Tanya in Uganda – Marshmallow’s new home, flowing tears and mountain gorillas

Perfection Plus Finance Director Tanya Richards has spent a lot of time on the coach travelling since her last update but has also had a busy and emotional few days of clinics and exploration.

Her latest update deals with the reality of the outreach programme and how the hard work and efforts of the SmileStar team is critical for these communities.

Day 8 & 9

Saturday was a long travel day, with over 10 hours in a Jeep travelling across the country from Kampala to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park. I was worried beforehand about travel sickness, but we all talked non-stop and it didn’t bother me at all which was a big relief!

Here we will treat local villagers and the Batwa people, one of the oldest surviving indigenous tribes in Central Africa.

On Sunday, we mostly cried as a group and tried to comfort each other.

We started with another 5:15 alarm and left at 6:30 after breakfast. After an hour and a half we stopped at a local school. There were 165 children ranging from 2 to 15 years old. They welcomed us with a song and lots of clapping. Hussein who is arranging this part of the tour, said his wife had died while she was pregnant and he now supports the school as he knew his wife would want him to. We all cried with him as he told his story and how much the school means to him.

The kids have bunk beds, three beds high and there is more than one to a bed. This is where our teddy bear Marshmallow found her new home, with Jordan who is 2 ½ years old and so quiet. It was noticeable that the little ones were very reluctant to smile but this eventually changed when Reeya and Hannah from our team got some bubbles out. Some of the kids were wearing school uniform donated by a school in England. When I looked around the team, you could see most were in tears at how these kids lived. It’s very hard to write about and I have never felt so desperate, thinking of their environment and future or lack of.

Once I got back in the jeep where the kids couldn’t see me, I completely broke down. The whole group felt the same and we tried to comfort each other the best we were able. To be honest there wasn’t much more we could say, just make some plans to help if we could.

From here we went to where the Batwa live. There were many people waiting for us and the marquees were up already which no one expected! After a quick set up we were ready to start seeing patients but it quickly became apparent that the message had spread that we were a medical camp. We had a steady stream of dental patients but the doctors were overwhelmed with people waiting to see them. I watched as more people, both very young and very old kept appearing from the forest.

We were being guarded/watched by a man with a gun which was a little intimidating until I saw him move over to a toddler who walked out of the forest with his trousers round his knees and holding his top up over his belly. The soldier stayed with the boy, laughing, until his big brother came and took him by the hand. The people we treated were both Batwa and from the local village.

Lunch was running a bit late so we kept going until 3pm. By then the dentists were exhausted so lunch was very much appreciated. Over lunch news spread that the doctors had seen a few cases of bloody diarrhoea and a suspected case of TB and advised we should close camp. It made complete sense to protect both the volunteers and the 200 or more people who were still waiting, but everyone was devastated. One of GP’s picked out a very ill 8 year old girl from the crowd, arranged for her to be transported to the nearest hospital and be given IV antibiotics. Without this fast response she would have died. We have since had an update and she is responding and doing well.

After a very long day, and over 400 patients treated during this part of the trip, it all felt like it was too much to bear.

Day 10 & 11

Another 5:15 alarm again today to get breakfast in time to go and see the mountain gorillas.

We had a welcome talk and then were assigned a porter each to carry our backpacks. We then drove to the entry gate and started walking along the local villager path which followed alongside a little stream. We only walked for 20 minutes until we saw the trackers waving at us through the forest, up high. That meant that they had found the gorillas!

We met them halfway up the hill. There was a family of 8 gorillas, some in the tree but most on the ground. We stayed a safe distance away as you should be at least 10 metres. There were two little ones in the group we were watching and it was so funny to watch them playing. They have a 99% vegetarian diet and were very relaxed about us being there. I watched a baby feeding while the alpha male just kept a relaxed watchful eye.

At one point we must have been stood in the path as a moving gorilla just stopped, sat and waited until we moved on. It was a breathtaking hour that I never dreamed I would experience. When Mitesh asked me how I felt I had no words, I was speechless! It was just unbelievable that we were there surrounded by a family of mountain gorillas. They are habitualised and so are used to people. Getting them used to people is done on purpose so that culture visits can run to support the Batwa community, the local community and of course protect the gorillas natural environment.

This was the last night here and also our last clinic. Mitesh and Claire had added an extra small clinic into the itinerary for Monday afternoon for the hotel staff and their families. They obviously then told the whole village and school so we had to limit it to 50 people. We ended up seeing 60, mostly children. We also saw the head chef and of course it was important we kept him happy!

Thank yous were made by everyone to the whole team with special recognition for the younger members of the trip. Their positive energy and attitude, giving and caring spirit have been exemplary.

Today, Tuesday, we are back on the road for a 7-hour drive to the Queen Elizabeth National Park.

You can learn all about SmileStar and the many outreach programmes undertaken over the last 16 years, donate to fund their outreach programmes or apply to become a volunteer yourself by visiting www.smilestarcharity.com.

Follow Tanya’s progress by giving Perfection Plus a follow on Instagram (@perfectionplusltd) to see more of the brilliant work being done by the SmileStar volunteering team.