When you have a backlog in posting
26 - 27 - 28 April
Hello everyone
First of all, I want to apologize for not posting this story earlier. You are probably not really waiting for this, but I promised friends and colleagues to write about my experiences, so I cannot stop in the middle of an adventure.
26 April
I left you on the first day of the Summit, so I will continue with the second day. The organizing team was very pleased that on the second day we had almost the same amount of participants as on the first day. To be honest: we did not really expect this so this was only a positive surprise. The program was very full and therefore time-management was again very important. All of the presenters, guests, speakers did a wonderful job. The importance of Leadership in Healthcare was emphasized in every presentation and testimony. The closing of the Summit gave me goosebumps. The Baylor Leadership Academy was launched and I was touched by the involvement of every single individual present at the Summit. I am convinced that this is not the end of the program. The importance of this project is clear and I am confident it will be used in future.
Take some time to have a look at the impact the project already had:
https://www.healthcareleadershipsummit.org/videos
When the Summit was closed, the Baylor Children Choir performed some songs and dances for the attendees. Wow! We were flabbergasted. These are all HIV-positive children, taken care of by Baylor. They are grateful for the chances they get. And when you see these children, singing and dancing with a big smile on their face, you cannot imagine these children carry this ugly disease. All our Janssen-people had the chance to perform together with these children. I think I can say this was one of the most beautiful experiences of the whole trip. I have gained so much respect for these children, but also for Baylor. They are doing a great job in not neglecting these children.
27 April
Today, Eveline - Martine and myself are responsible for the Lessons Learned. Now the program has come to an end, we would like to learn from the evolution in the program. We have organised a session where the Caretakers - together with Pepal, Baylor and Ralph & Ahrabella, the mentors and the Alumni are asked to give their opinion on the program and to provide recommendations for possible projects in future. Collaboration of all the teams was great! The voice of everyone sounded positive and gave us energy for what can come in future. The complete session was directed by Adriaan which resulted in a perfect timing.
After lunch, we had a tour at Baylor Center of Excellence. This HIV-hospital has a unique organisation and follow-up in treatment of HIV-patients, conducts trials, gives diet instructions to youth, holds a call center for HIV-treatment, ... I was here last year, but it was only this year that the hard and important work they do became clear to me.
The hardest part of that day? Saying goodbye to Moses.... I have the feeling I was not able to spend as much time with him as I wanted to. But there was work to do so it was not only having fun. I realized that it will be a long time now. We had good conversations and I know he has everything it takes to have a nice future in Uganda. (although he wanted to come with me to Belgium). I wish him all the best and I know we will stay in contact. Bye Moses, wish I could have stayed longer...
We finished the day at an Indian Restaurant with DELICIOUS food... hmmmmmmmmmmm. And as a bonus, we went to a bar with live music from the Janzi Band. Ibs suggested to go there and he was absolutely right. The music was soooooooo good! African music, jazzy, reggae, al very rhythmic and I am sure the local people must have laughed with our dancing but we didn't care. We had so much fun! This was our last night on African ground. I did not want to think about that, as my stay in Uganda was soon to come to an end.
28 April
Our very very last day... After packing my stuff and the "last" breakfast at the hotel, we went on a guided tour in Kampala. After 5 days at a nice hotel, this walk put us again in the real African world. The guide took us to places where you normally as a tourist would not come. It was one impression after the other, not knowing where to look in the fuss of overcrowded Kampala. We concluded the walk at the Gadaffi Mosque. We were all dressed as specified by the Islamism. Nice pictures were taken of this :-) Our guide at the Mosque was very funny but convinced, of course, about his belief. To be honest: some things were hard for me to accept, but I respect their belief so did not comment on anything. As long as we respect each other, the world could be so nice. It was good at that time to be in the Mosque. After the fuss in the center of Kampala, the Mosque brought me peace and quiet. By the time we climbed to the top of the tower (and were exhausted by the number of steps), we were rewarded by an amazing panoramic view over Kampala. This is where, in my thoughts, I said goodbye to Kampala...
Our last activity in Kampala was shopping! We had an hour at the crafts market to look for those things we wanted to take home. An hour is not much, but it is enough, as otherwise, my bag would be overloaded again at the airport. And I made a promise to Adriaan at the beginning of our trip.
When we returned at the hotel, we all went for a short swim as temperature was very high and we needed to cool down after this exhausting walk :-)
We had our final dinner in group at the hotel and then it became real... Drivers were waiting to bring us to the airport... We said goodbye to the Pepal-colleagues and off we went...
Unfortunately, traffic was very very crowded and we were in the middle of a traffic jam. All off a sudden a guy started to beat on the right side of the car. We all looked at him and at that very same time, another guy took Martine's backpack (who was sitting of the left side of the car) out of her hands and he ran away. We were all surprised by this action and closed the windows and doors of the car immediately. Luckily, Martine's passport and personal belongings were not in the backpack.... She would still be able to get on the plane without any problem. The rest of the ride to the airport happened in silence. Martine was OK, but this was not a nice ending of a fantastic trip.
I can confirm there was NO overloaded suitcase (I had 2 😉) so check-in and boarding went smoothly for all of us. And there we went, flying back to Belgium after a wonderful adventure...
I will soon get back to you with the most recent news.
