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happened and when?
By William Sullivan
Heidi and I meet Father Jim Short at St.
John's Episcopal Church in Monterey,
California
May-2006 Heidi and I talk to Father
Short again, and then make the
decision to travel to Uganda
The last three months of 2006,
we start preparing for their upcoming
trip to Uganda. We buy plane tickets,
get our shots, and make other
preparations.
January 2007
Heidi and I fly to Entebbe, Uganda via
London. We arrive around January 15,
and are met at the airport by Jim and
Philista Short. We take a bumpy five
hour ride to Masindi, the home of Jim
and Philista.
We spend the next three days
recuperating from their long trip at the
home of Jim and Philista.
Heidi, me, Jim and Philista leave
Masindi and head toward Bulisa. On
the way, we stop at Murchison Falls
National Park.
We visit the "Bulisa Health Center" and
meet the staff and some of the patients.
February,2007- We go back to
California. I immediately begins editing
film that was shot in Uganda to
produce a 15 minute movie.
March 2007- I finish the movie, and
start sending out copies to anyone
who shows interest in the project.
Dr Francis Nyakoojo writes to inform us
that the Government of Uganda has
formally agreed to let our project move
forward. Since this is a government
owned facility, we needed their
permission to make any improvements.
We are also in contact with Jim and
Philista in Uganda, who continue to
pledge their support.
April, 2007- We begin our fund raising
efforts, and also begin work on this
website.
August, 2007-
We have recently received an email
from Dr Nyakoojo, stating that he is
arranging accomodations for us in the
Bulisa area for our stay in January.
This is a big load off of my mind, as I
didn't know where we would sleep.
Father Jim Short has also been in
contact, and is helping me with
preparations in Uganda.
We are still in the process of raising
money for our mission. It is slow going,
because my life is already so busy. We
would like to raise about $15,000.00
before we leave.
December 26, 2007
We have currently received over
$9000.00 from contributions. I am very
pleased about this. The generous
outpourings of family, friends, and
complete strangers is quite touching.
The money will be put to a good use.
Bill Haines, Gary Horsman, and myself
are leaving in 20 days. I am excited to
get started. I placed an order for
lumber in Uganda just a few days ago,
and it should be ready by the time we
get there.
January, 2008
We made it to Bulisa. It took seven
days to get from San Francisco to
Bulisa. It took us that much time to
round up all of our materials and food,
and to get all of it out to Bulisa. We
worked nonstop for fear that we would
run out of time. Bill and Gary worked
every day in the attic in extreme heat.
It took seven days for them to repair
the neglected roof. With Jim Short's
help, they were also able to install new
ceilings in all of the rooms of the main
examination building. I was working
down below, mostly painting, cleaning,
and trying to resurrect the failed water
system for the clinic. We did make
some progress on the water system,
but it was still out of service when we
left. We were in Bulisa for seven days,
working in extreme conditions. We
were all spent by the time we left.
February, 2008
It is time to begin fundraising again.
This is not my favorite thing to do, but
the people of Bulisa are hoping that we
will return. We will spend the remainder
of 2008 raising money through private
donations. We also hosted a benefit
concert and raised $2000.00........Not
bad for one night! We also collected
600 pair of eyeglasses by putting ads
in the paper. We will bring some of
them with us in 2009.
January, 2009
Heidi and I fly back to Entebbe,
Uganda. Jim and Philista Short pick us
up at the airport, and we go straight to
Kampala to buy hospital furniture. We
are successful, and we hire a Lorrie
truck to get the furniture as far as
Masindi. After a day of R&R, we hire
another driver to take us to Bulisa with
the furniture. They're in the middle of a
heat wave, which makes it difficult to
work. We discover that since our last
visit, the Red Cross has drilled a water
well in the village . We hire locals to
start digging trenches in the hopes of
hooking the water into the clinic. After
five days of digging and plumbing, we
successfully hook the whole clinic to
the Red Cross well. WATER IS LIFE!
The day we turned on the water at the
clinic, it felt like a different place
altogether. The staff and patients were
so happy. We also built and installed
the hospital furniture. Heidi spent a
great deal of time helping the staff that
is there, distributing mosquito nets,
and building relationships for the
future. We were so pleased with the
results of our work. On the way back to
California, we stopped in Washington
D.C. to witness the swearing in of our
NEW PRESIDENT!!! What a historical
moment!
January,2010
I'm writing on February 3,2010, and we
have just returned from Bulisa. This
time, my son Sean and I made the trip.
We were determined to get the existing
solar system up and running. This part
of Uganda has no power grid, and
solar is the way to go! We purchased
the parts that we needed in Kampala,
and headed for Bulisa. Once we
arrived, we analyzed the system, and
went to work. There are several
buildings at the clinic site, and four of
the buildings have had solar in the
past. Sean and I restored electric
power to three of these buildings. Now
the nurses and patients have lighting
during the dark hours.