puts it, we are “aliens and strangers in the world” (1 Peter 2:11). Our true home is in heaven. Peter also refers to our body as a “tent” (2 Peter 1:13). This image appeals to my itchy travelling feet and helps me feel that setting up camp back in GB for a while, is not so bad after all! The events I experienced in Uganda will stay with me for life and I hope to return one day – if only to collect the piece of my heart I left behind.