| Circular - March 2025: A 25 year anniversary |
| We have a significant anniversary this month. It is now 25 years since we started work on Cherub (which later evolved into Acheru). Many of you will remember our Besaniya children's home. In parallel with trying to fund the development of the home I'd been heavily involved for many years in sending out medical equipment to Uganda, and through this I met Norgrove Penny, a Canadian orthopaedic surgeon operating on children at Mengo Hospital. |
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| Besaniya Children's Home |
| I was impressed by Norgrove's work and wondered if there was anything we could do to help. He said he could cope with the surgical needs, but there was a serious shortage of provision for rehabilitation - which could be lengthy for many of the children treated. I talked to Alan Clegg (who was by then in charge at Besaniya) about possibly bringing some of the children there but with the home on a steep hillside there was an obvious problem for children with serious mobility problems. It was clear that what was really needed was a dedicated facility. We had friends from Canada visiting Besaniya at the time, and they encouraged us to build something. |
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| Norgrove Penney |
| This made sense, there was certainly a need. What should have followed was a thorough process of investigation, planning, estimating costs, how it could be staffed etc. What actually happened was that we looked around at how our work to date had been blessed, so rather than taking the easy way of 'resting on our laurels' we should respond to the need. This decision making process didn't take long; along with the Canadian visitors, we walked round Besaniya and identified the one area level enough to build on. |
| So, decision made, we were going to build a rehabilitation unit, the visitors pledged their support (and very soon afterwards, other friends at home provided the full building cost). There was one remaining problem to deal with; right in the middle of the chosen site was a big tree. But one of our Canadian visitors volunteered to fell the tree, and within a day of deciding to build, work started. It wasn't easy, the tree put up quite a fight (and was eventually cut up to provide timber for building), and the roots, which resisted all attempts to take them out, are still under the building. |
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| Work starts on clearing the site for Cherub |
| It now fell to Alan Clegg to supervise building work, which suited him perfectly as he was never happier than when he was building something. The chosen builder was Musoke, who had done previous work for Alan and become a good friend. Of course it was a long road till the building was completed, staffed, and occupied but that's another story. Musoke's skills, under Alan's direction, resulted in a building well suited to its purpose. |
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| Alan Clegg with the builder, Musoke |
| As many of you know, that's not where we are now. For various reasons, we developed Acheru on a new site (the name was changed, as we found that the Church of Uganda had registered the Cherub name without our knowledge). But I am happy to report that the Cherub building, as well as all the other Besaniya buildings, are now used as staff accommodation for our partner, Mukono Hospital. |
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| Work starts on building Cherub over the tree roots which couldn't be removed. |
| My involvement there dates back to 1984, going there with Donald Brownlie when it was a maternity unit linked to Mengo Hospital. When it was handed over to the Church of Uganda, I helped equip operating theatres and other facilities as it developed into what is now a major hospital. Against a background of so many failed projects and derelict buildings in Uganda, I hope it is a reassurance to those who helped us that not only were large numbers of children helped through Cherub but the building is still used for Christian medical purposes. What was started there is now Acheru, continuing to help so many disabled children. |
| The following extract from 'The Baganda at Home', 1908, puts the case for the role of medical work in mission, and I think it applies as much now as it did then: |
| 'No description of the work in Mengo and neighbourhood could approach completeness without a large amount of space being devoted to the hospital work and medical work generally. No development has met with more success. None is better conducted, and no work has shown to the natives with such force the power of Christianity, which makes men and women devote their lives to those who have otherwise no call upon their sympathy.' |
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| The felled tree being cut for planks which were used in the Cherub building |
| Water: Thanks to the generosity of Noah's Ark, one of Acheru's partners in Uganda, we now have a bore hole supplying water to Acheru. When we built at Kabembe we depended on rainwater collected from all the roofs and piped into two underground tanks, one 10,000 litres, the other 8,000, and pumped from there into several header tanks to provide water on tap in the Acheru buildings. As Acheru grew this wasn't enough, so the pickup had to be driven to a spring to fill jerry cans when the tanks were low. To supplement rainwater in drier seasons a well was dug at Acheru but this didn't provide much. The site was surveyed but was found to be unsuitable for a bore hole. |
| Some years ago a government minister visiting Acheru assured us that a mains water supply was scheduled to be piped to the area. When this was eventually in place, a stand pipe was provided at Acheru but was regarded as an 'emergency' supply as the water was metered and had to be paid for. This still didn't solve our problems, as in prolonged dry spells the mains supply dried up and a tanker delivery had to be paid for. |
| Recently, when Noah's Ark offered to provide a bore hole, the land around Acheru was surveyed and a source of water located not far beyond our boundary. The land owner generously gave us the right (all properly legally ratified) to have a borehole there, with an underground pipe to Acheru. This has now been successfully completed, with a good supply of water being pumped when needed. |
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| Another endorsement for the quality of work being done at Acheru |
| It's always pleasing to hear news of former 'Besaniya Boys'. Sam Murangi was at Besaniya from the outset. He did well at school, and we supported his studies at Theological college. He gained a scholarship to America, and from time to time we hear news of his progress there. Sam is now chancellor of Fins Medical University in Philadelphia, and through his connections there has been helping establish a hospital in western Uganda, where he came from. |
| Now we've heard that he has won an American Revolution Award, and we've been sent this photograph and caption from a newspaper report. |
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| Murangi is recognized for his leadership in rejuvenating parishes in the Philadelphia area that struggle with decreasing membership and the encroachment of neighbourhood crime, violence, and drug abuse |
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| Sam at Bishop Tucker |
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| Having a cold drink in Mukono |
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| At Besaniya with Lwamukyo, Sserunjojji, and Mbogo |
| Follow up of a patient we hadn't seen for some time: |
| Tamala Joseph is now 18 years old. He came to Cherub on 26th January 2007, unable to walk or hold his head up, and was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy. He was recently seen again on a community visit to his home area and his mother told everyone how her son was treated, and was able to start walking and attend school. Mothers were urged never to give up on a child, and to never lose hope. |
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