Hello everyone
First of all, I want to apologize for not posting this story earlier. You are probably not really waiting for this, but I promised friends and colleagues to write about my experiences, so I cannot stop in the middle of an adventure.
26 April
I left you on the first day of the Summit, so I will continue with the second day. The organizing team was very pleased that on the second day we had almost the same amount of participants as on the first day. To be honest: we did not really expect this so this was only a positive surprise. The program was very full and therefore time-management was again very important. All of the presenters, guests, speakers did a wonderful job. The importance of Leadership in Healthcare was emphasized in every presentation and testimony. The closing of the Summit gave me goosebumps. The Baylor Leadership Academy was launched and I was touched by the involvement of every single individual present at the Summit. I am convinced that this is not the end of the program. The importance of this project is clear and I am confident it will be used in future.
Take some time to have a look at the impact the project already had:
https://www.healthcareleadershipsummit.org/videos
When the Summit was closed, the Baylor Children Choir performed some songs and dances for the attendees. Wow! We were flabbergasted. These are all HIV-positive children, taken care of by Baylor. They are grateful for the chances they get. And when you see these children, singing and dancing with a big smile on their face, you cannot imagine these children carry this ugly disease. All our Janssen-people had the chance to perform together with these children. I think I can say this was one of the most beautiful experiences of the whole trip. I have gained so much respect for these children, but also for Baylor. They are doing a great job in not neglecting these children.
27 April
Today, Eveline - Martine and myself are responsible for the Lessons Learned. Now the program has come to an end, we would like to learn from the evolution in the program. We have organised a session where the Caretakers - together with Pepal, Baylor and Ralph & Ahrabella, the mentors and the Alumni are asked to give their opinion on the program and to provide recommendations for possible projects in future. Collaboration of all the teams was great! The voice of everyone sounded positive and gave us energy for what can come in future. The complete session was directed by Adriaan which resulted in a perfect timing.
After lunch, we had a tour at Baylor Center of Excellence. This HIV-hospital has a unique organisation and follow-up in treatment of HIV-patients, conducts trials, gives diet instructions to youth, holds a call center for HIV-treatment, ... I was here last year, but it was only this year that the hard and important work they do became clear to me.
The hardest part of that day? Saying goodbye to Moses.... I have the feeling I was not able to spend as much time with him as I wanted to. But there was work to do so it was not only having fun. I realized that it will be a long time now. We had good conversations and I know he has everything it takes to have a nice future in Uganda. (although he wanted to come with me to Belgium). I wish him all the best and I know we will stay in contact. Bye Moses, wish I could have stayed longer...
We finished the day at an Indian Restaurant with DELICIOUS food... hmmmmmmmmmmm. And as a bonus, we went to a bar with live music from the Janzi Band. Ibs suggested to go there and he was absolutely right. The music was soooooooo good! African music, jazzy, reggae, al very rhythmic and I am sure the local people must have laughed with our dancing but we didn't care. We had so much fun! This was our last night on African ground. I did not want to think about that, as my stay in Uganda was soon to come to an end.
28 April
Our very very last day... After packing my stuff and the "last" breakfast at the hotel, we went on a guided tour in Kampala. After 5 days at a nice hotel, this walk put us again in the real African world. The guide took us to places where you normally as a tourist would not come. It was one impression after the other, not knowing where to look in the fuss of overcrowded Kampala. We concluded the walk at the Gadaffi Mosque. We were all dressed as specified by the Islamism. Nice pictures were taken of this :-) Our guide at the Mosque was very funny but convinced, of course, about his belief. To be honest: some things were hard for me to accept, but I respect their belief so did not comment on anything. As long as we respect each other, the world could be so nice. It was good at that time to be in the Mosque. After the fuss in the center of Kampala, the Mosque brought me peace and quiet. By the time we climbed to the top of the tower (and were exhausted by the number of steps), we were rewarded by an amazing panoramic view over Kampala. This is where, in my thoughts, I said goodbye to Kampala...
Our last activity in Kampala was shopping! We had an hour at the crafts market to look for those things we wanted to take home. An hour is not much, but it is enough, as otherwise, my bag would be overloaded again at the airport. And I made a promise to Adriaan at the beginning of our trip.
When we returned at the hotel, we all went for a short swim as temperature was very high and we needed to cool down after this exhausting walk :-)
We had our final dinner in group at the hotel and then it became real... Drivers were waiting to bring us to the airport... We said goodbye to the Pepal-colleagues and off we went...
Unfortunately, traffic was very very crowded and we were in the middle of a traffic jam. All off a sudden a guy started to beat on the right side of the car. We all looked at him and at that very same time, another guy took Martine's backpack (who was sitting of the left side of the car) out of her hands and he ran away. We were all surprised by this action and closed the windows and doors of the car immediately. Luckily, Martine's passport and personal belongings were not in the backpack.... She would still be able to get on the plane without any problem. The rest of the ride to the airport happened in silence. Martine was OK, but this was not a nice ending of a fantastic trip.
I can confirm there was NO overloaded suitcase (I had 2 😉) so check-in and boarding went smoothly for all of us. And there we went, flying back to Belgium after a wonderful adventure...
I will soon get back to you with the most recent news.
Comments
Post a Comment