My story I would not want to share (THE JOURNEY TO ATUTUR THAT ALMOST NEVER HAPPENED) PART 1

A boy standing at a sign post near Atutur Hospital main get Photo Credit The Observer

A week earlier we had received a telephone call from a doctor in Atutur hospital Kumi district. She had identified herself as Dr. Sarah. Dr. Sarah narrated to us how sickle cell was affecting many people who attend Atutur Hospital. She had within a period of 3 weeks registered over 100 patients. Too puzzled she had decided to contact us for support.

We decided to go to Atutur and get firsthand experience of what the doctor had narrated to us on phone. We made a request to Central Public Health Laboratories (CPHL) to go with them and test these people they had told us and also do a public free screening.

On August 8^th  2015 we setoff for our Eastern campaign that later became an Eastern question. At 5.33 pm the drive ignited the engine of one of the cars in CPHL’s parking. It was an old car and needed disposal. We drove to the nearest petrol station refueled and did some checkups. At 6.00pm the driver who was in his 60s start to drive towards the East.

The journey was still wonderful I knew every place we were passing by but I did not know Kumi where we were going. I had never been to Kumi so I did not even know how long the journey was. At 8.00 pm we arrived in Iganga Town. It was now getting darker and most shopped had been closed but bars and pubs were just opening. The driver made a suggestion and wanted us to spend a night in Iganga and travel to Kumi early in the morning. We did not take his advice. My colleague insisted that we sleep in Mbale which was near Kumi for easy access and time management. The driver accepted and continued with the journey.

At Nakalama after branching off from Busia road, the headlights beamed direct to a road sign which was alerting us that we were 100 kilometres away from Mbale. Before we could reach the signpost the driver parked on the roadside. He told us that the car had developed a mechanical problem which was going to be fixed and we continue with our journey. He looked for a mechanic from the nearby garage to fix the car. 30 minutes passed with no success. We were still praying and worried of our security since we were in a dark place. He finally broke the bad news that the car could not be fixed, there affected machine needed to be replaced and could only be bought from Kampala which we had left 3 hours ago.

We had now two options either to sleep in Iganga or continue and sleep in Mbale. We chose Mbale as earlier plans. Now desperate we got our bags and sickle cell testing kits to look for a quick taxi to Mbale. We waited for 15 minutes for a taxi and every taxi that came was full, some even had excess passengers instead of 14 they had 18 passenger excluding children. Tired of waiting and our legs had started to hurt we came back to rest in the car. The mechanic advised us that if we needed to get to Mbale at night we had to board a truck.

When a Fuso truck came he helped us to stop. We negotiated the transport fares and got on board. The truck can accommodate 2 passengers and a driver. Already 3 people were inside and our team was of 4 people.

My 3 colleagues had to occupy the two passenger seats. I was the smallest so had to be sacrificed. There was drama on how we could also fit inside. I was told to squat in the resting area behind the seats.  I was there with the turnboy and another passenger we met in the truck. I was also holding the 5 boxes of sickle cell testing kits we had. The journey which we thought was going to end in Mbale ended in Kumi where we arrived at 1am. I had to squat for 156 kilometres.

Watch out for the next part as I recollect how I had to squat for 156 kilometres and the morning where we got lost and went to other 2 hospital before arriving at Atutur.