Progress on Joy Clinic. Below is the latest photo of Joy Clinic. The walls of the treatment and delivery rooms are up and recently the roof went on. I learnt recently that Joys father was a doctor and when he saw her struggling to help the Nakakabala community, delivering babies in the tiny home where she and James lived with their six children, his greatest wish was for a clinic to be built. Lets hope he is looking down and seeing what is happening now! The photo is of Joy as a midwife. Everyone misses her so much!
We are still a long way from completing Joy Clinic with lots of fund raising still to do but once again we are receiving help …………Geminy Maw, a 26 year old from Macclesfield, who found us funds for the borehole last year, has taken on a challenge to cycle solo to ‘Berlin and Back on a Bike’ to raise awareness and money for Joy Clinic. Her motto is ‘Spreading Smiles Across the Miles’

and with her smile she certainly does that!

She has had an amazing time meeting amazing people. This saying ‘There are no strangers, only friends we have not met before’ comes to mind! Gem even ended up living with a family whose mum is a teacher and Gem spent a day in her school talking to the children about her life, her trip and Uganda! DO READ HER BLOG! httpsssatm.wordpress.com/om/ There is so much more to read about her trip and Gem herself!

Unfortunately, last week Gem had an accident. Everything was going very well and she had got as far as Bremen in north western Germany but then as she was crossing the city her front wheel got stuck in a tramline and with the heavily laden bike she came off falling hard on her left arm and was in a great deal of pain. She was soon surrounded by caring people and ended up staying with two of them. She had X-rays at the hospital and the good news is that nothing is broken ‘just’ badly bruised. She has been given pain killers and told to rest up for two weeks. She was so upset and disapointed, worrying about how things would turn out and that she wouldn’t raise the money she wanted to do for Joy Clinic. Typical Gem, she doesn’t want to let anyone down! She very sensibly is following doctors orders and after spending a few days resting has ‘got a ride’ to Hamburg to visit friends who weren’t on her route which is a bonus. Hamburg is famous for its street art and graffiti and someone did this special painting for Gem! Amazing!

I had another communication from Gem recently to say she is still in quite a lot of pain so has made the sensible decision to take more rest BUT knowing Gem as I do the saying ‘a change is as good as a rest’ comes to mind. This is what she wrote in her message today:

‘due to this accident tho i have connected with the people behind the bicycle movement in bremen hu have been great, they want to do a story on me, connect me with other people in hamburg or berlin and maybe cycle with me for a while when i leave bremen. i have also been asked to b the star in my own short movie as part of a 48hour movie making festival in hamburg so i am going to try and take my bike and mostly empty (as i cant manage the weight) panniers back to hamburg for the weekend and fingers crossed we get accepted and find a team to pull it together.
i am about to go to the city bike center where u can go and learn to fix ur bike for free and ask them to have a look over and make sure its all ok before I use it!
i also took part in a critical mass last friday in hamburg, where cyclist ride in a group and take over the road. i was one of about 4,000 and had a great time tho i couldnt do it on my bike and i was rather sore but still at the end it was well worth it!’

You can follow Gem’s Blog at httpsssatm.wordpress.com/om/ and please show your appreciation of her efforts by sponsoring her if you possibly can. Thank you!